Special thanks to RockSunner for the use of their fanfic "Happily Ever After". Their part of the story will be indicated by italics.
Dipper and Wendy were married. They lived in a palatial home in Gravity Falls. Dipper was rich from the patents he and Great Uncle Ford had invented together, and his paranormal investigations had brought him international fame.
The couple was cuddled together on the couch in the living room, watching reruns of "Ghost Harassers".
"When this show is over," Wendy suggested, stroking Dipper's hair, "Let's head up to bed."
"That sounds great," said Dipper, giving her a kiss, "I'm not sure I want to wait until the end of the show."
They turned off the TV and gave their attention to each other, cuddling and basking in the glow of anticipation.
"Our life is almost too good to be true," said Dipper.
"It is what it is," Wendy said, "Which is wonderful."
"It's like a fairy tale," said Dipper, "Happily ever after."
"You earned it," said Wendy, "You reverse engineered the nanotechnology in Mabel's prison bubble and saved the world from Bill."
"I couldn't have done it without you," said Dipper, "Your giving me the chance to age up and be your boyfriend was what inspired me."
"My hero," said Wendy, kissing him.
"I almost doubted you back then," said Dipper, "I almost said it wasn't real."
"Dude," said Wendy, "Don't go there."
"It is real," asked Dipper, "Isn't it?"
"That's not a good question," said Wendy, "Leave it alone. Please."
"What's wrong," asked Dipper.
"Nothing," said Wendy. "Let's stop talking and go to bed."
"Something is wrong," said Dipper, "I want the truth."
"I guess I might as well tell you," said Wendy.
"What is it," asked Dipper.
"You never really left the bubble," Wendy explained, "You just got your own part."
"What," Dipper exclaimed, "What are you talking about?"
"None of you got out," Wendy explained, "Mabel still has her Mabeland, Soos has his 'dad', and we have this."
"Mabel isn't in Mabeland," Dipper growled, "I see her all the time. She's a successful artist now."
"You haven't seen the real Mabel since you ran out of her palace," Wendy explained, "The Mabel who granted your wish to age up was a copy."
"And you," Dipper stammered, "Are you a copy?"
"Of course," 'Wendy' answered, "The real Wendy is still having fun being wild with her friends in another part of the bubble."
"This is all a trap," Dipper screamed, "Show me what you really are."
Wendy morphed into a mass of bugs for an instant, then morphed back.
Dipper screamed in shock, and backed away.
"I've got to get out of here," Dipper yelled, "Find Mabel, and escape!"
"Too late," the false Wendy blurted out, "There's nothing to escape to anymore. Bill was trapped for a little while in Gravity Falls, but he tortured Ford until he broke and revealed how to escape. Bill played with the world until there was nothing left alive, except here in the bubble. Then he moved on with his friends to mess up the universe."
"I still have to try," Dipper yelled, "I'm going."
"No you're not," said the false Wendy, "You belong to us. Look at yourself."
Dipper looked down at his arms, and found they were melded with the same brown bugs that made up Wendy.
"When you wished to be older," the false Wendy explained, "We had to build up your body. We integrated with your nervous system to enhance your stamina and pleasure."
Dipper screamed again and again.
"Hush," said the false Wendy.
Dipper found his mouth shutting against his will. He tried to speak, but nothing happened. He tried to run, but his muscles wouldn't obey him.
"You're still my husband," said the false Wendy, "We still have a few years before Bill's meddling destroys the fabric of existence. Come to bed now."
She led the way up the stairs, with Dipper following against his will.
"We're going to live happily ever after," said the false Wendy.
And that's when Dipper woke up in his bed, screaming.
Dipper was clearly sweating, checking both his body and his surroundings.
Dipper saw that he was a fully grown teenager. He panicked for a second, before remembering it was 2015. He'd grown naturally. He was supposed to be this size.
Dipper looked around and saw that he was in the attic of the Mystery Shack, the same place he went to sleep and woke up every summer. And he saw that his sister wasn't sleeping in the bed next to him.
Dipper wondered where she went, before hearing his bed creak and noticing his sister sitting at the foot of his bed.
"I saw you get all freaked out in your sleep," Mabel explained, "What's up, bro bro?"
"Nothing," Dipper reassured, "It's fine Mabel. Go back to sleep."
"You tossing and turning like a madman is not nothing," Mabel countered, "Talk to me."
So, Dipper opened up and told his sister everything that happened in the dream.
"Geez Dipper," Mabel pitied, "That sounds really messed up."
"Don't worry," Dipper reassured, "Now that I've been up for a while, I think I'll be fine."
"You know who you should talk to about this, right," Mabel suggested.
"I don't know," Dipper contemplated, "This is the first time I've had this kind of dream in a long time. I really don't think it's worth bringing up to Grunkle Ford."
"No," Mabel objected, "I'm referring to someone else. The one with you in your dream."
Dipper then knew Mabel was referring to Wendy.
At one point, she seemed like a big unanswered question in Dipper's life. Sure, they were best friends, but Dipper always wondered whether they'd always be friends, or possibly more than friends, in the future. He also wondered if he'd ever stop obsessing over her.
But then, the summer of 2015 happened. Not long after the Pines twins returned to Gravity Falls, Dipper finally got the nerves to confess his feelings for Wendy a second time.
And this time, it ended with Dipper finally getting the kiss he'd been dreaming about for three years.
"I don't know," Dipper pondered.
"What do you mean you don't know," Mabel asked, "She's your girlfriend. How could you not talk about a nightmare about her like this?"
"It wasn't about her," Dipper objected, "It was about Weirdmageddon."
"Well," Mabel pointed out, "Then why was the dream about Wendy instead of Bill Cipher?" Dipper actually had to contemplate this for a second.
"Alright," Dipper gave in, "Maybe I should tell her about it tomorrow."
"No," Mabel quietly yelled, "Now! Go to her!"
"It's four in the morning," Dipper objected, "I don't think Wendy will be too thrilled by a surprise visit right now."
"You won't want to talk to her in the morning," Mabel argued, "You've gotta talk to her now, while the emotions are still fresh."
"I'm not leaving this room until tomorrow morning," Dipper grumbled.
"Then I'll have to use my secret weapon," Mabel decided, "My adorable irritability."
Mabel then turned on her speakers and started playing the song "I Fink U Freeky" on full blast.
"Turn it off," Dipper yelled.
"I can't hear you," Mabel screamed, "I'm remembering my earliest sexual blossoming moments."
"Alright alright," Dipper yelled, "I'm leaving." Mabel then gracefully turned off the music.
"Good for you," Mabel teased. Dipper then walked out of the room and quietly left the shack.
Mabel was about to head back to bed, until Stan walked into the room.
"Can somebody please tell me why there's music blasting in this room at four in the morning," Stan yelled.
"Dipper was being an idiot," Mabel moaned.
"Oh, OK," Stan responded, leaving the room.
It took a while, considering he didn't have a car, but Dipper eventually got to Wendy's house.
Since it was still way too early for visitors, Dipper knew better than to knock on the door or throw stuff at the window. So, this left Dipper with one option: text messaging.
He decided the best way to get Wendy to actually come out was leave the text just vague enough to get Wendy's attention.
Wendy was awoken at nearly five in the morning by "Look outside your window. Need to talk."
Dipper then saw a quite groggy Wendy peer out of her bedroom window. But, she was still awake enough to open the window and hop out, landing on her feet.
"Thanks for coming out," Dipper admitted, "Now that I think about it, I really do need to talk about this."
"Yeah yeah," Wendy grumbled, "Dipper, what was so important you had to wake me at five in the morning?"
"Well," Dipper slowly answered, "I actually had a dream."
"Is this going to be a Martin Luther King thing," Wendy sarcastically asked, "Cause that's really more of a three in the morning thing, don't you think?"
"Alright," Dipper responded, "More specifically, I had a nightmare. About us."
"What are you talking about here, dude," Wendy asked, now growing a bit concerned.
"See," Dipper explained, "Back during Weirdmageddon, when we were in Mabel's bubble, there was this fake Wendy who tried tricking me into 'getting older' so we could date. Of course, I found out it wasn't really you."
"Wait," Wendy asked, "There was some sort of creature walking around as me? Ugh, giving me shapeshifter flashbacks."
"Well," Dipper stammered, "Technically, it was a giant mass of bugs."
"What," Wendy screamed, "Your fantasy is for me to be made of bugs?"
"That's not the point," Dipper blurted out, "And it didn't turn into bugs until after I found out it wasn't you. Anyways, the point is that, in the dream, I didn't realize that it wasn't you. And I let it trick me, making me look three years older than I already was."
"A little aging up," Wendy thought out loud, "Doesn't sound like the worst dream ever."
"But it gets worse," Dipper went on, "It let me think that I was able to save us all from Mabel's bubble, when I really did nothing. It let me think I stopped Bill Cipher, when I really did nothing. We were all still stuck in the bubble and Bill was able to destroy the world."
"Oh gosh," Wendy whispered.
"But probably the worst part," Dipper explained, "By the time I'd finally figured out it wasn't you, it was too late. Bill had already destroyed the Earth and the creatures had taken over my body, so I couldn't leave if I wanted to."
"Dipper," Wendy quietly called out.
"I don't get it," Dipper questioned, "Weirdmageddon was three years ago. I stopped having nightmares about it two and a half years ago. Why did this happen now? I mean, Mabel thinks it has something to do with our relationship, but I promise you it doesn't. I'm definitely not worried or..."
Dipper was interrupted when Wendy gently took him into a soft hug, which Dipper returned.
"You think I'm not worried about our relationship sometimes," Wendy questioned, "After this summer, I'm going to have to decide what I want to do for the rest of my life. You still have three years to decide that. Plus, we're a lot of miles apart nine months out of the year."
"Wendy," Dipper reassured, "You know that I want nothing more than to make this relationship work."
"I know," Wendy responded, "And I really want this relationship to work too. Cause you're way more awesome than any guy I've ever dated."
"Really," Dipper asked.
"Dude," Wendy continued, "You fight monsters on a weekly basis. You literally stopped the end of the world. None of my other boyfriends ever did anything as awesome as that."
"Wow," Dipper appreciated, a tiny worried look growing on his face, "That's really nice of you to say."
"What's with that look on your face," Wendy asked.
"Nothing," Dipper stammered, "I don't have a look on my face."
"You're worried if I'm the real Wendy," Wendy accused, "Aren't you?"
"No," Dipper blurted out, "No no no no no. I am not wondering...That's rediculous."
Wendy responded to Dipper's fears by kneeing him in the balls.
"What was that for," Dipper groaned.
"Because I know your 'perfect' other Wendy wouldn't do that," Wendy stated, matter of factly.
"Thank you," Dipper thanked.
"Don't mention it," Wendy replied, "So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"Wait," Dipper blurted out, "You know, I'm going to have to be up in a few hours anyways. Could I maybe just spend the rest of the night here?"
"Really," Wendy asked, "You sure you gonna be OK with that?"
"Right now," Dipper deadpanned, "I'm so ready to go back to sleep that I'm not even thinking about how we've never slept in the same bed before."
"Alright," Wendy stated, "But, if my Dad finds us in the morning, be ready to take the blame."
"Fine," Dipper agreed.
"And you're gonna have to climb up through my bedroom window," Wendy hurriedly stated.
"What," Dipper questioned.
The next thing Dipper knew, he was being dragged up the side of the Corduroy's house by Wendy.