"You know, now that we're officially dating we really should think of pet names for each other."

Dipper glanced down at Pacifica, who was currently using his lap as a pillow while they watched yet another horror movie marathon, yet again at three in the morning in Dipper's dorm room, volume turned low to avoid disturbing anyone during what were ostensibly quiet hours. "What's with the sudden interest? For the past couple months you've been insisting that I only call you Pacifica. No nicknames, no shortenings, nothing."

In truth he knew that she just wanted to try and prevent the slightest chance that anyone could figure them out before they were ready. Not that it stopped many of their friends from catching on, but they'd all been kind enough to play along until they were ready to go public. However, he had no idea where to start (something from their past as friends? Should it be something new? What could I possibly call her that Mabel hasn't at some point or another?) and he needed to stall for time.

Pacifica shrugged. "Well, I figure that we wasted enough time hiding everything, we may as well make up for it now by being as disgustingly cute a couple as possible for a while." Dipper could tell that she was being mostly sarcastic and started chuckling. "Besides," Pacifica interrupted, "I sort of want to rub the fact that I'm dating you into everyone's faces. So? By what charming diminutive shall you be calling me for our future together?" She asked, flicking her hair behind her ear and fluttering her eyelashes dramatically.

Dipper couldn't help but snort at her overacting. However, despite his frantic mental gymnastics, he still hadn't thought of anything remotely appropriate. "Well what are you going to call me? I need to know what level of nicknames we're talking here."

"Why, Dipper darling if I didn't know you better I would think that you're trying to stall for time!" She reached up to rub the scruffy little beard he'd managed to grow. Despite all reason and against all odds, it looked good on him. Really good, now that she thought about it more…

Pacifica mentally scolded herself. This was neither the time nor place to get so… distracted. Refocusing and turning back to Dipper, she said "Well? You know that you can just tell me you need some time to think."

"What? No, I just… well it was your idea. I'm sure you've been thinking about it way more than me and I wanted to hear what you'd come up with!" Realizing what he'd said, Dipper frantically backtracked. "Er, not that I haven't been thinking about it! The past few months have been amazing and I'm really happy it's just… er… I mean nicknames aren't what my mind focuses on, y'know?"

Pacifica chuckled to herself and put a finger up to Dipper's lips. "Oh shush it's fine. I know what you meant." Dipper had gotten much better since she first met him back in that summer all those years ago, but he still got embarrassed quite easily. And it was still adorable. She sat up and moved her hand up into his bushy hair, playing with it the way he knew he liked.

Dipper half-unconsciously leaned into her hand and made a little noise halfway between a sigh and a contented hum. "Thanks. I uh… I love you, you know?"

Pacifica had to suppress a little shudder of joy. It had been nearly a month since one of them had first worked up the courage to say that particular word and they'd been using it ever since, but it still felt unreal. "Mmm… You're welcome. And I love you too."

Dipper smiled, in that cute little way that he had. "Alright then," he said, "you got me. I haven't been able to think of anything yet. I just… I can't think of anything that really works y'know?"

"Awwwww…" Pacifica cooed. You're making me feel a bit bad, trying to think of something so special. I was going to just keep using Dipper."

Dipper chuckled good-naturedly. "Come on you already call me that! Not to mention everybody else. And here I thought you wanted us to have special names for each other," he said, pouring as much sarcasm into his voice as possible.

"Aww, but I say it so specially, don't I, Dipper?" She asked, putting all the feeling and huskiness that years of singing and acting lessons could muster into the word.

Dipper shuddered and needed to look away for a moment. "T-that's fine I was just… just a bit confused was all!" Really, he didn't mind her just calling him Dipper even without all of the… that that she just did. Although he had to admit to himself that hearing her say his name that way was… well it was worth it.

To stop Pacifica from teasing him mercilessly for his brief lapse, he launched into speech. "Ummm back to nicknames! Er… what about Pa-"

Quick as a whip Pacifica shushed her boyfriend. "I know what you're about to say, and I say no. You know that I hate it when people call me Paz. Nobody gets to call me that. Not even you, as much as I do love you."

"Well Mabel calls you tha-" Pacifica cut him off with a glance. Dipper sighed. "Yeah, yeah I know. Trying to stop Mabel doing something isn't easy. Alright then, not that."

Dipper leaned back and started thinking out loud. "Well, I mean if Paz is off-limits then there's not much else from your first name… and there aren't really any nickname-worthy things that are from all our time as friends up to now. Well… nothing worth a pet name at least. Alright… your last name then? No… nothing really good there…" he trailed off.

Pacifica laid back down into his lap and settled down to watch. She knew how this was going to go. He would think to himself for a while (with that cute little scrunched up face he had when he was deep in thought). It wouldn't do any good to rush him. She was content to just lay back and enjoy the view.

Suddenly, Dipper's eyes brightened and he jolted, shaking Pacifica out of her reverie. She raised an eyebrow questioningly at him.

"Well eventually I got to your middle name and I was thinking just Elise but well I used to know and Elise so that wouldn't worked and then I sort of started thinking about it more and I mean it's a bit short but I was thinking that-" Dipper saw the look Pacifica was giving him and chuckled. "Sorry getting off track, I know." He paused and took a breath before looking her straight in the eyes. "What do you think about… Elle?"

Something about the way he said it, confident in his own way but still guarded and cautious, while looking her right in the eyes with that smile… the softness in his voice and just the sound of it… it sent shivers down her spine in all the right ways. Reaching her hands around to link behind his neck, she smiled. "I love it. Now then, my dear, come here…"

All thoughts of the movie playing on Dipper's computer forgotten, Pacifica pulled her boyfriend in for a deep kiss before nestling her face into the crook of his neck. Dipper smiled and closed his laptop before laying back down and putting his arm around Pacifica in turn.

And for the two of them, cocooned in their own little universe, everything was soft and warm and all was right with the world.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed! The idea of this was sort of rolling around in my head for a few months but suddenly last night I was struck by a sudden urge to write and I sort of had write it all out before I could sleep. It was originally going to be a lot more jokey but then the "I love you" paragraph happened and it got more serious than I thought it would. Anyways, let me know what you thought! And feel free to come by and say hi at .com if you would like.