The adults retired at a sensible early hour, but the trio found they had too much energy to sleep.
Frank threw himself back on the old couch with a groan, and snatched the remote from the coffee table. "Anything you two want to watch?" he called to the adjoined kitchen where Nancy made popcorn with Joe sitting in front of her on a counter.
"No!" they called back simultaneously over the pop!ing.
"I really don't think that's a sunburn," Nancy reassured after the interruption, holding a hand over Joe's red arm. "It doesn't feel hot—and we loaded you up with sunscreen!"
"It just looks too red to be healthy," he murmured, and she was startled by the self-consciousness in his voice. She took back her hand to cross her arms.
"What time is it?" he asked suddenly, breaking his attention away from his forearm.
She glanced at the oven's clock, and headed over to the microwave as the timer began to wind down. "Quarter to ten. Why?"
He muttered a curse and leapt from the counter. "Should've called Ande after dinner," he said to himself before ruffling her hair and flying from the room. "Night, Nan! Bro!" he called, and then there was the sound of a slamming door.
"Ande..?" Nancy repeated half to herself as she grabbed the popcorn and poured it into a bowl before heading to Frank in the living room.
"Joe's new girl," Frank supplied, sitting up to make room for her—she appreciated the image of his body all sprawled out and was sad to see it go.
He snagged a handful of popcorn and shoved it into his mouth. "Not dating yet, but he'd like to. She's cute," he finished after he'd swallowed.
Nancy raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I've ever heard you call anyone cute before."
He shrugged. "Just adding some perspective for you."
"Sure."
Lightly, he shoved her shoulder. "She's more Joe's type."
"Oh?" she asked, intrigued, helping herself to the snack. "And what about you—do you have a type, Frank Hardy?"
"Hm?" He glanced at her as though he hadn't heard, but immediately blushed and looked away from her curious expression. "No, not—particularly." He cleared his throat, and visibly struggled to come up with another topic. "Do you have a type?" he repeated back, desperate for the intensity of her gaze to lessen.
She laughed. "Deflection! Not fair!" She readjusted herself on the couch to buy herself time. "Tall. Intelligent. Strong," she added with a sideways grin. "Humble. Kind."
"That's one heck of a list, Nan."
She straightened up with mock superiority, and flipped her hair over her shoulders in a dramatic gesture. "I only deserve the best."
"That you do."
The sincerity of his tone startled them both into silence, and they turned to the television as though they had just remembered it was there. Nancy was the first one to react.
"Eugh! Change it!" Frank had unknowingly landed on a music video station, which he quickly left at her request. The channel above was a black-and-white film.
"Stay?"
"For a moment."
It was a picture neither of them had heard of, and they watched it for a handful of minutes before realizing that, so late into the plot, they would never understand it. He pressed the advance button just as she opened her mouth to request it. The channel above that was a more recent movie that they vaguely recognized and stayed on, and for a while there was only the sound of their jaws grinding against the popcorn and dramatic background music.
"Do you think it's strange that we haven't stumbled upon a mystery yet?"
Nancy couldn't help but chuckle. "A little. But I'm not used to such a nice vacation—maybe we shouldn't say anything like that because it's only the first night." Immediately she leaned forward and rapped her knuckles solidly against the wooden coffee table. She could see Frank smile at the superstition. "But really, what do you have against actual vacations?" she asked as she stretched back against couch, feeling a little embarrassed as she arched her back into what was most likely a provocative pose. Frank's eyes didn't leave her until she settled back into her seat.
"I'm not against them—they just make me feel very lazy."
"I like lazy. It's good to me." She stretched her legs and placed her ankles on the table.
They continued to tolerate the film, occasionally mocking it when one thought of something particularly witty, which was less and less as the hour grew later. By the time the credits were rolling they found themselves leaning against each other and yawning deeply, Nancy's head against Frank's shoulder, his arm around her waist. They weren't quite sure how they'd gotten to that point—she remembered growing tired and he remembered putting his arm around her after she'd complained of the cold, but anything after that was lost.
Absently, Frank pressed the up button once more, and the sudden bright colors were a shock to their eyes after the muted colors of the film. Dulled by exhaustion, they watched.
"What is this?" he murmured.
"No idea," she replied, but soon the theme song rang out and the title appeared: Gravity Falls.
"Stay or sleep?"
She began to speak but it turned into a yawn. "Stay," she replied around it, and he laughed softly at the noise.
"Okay."
They watched, and they laughed, and they slowly sank farther down the couch until she lay on top of him, her head resting snugly on his chest. His hand was warm on the small of her back, and she fell asleep smiling at his comfortable touch and at the words "You sneeze like a kitten!"
