It felt remarkably unnatural going to sleep after such a rough day of kidnapping and threatening a Clurichaun with a pig eating its feet. Everyone felt the adrenaline - the tension. It could be carved up like a turkey and served on Thanksgiving, it was so thick and dry.

It was a little hard to celebrate when they were pretty sure Stan had just committed some sort of crime against the Geneva convention in their broom cupboard.

Of course, Mabel bounced back fairly quickly. For Dipper, however, the morality of it all still felt a bit… foggy. He was under no illusions, of course, that Feathers was a particularly pleasant character, but like…

What had his Grunkle done to him?!

He was soon pacing in the living room with Pacifica for company.

"Man." Dipper whispered. "Can you believe this?"

"Dipper, ever since I fell in love with you of all people? I'd believe anything."

"H-hey!"

"Just kidding, hon." She grinned, tapping his nose. "But seriously, nothing surprises me with you guys. Not anymore."

"Even my Grunkle torturing a mobster?"

"If there was anybody in this family I expected to torture a Clurichaun, it might as well have been your Grunkle Stan." Pacifica laughed and stroked Dipper's cheek. "As I said. Nothing surprises me."

Dipper smiled and held his cheek as she walked away. "Hey, uh… Pacifica."

"Yeah?"

"I'm uh… I'm sorry I ever thought you were a bad person."

She paused, turned to face him and put her hands on her hips. "Now that. That surprises me." Slowly, Pacifica walked - maybe strutted? - towards him. Dipper almost instantly felt like stepping back and hiding his face as she grabbed his vest and looked into his eyes. "I was a bad person."

The nerd in the vest swallowed, his eyes starting to dart as his pulse picked up frantically. He gave an awkward smile and tried to avoid her gaze. "N-na, you uh- you just needed polishing up a little."

"You calling me a diamond, Mr. Pines?" She beamed even wider, looped her arms through his and pulled her against him. "For someone so common, you've got a bit of a silver tongue, y'know?"

She fluttered her eyelashes as she leaned in.

Dipper swallowed again - then, as their noses touched-

"O-o-okay, I- I-" That was just about enough for him. He shot back, face as red as scarlet, sweat trickling down his brow. He turned away in a barely concealed panic. "Jeez.."

It wasn't like it was something new, of course. But for Dipper, it was all still a little too easy to fall back into his own trap of anxiety, especially when faced with what seemed to be an exponentially confident Pacifica Northwest.

He silently cursed himself, wondering if it made him look dumb or flimsy or non-committal or… well, just like a dork.

To Pacifica, it was pretty much only the latter. And kinda cute. "You're too easy."

"S-stop teasing, you're the worst!"

"So you've told me. A leopard doesn't change its spots, y'know." she smirked, pinching his cheek. "You wanna watch some cheesy horror movies and eat our body weight in popcorn?"

Dipper smirked. "Now that, that surprises me."

"I get to choose, though."

"Less surprising. The usual?"

"Duh."

Frankly, Dipper wasn't one to get bored of The Less Than Empathetic Doctor Phoebe either, but he was surprised by Pacifica's insistence to watch it every time they had a horror movie night. Hell, he was willing to do basically anything to keep the moments with Pacifica Northwest as peaceful and pleasant as they were.

All the same, things were still nagging at him. Would Marius have pulled away from that so weakly? Would he have been more confident? Maybe he should be trying to act more like-

Dammit.

He had held Pacifica's hand at The Club. Even though he, Pacifica's boyfriend, was right next to them! He knew! He had to know! Their families were meant to be married together and he was making a move! He had to be! And he was suave and polite and well dressed-

And he could barely deal with Pacifica flirting with him after more than a month.

He was pathetic, and Marius wasn't.

He had to shape up. Hell, it didn't help that he was guilty of his own baggage. He couldn't help but glance over in the general direction of Kevin and Mabel, and wonder how much they saw the irony of Mabel being the one who ended up with a Corduroy.

If they did, they didn't show it.

Dipper was all too aware of the Corduroy irony. In fact, it still bothered him. Every cross this summer with the Corduroy family bothered him. It seemed like every moment with Pacifica was spent with people telling him how much better it was than his love for Wendy.

Had all of last summer really been taken up that much by his crush on her?

No way. Right?

I mean, sure, he still wore the hat. He still blushed and squirmed whenever Wendy spoke to him. He still had the less than flattering moment in The Crawlspace. He had sniffed Wendy's hair. That… that probably still bugged Pacifica too. That wasn't so weird, right? Like… Wendy just smelled…

Okay, okay, okay, cut it out, Dipper. You had to cut your chances. You gained an amazing girlfriend and lost the redhead you fancied your chances with. I mean, you did have a chance. Of course you did. There's always a chance.

Right?

The Wendy saga was over, he was sure of it - but somehow, his mind just… wandered, y'know?

Man.

Meanwhile, Mabel was perhaps on the side of oblivious as she squealed over what - to her eyes - appeared to be Dipper's perfect romance. At last.

"Can you believe this, Kevin?! My brother and Pacifica Northwest!"

"Hasn't this been normal for like, over a month?" Kevin asked.

"Dipper being happy with anyone isn't normal, Kevin. He's almost confident around her!" She replied, shaking his shoulders excitably. "Do you have any idea how amazing it is to see him smile so much?!"

"I mean, I'm used to seeing you smile constantly, and you guys look pretty similar, so… I guess I feel like seeing him smile is ordinary?"

"Man, you totally don't get how huge this is. Look, Mr Fancy Hair, you gotta give me this. I've been trying to hook Dipper up with every guy, girl and chatbot I know for like… I dunno, a year?"

"Why would he need you to-"

"Hey, beggars can't be choosers, Corduroy." She beamed, holding his chin. "Not every guy has got your hair, or physique, or cute lil dimples when you smile-"

Kevin smirked. "Are you trying to do what Pacifica did? It's cute, but I mean-"

"Na, I'm way more charismatic." Mabel winked and locked lips with the gappy-toothed teenager without a moment's hesitation, something all too eagerly received by the Corduroy kid. The pair didn't have that same level of boundaries (or, as Pacifica might call it, decency) when it came to their interactions. And any they did have was now completely splashed to the winds - scattered by the wayside.

It was maybe testament to the more chaotic half of the Mystery Twins and the... everything about the Corduroys that the two's hesitations regarding the day's events had very quickly fallen to the wayside in place of cuddling and kissing on the stairs, giggling and the odd tickle.

Kevin was kind of surprised that the Pines hadn't collided so much romantically before. It felt so natural. It felt so right.

While Pacifica and Dipper were arguing over what microwave popcorn flavour to get in the kitchen, for Mabel and Kevin, it was… well, just Mabel and Kevin. It took a special guy that could leave Mabel Pines speechless, but she barely felt the need to speak with him around. She just held on, closing her eyes happily as she took in the best, damned situation she had ever been in.

Y'know, ignoring the whole Clurichaun mobster thing.

She kept reminding herself, pinching herself to break out of the dream she was certain she was in. But she wasn't. This was real.

Mentally her list of relationships, with the ink still fresh, was gleefully marked off with Kevin at the very top, surrounded by puffy heart-shaped stickers with googly eyes.

Mermando, Sidney, Reginald, Geraldine, Catherine, Nosfer, that girl with the false arm from the doughnut store… It was all water under the bridge. Which would have turned Nosfer into dust anyway.

She looked into Kevin's eyes and smiled. "You know, I hope this moment lasts forever, Kevin."

"Heh. Me too. I mean, it can-"

…Until Soos interrupted them.

"Sorry dudes, but I gotta break up this sesh. Kevin, does your pop even know you're here, dude?"

"Oh, man." Kevin gulped. "I completely forgot-"

"Don't worry bro, we gotcha covered. We said you were doing survival training with Ford. But we better getcha back home."

"Soos, can you do me a favour?"

"Sure, dawg."

"Never tell Wendy. She'd never let me live it down."

"Bro, I am, like, the master of secrecy," Soos replied, straight-faced - before shoving a king-sized candy bar into his mouth.