3.

Back in Greasy's...

"I KNEW it." Mabel declared through a mouthful of waffles. Dipper glanced at her joylessly as he pushed food around his plate with his fork. He had been making small, rough cube shapes from his mashed potatoes during the course of his story.

"What do you mean?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"That crush you had on her when we were twelve never really went away." Mabel sister explained, flipping her hair so it wouldn't get in her food. Dipper's jaw dropped at this accusation. As he struggled to speak, she continued, "Every relationship you've ever had at home has had a shelf life of ten months. TOPS." He winced, well aware of the fact. None of the handful of relationships he'd had survived to the end of the school year.

"I guess you did date Pacifica last summer..." She trailed, chewing thoughtfully, "...In my opinion, that hardly even counts." She paused and sipped her hot chocolate calmly. "I'm not wrong about Wendy though, am I?"

Dipper could have crawled in a hole and died, but for lack of any such escape he could only bury his face in his hands. Mabel heard him mutter something into his palms and leaned forward to better hear him.

"What?"

"I said I guess not." He repeated tersely, glaring at her through his fingers. "Mabel, can we talk about this later? She's right over there." He implored her in a harsh whisper, motioning with his head towards where Wendy was pouring coffee for the group of kids her own age. She was chatting them up, laughing at some story about the last house party they all went to.

Mabel turned back to look at her brother. Whatever had happened between Dipper and Wendy went far beyond the simple one-sided crush he harbored for her all these years. His gaze lingered on Wendy over her shoulder, and in his eyes Mabel could see longing and of all things, bitterness. She put her fork down.

"Dipper..." She whispered. Seeing him like that, Mabel felt helpless- this wasn't the sort of problem a girl could fix with yarn and glitter glue. He refocused on her, his expression unchanging.

"Please, Mabel. Later."

Mabel chewed her lip, wanting to say more—wanting to know more. Instead she grabbed her cocoa again and drank deeply, watching as rain poured over Gravity Falls. It was a wonder the town hadn't been flooded.

Ice Breaker

Naoko Asakura

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. Thanks for reading!