"I can't believe we've had to spend our last 2 study-dates actually studying," Mabel groaned as she slumped forward onto the jumbled pile of notes and books spread across her bed.

Dipper glanced up at her from his spot scrunched up against the wall on her bed, awkwardly wedged on top of a pile of cushions and stuffed animals.

"Well if we had spent some of the other ones before them doing any studying we probably wouldn't need to be cramming so hard for our finals right now," he said with an exasperated shrug before he turned back to his Calculus notes, clicking his pen in annoyance as he struggled to remember anything from the past few lectures in that class.

"I didn't hear you complaining about the lack of studying when we were smooching up a storm last week," Mabel said archly, a smug grin on her face.

Dipper coughed slightly and turned back to his notes once again, not really sure how to respond. Obviously he didn't regret the aforementioned hurricane of smooches, but he couldn't deny that his grades had been sliding downhill from their former peak of excellence and he wanted to try and put a stop to that trend before it got any worse... and that unfortunately meant cutting into some of their precious alone time to cram in some extra school work. Naturally this had made them both a little more irritable than normal, but they'd tried to hide their frustration as best they could from each other. It hadn't kept them from snapping at each other back and forth for most of the afternoon though and the atmosphere in the room was starting to become uncomfortable as a result of it.

Mabel sighed and scrunched her face into a frown as she turned her eyes back to the 3 textbooks that glared up at her expectantly from the bed: English, History and of course her old nemesis Math. Hours of endless boring MATH on a Saturday afternoon that could have been spent in a trillion better ways... some of the best being clothing-optional.

"Math on a Saturday... are you sure I'm not just having a nightmare right now? Because this feels a lot like one of my usual nightmares." Mabel said hopefully, hoping a little humor might lighten things up.

"I wish my nightmares were that mild," Dipper replied dryly.

"What are your nightmares usually like?" Mabel asked, turning back toward him with an expression of interest.

"Terrifying, but can we hold off on probing my damaged brain until after we're finished? I feel like I've been at this for hours and I can't remember most of what I've been reading," Dipper said, his voice sinking to a frustrated growl as he stared uncomprehendingly at his notebook.

Half of what he'd written down there didn't seem to connect with the other half of his notes. Some of the example equations just trailed off without any solution being presented and he noticed a small crude picture of Mabel's face that he'd drawn in the corner of the last page. He felt his ears redden at the sight of the portrait - partly from how poorly he'd drawn it but mostly from the fact that he, Dipper Pines of the nearly-straight A's and various academic awards, had apparently let himself slip so far from his normal standards that he'd begun to doodle.

Being in love is pretty great but it's definitely been rough on my grades... maybe that's why Mabel always had trouble with this stuff since she used to have so many crushes all the time? Or maybe its just that I suck at being in love since I can't seem to get my brain to focus on anything else but her for more than 10 minutes? Was I like this around Wendy?

Who am I kidding, I was probably even worse around Wendy since I was just a kid with my first crush then...

Dippers pessimistic train of thought was forced off the tracks when Mabel spoke suddenly, snapping him back to reality.

"Maybe its time for us to take a little break? We have been at this for hours and my eyeballs hurt from staring at these books - plus I think that I'm starting to get my subjects mixed up here. I could have sworn I just read something about Nixon inventing imaginary numbers to use in one of his love poems." Mabel said in a more calm tone of voice, slightly concerned at the look of frustration that had started to spread across Dipper's face.

"We've only got a week to go before the exams though - I don't want to risk flunking high school just because I got lazy at the final stretch." Dipper said in quiet annoyance.

"Bro, you aren't going to flunk out - you just got a 'C' on one test last week, that doesn't mean you need to go completely pants-on-head cray cray here." Mabel said, sliding up to a sitting position and reaching out to place a comforting hand on Dippers shoulder.

Dipper felt some of the tension knotted up inside himself start to unwind at the feel of Mabel's friendly grip. He lolled his head to the side and rubbed his slightly stubbly cheek against the soft skin of her hand and smiled quietly to himself when he heard her giggle from the ticklish sensation.

"Sorry if I haven't been a lot of fun to be around lately - I've never really had to go into panic mode about my classes before and I guess its kind of got me a little irritable," he admitted quietly.

"No need to apologize, you've helped me out a lot with this stuff before... heck, that's kind of how we ended up getting together in the first place if you'll recall." Mabel said with an impish grin.

"I'm really hoping that there was more to our relationship than the fact that I was willing to give you a little tutoring," Dipper said wryly.

"Well of course there is," Mabel said as she leaned in to plant a soft kiss on his forehead, "but it did help a little bit."

"And you used to say that all my studying and stuff would never help me get girls," Dipper joked, reaching out a hand to stroke Mabel's cheek affectionately.

"It helped you get a girl- singular, not plural. You're still a big nerd though." Mabel corrected him, sticking her tongue out at Dipper playfully.

Dipper rolled his eyes and then impulsively tossed his half-useless notebook onto the pile of books and papers that lay scattered across the bed and reached out his arm to pull Mabel in close to him, eliciting a squeak of surprise when he planted his lips firmly against hers. She wasn't caught off guard for long though, and her own arms quickly snaked around his neck to hold him firmly against her while she pulled him deeper into the kiss. They rolled back and forth across the crinkling layers of paper underneath them, half making out and half wrestling like rambunctious children.

"I thought Mr. Serious wasn't interested in fun anymore - what was all that stuff earlier about needing to study?" Mabel said challengingly when she'd managed to roll Dipper onto his back and was sitting firmly on his chest. Her cheeks were flushed from more than just simple exhaustion after their play-fight and her eyes were wide.

Dipper felt his heart beating hard in his chest. Studying didn't seem quite as important at this moment as the warm weight of the girl straddling his torso.

"Well, you had said that it was a good time for a break..." Dipper replied, half trying to convince himself of his own words as one of his hands slid up along the smooth skin of Mabel's bare thigh.

It's not like grades are everything... and it really was just one C.

My first C ever though.

Right before Finals. The FINAL finals that I'm ever going to take.

Goddammit.

Dipper breathed a heavy sigh out through his nose and slid his hand off from Mabel's leg, balling it up into a fist and lightly tapping it against his own hip instead of exploring further as he'd originally intended.

"Maybe it's really not a good time though... I mean... I really want to take a break with you, but this is kind of the whole reason that I've been doing bad in the first place." Dipper said hesitantly.

Mabel's expression shifted from surprise to disappointment and finally to anger in an instant and she glared down at Dipper in response.

"So you're saying its my fault that you haven't been captain super-nerd with the perfect grades lately?" she asked, her fists on her hips.

Mabel would probably have looked more intimidating if she hadn't still been straddling Dipper's torso - as it was he wasn't really sure whether he found the sight scary or slightly hot.

"No, I'm not saying it's your fault - its mine for not being able to focus on my work in class... I mean, other guys manage to have girlfriends without their grades going to hell." Dipper said, trying to do a little damage control as quickly as he could.

"Going to hell? It was ONE C. Seriously - just one. It's not like a C is the end of the world either - I get C's all the time and you don't see me going crazy about it." Mabel said grumpily as she scooted herself off of him and settled back down onto the bed.

"Well I don't get C's so forgive me for freaking out a little!" Dipper said angrily, instantly regretting the words as soon as they left his mouth.

Mabel turned to him, a look of shock on her face and tears starting to well up in the corners of her eyes.

"Maybe you'd be happier studying in your own room then!" Mabel said angrily, clenching the muscles in her jaw to keep it from quivering into a sob.

"Wait! I didn't mean anything by that - I mean... you know... I'm sorry for making a big deal out of this-" Dipper began, reaching out a hand to her which was slapped aside.

"Get out." Mabel said quietly, turning away from him.

Dipper felt his breath catch in his throat. This was bad. He'd fucked up bad.

How do I fix this?

No ideas came to mind, and he wordlessly gathered up his notes and textbooks and slouched off toward his room. When the latch on Mabel's door clicked shut behind him he tried to pretend that he couldn't hear her starting to cry.

It didn't work.

Predictably, Dipper didn't manage to get any studying done while he sat brooding in his room wondering what Mabel was thinking. The longer he thought the more he realized just exactly what he'd done wrong and it left him feeling worse and worse.

Mabel had never been at the top of her non-art classes. It wasn't that she wasn't smart by any means - she was just as bright as her brother, but school work didn't come easily to her. Tests, homework, reports - they all bored Mabel to tears and she always had trouble focusing on them unless she made a huge effort. C's weren't uncommon in her report cards, and she'd always been a little jealous of the praise Dipper had gotten from their parents for his high grades and awards in class.

He'd never made a big deal about his achievements though - not to her. He'd never, EVER treated her like she wasn't as smart as him or belittled her grades... but here he was saying that because he'd dropped down to her level just one time that it was unacceptable. Like he'd failed himself or something for being like her.

Why had I made such a big deal out of this in the first place? It's almost the end of the year and I've made A's and B's in all my classes from day one till last week... I could probably bomb my finals completely and still manage a passing grade... not that I'd want to put that particular theory to a test of course.

I mean... I DO like getting high grades, I can't deny that... it feels good to see my name at the top of something since I wasn't ever the most popular or athletic guy... or even in the top ten of those categories. Or top 20 probably... especially the popularity one. Alright, so maybe the whole reason really is just pride - plain and simple. I liked being the best at something... I wish I had tried explaining that instead of just snapping at Mabel like that.. ugh... she must think I'm a complete jackass.

I'd agree with her right now if she did.

He leaned back into his bed and stared up at the ceiling in disappointment with how the day had gone. Today hadn't come out of nowhere though... it was a symptom of the tension that had been coiling up unpleasantly in Dipper's gut now for a while. Time had been racing by in a blur over the past few weeks, dragging Dipper and Mabel along into its hectic flow - the way it always seemed to do whenever the year was drawing to a close. This year seemed especially fast though, and as the days had turned to weeks Dipper had been feeling a pressure grow in his chest at the thought that this was going to be it. The end of high school. The end of living at home. The beginning of the rest of his life and whatever it was going to bring.

When the year had begun he'd been excited for the prospect of all of that, but the closer it came to becoming a reality the more uneasy he felt. Unlike a lot of the things that bothered him he had never brought this particular worry up to Mabel though... partially because some of the worry centered around her, or at least around his relationship with her. The uncertainty of the future had started to get to him. Would they still be together after graduation? Would they end up drifting off to different campuses and losing touch? Would that connection that had grown between them weaken? Would she even want to still be with him at all after that fight they'd just had?

They'd never had a fight the whole time they were together... not a real fight anyway, just their usual sibling tussles over control of the TV remote or who got to drive the van or dumb things like that. Everything had just gone so perfect for them that the way he'd hurt Mabel's feelings earlier seemed to stand out like an open wound in his mind against the otherwise rosy memories of the past few months.

It usually takes a lot to get Mabel that upset though... maybe she's also been feeling tense lately if something that minor got her so worked up? Or maybe it didn't seem that minor to her... ugh, she's the closest person in the world to me and sometimes I still can't figure out what she's thinking.

Almost out of reflex Dipper reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his phone, checking the screen for any sign that Mabel might have texted or called him in the hours since he'd been ejected from her room. Maybe he'd been so distracted from wallowing in guilt that he might not have noticed? Maybe all was forgiven and he could go back to hanging out with her right now without any awkwardness?

Zero missed calls. No incoming texts.

No such luck.

He considered sending her a text of his own, but every time he started writing it just seemed to come out wrong and he ended up deleting the whole thing. He gave up after about ten minutes of failed attempts and was going to angrily toss the phone down on the bed before he was seized by a sudden impulse instead.

Dipper slid his thumb across the surface of the touch-screen, flipping through the various tabs until he found the image folder. Before he'd started his relationship with Mabel he hadn't really had any use for the camera on his phone - it had actually always seemed kind of silly to him. Mabel hadn't lost her love of scrap-booking and documenting her life through colorful pictures over the years though and since she couldn't exactly make an album full of pictures of her and Dipper together without risking it being discovered she had resorted to keeping her album completely digital, and she'd insisted that Dipper join in... if only to have his phone as backup in case something happened to hers.

He'd grumbled a bit about it at first - his own memory had always been fine, why bother to take so many pictures? It was funny though - he'd found himself glancing back at the album more and more often as time went on. There was something about seeing the shots that they had taken together that made his memories seem crisper than normal - more real than they were when he was just playing them back in his own head. The longer he looked at a picture the more those little details that he'd otherwise forgotten would jump out from the screen and trigger whole new cascades of memory.

Despite all his worry he smiled to himself in the darkness of the room, his face illuminated by the soft glow of the screen as he paged through the digital album. He paused briefly at a shot of him and Mabel washing the former family van after it had been officially given to them by their parents once their mother had bought a brand new car for herself. It had been the last nice day of the Spring before the California heat had moved in over the town full force - Mabel wore her usual grin as well as an old t-shirt and a distractingly short pair of cut-offs, and Dipper wore about eleven billion gallons of water from the hose fight that he'd clearly lost a few minutes before the shot was taken.

Of course I couldn't blast her back - with a shirt that thin the neighbors would have gotten one hell of a free show if I got it wet.

He flipped to the next screen and found the image that he'd been looking for - a shot of the pair at the dance they'd attended last month. He'd had to call in a favor from a friend in another school district to get access to the event, but it had been worth it for just how happy the whole night had made Mabel. She had worn an incredibly fancy dress made from some sort of shimmering purple fabric and trimmed with flowing ribbons of golden satin, and Dipper had even managed to look a little formal himself in a nice button up shirt. He'd even gone the whole evening without a hat of any kind, leaving his birthmarked forehead bare for the world to see. No one was there but strangers that he was going to see for only one night of his life, so he could stand the shame.

The dance had been both more and less magical than Dipper had been expecting. The music was just as lame as he had predicted it would be and most of the teachers chaperoning the event had given the twins strange looks since they couldn't recognize them, but the fake school ID's that Mabel had forged looked convincing enough in the dim mood-lighting to be given a pass and no one really hassled them afterwards. They had drank the punch, Dipper had miraculously managed not to step on Mabel's toes at all as they had slow danced together under the colored spotlights lights of the strange schools gym & at the end of the night when the last song was being played they shared a kiss together that was witnessed only by the few remaining students who hadn't already left and by the disapproving chaperons who quickly hustled them out of the building for "inappropriate conduct".

It was a completely mundane experience that millions of high school couples across the country had lived through before and that millions more would live through in the future... but the fact that it felt so normal had just made the night for Mabel, and Dipper had felt his heart leap in his chest at the sight of her ecstatic grin when they walked out into the damp night air on their way back to their newly acquired van.

After a night like that we wouldn't break up just because of one little fight, right?

Dipper gave the dance picture one last look and then flipped back to text mode. He was the one who'd made the mistake - he'd have to be the one to try and fix it.

Dipper: Sorry about earlier.

Dipper: I was an ass.

Dipper: Love you.

He waited for a few minutes but the phone stayed silent and tension slumped into disappointment.

Way to go Pines.

A bright chiming sound shattered the silence of the night a few feet from Dipper's head. Bleary eyes peeled open as he was pulled out from his dream and he turned to see the glow of his phone beckoning him from the nightstand. He clumsily fumbled his arm out and caught hold of the buzzing device on the third try and pulled it to him.

Text message? Who's texting me at... 2 AM?... Jesus.

He tapped the screen and opened the little dancing animated envelope icon that Mabel had installed on his phone when he'd left it unattended for a few minutes about a month ago. So far he hadn't been able to find a way to get rid of the annoying cartoon character since she'd also changed his password and had refused to give it back to him.

Mabel: U awake

Dipper felt a surge of nervousness at the message. He hadn't seen her since their fight earlier that day and he wasn't sure the best way to respond. She must have already seen his earlier messages, right? Would it be pathetic to say he was sorry again? Deciding against a further apology, he went for something casual.

Dipper: Yeah. What's up?

He leaned back into his pillows and held the phone loosely in his hand, trying not to drift off back into sleep before he felt the phone buzz once again in his fingers.

Mabel: Cant sleep.

Dipper rubbed his sore eyes and glared blearily at the phone screen.

Dipper: Is this a bad dreams kind of can't sleep?

Mabel: Not really its a too much thinking kind of cant sleep

Dipper: Thinking about what?

There was a long pause between replies and Dipper felt somewhat worried that he'd said something wrong again. Was anything going to go his way today? Halfway into another self-pity laced thought he felt his phone buzz in his hand and glanced down at the glowing screen.

Mabel: Can I come over? Texting isn't as good as talking

Dipper hesitated... it was really late and that would definitely look bad if their parents woke up and found them together. He really wanted to patch things up with her though, and some things mattered a lot more to him than his paranoia.

Dipper: Sure

Mabel: K be there in a minute

Dipper lay back in his bed, feeling a sense of nervous anticipation building in him. His ears strained in the dark and after a few minutes he heard the faint creak of a door opening down the hall and the very soft tread of footsteps along the carpet. His bedroom door was pushed open without a creak, but Dipper still felt his heart start to pound hard in his chest regardless. He'd never had Mabel in his room this late at night... well, not since they were young enough to still have completely innocent sibling room sleepovers anyway,... and every sound seemed a thousand times louder here in the darkness of his bedroom than it would have during the daytime. He caught sight of Mabel silhouetted against the frame of the door wearing a long nightshirt and with her long hair adorably tousled from rolling back and forth across her pillows.

"You sure this is okay?" Mabel stage whispered to him, sounding slightly more nervous than Dipper was used to hearing.

Dipper swallowed the last of his paranoia. Play it cool...

"Yeah, come on in - just shut the door quietly," he whispered back more loudly than he had hoped to.

The door shut without a click, throwing the room into darkness once again but Dipper switched on the small reading lamp he kept on the table next to his bed and motioned Mabel over. Wordlessly she tip-toed across his bedroom floor, dodging the minefield of unwashed clothes, discarded books & various other odds and ends before she reached his bed. Dipper sat up and threw back the blankets, offering her a space beside him. He felt his heart catch in his throat when she hesitated, but she did slide in next to him and the two lay awkwardly side by side on their backs, not quite meeting each others eyes.

"Sorry for earlier," Dipper began, "I was an ass."

"I know - I got your texts," Mabel said. Dipper felt her small warm hand reach out and find his and felt relief flood his entire body when she gave it a small squeeze. "I'm sorry too. I might have overreacted a little bit when I blew up at you earlier."

"Its alright... I just really need to start thinking before I open my mouth," Dipper said quietly, squeezing her fingers back gently.

"It really wasn't a big deal... I mean... I know you weren't actually calling me dumb or anything... I guess all the studying lately had just gotten me stressed out and that was the last straw." Mabel said. "Plus I guess I was already kind of mad at you since you were being a giant butt all day,"

"Well, maybe I was kind of a butt yeah... but a giant one?" Dipper asked, mock hurt in his voice.

"Oh yeah, a huge butt. Guinness records level butt." Mabel continued, her voice becoming lighter as she elaborated.

"Are we okay?" Dipper asked suddenly, feeling a prickle on the back of his neck as the words left his mouth.

So much for thinking before I speak.

Mabel turned to face him, and Dipper was relieved to see a small smile on the corners of her mouth.

"Of course... I mean, it was just a little fight. It's not the end of the world or anything Dippingsauce." she said.

Dipper breathed out a sigh of genuine relief. Suddenly the universe seemed just a little bit brighter than it had earlier in that long afternoon.

Maybe it was crazy of me to think that one fight meant the end... but in my defense I'm still not super experienced at this stuff.

"So what were you thinking about that couldn't let you get to sleep?" Dipper asked, hoping to change the subject and move things on further from the fight as soon as possible.

Mabel reddened slightly and her eyes drifted off to the side.

"Well... I guess I was also worried if we were okay. I was embarrassed about getting so mad this afternoon and I didn't know what to say. That's why I never answered you back earlier." she said, her voice somewhat hesitant.

Dipper reached out and arm and pulled wrapped it gently around Mabel's waist to pull her into a hug, feeling relieved and happy at the feel of her warmth squeezing against him. She gave a contented sigh and buried her face into his neck, but Dipper felt an odd sharp feeling near his chest and heard something crinkle strangely. He pulled back in confusion and noticed that Mabel's nightshirt had a small pocket on the chest and he spotted something poking out from it. He reached out for the object but Mabel quickly slapped a hand down over the pocket and blushed a little brighter.

"What's that you got there sis?" Dipper asked, half-guessing the answer.

"Nothing. Never you mind." Mabel said, her mouth screwing up into a cute pout.

"Really? Because it looked sort of familiar... almost like a con-" Dipper began teasingly.

"I only brought it just in case... you know... if there was going to be any.. um... make-up... stuff." Mabel said.

"Ah," Dipper said, feeling a blush start to spread through his own face at the idea. "Um... had you been anticipating any kind of make-up... stuff?"

"Well... I don't know... it never hurts to be prepared." Mabel said.

They sat in a slightly embarrassed silence for a few seconds before Dipper leaned in close and planted a small kiss on Mabel's cheek.

"You're pretty cute when you get all flustered like that," he said with just a slight hint of teasing in his voice.

"Oh shut up... you should see your face when we're in the middle of sexy times - its hilarious." Mabel shot back.

"Alright, alright - I'm backing off... any kind of sexy times is probably just theoretical right now anyway." Dipper said jokingly.

Mabel gave a small nod in response.

"Is it cool if I stay here a bit more though? We didn't really get to spend any time together today and it kind of got me all grumped out." she said.

"I'd like that," Dipper replied happily.

Mabel quickly busied herself piling up pillows and rearranging blankets to her comfort and then settled in next to Dipper, breathing out a sigh of contentment once she'd finally gotten everything arranged to her convenience.

"What we're we even fighting about earlier? I mean, it's the end of the year... this is normally the time that we'd be celebrating already." Mabel said.

"I don't know, I guess I was just stressing out about a lot of things... the grades were just a tiny part of it." Dipper replied.

"What sort of stuff?" Mabel asked, concern lacing through her voice.

Dipper hesitated... he'd never really had to put this odd latent ball of fear that had lodged itself in his chest into words before and it took a while to try and find a way to express it. He finally settled on the simplest part of it all and opened with a question.

"Well, do you ever wonder about the future?" Dipper asked.

"Sometimes yeah," Mabel said with a nod.

"What sort of stuff do you wonder about?" Dipper asked in an interested tone.

"Robots mostly – like, are they ever going to be a thing or is it all just movie stuff?" Mabel replied, stroking her chin thoughtfully.

"I wasn't really thinking about the robot kind of future when I asked that question," Dipper said dryly.

"Clones then? Because that one seems a lot more likely to me," Mabel said playfully.

"I was thinking more about our immediate future really," Dipper replied, "you know, like when the last day of school finally rolls around and its time for us to graduate. The post-high school sort of future."

"Oh," Mabel said, "well yeah, of course I have... I mean, its kind of hard not to with all the big graduation banners and posters and stuff all over the school,"

"Is it just me or did they start putting that stuff up around the hallways earlier than usual this year?" Dipper asked, distracted in spite of himself.

"I know, right? It's like they can't wait to get rid of us or something." Mabel said, her voice loaded with mock indignation.

"It seems kind of excessive to me, I mean it's not like we were even a really bad class or anything." Dipper said.

"Weeelll... there was all that stuff that you ended up doing when we we're sophomores with the weird talismans and junk that you'd brought back from Grunkle Stan's." Mabel replied, prodding Dipper in a playfully accusing manner.

"I eventually fixed everything that I broke with that stuff!" Dipper objected, "No one but you and me even remembers half the things that happened that year anyway."

Possibly because of that mass memory altering incantation that I found in the back of the journal to make the rest of the school forget about that stuff... especially the homecoming disaster.

I really hope there weren't any serious long term effects from that... I'd hate to think I was the one responsible for the all time low test scores from that year. Just how much had they ended up forgetting anyway?

"I know, I'm just busting your chops bro," Mabel said as she leaned in close to plant a soothing kiss on his cheek.

Dipper couldn't stay annoyed after feeling her warm lips pressed affectionately to his skin, and he snaked an arm out around her waist and pulled her in close to him for a hug. He wordlessly buried his face in the crook of Mabel's neck to just breath in her scent and try to release some of the ugly tension that had been weighing down on him throughout the day. She seemed to sense his feelings despite his silence and ran her fingers soothingly through his hair and hummed gently deep in her chest, her own arms circling his shoulders and holding him close to her.

"Do you know what college you want to go to after graduation?" Dipper asked, his voice muffled slightly by how closely his mouth was pressed to Mabel's neck. He punctuated his sentence by placing a gentle kiss on the bit of collarbone peeking out from her over-large nightshirt, sending a pleasant tingle through her skin.

"I dunno... never gave it too much thought," Mabel replied honestly as she continued to stroke her hands over Dippers hair, one hand trailing down lower to run her fingernails gently down his spine in that way she knew he liked. "Somewhere that I can study art I guess, but most schools have an art program don't they?"

"A lot of them do yeah," Dipper said, raising his head up to look at Mabel's face. Her eyes looked lovely in the starlight filtering in through his half-open window blinds and the soft yellow light from his reading lamp gave her skin a golden glow.

"What college do you want to go to?" Mabel asked, temporarily snapping him out of his admiring reverie.

"I haven't given it too much thought either," Dipper said with a shrug of his own.

"What? That's impossible – you're constantly thinking about this kind of future stuff! You're probably more responsible than most of our adult relatives." Mabel said in a tone of genuine, though quiet, surprise.

"Well okay, I had given it some thought before," Dipper admitted, "but I didn't have any definite ideas. I mean, that was before we started going out... and when we did get together I didn't really know where things were going with us or what I was doing at the start... but the longer it went on the happier I got... and... well... I didn't want to start just planning out my future by myself... I wanted to plan a future... with you."

"Oh," Mabel said, a small catch in her voice, "um...wow..."

The room was quiet except for the teens hushed breathing and Dipper felt the sweat start to bead on his forehead. Why had I said that? Why now? Why on the day when we've just had a big fight and she called me a Guinness Record level butt? What is she thinking? Did I go too far? Is the future stuff too much? Did I just creep her out? Can I pull back from this? Have I screwed it all up? What do I say?

"Look, I'm sorry if me mentioning future stuff is creepy or anything, I may have overesti-" Dipper began before his voice was silenced by Mabel jamming her lips against his and pulling his face tightly against hers for a suffocating kiss.

Dipper's response was all instinct and he kissed Mabel back with a heat that matched hers, his hands roaming automatically from the curls of her hair and down her back and sides.

She broke the kiss and gave him a long look, her eyes wide and glistening oddly in the light filtering in through the window blinds.

"It wasn't creepy," she said as a small smile started to tug at the corners of her mouth. "It was sweet."

"Yeah?" Dipper had asked.

"Of course yeah... I want there to be an us after we're done with school... and it's nice to know that you've been thinking about it too." Mabel replied.

"What had you been thinking?" Dipper asked.

"I'd just kind of assumed that we'd end up going to the same school... maybe even get an apartment together if we could manage it." Mabel said.

"So you'd never worried about us going to different campuses or drifting apart or anything?" Dipper said.

"Never crossed my mind," Mabel said only slightly dishonestly.

"That's good to hear." Dipper said, feeling somewhat lost but definitely happy.

She smiled fully at his slightly puzzled expression and leaned into him for another kiss, purring happily into his mouth as her hands sought out his and twined their fingers tightly together. Dipper felt his heart start to beat hard at the feel of her soft curves pressing up against him, her body feeling hot to the touch even through her huge colorful nightshirt. They moved in closer, her body molding against his and sending his heart racing in his chest as her long smooth legs tangled up with his, rubbing against his bare skin in an extremely distracting way. His own hands slipped out from Mabel's and toyed with the hem of her long shirt before he decided to go for it and slipped them up under the garment, roaming against the soft warm skin hidden under it. He discovered, with a not unpleasant shock, that the shirt was apparently the only thing that Mabel was wearing at the moment. Mabel hummed encouragingly into his mouth as his hands explored her and her own hands slid up along his back, her nails trailing up over his shoulders and along his spine in an extremely interesting way, and before long she had helped him slip the shirt up over her head and impatiently tugged his boxer shorts down off his hips to leave them both completely bare against one another beneath his blanket.

"So, is this the kind of make-up stuff you were expecting?" Dipper has panted jokingly into Mabel's ear between increasingly heated kisses.

"Nope, this is regular 'I'm in love with you' stuff," Mabel replied, her face flushed as she nipped her teeth gently into Dipper's neck.

Dipper tried not to let his brain go completely numb when she started to suck gently against his throat, and she looked up at him with a slightly evil grin when she noticed the faraway look in his eyes.

"Well, maybe 20% make-up stuff... 30 tops," she admitted before she mashed her lips against his hard and dug her nails hard into his shoulders when she felt his fingers trail gently down her belly and start stroking against her teasingly.

Neither of them had much to say again for a while though, distracted as they were by things more interesting than simple words. Mabel had her teeth clamped down on her lower lip hard enough to muffle the little squeaks and gasps that Dipper was starting to coax out of her and before long the boy was fumbling around the tangle of blankets and pillows for Mabel's discarded nightshirt, finally pulling out the small foil square package from its pocket triumphantly as she smiled up at him.

There was a pause - a brief moment of stillness between Dipper recovering the condom and the proceeding flurry of activity when he found his eyes locked with Mabel's and felt something pass through them and between them... he wasn't sure if he could ever put it into words, but if he tried the closest would have been a sense of completeness that seemed to come over him in that moment. He knew where he was, and who he was & what he was doing - and all of the uncertainty and worry and stress that had been bothering him suddenly seemed ridiculous.

Of course things were going to be okay.

Why shouldn't they be?

He had Mabel and she had him and that was that.

Before long though they each found their thoughts buried under layers of competing sensations. Mabel's legs wrapping themselves tightly around Dipper's hips to hold him inside her. The feel of her white, even teeth biting less than gently into his shoulder to muffle the moans that wanted to claw their way out of her throat. The dizzying feeling when that coil of heat deep in Mabel's belly started to tighten up with each passing second. The pounding of Dipper's heart in his chest as he felt himself getting closer. Sweat soaked skin sliding and slipping together amidst panting breaths and desperate kisses and frantic whispers that were half curses and half declarations of love. That moment that seemed to drag out forever when Mabel felt herself pushed to the edge, almost screaming in relief when that last twinge of pleasure was enough to let it all flow out from her. The sudden blinding flash when her tightly shut eyelids flew open to stare at nothing and her mouth hung open in a cute little 'O'...

The stars had faded from the sky and its deep purple shades had given away to an ever lightening gray, but Dipper hadn't bothered to take much notice of it. He was enjoying the feel of Mabel dozing gently in the crook of his arm, her head resting gently against his chest. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost 5 AM and he reluctantly nudged Mabel awake. She had slipped her discarded nightshirt back over her head and planted a final quick kiss on his cheek before she made her way to the bedroom door, no more eager to be discovered sleeping in her brothers bed than he was.

"You know... when we're in living on our own in college we could probably sleep together like that all the time and not have to split up in the morning," she said as she paused by the doorway.

Dipper felt a smile spread across his face at the thought... especially at the unspoken agreement that there was going to be a them once they were out in the world. A shared future.

"Something else to look forward to about college then," he replied.

The door clicked shut and Dipper flopped back bonelessly on his bed, exhausted and elated and feeling a sense of energy and excitement that he hadn't felt in a while.

He had his whole life ahead of him, and more importantly he knew that he had someone who wanted to share it with him through thick and thin.