Author's Note: Hey guys! So this is my first attempt at a Gravity Falls fanfic. I hope it turns out well, and that I do all of the characters justice. Please let me know what you think! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls.

Mabel's eyes lit up as she spotted the boy that was getting ready to exit the Mystery Shack. She nimbly made her way over, stopping directly beside the cute blonde.

"Well hello there," she said with a coy smile, "It seems as though you could use some help." Mabel indicated to the big bundle of recently purchased merchandise in the boys arms, "Here, let me give you a hand."

The boy just laughed a little nervously and gave Mabel an uneasy look, "No, that's alright. I'm fine thanks."

"Are you sure? I could help you carry some of that stuff out to your car."

"It's no trouble. Really," the blonde insisted.

Mabel grinned wide, undeterred by the boy's hesitancy, "You scallywag! There's nothing to be afraid of; I don't bite! Ok, you caught me; I do occasionally, but only on Tuesdays!" Mabel laughed at her nonsensical joke and lightly punched the boy in his arm. In turn, he shot her a look that let her know she was coo coo for cocoa puffs and started inching closer towards the door.

Noticing that he was trying to escape, Mabel flung out an arm to try and stop him, "You have quite a lot of stuff there. Really, I don't mind helping."

"Seriously, you don't need to do that," the boy tried moving his arms out of Mabel's reach just as she was in the process of attempting to grab one of his items. She had intended to grab the snow globe that was at the top of his pile, but ended up grabbing a t-shirt from somewhere in the middle when he tried pulling his arms away from her. This resulted in his entire pile of Mystery Shack merchandise to go toppling to the ground.

Mabel immediately bent down and started picking up as many of the souvenirs as she could, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make it all fall!" She felt her heart sink when she noticed the shattered remains of what once was a set of mugs, "I promise I'll pay you back for these," she said as she held a piece of broken glass between her forefinger and her thumb.

The boy angrily gathered up everything that wasn't broken, "Don't even bother! This wouldn't have happened if you would have just left me alone like I asked you to!" He forcefully snatched the rest of his items that Mabel was holding and walked out the door, letting it slam shut behind him.

Mabel winced at the loud noise of the door slamming. She picked herself up off of the floor and went to retrieve the dustpan, willing away the tears that were threatening to spill.

Just as she was about to clean up the mess she unintentionally made, Soos (who had seen the whole fiasco) came over and took the dust pan out of her grasp, "I've got it, she dude."

Mabel gave him a grateful smile, "Thanks, Soos." He just gave her a nod and focused his attention on the broken glass before him.

Mabel returned to her spot at the cash register, as Wendy was on her break. She replayed the incident with the cute blonde over in her head and sighed dejectedly. She didn't understand how she always managed to screw up when it came to guys. It seemed like each and every time she tried to flirt with a guy there was something she did wrong. Was it her clothing? Her smile? Her personality? She feared that she was going to be doomed to a life of failed after failed attempts at romance. After all, she was already 15 years old and still had yet to have had a steady boyfriend.

Dipper and Wendy came walking through the back door of the shack, laughing with one another, "And then he actually ate it!"

Dipper wiped tears of mirth from his eyes, "Man, Thompson is a freak!"

"Tell me about it!"

Dipper and Wendy stopped just short of the cash register, where Mabel was sitting. Dipper quickly took note of Mabel's red tinged eyes and immediately went over to her, concern evident in his facial features, "What happened? Why were you crying?"

Mabel just gave him a wry smile. She ignored his question, instead asking one of her own, "Do you think I'll ever have a successful summer romance?"

Dipper sighed as he mentally put the pieces together in his mind, fully realizing what had been the cause of Mabel's distress, "Of course you will, Mabel."

She looked at him skeptically, "How can you be so sure? I mean, every single one I've had so far, or at least attempted to have, has failed miserably! The only semi successful summer romance I've ever had was with Mermando, and that was back when I was 12!"

Wendy put her hand on Mabel's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, "Don't worry about romance too much, kiddo. Seriously, guys suck."

"Yeah, and besides, if a guy can't see how awesome and down to earth you are, then he's not worthy of dating you," Dipper replied as he gave his sister a soft smile.

Mabel looked to both of them with a happy grin on her face. She knew she could always count on them to be there for her and make her feel better, "Thanks, guys; you two always know just what to say." She hopped off of the stool from behind the register and made her way towards the door that led into the living room, "I'm gonna head upstairs and lay down for a bit. I'll catch you guys later."

Wendy waved her goodbye and went to her respective position behind the cash register. Dipper watched his sister's retreating form and turned to Wendy when Mabel was no longer in view, "I hope she doesn't take all these failed summer romances to heart."

Wendy waved the notion off with the flick of her wrist, "Pssh, since when has Mabel ever been seriously down in the dumps? Besides, she seemed to be feeling better after talking to us."

Dipper picked up a box full of Grunkle Stan bobble heads and began stocking them up on some shelves, "I guess so, but she's been pretty hard on herself about this whole romance stuff lately. Just last week she went back to sweater town because some guy at the arcade blew off her advances. She hadn't been to sweater town for a solid 14 months. 14 months, Wendy! That's the longest she's ever been away from sweater town, and then some bonehead comes along and ruins it all!"

"Alright alright, sheesh! I'll admit that she's been taking this whole summer romance stuff more seriously than she usually does, but face it, Dipper. She's not 12 years old anymore, and the concept of having a boyfriend who actually cares for her is a lot more appealing now. Every girl wants a guy that will treat her right. But I still wouldn't make a big deal out of this. Mabel's always been a happy go lucky type of person, and I highly doubt that will change anytime soon."

Dipper paused and let Wendy's words sink in. He thought of his sister and of her carefree attitude; whenever something went astray she always managed to bounce right back up, "You're right, Mabel will be back to her cheerful self in no time."

Wendy snatched a magazine from the magazine rack on her left and smirked at Dipper, "Of course I'm right."

?!

Later that night, Dipper made his way up the stairs of the Mystery Shack after his shift had ended. He walked down the hallway and knocked on the door to the room that he and Mabel still shared. For the past three years, Mabel and Dipper spent their summers in Gravity Falls and returned to their home in Piedmont in the fall. Each and every year Mabel and Dipper stayed in the same room up in the attic of the Mystery Shack. The room still held the same old mildew stains that had been there since the Pines twins first arrived in the peculiar little town, but Mabel and Dipper wouldn't have traded it for anything. Though disgusting, the room was charming in its own way. Dipper opened the door and entered the room after receiving an affirmative from Mabel.

Dipper was about to lie down on his bed when he noticed Mabel standing in front of the mirror. She was twisting all about, viewing herself from every angle she could see.

Dipper quirked a brow at his sister's antics, "What are you doing?"

Mabel frowned at her reflection and huffed in frustration, "Am I ugly, Dipper?"

Dipper was taken aback by the question. Where did that come from? Mabel had never fused over her looks before, as she was always rather confident in her appearance. Dipper supposed Mabel was still thinking about her failed summer romances. He looked at his sister standing before him. He looked at her long, toned legs and up to her slim waist. She had lost all traces of baby fat and gained soft, feminine curves. Finally, his eyes settled on her face. He took in her delicate facial features, her plump lips and her warm, sepia colored eyes. Her wavy, chocolate brown locks ran in rivulets down her back. He had always known his sister was pretty, but he had never really noticed just how beautiful she was until now.

"Mabel, you are far from ugly. Don't let some stupid jerk of a guy make you forget that."

Mabel just huffed once more, unhappy with her brother's response, "What is it then? Why do all guys turn away from me? What is it that's wrong with me?"

Dipper frowned at his sister, "Mabel, there's nothing wrong with you. You're perfect just the way you are. Any guy would be lucky to have you."

Mabel ignored Dipper, instead focusing her attention back to her reflection in the mirror, "Do you think it's my clothes? Maybe it's time to ditch these silly sweaters." She looked down at the sweater she was adorning; it was bright pink with a sheep wearing sunglasses and in black lettering it read, 'I'm baaaaad to the bone.' She sighed, wondering if it were possible to be wearing anything more childish than the outfit she was currently sporting.

Dipper was horror-struck by his sister's words. Mabel without her quirky sweaters was like a pb and j sandwich without the peanut butter; it just didn't make sense. He walked up to Mabel and grasped her hands, forcing her to stop tugging at her sweater. He looked at her in the eyes, "Mabel, please stop fussing over this. There's no point in dating a guy if he doesn't like you for you. Your sweaters are a part of you, and it's weird to imagine you without them. You don't need to change yourself for a guy, ok?"

Mabel looked back at her brother and let out a small sigh. She smiled softly, "Thanks, Dipper. I'm sorry I've been bothering you so much with this whole charade."

Dipper chuckled and smiled back at her, "It's no problem, Mabel. And you aren't the one that's bothering me. It's the idiots that keep hurting you that bother me."

Mabel's grin grew wider at her brother's words, and she wrapped her arms around him in an affectionate hug, "You're the best brother in the whole wide world, Dip."

Dipper returned the hug and laughed easily, "You bet I am."

?!

Dipper lay in his bed and stared up at the wooden ceiling. He glanced over to Mabel's sleeping form and sighed a little sadly. He had never seen Mabel put herself down as much as she had tonight. Things had been progressively getting worse. At first, whenever one of Mabel's attempts at a summer romance would flounder, she would just brush it off and wait until the next boy came around. But pretty soon she started sulking when her flirting strategies would fail, and now she was going so far as to even suggest ridding herself of her sweaters forever. Dipper didn't understand it. Mabel was an amazing person, and she should be able to see that. He didn't like the fact that his sister was so upset over all this romance mumbo jumbo. He just wanted her to be happy and to accept herself as the remarkable person she is.

Dipper was two seconds away from falling asleep when the idea came to him. If Mabel wasn't able to find a guy to like her, maybe Dipper needed to find one for her. He was going to find Mabel the perfect boyfriend, and he knew just how he was going to do it. Dipper stood up from his bed and quietly made his way over to his dresser, careful not to wake Mabel. He snatched the notebook off of his dresser and pulled a pen out of the pocket of his pair of jeans that was discarded on the floor. He scribbled something down on a piece of loose leaf and tore it from the notebook when he was done. Diligently, he folded the piece of paper up and placed it in one of the drawers of his dresser. He made his way back to his bed and lay down with a smile on his face. He would put his plan into action tomorrow by hiding the note somewhere Mabel would find it. Content with knowing that Mabel would soon be done moping over failed romances, Dipper drifted off to sleep. He dreamt of his sister's happiness and the note that would be the cause of it,

Dear Mabel,

Your eyes are like stars, and your smile is as pretty as can be;

Your voice is music to my ears that is sweet like honey.

Cute as a button and delicate as a flower;

Oh Mabel, my darling, I dream of you every hour.

~Your secret admirer~