THERAPY FORT

Dipper woke up from the brief fragment of sleep he had managed to attain, having barely felt as if he had dozed off at all. He was covered in an icy sweat even though he hadn't had any nightmares this time. He didn't need nightmares; just the notion of falling asleep was in and of itself terrifying to him lately. For the past few weeks he'd had recurring nightmares, and now he was on his third night without any real sleep. He was running on coffee and energy drinks, and any of the pathetic glimpses of sleep he got didn't do him any good. He was probably only barely asleep those times anyway.

Now, he let his eyes adjust to the darkness, and slowly clambered out of bed, wiping the sweat from his brow as he took a deep sigh. Opening up his curtains, he saw that sunlight was just barely peeking over the horizon of the town of Woodfall, the town lifeless except for the occasional passing car and the raccoon foraging through someone's trash. He was so tired, but he knew full and well that it was ridiculous to even try getting back to sleep.

He dragged his tired, heavy body out of his room and went out into the rest of his tiny student apartment. Outside of the little hall containing his bedroom and the bathroom, the rest of the apartment consisted only of the living room and the kitchen alcove with a counter and stools to sit at, both together in one room. Opening the sliding windows at the back of the living room, he let the cool night air wash over him, the distant barking of a dog drifting in.

For a while, he simply stood there silently in the breeze, feeling like he might fall over at any moment as he rubbed at his dark, baggy eyes. Catching sight of his reflection in the nearest window pane, he simply groaned,

"Why won't you sleep?"

Another sigh escaped him. Sleep had never come easy to Dipper Pines, but when he had times like this, it became so stupidly hard that he wanted to break something out of frustration. He had been keeping functional, barely, with the caffeine, but he craved sleep more than anything. Except, that is, to see his family again. When he was having these bouts of nightmares and depression, it made being away from them, especially Mabel, all the harder. He had made his friends during his time at Woodfall Technical Institution, but when he was like this, his sister was the only one who could truly understand and help, even just with her presence.

"Come on man", Dipper complained at his reflection. "You're twenty years old, you're a big enough boy to manage on your own".

That didn't help. He wasn't expecting it to. He simply pinched the bridge of his nose in self-exasperation, then shuffled over to the kitchen to brew himself some coffee. Little flashes of nightmare went through his head, try as he might to shove them away to the recesses of his mind.

Stan and Ford's boat capsizing, and the two of them flailing helplessly as they were dragged down into the darkness by some eldritch horror of the deep.

The Mystery Shack up in flames, with Soos, Melody and their kids trapped inside.

Wendy crushed beneath a tree.

Mabel… he couldn't even bare to think about what he had seen multiple times without wanting to throw up. He could still see her blood on the floor, could still see the broken body and the bloodied face.

Not real, he told himself. None of it real. That was no help either. He hadn't actually had the nightmares at all since he'd stopped being able to sleep, but they'd been burned into his mind. It was so stupid, he raged at himself. It's been eight years and still with this shit. And it had been such a long time since his last bout of depression, too, yet still, it had started acting up again, and along came the nightmares yet again.

He had always been a worrier, he was simply anxious by nature, but when he got like this, it was a constant rhetoric in his mind, the thoughts running through his head over and over again as he worried about his loved ones dying. It was his deepest crippling fear, and it was godawful to endure when it reared its ugly head to haunt him. Ever since they had all nearly died at the hands of Bill eight years ago, it had been a fear he'd never been able to fully shake.

Just three years ago, Wendy had been bitten by a fairly benign and harmless snake, and he had been in near hysterics over it. What if it was actually deadly? What if she was allergic to snakes? What if the bite got infected and it spread? He had felt so embarrassed on hindsight of course, but he still fretted over her for a week after she had been bitten.

The coffee reaching boiling point snapped Dipper out of his thoughts. Pouring himself a cup, he went to sit on one of the two worn, raggedy couches in his living room and sat in silent contemplation as the sun rose ever higher, taking long sips of the coffee that was his vital fuel. Without it, he still wouldn't sleep, he'd just become a lifeless zombie. Better to have his wits about him than to not, he thought. Dipper tried not to focus on the sensation in his chest, the feeling that his heart had been torn out, mixed in with a bizarre feeling of emptiness. Odd things to feel in tandem he thought, yet there they were, mingling like an unpleasant cocktail of negativity.

By the time the sun was fully risen, Dipper was on his third cup of coffee, and still he was rooted in place in silence. After that cup was finished, he went to pour himself a bowl of Lucky Charms, forcing himself to eat it, even though eating was about as appealing as sticking his hand in a hornet's nest right now. After that, he got himself dressed and went out for a walk around town, in an attempt to at least take his mind off things a little. It didn't have the desired effect. Nothing around him felt real, like it was all just a vision that would fade away at any given moment. By the time he got back to his apartment, he barely even remembered what route he had taken around the town. Next, he grabbed his bag and headed into campus to use the college's library. As he was, he wouldn't be able to focus on his coursework at all while he was at home. He needed somewhere academic to help focus his mind. When he got there, the library was more or less empty apart from a few other students. It always was on Saturdays, after all, and usually he relished the peace and quiet that that gave him. Now, it brought him no solace as he continuously pictured Mabel's disfigured body in his head, her eyes, usually so full of love and joy, left devoid of life.

He only realised how much he was trembling and how hard he was balling his fists when he noticed the odd looks he was getting from a small group of studying students nearby. He was tempted to give them his nastiest glare for staring at him, but he resisted the urge. They hadn't done anything wrong. Getting his four assignments out, he set to work on the first one. But try as he might, he simply could not get any of the information to stick in his head. All he could gather was that he was reading something about lighting and how to use it in specific shots, but everything else just became a void. After he got to the point of reading the same sentence twenty times over, he hissed in frustration and jammed his assignments back into his messenger bag. Slinging it over his shoulder, he shot up to his feet and stormed out of the library, getting a snide comment from the librarian for doing so, and oh sweet Christ was he tempted to give him the finger right now, but once again, he resisted the urge. Out on his way back home, a few people swerved away from him with slight fear in their eyes. He must have had a ferociously unpleasant look on his face he realised, but he didn't care.

Arriving back at his tiny home, he punched the nearest wall as hard as he could before storming into the bathroom and glaring at himself in the mirror.

"SLEEP!" he roared at himself. "JUST FUCKING SLEEP YOU USELESS SACK OF SHIT!"

He went to pull a can of Monster out of the fridge, guzzling it down. He was so furious with himself right now. He hadn't been able to focus on his work for days, and now was not the time. He was only two months away from finishing the final semester of the college year, and if he failed now, after slaving away for months, he was going to be furious at himself. But he just couldn't function academically right now. He, Dipper Pines, who had always been amongst the top of his class in both school and college, unable to so much as read a single line of his assignment. He let out a harsh bark of a laugh. Time to disappoint yourself and everyone around you yet again, he thought. All these years of working his ass off to get where he wanted to be, and now he was going to fail, and he wasn't even going to be considered for the next level of the course come September once he had made an utter fool of himself, and all because of his stupid brain problems.

Burying his head in his hands, he was coming ever closer to an inevitable conclusion. He had been feeling terrible for weeks, hadn't slept for days, and wasn't showing any signs of improving on his own. His friends, though he loved them dearly, wouldn't be able to help him or understand why this was happening to him, and frankly he just wouldn't enjoy their company when he was like this. No, right now, there was only person who could understand, one person who could help him get through this, and one person he wanted to see.

"Come on, no", he berated himself. "She's just as busy as you are, do you really want to pull her away from that? You wanna take her away from her studies just because of your stupid fucking problems? You really want to waste her time like that?"

He sighed. It was going to happen one way or another, he knew that much. There was no point trying to stop it now. He pulled out his phone, went into his contacts, and pressed the number saved at the very top of the list. Holding the phone up to his ear, he felt his clammy hand shake wildly. He shouldn't be doing this, he told himself. She doesn't have any time to waste on you right now. Stop being so selfish. Then, the phone was answered.

"Hey bro-bro!" came his sister's chirpy voice from the other end.

A few hours later, Dipper lay on his couch doing his best to focus on the TV, but even that was proving difficult. Not only because of what was already bothering him, but because of a new guilty feeling of nausea twisting away in his stomach. Mabel had sounded only too happy to make the drive down here, the concern had been obvious in her voice, but… was she really okay with doing it? At the end of the day her college wasn't all that far away, only a few hours drive, but she was so busy with her own college work, and here he was making her drag herself all the way down here just so he could feel better. He put his face in his hands and let out a long, shaky breath. He was being such a burden, he just knew it.

On the TV, he heard a loud buzzing noise, followed by the overly enthusiastic presenter saying,

"Ooooohhhhhh, I'm afraid that's the wrong answer Alex, which means YOU LOSE!"

You lose. He snorted without any humour. That term was a descriptor for his entire life.

Suddenly a second buzzing noise rang through the apartment. Only this time, it was the doorbell.

"DIPPEEEEERRRR!" came Mabel's voice.

Immediately Dipper's breath faltered. She was really right there, just outside his apartment. He got to his feet, feeling like he might collapse at any moment from a wide range of conflicting emotions doing battle with his exhaustion. Reaching out, he grabbed the handle, pushed it down and slowly opened the door.

A second later Mabel had exploded through the doorway and had crushed him in the bear hug of all bear hugs.

"BRO!" she shrieked. "OHMYGOSHIT'SSOGOODTOFINALLYSEEYOUI'VEBEENSOWORRIEDANDNOWI'MHERE!"

For a few moments, Dipper could do nothing but remain in stunned silence. She was really here, and relief was rapidly flooding him. He wrapped his arms around her and returned the embrace.

"Hey, Mabel", he said, his voice audibly hitching.

Mabel could feel her brother's muscles loosening immediately, and felt so awful for him.

"You big silly", she said gently, rubbing his back. "Why didn't you call me sooner?"

Tears stung at Dipper's eyes as he buried his face in her shoulder.

"Dumb reasons", he muttered.

"The dumbest", Mabel agreed, eliciting a much needed laugh from Dipper, a genuine one this time.

They held the embrace for a minute or two longer, until finally, Dipper felt ready to let go. Mabel gave him the biggest, toothiest smile she could muster, though the concern was still obvious in her eyes.

"It's good to see you again, dorkface", she said.

"You too", Dipper said, giving her a small but genuine smile in return, and he meant it, he meant it more powerfully than he had ever meant anything in his entire life.

Already he was feeling so much better, albeit still plenty crappy. He got a good look at her for the first time since she arrived. Naturally, she was clad in one of her homemade sweater, a swirly rainbow one, along with knee length white shorts and a pair of sandals.

"Alright, come and help me get these bags out of my car", she said, taking his hand and dragging him out of the apartment.

"Bags?" he said.

They made their way down the flight of concrete stairs to the bottom floor, then out into the residents and visitors parking lot out front.

"Yup", Mabel said as they descended. "I brought some food and other goodies with me to stock you up with".

"Mabel, you shouldn't have done that", Dipper chided, "you barely have enough money to keep yourself fed, why…"

"I know that, mom and dad helped me with this stuff".

"Wait, mom and dad know?" Dipper said, feeling awkward and embarrassed.

"No, I didn't tell them", Mabel said. "It's up to you if you want them to know or not, it wasn't my place to make that decision for you. But I told them I was coming to visit you, and they both know how bad a job you do of taking care of yourself, so they helped me out and gave me a little sweet moolah to get you all fooded up here. Plus a few things I made myself. Oh, and also I stopped off to get Chinese food before I got here, so yay, dinner's already served".

Dipper smiled, grabbing his arm and clamping down on it.

"Thanks, sis", he said, so grateful for… well, just for everything.

"Don't mention it", she said, grinning. "Just help me out with these bags".

"Oh, right", Dipper said, snapping back to focus.

Together, the two of them unloaded the back seats of all the bags Mabel had brought, then, both of them loaded up with a metric ton of bags each, made their way back up to the apartment. For now, Mabel left the special supplies she had brought with her in the trunk of her car. They were going to be saved for a surprise, which meant she was going to have to find a way to be left alone at the apartment for a little while at some point. She grinned with anticipation at the thought of what was to come, but for now she contained her excitement.

A few minutes later, most of the bags had been temporarily forgotten over in the kitchen as the two of them gathered at Dipper's little coffee table in his living room, laying out the boxes of takeout food that Mabel had brought with her, a veritable feast by the looks of it. They loaded up their plates with whatever took their fancy, then began to dig in. Dipper practically wolfed down the Chow Mein currently occupying his plate, stuffing in egg rolls and prawn crackers in between mouthfuls. He hadn't realised just how hungry he was until now. By the time they were finished, all the food (and there was a lot of it) was gone, and the two of them leaned back in the couch with stomachs full to the brim.

"Man, I didn't even realise I was hungry", Dipper said.

"Have you had anything else to eat at all today?" Mabel asked.

"Uhh… a bowl of cereal?" he said embarrassedly.

Mabel clucked her tongue.

"Really Dipper, you need to take better care of yourself".

"I know, but I… I don't know, I just get too caught up in everything, you know?"

Mabel nodded sagely.

"I know", she said. "But hey, that's why Doctor Mabel is here for all your mental health needs".

Dipper remained silent for now, but she could see him smiling to himself. She could also see how much he was shaking, and the enormous bags under his eyes.

"Dipper?"

"Mm?"

"We didn't really cover the details of was happening with you on the phone. When…" she trailed off, dreading the answer.

"When was the last time you got any sleep?" she finally finished.

Dipper looked away, shame and guilt flooding him.

"About three days ago", he muttered.

Mabel's hand went to her mouth, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She reached over and took hold of his hand, squeezing it comfortingly.

"Bro, I'm so sorry", she said. "I… I had no idea it was that bad this time. I mean I thought it was weird that I hadn't heard from you in days, but I guess I just sort of assumed you were crazy bonkers busy with college work. How come you never called in all that time?"

"I… I didn't wanna take you away from your own work", Dipper said, looking down and awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. "You're just as busy as me, and I didn't wanna drag you away from that for my sake, and I knew that if I called you I'd end up asking you to, and I just…"

His sentence was cut off when Mabel threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly again.

"Dipper, you will always, ALWAYS come before any of that junk", she said, a few stray tears breaking loose. "Bro, you're always gonna come first, and if you're having a bad time of things, I'm always gonna be there for you. So don't ever sacrifice your mental health over that stuff, okay?"

He remained silent, and felt the tears resurfacing again.

"Dipper, promise me", Mabel said. "Please?"

"I promise", he said, his voice breaking as if he were a preteen boy again.

He hugged her back, and it really was amazing how much better her mere presence made him feel. His tears finally broke loose and he cried into his sister's shoulder. He remained silent with it, but Mabel could feel his body hitching, could feel the way that it had been a long time coming. She knew full and well that he wouldn't ever allow it to happen in front of anyone else. She had always been the only person he was truly comfortable crying in front of.

"Besides, do you really think I'd miss out on an opportunity to come see my favourite brother?" she said.

Dipper let out a watery chuckle.

"What about your college work?" he said.

"Dipper, that's fine, really. I made an arrangement with the tutors; I can do my work here and send it to them online. They weren't too happy about me not being there for classes, but I wasn't go take no for an answer, so they gave in to the power of Mabel eventually. They're gonna send lesson papers to me as well, so I'll be able to do everything I need to right here. And even if I couldn't do that and I'd miss out on everything, you'd still be priority number one stupid. I'm here, and I'm gonna be here for as long as you need me, kay?"

"Okay", Dipper said, feeling yet another weight lift from his shoulders. "You wanna make this sibling hug awkward?"

"You know it, baby".

And so, to keep up their lifelong tradition, they finished the hug with their traditional,

"pat pat".

A little later in the day, warm evening sunlight streamed through the open windows into the living room. Beside her, Dipper had fallen asleep on the couch, and hopefully he'd stay that way until the morning.

Mabel gazed sympathetically at her sleeping brother. With her presence, he'd finally been able to drift off. She felt awful for him, and had been worried about him for a while truth be told. He'd been having a rough patch for weeks, and those nightmares of losing everyone had been starting up again. And yet despite that, she hadn't suspected anything out of the ordinary when he stopped calling her or answering her calls. Even though they kept in very regular contact, be it by phone or by Skype, it had nonetheless happened a few times over the past few years when Dipper had become deeply entangled with his work and had simply been too busy to have the time. She'd had one or two times like that herself.

But this… she wished she had been more insistent in contacting him than she had been. Knowing he was going through a stretch of depression should have been enough of an incentive to do so, but, well, there was no point dwelling on past mistakes. She was here now, and that wasn't going to change until Dipper was feeling at the very least well enough to be okay again.

"I'm supposed to take care of you too bro", she whispered. "You don't have to bear the burden alone, you big dummy".

But then of course, Dipper had always thrown his own health under the bus out of fear of being a burden, and out of fear of not deserving the care he needed, which was so stupid she thought, of course he deserved the help he needed, he deserved everything good in this world. He was her big dork of a twin brother, who had always been there by her side as her best friend, her co-conspirator, her shoulder to cry on and her shelter to weather the storm in her worst times. He worked so hard to keep his family safe, and he was such a wonderful person who was so loved by so many. She only wished he could see that himself.

Slowly, so as not to wake Dipper up, she got to her feet and went to packing away the rest of the supplies she'd brought, stocking up his cupboards and fridge with plenty of food.

Unsurprisingly, it seemed that Dipper had been subsisting mostly on instant ramen, such was a student's life after all. But now he was going to have substantial food to last him for a little while at least. Once she was done with that, she got to thinking about tomorrow. They were gonna get out and stretch their legs for sure, some fresh air would do him good. And she still needed to think of a way to keep Dipper out of the apartment for a little while to prepare her surprise.

Darkness, impermeable darkness stretching out forever before him. He couldn't see anything, he couldn't even move. All he could do was listen in horror as the screams of his loved ones echoed out of the void.

"DIPPER!" came Mabel's voice, frantic and afraid.

Then she materialised in front of him. He wanted so badly to reach out to her, but he still couldn't move, and all he could do was watch in agony as the fear in her eyes grew ever more intense.

"Dipper, please", she whimpered, and oh god she was bleeding, she was bleeding everywhere. "Help me. Please Dipper, help".

His eyes flooded with tears, and he tried with all his might to get his limbs to move, but they wouldn't obey him, and he was furious and so, so afraid and heartbroken, and his sister was dying and there was nothing he could do.

Then, a hole opened up in the ground, and a long, clawed hand reached out, grabbed her by the ankle and started pulling her towards the abyss.

"DIPPER, HELP!" she screamed, tears flooding her face. "HEEEEELP!"

He watched in horror as the blackened hand pulled her down into the hole, and she vanished from sight with one final scream of terror as an all too familiar cackle tore out of the pit.

Dipper burst into consciousness, sitting bolt upright as a panicked yelp burst out of him, his breathing rapid, sweat drenching him.

"Dipper!?" Mabel yelled, the panic evident in her voice.

She had woken up in an instant over on the other couch, and practically fell off of it in her scramble to reach her brother, who was staring off into space as the dread rippled through his whole body. She grabbed his shoulders.

"Dipper, it's okay, it's okay", she told him.

Slowly, he turned to look at her. Then, he reached his arms out and pulled her into the tightest hug he could muster.

"Y-you're okay", he managed to say, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I'm fine", she reassured.

Mabel could feel Dipper's whole body shaking wildly in her embrace. He was only just keeping back the tears, an enormous lump in his throat.

"Nightmare?" Mabel asked, stroking the back of his head to calm him.

"It was… I… You… Bill, he, he took you, he, he was gonna…" he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.

"It's okay Dipper", she whispered, her eyes filling with tears once again. It was dreadful, seeing him in such a catastrophic state. She knew what those nightmares felt like, and they were one of the most awful things she had ever experienced. "It's all gonna be okay. Bill's gone now. He's gone Dipper, and I'm still here. I'm gonna be fine".

Slowly but surely, Dipper's breathing slowed down and his heart stopped thundering. His muscles very slowly started to unwind once again, until finally he felt somewhat calm again. He was cringing in shame and embarrassment by the time he let Mabel go.

"Sorry", he murmured.

"Sorry? For what?" Mabel said.

"That… that was stupid of me, it was just a dream and I overreacted, and I…"

Mabel lightly boffed him on the head.

"Don't be so silly Dipper", Mabel said. "Those nightmares suck infinite legions of balls, we both know that, of course you had a freaking panic attack".

He smiled a little, despite still feeling pretty shaken up.

"Well… I'm pretty well rested at least".

"Yeah", Mabel said, beaming. "Did you sleep the whole night?"

"I think so", Dipper said. "I don't remember waking up at all".

"Well, that's great", Mabel said. "You're finally rejuvenated and ready to go. You don't have to be a coffee zombie anymore".

They both laughed.

"Still not feeling great though", Dipper said, rubbing his eyes and yawning. "Not just because of the nightmare. I just… still feel pretty crappy in general".

"That's fine Dipdop", Mabel said reassuringly. "You're not gonna get better overnight, it's gonna take a little time. Buuuuut, I think a little breakfast might do you good".

"Probably", Dipper said. "What have you got in mind?"

"You'll see in just a sec".

She got to her feet and went to pull a plastic container out of one of the cupboards. Returning to the couch, she flopped back down next to Dipper and pulled off the lid.

"Ta-daaaaa, breakfast cake!" she joyfully announced.

Inside were several of Mabel's homemade cupcakes, with a miasma of different frostings, from raspberry to chocolate, all with different kinds of candy on top and liberal amounts of edible (he hoped) glitter. They looked delicious to say the least.

"Sis, don't you think it's a little early for cake?" he asked, smiling as he knew full and well what the answer was going to be.

Mabel let out a mock shocked gasp.

"Dipper, such language" she chastised. "It is never, ever, ever too early for cake".

With that, she pulled out a chocolate mint cake topped with a small cluster of M&M's, pulled away the wrapper and shoved half of it into her mouth, happily munching away on it. Dipper laughed at the sight she presented, crumbs and frosting on her face as she made short work of the cupcake.

To hell with it, Dipper thought, and he pulled out a vanilla and strawberry one and began to eat it, and naturally, it was delicious. Mabel was damn good at this sort of thing after all. Mabel grabbed another one of the cakes, then returned to the kitchen alcove to brew up some coffee and prepare some fresh Mabel juice.

"Hey bro, you want some Mabel juice in your coffee?" she called. "It'll give you lots of energy".

"Yeah, that and a sugar coma", Dipper snarked.

Mabel laughed.

"You don't know what you're missing out on", she retorted.

A short while later, she came back with a glass of juice for herself and cup of coffee for Dipper. As they drank their way through their beverages and ate several more cakes, Dipper had to admit, he was still feeling pretty crappy, but he had his sister's company, so it really wasn't so bad.

As the morning progressed, the two of them left Dipper's little apartment behind and headed out into the coniferous woods on the outskirts of town. For a few hours, they simply wandered freely between the trees, something that they had enjoyed doing ever since their first visit to Gravity Falls all those years ago.

Admittedly, this forest didn't have the supernatural secrets lying in wait that the little Oregon town had, but it was still a beautiful stretch of woodland. The two of them often walked hand in hand as they went, and while yesterday Dipper would have been unable to focus on anything, would have been trapped in his own mind, today he felt the reality of the world around him, he felt present, and he could actually enjoy himself, and it was because his sister was here with him, because she anchored him on these dark days, kept him grounded.

The two of them each brought a camera along, and took plenty of pictures together. Dipper had taken a very keen interest in photography for several years now. It was something simple and relaxing that he and Mabel could do together, and today was no different (although occasionally Dipper took too long framing a shot and getting the settings just right, and would then turn around to see a slightly miffed Mabel with her cheeks puffed out and her eyes narrowed).

They took pictures of the forest, of its flowers, trees and waterfalls, they took pictures of one another doing ridiculous poses and faces to make each other laugh, and they took more than a few photos of the both of them together. All in all, they gained a lot of material for Mabel's scrapbook and for Dipper's photography unit at college, and Dipper was truly feeling at a reasonable degree of ease for the first time in weeks.

"Hey Mabel", he said as they were about halfway along the trail they had used.

"What?"

"There's a place I've gotta show you, come on".

"Ooohhh, surprise forest adventure", Mabel said, and gladly followed. "What is it bro?"

"You'll see", he said anticipatedly as they made their way through a thicket of tightly packed trees. "I found this place months ago, and I knew I had to show it to you next time you visited".

Dipper lead her through a few more trees, before they emerged out into a vast and expansive clearing, sloping down into a shallow basin. Knee length grass swayed in the breeze, wildflowers of every conceivable colour dotted between the blades, and at the bottom of the clearing, there was a small lake sparkling in the sunlight. Mabel gasped, her eyes bulging.

"Oh my gosh, Dipper, this is beautiful!"

"Yup. I didn't disappoint", Dipper said, as much to himself as anything, wearing a very pleased expression.

"Holy wow bro, I can't believe this!"

"Yeah, honestly, this is probably my favourite place near town. It's nice to come here and just chill!"

"Agreed", Mabel said. "But no chill right now! RACE YOU TO THE LAKE!"

And with that she bolted away, charging forth with a battle cry into the field, heading straight towards the lake.

"Oh no you don't!" Dipper called, and went straight after her.

With a considerable burst of speed, he managed to reach her side and keep on equal footing with her.

"You're too slow for me suckah!" Mabel yelled, picking up her speed once again.

"You underestimate my power!" Dipper retorted, once again speeding up to catch up with her.

The two of them kept going, neck and neck, until they both reached the lake at the same time, gasping for breath and hearts thundering away.

"Well", Dipper panted, "looks like there's no clear winner".

"Indeed", Mabel replied very matter of factly. "Which can mean only one thing, dearest brother. We must settle this dispute with the ancient art of hand to hand combat. Prepare to battle!"

She came at him with raised fists, and repeatedly play punched him in the shoulders and chest.

"Alright, two can play at that game", Dipper said.

He grabbed her around the neck in a headlock and started noogying her.

"Your special noogie power is good", Mabel grunted, laughing in between words "but not as good as my hidden technique, passed down through generations of martial arts masters. THE TICKLE FINGERS!"

She jammed her hands to his ribs and started mercilessly tickling him. Within seconds she was free from his grasp and Dipper was rolling around on the ground, laughing hysterically as tears spilled from his eyes.

"STOP! STOP! MERCY!" he begged.

"DECLARE ME THE VICTOR!" Mabel shrieked.

"YOU WIN! YOU'RE THE VICTOR! HOORAY FOR MABEL! DIPPER LOSES FOREVER!"

"Damn right I win", Mabel said as she finally relented.

She flopped down onto the ground next to Dipper as he recovered, putting her hands behind her head and gazing up at the clouds, both of them still laughing.

For a long while they rested in the clearing. They watched the clouds that went overhead, skipped rocks into the lake, and ate the sandwiches they had packed, Dipper's being a simple salami and cheese, Mabel's being a bizarre concoction of raspberry jam, syrup, nutella, bananas and marshmallows, coated in yet more edible (please god be the edible kind, Dipper thought yet again) glitter.

By the time they returned to town, the onset of evening had arrived. Dipper hadn't realised just how many hours they had spent out there in the woods, but they had been having a great time after all, so it was easy to lose track of time. Mabel noticed that Dipper was starting to feel down again, she could just read it in his expression and body language. She had expected as much, there were always going to be ups and downs on days like these.

The two of them stopped to get pizza, because hey, what was the harm of one more day of junk food, then returned to Dipper's apartment to eat it. Mabel was still at a loss as to how to prepare the surprise. She was beginning to think she'd just have to tell Dipper outright what she had planned, because there wasn't really a way for her to get the apartment to herself for a while. She couldn't just send Dipper off on his own on some errand, not when he was feeling the way he was. Thankfully, an opportunity presented itself.

"Hey Mabel", he said as they finished off the last few bites of pizza.

"Mmff?" Mabel said, her voice muffled over her mouthful.

"I think I'm gonna go take a bath. I'm not really a bath person, but I figured it might, you know, help out a little".

"Okay broseph", Mabel said nonchalantly, trying her very best to keep the glint out of her eye.

Dipper departed the living room, sighing, his posture slouched. Definitely having a bad streak there, Mabel thought. Making sure he was definitely gone from the room and not coming back, Mabel got to her feet, grinning and rubbing her hands together in anticipation as she made her way out of the apartment and went to her car. Opening up the trunk, she began to pull out her supplies.

About an hour later, Dipper was finishing drying his hair with his towel. He sat morosely on his bed, the torn out heart feeling returning to him. He had been in such a good mood earlier too. Of course, a streak of depression was never going to be such an easy fix as being in a good mood for a while, he reminded himself. The bath hadn't really helped as much as he had hoped, which he supposed was unsurprising, especially considering that the lacklustre bath in his tiny apartment wasn't even really big enough to fit a human being inside it comfortably.

Truth be told, he just wanted to return to the living room to be back with Mabel again. He felt so clingy at times like these, so needy and pathetic. All he could do was remind himself that Mabel didn't feel that way, so neither should he. It helped to ease it a little, he had to admit. He smiled to himself as he went to hang the towel up in the bathroom. It was always helpful to remember how much his sister loved and cared about him, and she truly did, so his unhelpful anxious thoughts could go fuck themselves frankly.

He walked through the little hallway and straight into his living room, and for a second, the sight that met him didn't quite register. He blinked, then rubbed his eyes, yet still it was there. His entire living room space had been conquered by a truly gigantic blanket fort, the several blankets and sheets that composed it held up in a tent-like fashion by several supportive poles placed strategically against his furniture. He had to admit, the thing was damn impressive.

"Umm, Mabel?" he called uncertainly.

His sister popped her head out from behind the blanket that acted as the door. Her face split into an enormous toothy grin at the sight of him.

"Hey bro-bro, what's up?" she said.

"Uhh… what… exactly is this?"

She fully emerged from the fort, and said,

"This, Grandmaster Dippingsauce, is the therapy fort".

"The what now?"

"The therapy fort, or the fort of therapy if you prefer" she reiterated.

"Um…"

"Admit it, this is the coolest blanket fort in all of existence".

"Yes, it's definitely super cool and all, but… why?"

Mabel rolled her eyes.

"Isn't the name a pretty big giveaway?" she asked. "It's a blanket fort meant specially for making you feel better, dumdum".

"Mabel, I… where did you get all this?"

"I had it stored in the trunk of my car", she said nonchalantly.

Dipper's eyes bulged.

"You… you managed to fit all this in the trunk of your car?" he asked, astonished.

"Yup!"

"But… how? There's so much stuff here, there's no way it could all fit in".

"Come on Dipper, after all these years you don't seriously think such restrictions of space apply to moi do you?"

"I… that's… actually a really good point", Dipper said, eliciting a snort of laughter from both of them. "But… Mabel, I appreciate the effort, but I really don't think this is gonna help me feel better. Just you being here is enough really".

Mabel smiled, touched by his comment, but continued her assault.

"Nope, you're wrong brozo. Remember that when one or both of us were feeling shitty back when we were kids, it was always time to break out the blanket fort".

"Yeah, but Mabel, we're not kids anymore. Things are different nowadays, and I…"

"Bap!" Mabel barked out to silence him. "I figured you'd be a Doubty Daisy over this Dipper, but come on, none of us ever really "grows up" as much as we think we do. Just come give it a try. It can't do any harm, right?"

"I…" Dipper began, knowing full well she had a point.

"There's candy and ice creeeeaaaammm", she sang.

Dipper paused for a few more moments, looking like a deer caught in headlights, before he burst out laughing. He was being ridiculous. Even if it didn't really help, it would still be fun at the very least.

"Alright, I concede defeat yet again", Dipper said, playfully rolling his eyes.

"But of course", Mabel said. "Now come, enter the realm of the blankets".

She folded back the entry blanket, and Dipper ducked down inside.

"Whoa", he said upon entry, his voice hushed.

He couldn't deny, Mabel had done an incredible job with this thing. On the inside it was like being in a fortune teller's tent almost, with the floor being covered in several multi-coloured blankets and pillows, a stockpile of the aforementioned candy and ice cream at the exact centre, and fairy lights decorating the ceiling, lighting the whole thing up with warm, glowing light.

"Pretty impressive, huh?" Mabel said as she followed him in.

"Yeah", Dipper said. "It's… it's pretty amazing in here actually".

"Yep, figured you'd say that", Mabel said, happily surveying her work. "It's a pretty cozy set-up, right?"

She was right, Dipper thought. Already he felt a sort of serene calmn in this place, he felt… comfortable, and safe.

"I… you", he stuttered, disbelief on his face. Within moments the disbelief turned to that mushy, affectionate smile that her brother always wore when he thought about how much he loved her. Mabel couldn't help but crack a smile of her own at the sight of it.

"You did all of this for me?" Dipper said, his voice cracking a little, his eyes watering.

"Yup", Mabel said. "Like I said Dippin'dots, this always worked back when we were kids, and let's be honest, if it worked then it was always gonna work now. I guess I just wanted to make a space where you could feel all cozy and safe and stuff, you know? A happy place to make a happier Dipper".

In response she was swept up into a tight hug by her brother.

"Thanks", he said sincerely, trying his best to keep the emotion out of his voice (and failing miserably).

"No problem, brodiac", she replied, nuzzling her cheek against his.

They ended the hug.

"Sap", Mabel affectionately teased.

"Says the sap that built this thing", Dipper teased right back, smirking.

Mabel snorted, eliciting a laugh from Dipper in turn.

"Alright, now it's time to begin fort festivities", Mabel said, cracking her knuckles and rubbing her hands together.

"And what does that entail?"

"Well, I think it's been a while since I kicked your butt at Fight Fighters", she said, pointing to the TV that had been enveloped by the fort.

"Oh, you wanna go, 'cause I'll go right now", Dipper said, raising his fists.

"Oh, you're so going down", Mabel said, raising her fists in turn.

A little while later, the two of them sat side by side on the blanketed floor with their backs leaned against one of the couches and several of the pillows. They furiously mashed buttons as they directed their characters to fight.

"Aaaaand Mabel's got Dipper on the ropes!" Mabel yelled in her announcer voice, "and what a shame that is, it almost looked like he might rise to victory, before the alpha twin smashed him into the dirt once again!"

"Don't be so sure of that", Dipper said, and unleashed his special boost attack, knocking Mabel's fighter over and taking a huge chunk of her health bar away.

"What!? Since when did you have enough Punching Points saved up for a special boost?"

"Because I'm the master of this game, sis. Don't forget that I fought the real deal back in Gravity Falls".

And with that he unleashed the finishing move, knocking Mabel's character unconscious. His character, the Russian cyborg Thunderfist Ironstrikov, struck his victory pose.

"Victorious victory belongs to me!" came his digitised voice.

"YES!" Dipper cheered. "In your face!"

Mabel blew a raspberry.

"Curses, bested again!" she said. "Well, guess that puts us at two to two. Best of five?"

"You're on", Dipper said.

They started up the next round. As they waited for the match to load, Mabel took the opportunity to stuff as much candy into her mouth as she could manage, ending up with about five gummy worms dangling out of her mouth like a set of tentacles. Dipper took a few mouthfuls from the butterscotch ice cream tub he had resting next to him and a long glug from the bottle of Pitt they had. As the next round started up, a thought struck Dipper.

"Mabel, I think I forgot to ask you… how's your college stuff going?"

"Pretty well, actually", she said. "I'm keeping on top of everything, projects are going well, all that good stuff. And hey, that one jerkwad sculpting tutor FINALLY retired".

"Was he the one that reduced someone to tears?"

"The very same", Mabel confirmed. "And it was more than one person. Honestly, given how cool the rest of the tutors are, you'd think the guy would've taken the stick out of his butt and learned to take a chill pill, but nope, horrible till the very end. Well, he's not our problem anymore. It's a good thing too. When I told Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford about the guy they seemed almost like they were about to boat themselves all the way back here from Africa to give the guy a piece of their mind".

Dipper chuckled at the thought of the two of them. They had always been ready to fight anyone that gave the two of them trouble, especially bad teachers. Stan was often reminded of his deeply unpleasant high school principal and knew how unfair it was for a teacher to treat you like garbage for no reason, and Ford was offended that people who were given the privilege of passing on knowledge to others would misuse it in such a way. Frankly, when Mabel had first told him about the sculpting tutor, he'd been so tempted to drive up there himself to kick his ass for treating his sister that way.

"And what about you?" Mabel asked. "I mean… has the work been difficult lately, because of all the funky brain stuff?"

"Yeah, pretty much", Dipper said, sighing. "I haven't been able to concentrate on anything, or get any coursework done… I haven't even been able to spend time with my friends. Tomorrow's supposed to be DD&D night, but I don't really… feel up for it, you know?"

"That's fine Dipper", Mabel said. "Don't push yourself to do anything you're not comfortable with. Just get better at your own pace, bro".

"Well, that's gonna be a lot easier now that you're here", Dipper said.

Mabel smiled.

"Glad I can help", she said.

"Thank you", Dipper said, "Really, I mean it. It means a lot to me that you drove all the way down here just for my sake".

"Well, like I said", Mabel replied with a big affectionate grin "why would I ever miss out on a chance to come see my favourite brother? And are you forgetting the last time you drove up to take care of me?"

Dipper said nothing else, he didn't need to, he just smiled and slumped his head on her shoulder, letting out a long, contented sigh, all of which contrasted quite sharply with the devastating lightning punch that he let loose in the game.

The two of them stayed up well into the night, talking about whatever topics took their fancy, playing more of their favourite games together and eating their way through the horde of sweets until they felt queezy. At the end of the night, they switched off the TV and fairy lights and covered themselves with several of the blankets, creating a cocoon of warmth.

"Night bro", Mabel mumbled sleepily, letting out a monster of a yawn.

"Night Mabel", he replied.

She wrapped her arms around him and held him close. Right now, as he wrapped his arms around her in return, Dipper felt more at ease about falling asleep than he had done in weeks. Outside, a heavy torrent of rain broke loose, the occasional rumble of thunder stirring. He closed his eyes and took in the soothing sound, making the fort even more pleasant than it already had been. As the two of them lay there together in a tangle of limbs, Mabel soon snoring and drooling, Dipper slipped away into the first truly peaceful, nightmare free sleep he'd had in a long time, wearing a contented smile on his face as he drifted off.

A/N: Well, once again, cuddling saves the day. This… wow, this turned into a bit of a whopper. Not that that's a bad thing by any means, it just means more fluff, right? So yeah, it's been a little while since my last Dip and Mabel centric fic, and I figured it was time to write a new one. As such, this story was born. I know sibling fluff between these two is basically the entirety of what I write, but, hey, what can I say, I just can't get enough of their adorable sibling bond, so I shall continue to produce fluff fics for them, and nobody can stop me MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA. Hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you next fic, same Goji time, same Goji channel.