Sweater Buddies

Mabel Pines didn't get it. She was cute. She was loveable. She had a pet pig and a grappling hook. She drew pictures of snadgers and knitted a new sweater every day. Why did Great Uncle Ford never want to spend time with her?

It had been a few days since the debacle with Probabilitor and his fellow minions from Dungeons, Dungeons & More Dungeons, and Ford and Dipper had been growing closer every day. Of course, it was only natural, seeing as they had a lot in common, both being the nerdy twin with an appetite for adventures and weirdness. Today they had been out exploring the forest, hunting for a strange unseen creature called the Hide Behind. Apparently it was a creature so deft and silent that, hence the name, it could hide the moment someone looked its way, remaining unseen by human eyes. Mabel hadn't been there to see what happened, but judging from the manner in which Ford and Dipper had returned, they had had a brilliant time.

Mabel was happy that Dipper had become such good friends with Ford, seeing as her brother had been searching all summer to find the author of the journals, but she couldn't help but feel jealous. Ford seemed like a really cool guy, and Mabel wished he would notice her, too. She had done everything she could to try and get his attention—giving him cheery smiles every morning, baking cupcakes to give them when they returned from adventures, leaving drawings lying around where he was sure to see them—but it had all been in vain. Ford had strictly said the basement was off-limits, which meant she couldn't go down and talk to him while he was working, and every time she asked him if she could do something with him, he would decline.

There was always the possibility that Ford just didn't like her. It wasn't a nice thought, but that didn't mean for sure that it wasn't true. She and him didn't seem to have much in common, after all. But surely he liked her a little? She was his niece. Right?

"Hey...Dipper?" Mabel said, as she lay in bed that night, looking over at her brother, who was still up, reading, "Do you think Great Uncle Ford likes me?

Dipper looked up from The Sibling Brothers — In: The Case of the Caper-Case Caper. "What?" he asked, "Of course Ford likes you. You're his family. He said he liked you the night he stepped out of the portal, remember?"

"It just doesn't seem like he really notices me," said Mabel, playing with the corner of her duvet, "You're always doing stuff with him. Going on adventures, doing sciencey things in the basement, playing that nerdy dungeon game. He never does stuff with me."

"Well, you're not exactly into the same kind of stuff we are," said Dipper, shrugging, "I mean, he's a supernatural scientist. He probably isn't into rainbows and unicorns and Dream Boy High movies. Just like you're not into math and sci-fi mystery weirdness. You probably wouldn't enjoy what we do together."

"I guess," said Mabel, sadly, her eyes wavering down to the bedcovers.

"Hey," Dipper said, quickly, not wanting her to take his words the wrong way, "That doesn't mean he doesn't like you! I mean, what's not to like?"

Mabel was silent for a moment. "Yeah," she said, with the most convincing smile she could muster, "You're right. I'm just being silly. Why wouldn't Ford like me? I'm adorable!" She turned back over in bed to face the attic wall. "Goodnight, Dipper."

"Goodnight Mabel," said Dipper, turning the page of his book.

Mabel closed her eyes as she snuggled down underneath the red duvet.

That doesn't mean he doesn't like you.

"Except," she murmured to herself, quietly, "It probably does."

"Bon appetite, knuckleheads!" Stan said, the following day, dropping three large pizza boxes onto the kitchen table.

"PIZZA!" cheered Dipper and Mabel, throwing their fists in the air!

There were squeals of delight and excitement as the twins leapt for a box each and tore open the packaging, unable to wait another second to dig into the steaming crust! Stan seized a box himself and collapsed down in the seat next to them, grabbing a slice. There was nothing to be heard besides the sound of hungry mouths chomping on hot cheesy pizza as the Pines family tucked into their lunch, and none of them really minded that it had been shoplifted from the pizza parlour via smokescreen exit.

"Stolen pizza tastes the best!" Mabel said, with a big smile, through a generous mouthful of mozzarella and pepperoni, wiping tomato puree off her face.

"Mmmm! You said it, pumpkin!" said Stan, with a satisfied expression, taking another bite.

They all suddenly jumped as they heard a door slam. Heavy footsteps approached the kitchen door, before a slightly battered-looking Ford entered the room. Twigs and leaves stuck out of his matted grey hair, and his trench coat was streaked with mud, several small seams torn open by what looked like claws.

"Yeesh. What happened to you?" said Stan, making a face as his dishevelled brother entered the kitchen, "Get hit by a lawnmower or something?"

"Very funny, Stanley," said Ford, brushing some of the leaves out of his hair, "I merely had a run-in with some of the less serene creatures of this town during my expedition today."

"Well you're just in time for lunch!" said Dipper, with a wide smile, "Want some pizza?"

"It's one hundred percent not legally ours!" Mabel added, holding out a slice, hopefully.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" said Ford, rolling his eyes at Stan, before picking a plate off the counter and taking a few pizza slices from the box.

A squee of excitement escaped Mabel's lips as Ford sat down next to her at the table. He's sitting next to me! her mind squealed!

"So what happened on your expedition?" asked Dipper, eagerly.

"Something cool and sciencey, right?" added Mabel.

"You could say that," Ford replied, reaching inside his trench coat, "Feast your eyes, kids!"

The twins eyes widened as he withdrew a bright orange stone from his inside pocket, lighting up the room around them with a fierce amber light! It was the size of his fist, and every inch of it glowed with the flaming florescence of a roaring fire!

"Whoah!" Dipper and Mabel exclaimed, gazing at the stone in awe.

"Yes, it's quite a sight, isn't it?" said Ford, with a proud smile, "It's called a firestone. One of the rarest magical gems in Gravity Falls. Which is why the forest creatures weren't too keen on letting me have it."

He tucked the stone back inside his trench coat pocket, before pulling it off and hanging it on the back of his chair, exposing his red turtleneck sweater. Mabel gasped out loud as she saw the state it was in! The seams were split and three huge rips were torn through the front, dozens of loose threads hanging in tatters! "Great Uncle Ford!" she exclaimed, in horror, "What happened to your sweater!?"

"Oh, this?" Ford looked down. "It's nothing. It was just a bit of a bumpy adventure today. It's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal!" Mabel exclaimed, her eyes looking watery, "What about your sweater? It's ruined!"

"It's fine, my dear, I assure you," Ford assured, "Really. You don't need to worry about me."

"Well...OK," said Mabel, disappointedly.

She didn't say another word to Ford or Stan or Dipper as the four continued eating lunch.

"Delicious. Well!" Ford said, abruptly, standing up from the table and picking up his trench coat, "Back to work! Dipper, would you mind coming down with me? I could use your help with something."

"Oh! Sure!" Dipper replied, enthusiastically, scrambling up from the table and running after Ford, always eager to help him with his work, "Whatever you need, Great Uncle Ford!"

"Awww, aren't you two gonna stay?" asked Mabel, in disappointment, "I was thinking we could all watch some TV together after lunch!"

"Sorry, but I've got a lot of work to do downstairs," said Ford, looking over his shoulder as he typed the code into the keypad of the vending machine.

"Well then...maybe I can help you too!" said Mabel, hopefully, standing up from her chair, "Many hands make light work!"

"We'll be fine, my dear," said Ford, as the vending machine door opened, "I'll see you both at dinner!"

Mabel's face fell as Ford and Dipper headed down the staircase, the door closing behind him. She sighed.

"I just don't know what to do, Waddles," she said, sadly, as she and her pet pig sat on her bed a little later, "I've tried everything I can think of. Great Uncle Ford's never going to spend time with me."

"Oinkety-oink!" she moved Waddles' lips up and down, "But you're cute and great and adorable! Oink!"

"I know," sighed Mabel, "I don't get what I'm doing wrong. I mean, who wouldn't want to be friends with me? I'm like...the best friend anyone could ever want!"

"You bet you are, oinkety oink," she made Waddles oink again, "Ford doesn't know what he's missing. He's the luckiest grunkle on earth to have you as a niece, oink."

"Well, he sure doesn't act like it," said Mabel, looking into her pig's eyes, "I just wish he'd give me a chance. Then I could get to know him better. Maybe find something we can bond over. He's so mysterious the whole time. It's hard to know what he really thinks. "

"Well if you really want to know what he thinks, oinkety oink," she oinked Waddles, "Maybe you need to ask him, oink."

Mabel hunched her shoulders, embarrassedly. "I know I should, but...what if I don't like the answer?" she said, "I mean, maybe Dipper's right. Maybe we are too different. Ford's a super smarty science guy, and I'm just into sparkles and fairies and knitting sweaters with wacky pictures on."

She sighed and placed her pet pig down next to her on the bed. Waddles cuddled up to her side. He licked her cheek a couple of times, before nuzzling into her face, oinking quietly into her ear.

Wait a minute...

"Of course!" Mabel exclaimed, sitting bolt upright and clapping her hands to her face, "That's it! Waddles, you're a genius!"

She planted a big kiss on her pig's forehead, before jumping to her feet in excitement and grabbing her bag! It was in that one moment that none of her previous failures mattered anymore! Because she had just thought of the perfect way to get Great Uncle Ford to like her!

Mabel bounced down the stairs to the basement the next morning, very excited about what she was about to do. The timing couldn't be more perfect. With Stan currently giving a tour to a bunch of tourists out in the forest, and Dipper out with Soos on some kind of boy expedition that she hadn't really bothered to listen about, it was just her and Great Uncle Ford in the Mystery Shack today. The perfect opportunity to win him over with the perfect plan.

It got darker as she descended down the steps, so she pressed the button on her lightbulb sweater. It lit up the area around her with a bright golden glow. Who said electric sweaters were a bad idea? They were a great idea!

Mabel got to the bottom of the staircase and felt a rush of adrenalin as she reached for the doorknob. Partly because she was excited, and partly because Ford secretly scared her a little, too. She took a deep breath and opened the door, turning off her sweater light as she did so.

"Great Uncle Ford?" she called, stepping down into the basement, closing the door behind her, "Great Uncle For-ord?"

It was really creepy down here. The only light came from the hole in the ceiling where Dipper had accidentally fallen through, and the whole place gave off major weirdness vibes. Mabel looked around uneasily. Where was Ford? He had to be down here.

She suddenly felt a large hand on her shoulder, and jumped! "Aah!" she exclaimed, leaping back, before her face lit up! "Great Uncle Ford!"

"Mabel!" scolded Ford, "What did I tell you? You are not to come down here! My work is incredibly dangerous, and—"

"Whamp!" Mabel shot out a hand and stuck a smiley sticker over Ford's mouth, cutting off his sentence!

"Nngh!" Ford staggered backwards in surprise and tried to pull of the sticker.

Mabel couldn't help but giggle! "Hahaha!" she laughed, "Sticking stickers on people is so funny!"

"Mabel!" Ford grimaced, as he prised off the sticker and rubbed his sore mouth.

"Sorry, sorry!" Mabel said, with an excited smile, "OK, I know you said I'm not supposed to come down here," she admitted, "But I made something for you! Trust me, you're gonna love it!"

Ford's brow unfurrowed. "Oh?"

From behind her back, Mabel whipped out a folded bundle of thick red wool. She unfolded it and held it up excitedly by the collar, revealing—

"Ta-da!" she exclaimed, holding it up, "It's a brand new sweater! For you!"

Ford's mouth opened a little. The cross words he had been about to speak to Mabel for disobeying him instantly vanished from his mind. For a moment, he was too stunned to do anything. Then, with wide eyes, he slowly reached out and took the sweater from his great-niece's hands. It was the exact same colour as the sweater he normally wore, and knitted in the centre was a gold six-fingered hand that matched the one on the cover of his journals. Glittery sparkles glistened between each thread, and a wide assortment of cut out fabric shapes were scattered here and there—stars, hearts, dice, eyeballs, bats, mathematical symbols, you name it. And round the top and bottom of the sweater were sewn on the words I'M SUPER SMART!

Ford's hand slowly came to touch his heart as he stared at the sweater. He could tell she had worked for hours on end to make this. She had put all that work in just for him?

"Well? What do you think?" asked Mabel, eagerly, "I knitted it myself! I even made sure it had all your favourite things on it! Dice, weird things, numbers, nerdy stuff! It's a Mabel Original! I hope you like glitter!"

Ford's mouth twitched into a smile.

"Mabel, you made this for me?" he said, in a touched voice, turning to face his young niece, "Why?"

"Well, I saw your tattered old sweater yesterday, and I thought, who better to make you a new one? Me!" exclaimed Mabel, happily, "And you and Dipper got to be board game buddies. Maybe we can be sweater buddies!" She showed Ford the sweater she was wearing. "Huh?" she said, looking up at him, hopefully.

Ford gave no answer, but bent down and picked her up in both hands, before hugging her tightly to his chest.

"Awwww!" Mabel squealed, wrapping her arms around Ford's neck, "Hugs! Hugs are always good!"

It had been so long since Ford had been hugged like this. The warm, cozy feeling was something he had long forgotten. To hold his niece tight in his arms, feeling her heartbeat next to his. He squeezed her, moving his hand to the back of her head, holding her close. Feeling his fingers slowly combing through her hair, Mabel smiled and nuzzled up to her great uncle, her small arms wrapped tightly around his turtleneck. Ford smiled as he felt her snuggle into him, and walked over to take a seat on the basement couch, hugging his precious bundle close to him. He almost didn't want to let her go. He had to eventually, though.

"I love it," Ford said, when they had parted, looking down at the sweater in his hands, and then back at his niece, "I truly don't know what to say, Mabel."

"Aw, hey, you don't have to say anything," Mabel said, with a smile, "Call it a gift from one sweater buddy to another!"

Then she hesitated. She took a deep breath. It was probably now or never. "Hey...Great Uncle Ford...can I ask you something?"

"Of course you can, my dear," said Ford, fondly, putting the sweater down on the couch next to him.

"Do you like me?"

That stopped Ford in his tracks. "I'm sorry?"

"I mean...you don't have to pretend," said Mabel, in an abashed voice, rubbing her sweater sleeve, "I know Dipper's your favourite kid. But surely you like me too...right?"

The look of desperation on her face as she gazed up at him caused his heart to break.

"Why, Mabel, of course I like you," Ford said, in alarm, putting a six-fingered hand on her shoulder, "You're my niece. You're an absolutely wonderful girl. I liked you from the moment I stepped out of that portal."

"Well then...how come you never want to spend time with me?" asked Mabel, "You're always palling around and doing nerdy stuff with Dipper. And whenever I ask to help, you always say no. I know I'm not super smart and sciencey like you guys, but...I-I want to spend time with you too."

Ford looked at the neediness in her eyes and he began to feel horribly guilty. Now that he thought about it, he had been favouring Dipper over Mabel. A lot. More than a lot. She'd been nothing but sweet to him ever since he had come back into this dimension, but mostly he'd just ignored her. No wonder she thought he didn't like her.

"Oh, Mabel..." He moved his hand to her cheek. "Mabel, sweetie, I assure you, I never intended to make you feel unwanted," he said, stroking her cheek gently with his thumb, "It's true that Dipper and I have a lot in common, and it was easier to bond with him at first, but you must know I think you're a lovely girl. You're sweet, kind, pretty, creative, so many things. I'm sorry I didn't let you know that sooner. Maybe I can fix that now."

A wide smile broke out on Mabel's face. "Will you come up and help me make some Mabel Juice?" she asked, "Dipper and Grunkle Stan are out at the moment, so we've got the whole house to ourselves. Sweater buddies?" She gave a hopeful smile and stretched out her sweater again.

Ford smiled. "You know, I've been cooped up down here for far too long. My work will still be here tomorrow. Let's say you and I go and spend some time together, hey, Mabel?"

"Yay!" squealed Mabel, leaping into the air with her arms up, "Ford and Mabel funtime! Will you wear your new sweater?"

Ford smiled, fondly. "I'll go and put it on right now, my sweet," he said, standing up and tousling her hair, "You go upstairs and start setting things up. I'll be up in a few minutes."

"Doodoodoodoodoo," Mabel hummed, as she stood on the stepladder and opened the cupboard in the kitchen to take out the sugar and syrup, "Mabel and Ford makin' Mabel Juice. Mabel and Ford funtime here we come!"

She heard footsteps coming from the basement, and beamed as she saw Ford come through the door a few moments later.

"Awwww, you're wearing the sweater!" cooed Mabel.

"It's very comfortable," said Ford, approvingly, running his fingers over his left arm, "It fits perfectly."

There was suddenly a flash, and Ford had to blink in surprise as Mabel snapped a photo of him.

"Scrapbookortunity!" she said, happily, looking at her camera before putting it back in her pocket and looking back up at Ford, "Are you ready to make some Mabel Juice?" she asked, eagerly, jumping down from the stepladder and running up to the kitchen table.

"I certainly am," Ford said, with an affectionate smile, "So is this everything we need?" He scanned the variety of items set out on the table around the blender.

"Let's see...passionfruit, pomegranate and blackcurrant juice," Mabel checked off, her eyes grazing the items on the table, "Lemonade, Pitt cola and ice cubes. Cherry kool-aid and ice cream. Sugar and strawberry syrup. Gummy worms and mini-marshmallows. Oh! I almost forgot!" she exclaimed, running out of the room and up the stairs.

Ford waited for a few seconds, hearing her footsteps slowly fade away as she ran upstairs, and then get louder as she came back down. She reappeared at the doorway and skipped back into the kitchen, holding two large pots of silver and gold glitter and a bowl filled with tiny dinosaur toys.

"Glitter and plastic dinosaurs!" She plonked them onto the table. "Now we have everything!"

Ford eyed the pots of artificial sparkle, skeptically. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" he said, in concern, "Glitter isn't exactly made for consumption, you know. It could give you indigestion."

Mabel put her hands on her hips. "Glitter is sparkly," she said, stubbornly, "That cancels out all other arguments!"

Ford couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, then let's get started!"

"Yay!"

With that, Mabel eagerly moved the kitchen stool over to the table so she could reach the top, and clambered up to start showing Ford how to make her special drink. It seemed to have a bit of everything in it; a mixture of all kinds of different-flavoured fruit juices and fizzy drinks, swirled in with some sweet treats, with a few scoops of ice cream here, a dash of syrup there, and plenty of sugar. And of course they couldn't forget the signature indigestibles.

Ford carefully observed her as she used the blender, though she assured him she had done this many times before. She leaned into his chest contentedly as they both watched the sweet, syrupy concoction whizz round in the blender, all the different colours mingling together, slowly becoming a sparkling strawberry-red liquid. The girl felt Ford's hand stroking the back of her head as they watched the glitter swirl round in the liquid together, and her smile grew wider and wider. A morning of laughing and making Mabel Juice! Great Uncle Ford all to herself! Things didn't get much better than this!

When the juice was finished, Mabel grabbed two large glasses from the kitchen cupboard and poured a generous cupful for both of them as they sat down at the kitchen table.

Ford eyed the glitter and plastic toys floating in the juice. "Are you certain this is safe to drink?" he queried, looking over at Mabel.

"Pffft!" scoffed Mabel, "It's perfectly safe! I've drunk this juice more times than I can count! And I am ninety-nine percent sure that I have not died!" Ford still looked skeptical, so she made a pout and looked up at him with big eyes. "Won't you at least try it?"

Aw, dammit! She had him caught in her cuteness. He really couldn't decline her now.

"Oh, what harm could it do?" said Ford, with a smile.

He raised the glass to his mouth and took a deep swig. Big mistake. Back when he and Stanley were kids, they had both loved sugary drinks, but after being trapped in the multiverse on the run for thirty years, it would take quite a while for his taste buds to adjust back to the sweetness. The sugar hit his tongue like a bolt of lightning, making him cough!

"S-s-s-sweet!" Ford gasped, grabbing his throat, his face shaking from the sugar rush!

"Yup!" Mabel declared, taking a swig of her own drink, "It'll do that! There's probably about six hundred pounds of sugar in this stuff!"

Ford coughed, before putting his cup back down on the table. "I think it's a little too sugary for me, my dear," he said, with another cough, "But it was a lot of fun making it with you." He opened his mouth and examined his tongue. "Is my tongue covered in glitter?"

"Yep, you bet!" Mabel said, cheerfully, before taking another sip of Mabel Juice, "Glittery! Whamp!" She stuck out her own tongue, which was dotted with gold and silver sparkles.

Ford couldn't help but smile. Though it was a rather uncomfortable feeling, having the inside of his mouth coated in glitter, and he rolled his tongue over the walls of his mouth to try and remove some of it. "Yes...very creative," he said, with a smile, as he wiped the glitter off his tongue, "Reminds me of the drinks they had back in the glitter dimension."

Mabel gasped out loud! "Glitter dimension!?" she exclaimed, with wide eyes!

"Well, I've visited a wide variety of dimensions in my time," said Ford, with a smile, "I discovered the glitter dimension when I was in my early fifties. Almost all of the dimensions I went to had a significant theme, and I think you can probably guess what the glitter dimension's was."

"Whoah," Mabel said, with intrigue, "A whole world of glitter! What was it like in there? Did the sky rain rainbow glitter? Were there glitter people and glittery trees and flowers and sparkly animals made out of sequins?"

"That's actually surprisingly accurate," Ford said, smiling, "And they made drinks very similar to this, too." He picked up his glass of Mabel Juice. "The whole place was a little too...sparkly...for me, though I'd say it'd be just the dimension for you." He ruffled her hair, affectionately.

"Woooooowwwwwwww..." Mabel gaped, with big eyes, "That's so cool! Tell me about some more dimensions! Was there a candy dimension? What about a boy band dimension? A pig dimension?"

"I travelled to exactly seven different candy dimensions," said Ford, rubbing his chin with a smile as he looked down at his niece, "And a pig dimension, too."

"How about a Mabel dimension?" Mabel asked, eagerly, "Is there a dimension where everyone's a Mabel like me?"

"Well, I can't say I've ever stumbled across one," said Ford, "But I certainly wouldn't be surprised!

"Wow!" exclaimed Mabel, clapping both hands to her face, "That's so cool! Hey! I know what we should do!" She scrambled out of her seat, excitedly. "We should get some paper and pens and draw some of these dimensions! Come on! I'll get some more glitter!"

"Well, we should probably clean this mess up first," said Ford, glancing round at the assortment of half-empty bottles and containers covering the kitchen as he stood up.

"And then make some dimensions?" asked Mabel, eagerly.

"How could I resist?"

"Check it out!" Mabel exclaimed, holding up her drawing to show Ford, "The Mabel Dimension! Inhabited by Mabels of every kind, ruled by the best Mabel of them all! Mabel!" She jabbed her thumb at herself. "Everyone has a pig there, and the sky always rains glitter, just like in your glitter dimension!"

Ford put his hand on his heart fondly as his niece eagerly held up her drawing. An assortment of mixmatched Mabels in different sweaters were clustered around on the page, each with their own Waddles and grappling hook. The sky was coated in gold glitter, and his niece was sitting on a gold throne in the middle, wearing a crown on her head.

"Now show me yours!" Mabel said, eagerly.

"It's unfinished, but..." Ford showed her his own sketch.

"The glitter dimension!" exclaimed Mabel, in delight! It was uncoloured and unglittered, but it was just as Ford described it, and he had drawn sparkles around the page, so there was no mistaking it. "This looks awesome!" She took his picture in her hands and gazed at it. "There's the glitter people! And the glitter trees and the glitter flowers! Now all it needs is..." She grabbed her sticker book and opened it. "Whamp! Whamp! Whamp!" She plucked out several stickers and stuck them on the page in each corner. "Sticker, sticker, sticker! And..." She picked up the gluestick. "Help me draw some glue lines!

Ford smiled and picked up another gluestick, before helping his niece coat the entire sky space of his image with glue.

"Now this is where the magic happens," Mabel said, easily, cracking her knuckles.

She picked up two pots of glitter from the table, one silver and one rainbow-coloured. With a swift click, she removed both the lids.

"GLITTERPALOOOOOOOZA!"

She stood up on her chair and emptied the two pots of glitter onto the page, completely smothering the page in multi-coloured sparkles! It sent a cloud of glitter up into the air, and the two had to lean back and cough as the glitter settled.

Mabel sneezed, before picking up the picture and tipping it onto its side so the glitter fell off. A fresh layer of rainbow sparkles glittered across the sky.

"There! That's more like it!" she said, happily, putting her hands on her hips, proudly, "Now we just need to do the same to the rest of it! Show me where the pink glitter should go!"

It was funny. Ford never would have thought the idea of drawing and making collages with glitter and stickers would appeal to him, but he found himself enjoying it immensely. Mabel seemed to know how to make anything fun. Before they knew it, they were well into it; drawing pictures, making different crafts, exchanging stories and laughing at each other's jokes.

"And that's why you should always carry around a grappling hook when fighting a giant robot," Mabel said, happily, as she used her felt tip pens to draw a turkey on Ford's hand.

"Heh." Ford chuckled at that.

Mabel finished drawing the wing on his palm and he flexed his fingers one by one, wiggling his little finger like a tail, making his niece giggle uncontrollably.

"Haha!" Mabel laughed, "Turkey! Boop!" She placed her small hand in the middle of his six-fingered one. "Boy, I wish I had six fingers!" she said, enviously, removing her hand from his and examining it.

Ford's brow contorted. "Really?" he said, in surprise.

"Of course!" exclaimed Mabel, with an excited bounce, "Just think of everything you can do with an extra finger! Making supercool handprints, playing piano, fitting a whole extra finger puppet on," she said, counting on her fingers, "Not to mention the tickle advantages!" She wiggled her fingers in the air. "More fingers just means more possibilities!"

Ford chuckled, softly. "Goodness," he said, smiling, "Nobody's ever said that to me before."

"Why not?" asked Mabel, in surprise.

"Well," said Ford, shrugging, "When I was your age, I was constantly teased. Having six fingers...it's not exactly normal."

"Normal!?" repeated Mabel, "PLTH!" She stuck her tongue out and made a thumbs-down. "Who the heck wants to be normal!?" she exclaimed, throwing her hands out to the sides, "Just look at me! I knit sweaters with puppies playing basketball and make juice with plastic dinosaurs in! I have dance parties with my pet pig and craft abstract art out of macaroni! Do I look normal to you!?"

Ford couldn't help but chuckle. "You've got me there, my dear," he said, with an affectionate smile. He put his hand on her hair and rubbed, fondly.

"Me and Dipper get teased all the time at school," said Mabel, dismissively, "Literally everything we do gets a whole bunch of meany words from somebody. My sweaters, my braces, Dipper's birthmark, probably about a hundred other things I can't even remember now. It doesn't matter what they think! They're just mean old poopheads who don't know anything!"

Ford smiled at the young girl's nonchalance. He had been very insecure about his differences as a child, but Mabel really knew how to love herself. He couldn't help but admire that.

"I mean," Mabel exclaimed, "Whadda you think those bullies'd say if they found out the six-fingered guy they were always teasing turned out to be an Einstein sci-fi genius who changed the world and went on space adventures in a bunch of awesome dimensions!? Aaaagh, we're such losers!" she babbled, sprawling onto Ford's shoulder dramatically, making him laugh and try and wrestle her off, "Why!? Why did we make fun of him for having six fingers!? Ford's a genius! We were meanies to him, and he became the most brilliant science guy in the world! We're crushed! Our lives are over! Aaaaaagh!" She waved her arms about, flapping them in Ford's face.

Her laughter was infectious, and soon Ford was laughing with her, trying to bat her arms away. He pulled her off his shoulder and rubbed her head, affectionately.

"Hahahaha!" Mabel laughed, pushing his hands off, "I say those bullies can mock all they want! I'll be the one laughing when I'm grown up and achieve awesomeness!"

"What are you hoping to be?" asked Ford, with a smile.

"A pig farmer!" declared Mabel, "I'm going to raise pigs and sell them so that everyone can have pigs like Waddles to make their lives the best! There's no doubt about it. Every household should have a pig! Pigs make everyone happy!"

"Heh," Ford said, smiling, pushing his glasses back to the top of his nose, "You are something alright, Mabel. I wish I'd been more like you as a child."

"Awww!" Mabel blushed. Then she gasped! "Hey! What's that? You've got something on your chest!"

"What?" Ford jumped and looked down at his sweater. "Where?"

"Boop!" Mabel jumped off her seat and threw her arms around him! "It's a Mabel! Haha!" She gave an adorable giggle and nuzzled into him. "I love you, Grunkle Ford," she said, snuggling her head in his chest, happily.

Ford was too stunned to speak. He blinked as his mind processed the words that had just come from his young niece's mouth. It had been over forty years since someone had told him they loved him. And not only that, but she had called him "Grunkle". A nickname he had thought was reserved only for Stanley. Slowly, his arms curled round his niece, holding her protectively against his chest as if she were the most precious thing in the universe. Which to him, come to think of it, she was. His hand found the back of her head, and began gently running his fingers through her thick brown hair. He hugged her tight to him, feeling a warmness bloom inside his heart.

"I...I love you too, sweetheart."

Mabel giggled and cuddled up closer to him. Ford felt her smile against his chest, which made his heart flutter. He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, periodically stroking her hair before she broke away to look at him.

"Wanna help me make a new page for my scrapbook?"

"Of course, pumpkin."