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"Hey, you don't want to kiss me, or anything, right?" he had asked her in the woods, half way through drawing something in the dirt.
"Ew. Dummy. Why would you even think that?" Pacifica had replied, because that was seriously gross.
"Mabel said when girls hang out with guys this much, it's because they want to kiss them," Dipper said, ducking his head and scuffing the drawing with his toes.
"Yeah, that's Mabel though," Pacifica laughed, "Anyway, kissing would like totally get in the way of you teaching me all this junk. The only use your lips have to me is telling me how to get rid of that pixie infestation."
He laughed back. "It's pretty gross though, you sure you want to hear?"
"Can't be worse then thinking about kissing you."
Mabel still makes fun of him for his initial thoughts of Pacifica. To be fair, she was kind of the worst when they were twelve. Even when she was being good, she still wasn't even that good. But after she apologized for letting him be turned to wood, and he forgave her, they started hanging out a little bit more. Not much, just getting burgers when the Northwest household was too stifling, and Mabel wouldn't shut up about her latest boyband
And now Mabel barely talks to him, especially not about important things like Gnomes and Where-wolves, and Pacifica listened and learnt, and now there they are, dealing with the pixie infestation threatening the Woodstick festival.
"How is Mabel anyway?" Pacifica asked, tying her hair back in preparation.
"Oh, you know, classic Mabel, I guess. She spends a lot of time with Wendy and every time I enter a room, they shut up and stare at me until I leave. I don't get it," Dipper said.
"Girl talk. Harsh."
"Yep. Right, so, pixies. Very fast, kind of slimy. You ever heard of noodling? We'll be noodling some pixies," he said. By the end of the demonstration, Pacifica was borderline rethinking her decision to be friends with him.
He grinned at her, and nodded to the pixie hole. "Still not as bad as kissing you," she said primly, before reaching in the wet crevice.
They go back to the Mystery Shack after that, because Stan may be cheap but he always has good snacks in the fridge, and the Northwests would scream at the amount of mud on their arms. Pacifica is bleeding very slightly, because some pixies bite, but it doesn't hurt much.
"Hey guys," Dipper said as he entered the giftshop. Mabel stopped talking immediately, and Wendy, back from college with her new pixie cut and nose ring, looked shiftily at the wall.
Pacifica laughed as they awkwardly shuffled past them to the kitchen.
"Honestly, I don't get it. What are they even talking about?" Dipper said, turning the faucet with his elbows.
"Periods. Hormones. Cute boys." Pacifica guessed.
"I've been through the first two, and Mabel didn't use to have this problem with the last one. She had fifteen boyfriends when she wad fourteen and I can name all of them probably," he replied. "I just... what if she's got a problem. Why isn't she coming to me?"
"You're a boy, and no matter how many periods you used to have, doesn't negate the fact that, neurologically, you're not one of them," she said.
"Yeah. But you are."
"No. Dip, we are not doing some Parent Trap style infiltration to get you and your sister back togther. I'm nothing like her," she said.
"One, this is nothing like Parent Trap, don't mention that movie unless you're gonna take it seriously, and two, I just want to know if I should be worried. And you're more like her than you think," he said, cocking his head at her and staring.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. You're both not as cool as me, for starters," he said, and she flicked water at him. "Just go in there, see how they react. I'll show you a manotaur if you do."
Pacifica sighed. She'd been wanting to see them ever since Dipper told her about his encounter. But wa it worth having to be around Mabel Pines? With Dipper, their friendship grew because he was honest with his dislike. She had to actively try around him. But Mabel has always been nice, with everyone. No one likes people that much really.
"Okay, but I know there's only one can of Cherry Pitt soda in that fridge, and it is mine, Dipper Pines, you hear me," she said, and he saluted her.
She set her shoulders, let her hair down and entered the giftshop.
"Hey guys," she said.
Wendy nodded. "Hi Pacifica," Mabel said.
"Hi," Pacifica said. "I already said that."
Mabel laughed, and Pacifica had to remind herself that it's just polite, that wasn't really that funny. It was kind of awkward actually. It was a victory she hadn't started blushing.
"So what have you and Dipper been getting up to?" Wendy asked with a vaguely flirty smile. Eagle one to headquarters: She's in.
"Noodling," she said immediately and then flinched at Mabels beaming face. "It's a way to get rid of pixies, it's nothing."
"Pixies, sure. I knew it. Didn't I tell you," Mabel said. Her smile was a lot prettier without those braces. "I worried about him, he's a late bloomer, but I knew it."
"I promise you, we caught some pixies, and that is it," Pacifica said.
Wendy laughed. "Knowing Dipper, that probably is it. Remember when I first met you guys, and he had a crush, and never said anything. Oh man, that was great."
Pacifica blinked. "Wait, what."
Mabels theories of their relationship are not quelled when Dipper offered to walk Pacifica home. They left to a chorus of wolf whistles, if two people with plenty of enthusiasm makes a chorus.
"What did you find out?" Dipper asked, sipping his standard Pitt cola.
Pacifica cracked open her cherry soda, "Not much. They just talked. Well, oh, they told me that a certain boy liked a certain college student for weeks."
"Shut up, we've all had crushes," he said, shoulders inwards, and at seventeen, Dipper was no longer the awkward kid he used to be, but sometimes it comes back.
"Don't I know it," she said.
For a while they walked the lanes silently, sipping from their cans, but she couldn't hold it in much longer.
"Dipper, I'm gay," she said, slowing down almost completely.
He looked at her with his scrunched up face, and she has to bite her lip to not cry. "I'm sorry. This is weird. I shouldn't have said anything."
He frowned deeper. "No, it's just... I already knew. Last summer, your crush on Candy, remember."
"I never said it was Candy," she said, and it's a relief he's fine with it, but the tears are still weirdly there.
"It was pretty obvious. 'Someone got hot over school and now I can't stop looking'. 'They're so good with computers but their dress sense is so on point'. Plus, I'm sure you literally said it was a she at one point," he said.
"You asked me if I wanted to kiss you like five hours ago," she said.
"Yeah, because Mabel keeps saying it. I was just checking. Plus, you could have been bi or something," he said, tugging on his cap.
"So you didn't know I was gay," she said, and he laughed and everything was okay again.
"It wasn't a surprise, is what I meant. No worries," he said, and bumped his shoulder against hers. "Can we start walking again though, because it's getting dark."
They started walking again, and the Pacifica remembered why she needed to bring that up. "Look, I can't do that again. The pretending to be friends with your sister and Wendy."
"What, because of the gay thing? No, they're fine with that. Look at Soos, they're fine with him," Dipper assured her.
"No, you dummy," she said, and took a swig of cola in the hope he might figure it out instead.
And of course, Dipper is pretty clever, and his face lit up quickly. "You like one of them. Is it Wendy? She's cool, definitely. Or, no. No. Pacifica, no. You're kidding, right?"
"Mabel," she said and he groans.
"See. I can't go about talking to her and being friends with her and her laughing, and no offense, but buddy, your sister is pretty damn-"
"No. You're not telling me about my sister. That can't happen," he said.
"So I don't have to hang out with her anymore?"
"No, I'm still worried, and her if you like her, this can only be a good thing. Just don't tell me about the specifics of your liking. But, no, this is a good thing really, c'mon, you get to talk to her. This is good. This is fine," he said and she sighed, because really, it kind of is, maybe, and if Dipper was worried, shouldn't she try at least help.
She didn't agree to anything for two days, instead letting Dipper stew and worry. He showed her the manotaurs, and at least that was a respite, because they were pretty chill compared to when he first met them, but concern was still not their strong point.
She liked the manotaurs. Sure they all smelt like barbeques and Axe bodyspray for some reason, and there was so much hair, and muscles, but they where good for a laugh. She could understand why Dipper didn't always get on with them though. His fondness of vapid pop songs wasn't conductive in the circumstances.
And of course, thinking of vapid pop songs made her think of Mabel, and then Mabel and the manotaurs, and there was no doubt that if anyone could rein in their masculinity, it was Mabel. She would braid their hair, and put stickers on their weights, and they would let her.
"I'll do it," she said when they were in his room.
He looked at her blankly from across his crossword, and then nodded. "You always come through. This will end good, I promise."
"It better do," she said, with Northwest steel in her voice.
He nodded quickly. "It will. Right, they're probably out there right now. We need to be subtle about this. They'll accept you of course, but it'll be easier if they're not suspicious."
"I'll go get snacks, make conversation. You're so engrossed in your lame puzzles that you won't notice I'm gone, and besides, it's boring watching someone do a crossword anyway," she said, putting on a semi-robotic voice and doing a casual hairflip.
"Good excuse," he nodded, "It's not actually boring watching me, right?"
"You're far too involved for it to be boring. You getting a seven letter word is like watching someone get a hole in one when the par is five," she said.
"Yes, I totally understand sports metaphors. Go get 'em, champ," he said, punching her softly on the shoulder.
She walked through the Mystery Shack with hands slightly out, and her eyes wide. She spent a lot of time here, but it's never a bad thing to be prepared. There was the time when everyone could only walk backwards, and the time when colour was inverted. Plus, Stan is kind of a freak.
Mabel and Wendy sat on the porch, the door open so that when Pacifica went and leant in the frame, it looked casual and normal and effortless.
"Hey there," Mabel scooted so she could see her.
"Hi," Pacifica said, and tried out a smile
.
"Dipper being weird again?" Wendy asked.
"Always," she said and the two laughed. Mabel patted the wood next to her, and smiled invitingly.
"I don't even understand where he gets such specialised crosswords. Like, nineteen forties aviation crossword? Seriously," she said and they laugh some more. Pacifica liked that one, ended up completing it when he finally gave up, but it's still ridiculous.
Unfortunately, Pacifica was never much of a conversationalist, not the sort Mabel and Wendy are. She could gossip, though her interest has faded. With Dipper, she could joke about stuff, but these two seem to talk about real things, that she has no idea about.
"You going to Woodstick?" Wendy asked her.
"Probably. It's never any fun though, I don't know why I keep doing it to myself," she replied. All her friends at school would go, and if she didn't go, they'd just bitch about her behind her back. It's hard enough for the rumour mill, her being friends with Dipper. Missing a pivotal social event would kill her standing.
"You should come with us," Mabel said, and then looked over at Wendy, "We're going right."
"Yeah, and probably Tambry, if she isn't being lame," Wendy added.
Pacifica blinks. When Dipper said it'd go well, he probably didn't mean thus much this soon, but as if she's going to turn it down. "Yeah, that'd be cool. You're not just doing this to get Dipper to come, are you?"
"Nah. He's not into this scene and we respect that," Wendy said.
"Dipper is lame, and boring, and I wouldn't want him there anyway," Mabel declared, and then laughed.
"You'll take that back once something weird happens, and come on, this is Gravity Fall and it's a major event, what's the chances that it goes off without a hitch," Pacifica said.
"I can handle the weird," Mabel said, stretching her hands out, and even though she was wearing a dress with a kitten on it, and her fingernails were painted yellow, Pacifica believed her.
"Dipper, come and take a selfie with me," Pacifica said, holding her phone and inspecting her face from as many angles as possible.
"You're kidding, right?" he said.
"No, I'm really feeling this look. I'm calling it Monster Hunting Chic. Retro Chic," she said, adjusting her sunglasses and nodding.
"We're not even hunting monsters," he pointed out.
"Yeah, but if we had to, I could, and still look stylish. Look at these shoes. I could run in these babies, but they're so cute," she said. They were currently in the woods behind the Northwest mansion, sitting in the low boughs of a tree and kicking the air.
"Yes, they are definitely shoes. Take a selfie by yourself. Isn't that the point."
"Ugh, no. It's not. Selfies are like memories on my phone. I want to remember being friends with you. And this outfit, seriously," she said, "Mabel would do it."
He lent in, with a sigh, and frowned until she hit him. The photo ended up with them both grinning manically, and if Dipper was faking, then you couldn't tell.
"How goes you and Mabel, anyway?" he said.
She rolled her eyes. The thing was that it was going well. To quote any movie hacker ever, she was in. They texted, and tagged each other in facebook memes, and their Woodstick plans were coming along well. Sometimes she had to pinch herself because Mabel Pines, her childhood enemy and complete opposite, was now her friend.
"It's alright, I guess."
"Has she mentioned me? Has she given off any vibes she likes you? Give me more than four words," he persevered.
"I dunno, she calls you lame sometimes, but she smiles at the same time. She sometimes hugs me and it's pretty intense, but she does that with everyone. I think she likes you and she likes me and she likes everyone, and everyone likes her," Pacifica said, picking at the bark beneath her. When she looked up, Dipper was writing in his notebook.
"Does anything seem wrong? She seems fine, but then why...?" he said, tapping his pencil against the pad, and frowning.
"I think you're imaging pretty much everything, to be honest. She's just not as close any more. That's it. It happens, even to identical twins," she said, patting his shoulder.
He wrinkled his nose and made a sort of disbelieving noise, but put the notebook back in his pocket.
"Oh, I gotta go. Jessikah and Aimee want to get coffee. At least they'll appreciate this outfit," she said, slipping off the tree and brushing chips off her totally cute skirt.
"Yep, classic Jessikah and Aimee, they love that Monster Hunting Chic," Dipper said, with a droll smile, and she laughed.
Greasies Diner was where everyone went for a date. It wasn't particularly romantic, or hip. It was mostly a lack of anywhere else that causes this phenomenon. But when Mabel asked Pacifica to meet her there, she had a heart attack.
It didn't mean it was a date. Plenty of people went to Greasies for other reasons. But, she couldn't help but argue, it had a potential to be a date. It wasn't not a date.
So she dressed to impress. To be honest, even if Mabel had asked her for plumbing help and she had to unclog a toilet, she was still dress her best. Though she would include overalls and rubber gloves in that. Did you get stylish rubber gloves?
That was a question for another day. Pacifica's wardrobe was not hugely compatible with Mabel. There were no doe eyed animals, no sparkly bangles, nothing that looked even a little bit cute. Everything she owned was sleek, pastel, well fitted.
High waisted shorts. They worked with everything, always. If she didn’t risk hypothermia, she would wear high wasted shorts in winter. And that shirt had a mermaid on, Mabel liked mermaids surely. Why did Pacifica even have that shirt?
Stop asking so many questions. She looked good. Did she look good? No, she did. She looked good.
She wanted to text Dipper, get some encouragement from him, but that would also mean questions, and she couldn't be bothered to answer them, and his encouragement can be really weird sometimes. Like, "I'm sure it'll be fine. At least the multi-bear won't eat you. Probably. Actually, pack a knife." That doesn't make a girl feel better.
Mabel was sitting in a booth when Pacifica arrived, and it took everything she had to go and sit with her, and not run away, or throw up. She still couldn't tell if this was a date, not when Mabel smiled at her, or offered her a sip of her milkshake, or laughed at something Pacifica said, her head tilted back beautifully.
"You're still on for Woodstick tomorrow, right?" Mabel asked, playing with her straw.
"Uh, yeah, of course," Pacifica said, "Obviously." She tried to sound like she wasn't internally screaming at her wardrobe. It was a miracle she had found one set of clothes that wouldn't pysically repel Mabel, but she couldn't wear it again tomorrow.
"Oh good. Just, because, you know, we're here, right now, together, and you might get sick of me by then. Great. Wendy's bringing the picnic blanket, you're dealing with desserts, right?" Mabel said.
Pacifica nodded. "And you're in charge of drinks," she said with a wink.
Mabel grinned, and raised her eyebrows quickly. "And Dipper is... ?"
"Your brother, not mine. Far as I know, he's got a new fountain pen he needs to break in," Pacifica said.
"Good, good. Just checking you didn't invite him on the sly. I love him, but tomorrow is girls day." Mabel said.
Girls day. And with girls that are actually funny, and like her for her personality, not for her vast bank account. Not that there was anything wrong with that, she did have a fantastic amount of money, and she liked herself because of it, but it was nice to have other people.
If Pacifica was honest with herself, she would admit that the bands that play at Woodstick at pretentious and boring and obsessed with sadness, and that she really didn't like any of them, and that she never had, but honesty is not a Northwest trait.
But it's not a lie when she decides she tells Dipper how excited she is. He laughed, clapped her on the shoulder and said "Remember to use protection. I don't want my sister pregnant."
She had rolled her eyes, but the way Mabel kept looking at her, maybe he had been onto something.
They were sitting on the hill, watching a set from afar. Tambry had turned up, but spent the entire time taking pictures of things that made no sense to Pacifica, like a cigarette butt on the ground. When asked, she muttered something about art, and no one understands, then took a picture of Mabels shoelace. Wendy was folding left over picnic napkins into origami shapes, and Mabel... Well.
Mabel was lying with her head in Pacifica's lap, looking at a distant stage. Her legs were in Wendy's lap, so maybe it didn't even mean anything, but she could constantly feel it, heavy warmth, and her thick hair spilling everywhere.
She was braiding it before she even realised she was doing that. "Hey, why didn't you want Dipper here? Tambry doesn't seem too interested, but she's here."
Mabel didn't reply, but she didn't move.
"She's jealous of him. She thought if he were here, you wouldn’t pay attention to her," Wendy said quietly. Mabel kicked her, and when Pacifica looked down, she was blushing.
"You know I'll pay attention to you whenever you ask, right. Unless Dipper is talking about monsters. But he's stopped doing that so much, so you've got a pretty safe bet," Pacifica said, the closest thing to a confession of love she could manage.
Mabel rolled over to smile up at her. "Cool. After this, I guess my lips would like your lips attention."
Pacifica nodded. "Yeah alright."
Wendy places an origami flower on Mabels knee and Tambry takes a picture of it.
"Oh yeah, and also, I'm fairly sure there's a goblin in his shoe that keeps looking at me weird," Mabel added, "But that's not important."