Gravity Falls 1. Chapter 1

_**Moonlight Stroll**_

Two sets of footsteps crunched along the leaf strewn path that wound its way between the trees of the forest which surrounded Gravity Falls, one brisk and confident and the other with a stumbling hesitant gait. Two flashlight beams pierced the dark night air, one held steady along the path and the other sweeping in wide somewhat shaky arcs around the trees casting weird shadows in the bushes that danced and flickered oddly. Two voices were raised in conversation that cut through the utter stillness of the forest night, seeming as loud as gunshots - one bright and cheerful and the other petulant but with a note of unaccustomed worry running through it.

"I still don't see why you needed me to walk you home - you've lived in this town all your life," Mabel said teasingly.

"No, I've lived in a nice mansion on the good side of town all my life - not around this weird creepy forest that your crazy uncle lives in. I wouldn't even need to be walking _anywhere _if my parents hadn't had some stupid fund-raiser to go to tonight that they hadn't told me about and taken the limo with them." Pacifica griped, her wide blue eyes darting along the edges of the trail trying to spot any hint of movement there.

"Is the great Pacifica Northwest admitting that she needs help with finding her way back through the big scary trees?" Mabel asked with a wide grin.

"Dream on- you're just here in case I need something to distract the wolves," Pacifica shot back, the unfamiliar darkness of the forest making her edgy and harsh.

"Don't worry, I've been out here with my brother plenty of times before and I haven't seen a single wolf yet," Mabel reassured her with a friendly pat on the shoulder. "I was almost eaten by a dinosaur once though," she added almost as an afterthought.

"A dinosaur?" Pacifica scoffed.

"After almost being killed by little golf-ball people you're going to tell me that a dinosaur is really that unbelievable?" Mabel asked.

"I should have just asked if I could have borrowed your weird manservant to walk me home, he probably wouldn't have talked as much." Pacifica said, ignoring the truth of Mabel's statement.

"Clearly you don't know Soos too well," Mabel replied dryly.

"Thanks for coming along with me though," Pacifica said, her tone casual but with a hint of friendliness underneath.

"It's no big deal - I wouldn't have actually let you walk all alone through this freaky place even if you wanted to. Actually scratch the 'no big deal part'- I'll have to bust out my extra special markers when I write in my diary tonight since I just got my first ever 'Thanks' from you." Mabel said with a grin.

"I didn't even know it was possible for you to be this sarcastic," Pacifica said sounding grudgingly impressed.

"Really? I didn't even know that you knew the word 'Thanks' till today." Mabel teased.

"Of course I knew the word thanks!" Pacifica snipped back.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure you did – just like you we're an expert at the '_shaw-ring_'," Mabel said with a giggle, her flashlight beam briefly leaving the trail as she finger-quoted the last word.

"Oh bite me you fluffy little princess," Pacifica growled, her burst of anger at Mabel temporarily helping her to forget her fear of the claustrophobic crush of trees choking the dirt trail around her.

"Hah! I knew that you were starting to warm up to me - even your insults aren't as mean anymore!" Mabel laughed.

Pacifica felt her cheeks flush slightly, but thankfully it was too dark for Mabel to have noticed. It _was _true that she hadn't felt like being particularly mean to Mabel lately, though even those times when she had been condescending Mabel had taken it all with the same infuriating mix of obliviousness and optimism that Pacifica found so… interesting. Ever since their weird ill-fated contest at the mini-golf course they'd been running into one another around town more often and exchanging friendly words instead of insults, and that had lead up to today where Pacifica had decided to finally accept Mabel's constant offers to hang out - mostly out of boredom. Despite all of her expectations to the contrary the day hadn't turned out to be a complete disaster, and she'd actually found herself really enjoying Mabel's company.

"Well, I'm willing to admit that you aren't as _much _of a dork as I first thought," Pacifica said indifferently as she thought back on the day's events. Mabel was definitely quirky_, _but Pacifica couldn't deny that she knew how to have a good time.

"All joking aside, I'm really glad you came over to visit today," Mabel offered, her tone apologetic for her earlier teasing.

Pacifica's expression softened and she gave Mabel a small friendly smile in return.

"I actually had a lot of fun today, so I'm glad I did too… even if it means that we have to walk all night through this awful mosquito choked hell of a forest." Pacifica said.

"You could have just spent the night over with me at the Shack - we've never gotten to have a sleepover together before." Mabel said.

"We literally just hung out as not-enemies for the first time today and you already want me to stay at your house?" Pacifica asked in confusion.

"Well yeah, sleepovers are awesome! You've had to have one of those before, right?" Mabel asked.

_Not really, _Pacifica thought to herself. Growing up, Pacifica hadn't really gotten to do much that would have been "too messy" or "too noisy" anywhere near her parents belongings, and sleepovers had been up there on the list along with 'eating in the car' or 'finger painting' in the long list of things that she had never done.

"I thought you guys had golf carts and stuff that we could have used instead of walking?" Pacifica said quickly to deflect the whole sleepover idea from Mabel's mind.

"_Had_ is the key word there - Soos kind of accidentally totaled the cart a week ago and he's still working on getting it fixed up. He's almost done though, all he needs is to replace the cup holder & then put all the wheels back on." Mabel explained.

A branch snapped loudly somewhere off in the darkness and the girls froze in their tracks, their flashlights sweeping out through the treeline in frantic arcs. Pacifica noted the look of fear that had come over Mabel's face at the sudden noise.

"You look awfully scared for someone who was just teasing me about not wanting to walk alone in the dark a few minutes ago," she said, half playful and half trying to conceal her own growing feeling of worry at Mabel's reaction.

"Well Pacifica, that's just because unlike you I _do _know a bit about the weird junk that lives out in this part of the woods," Mabel said quietly, edging slowly toward her companion and taking her free hand into a tight grip.

"Are you sure you aren't overreacting a little?" Pacifica asked hopefully as her wide blue eyes darted out into the shadows all around her, ears straining for just the slightest hint of noise.

For a few minutes everything seemed perfectly peaceful despite Mabel's sudden burst of paranoia and Pacifica was about to sarcastically ask Mabel to release her death-grip on her hand when a branch snapped suddenly behind them on the trail. Pacifica's fingers clamped as tight as a well-manicured bear trap in Mabel's hand and she shot her a worried glance.

"You had been joking before about the dinosaur, right?" Pacifica asked in a hushed voice.

"How fast can you run in those fuzzy boots of yours?" Mabel said, equally quietly.

"I don't know - I don't really run that often." Pacifica replied shakily.

A loud inhuman noise split the air from somewhere in the shadowy maze of trees, sounding halfway between a snakes hiss and a bears throaty growl. All at once the chirping insects and the quiet songs of the night birds fell into dead silence and the sound of branches snapping grew closer.

"We're about to find out!" Mabel squeaked before she took off in a run, practically yanking Pacifica's arm out of her socket as she tugged the blonde girl along with her.

Pacifica turned her head and caught sight of something bulky, hairy and with _way _too many legs smashing out of the treeline and onto the leaf-strewn trail behind them before she turned back and concentrated solely on running, putting every ounce of energy she had into her strides.

"Do you have any idea what's chasing us?" Pacifica screamed in panic.

"Nope, I just know that I don't want to get caught!" Mabel replied grimly, her grip on Pacifica's hand never slipping as they ducked and scrambled together over the branch choked path.

Pacifica had never been as scared in her entire life as she was at this moment. Every beat of her heart felt like it was going to send the organ rocketing out of her chest and her lungs burned with each breath she took, but sheer terror kept her feet pumping furiously to try and keep up with Mabel who was surging ahead and tugging her along.

"Move those fancy shoes of yours faster! Do you _want _to be monster food or something?" Mabel shouted encouragingly

"No one had ever tried to kill me before I met you and now I've been attacked twice in two weeks!" Pacifica shouted back angrily.

"You can thank me later if we survive the night!" Mabel replied, suddenly bursting into wild panicky laughter.

_Oh my god, she's literally insane, _Pacifica thought to herself before she got too busy concentrating on running to think at all.

The loud shrieking call of the _whatever _that was chasing them echoed again through the damp night air and the sound of it turned the blood in Pacifica's veins to ice. She had to clench her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering in panic, but she felt Mabel's hand squeeze hers reassuringly and the gesture helped pull her back from the fear that was starting to overtake her mind. Pacifica turned and saw Mabel's face reflected in the dim light of the wavering flashlight beam and the moonglow filtering through the leaves and was surprised to see her expression… she was definitely scared too, but there was a stubborn set to her lips that showed that she was fighting it and the sight was enough to force Pacifica to do the same. There was no way she was going let Mabel Pines think that she was a wimp - she would never be able to live it down otherwise.

Mabel jerked her arm roughly as she jabbed her flashlight down a fork in the path ahead.

"I think I recognize this spot - I've got a plan!" Mabel panted at her, tugging Pacifica along the curve of the trail that lead up a steep incline off the main road.

The muscles in Pacifica's legs burned as she struggled up the hill, her gorgeously done nails scrabbling in the dirt for any hand-hold that would help her speed up the climb. The footsteps of their pursuer had fallen behind them in the distance but she could still hear them faintly and it gave her all the encouragement she needed to climb faster. The path suddenly came to a sharp end and Pacifica saw with an ugly sinking feeling in her chest that the hill ended in a steep cliff. Two weathered wooden posts and some rotted tangles of cord showed where an old fashioned rope bridge had once connected the cliff to the rest of the path which continued on along another hill ahead. Unfortunately since the bridge had collapsed some time ago there was now a thirty foot gap of open space between those two hills with absolutely nothing walkable between them… and the thumping, scrabble of strange footsteps could be heard slowly making their way up the hill behind them.

"Was your plan to die here? Because that seems to be what's happening!" Pacifica snapped at Mabel.

Mabel ignored the question, being too busy staring out at the trees on the other hill. She licked one finger and held it up to the wind, muttering quietly to herself before she turned back to Pacifica and grabbed her by the hand once more, pulling her close and then wrapping one of her own arms tight around Pacifica's slim waist.

"Hug me _really_ tight, okay?" Mabel said as she reached into the baggy pocket at the front of her sweater and pulled out a chunky black gun with a wickedly sharp looking hook glittering at the end of it.

Pacifica stared at Mabel in surprised confusion.

"Is that a-"she began to ask before the brunette aimed the odd machine at a tall tree across the gap and fired, sending the two of them flying across the distance through the air.

"GRAPPLING HOOK!" Mabel shouted triumphantly as Pacifica clung onto her for dear life, her heart slamming like a runaway jackhammer in her chest as the ground dropped away beneath her feet.

The whole incident probably took five seconds, but it felt like a lifetime and Pacifica hadn't realized that she'd been holding her breath until her feet were once again on solid ground. She could hear the rustling of leaves in the distance and saw the lurching form of the creature that had been chasing them stop short on the edge of the cliff, its body still mostly concealed by shadows. It glared across the gap with a single glittering eye before it gave a final hissing scream and turned back along the path and shuffled off the way it came.

"Yeah, you better run ugly," Mabel said cockily, though she said it extra quietly just in case the monster was close enough to still be able to hear her.

For a second there was just something about Mabel's pose and the look of exhilaration on her face that sent a weird awkward current through Pacifica's chest which she'd never felt before, and it set her heart to beating hard for reasons that had nothing to do with her earlier panic.

"You just saved my life," Pacifica whispered in a daze as her brain struggled to catch up with the bizarre turn that the night had taken.

"All in a day's work," Mabel replied cheerfully. She twirled the grapple gun in her hand with a flourish and then slipped it back into the mysterious depths of her sweater.

"That was just… that…I mean… thank you," Pacifica said, stumbling over the words and feeling flustered beyond belief.

"Two thanks in one day? I may have to bust out the glitter along with the markers for that diary entry," Mabel said in a friendly teasing tone.

"Oh shut up," Pacifica replied quietly, but without anger.

For a few moments there was a peaceful silence over the forest, broken only by the sounds of the girls' quiet breathing.

"Heh… you know you don't have to keep hugging me right? We're already back on the ground," Mabel said with a nervous chuckle as she gently patted her hand on Pacifica's back.

Pacifica felt her face flush sunset red and she reluctantly released her grip on Mabel. Her brain hadn't even registered the idea of letting go as an option before.

"Right, yeah… I was just… anyway, let's keep going. I don't want to run into any of that things friends or whatever," Pacifica muttered coolly as she tried to sort out the new tangle of thoughts that had snarled their way into her mind.

Mabel Pines, of all people, had just saved her life. She'd swept her up and swung her across a cliff with a grappling hook that she got from god knows where, and she'd actually looked incredibly cool doing it.

_Not just cool though… actually kind of-_

Pacifica felt her heart catch in her throat when she completed the thought.

_-kind of hot._

_Did I really just think that?_

As they started their way back along the path Pacifica felt Mabel's hand reach out and find her own and Pacifica automatically wrapped her own fingers into Mabels warm grip

"Hope you don't mind the hand holding," Mabel said quietly, "now that the adrenaline's wearing off I'm starting to freak out a little," she added with a nervous chuckle.

Pacifica gave Mabel's hand a reassuring squeeze and felt a nervous little smile start to tug at the corner of her mouth.

"I don't mind," she said honestly, and then added after a moment's pause, "but if you tell anyone about this I'll ruin you."

"My lips are sealed," Mabel replied, "just as long as you promise not to tell Dipper that I saved you from getting eaten by a monster. He might never forgive me if he finds out,"

"Deal," Pacifica said.

The rest of the walk was thankfully uneventful and Pacifica reluctantly released her grip on Mabel's hand when she spotted the high iron gates of her family's mansion ahead.

"Well, guess this is your stop," Mabel said once they'd arrived.

"Hey… um… would you want to maybe spend the night here at my place? I don't really like the idea of you going back out there and getting eaten," Pacifica volunteered hesitantly.

"Awww – you really do care!" Mabel said playfully.

"At least enough to not let you get eaten by monsters anyway," Pacifica said snidely.

"Well, it's a good start anyway." Mabel said with a smile.

"Are you staying or not?" Pacifica snapped, partly regretting the decision to ask her but also hoping that she would agree.

"Heck yeah! Who would ever turn down a sleepover?" Mabel asked cheerfully.

"Alright, just keep quiet – we're going to sneak you in through the backdoor." Pacifica said once she'd keyed in the code to open up the gates.

"A stealth sleepover? Twice as cool!" Mabel stage-whispered with a grin.

Pacifica felt a smile make its way across her face despite her misgivings– she'd work out whatever that weird feeling she had back in the woods was later, but for now she was just looking forward to seeing what all the fuss over sleepovers was about.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Carnival Date_**

_How fancy is too fancy for a carnival?_ Mabel found herself wondering as she examined the fifth outfit she'd tried on so far that evening, pursing her lips critically as she looked herself over in the slightly cracked mirror of the attic bedroom in the Mystery Shack.

Her latest experiment was a short airy looking sundress dyed in a crazy shade of magenta, bumblebee striped black and neon yellow leggings that clashed with the color of her skirt as violently as if they were lifelong enemies & a wide hairband in the same eye-burning yellow tint that was tied into an elaborate bow to hold back her long brown curls. Her wrists were weighed down with so many bangles and bracelets that even a slight movement of her arm sounded like she was about to start a spontaneous performance of 'Jingle Bells'.

_Is this too much?_

Mabel thought back to the last carnival that she'd been to and recalled images of corndogs, semi-legal fireworks, mostly safe rides and rigged games. Definitely a casual sort of place. Sloppy even, just judging by the look of the carnies Mabel had seen working there. She'd stand out like a birthday clown at a funeral in this outfit, which she normally wouldn't mind except this time…

_Yeah, probably too fancy for a carnival, _she decided with an annoyed sigh.

_How fancy is too fancy for a date with Pacifica Northwest though?_

She felt the slightest jolt of panic when she considered that particular angle of the situation.

_Shoot! I might not be even close to fancy enough. What do I have that's fancy? Did I pack a tiara? Do I even own a tiara? Where do you even get a tiara at this time of night!_

You only ever get one First Date with a person, and Mabel wanted to try to get everything as close to perfect as possible for this particular night. In the past few summers that she'd been coming up to stay with her Grunkle Stan here in Gravity Falls she had found her visits with her Oregon friends to be one of the things that she'd looked forward to the most… especially Pacifica, who she'd grown particularly close to. Their friendship hadn't been without its share of complications - Mabel's other friends definitely didn't get along with Pacifica's usual crowd and the one time they'd tried to get everyone together as a group had been a flat out disaster. Though she normally liked being in a big group Mabel found that she didn't mind spending her time alone with Paz… it had been like having a secret all to herself, which felt pretty fun.

Even now she couldn't say when things had started to change between them - that one point when her feelings had gone from friendship and into some whole new, much warmer and slightly confusing territory. As far as she knew it had crept up on her all at once, but the signs had all been there if Mabel had looked for them – the quick glances passing between the girls that dropped shyly away when they thought the other had been noticed, friendly hugs that went on a bit longer than usual and ended in slightly awkward smiles, unconsciously sliding on the couch to sit closer together when they hung out watching movies on the giant television in Pacifica's room.

It had all built up over time until the silent pressure of her feelings had finally burst out of Mabel's mouth in a weird halting confession a week ago while she and Pacifica had been hanging out at the lake eating food they'd just picked up from Gravity Falls only Mexican restaurant. Mabel hadn't had a real plan for how she had wanted it all to happen when she began talking, but starting to choke on a nacho halfway through revealing the innermost secrets of your heart and having your terrified crush pound your back till you coughed up a corn chip was definitely not the way she was hoping that it would have gone down. An extremely embarrassed Mabel had thought it was possibly the most ridiculous situation to ever occur in the whole awkward history of teen romance, but once the coughing had died down Pacifica had reached out her hand and grabbed Mabel's own and said that she'd actually felt the same way in a voice that was completely devoid of her usual sarcasm. If it weren't for the fact that their hands were both extremely greasy from the takeout food and that Mabel's throat felt like it had been stabbed the moment would had felt pretty perfect to her.

_Okay, so I kinda totally botched the asking her out part, _Mabel thought critically, _but that doesn't mean that anythings going to go wrong with the actual date itself tonight. It's just a trip to the carnival – it's pretty much impossible to not have a good time at a carnival. There's probably a law against it or something._

Mabel was just about to strip out of her odd outfit and exchange it for something a little more subdued when she heard the sound of the doorbell faintly through the floorboards of the room.

_Nuts! No time to change now._

She rushed out of the attic bedroom, taking the stairs two at a time as she made her way down to the living room. Mabel flung the door open wide just as Pacifica was in the middle of giving it a second ring, causing her not-quite-girlfriend to give out a startled yelp of surprise.

"Heya cutie! Ready to go?" Mabel asked, all the built up nervousness about the date returning to her at once with a feeling like ice-water being poured down her back.

Pacifica had flashed Mabel a small smile at the word 'cutie', but when her eyes had trailed down from Mabel's face and to her outfit a little smirk had taken its place.

"I'm confused here – were we going _to _the carnival or were we going to be trying to _join_ it?" she asked in a teasing tone that was just slightly friendlier sounding than Pacifica's usual sarcastic barbs.

Mabel gave a small frown and her arms crossed defensively in front of her chest, the numerous bracelets and bangles on her wrists clanging and tinkling as if she had just pushed a very tiny marching band down a flight of stairs. Pacifica's smirk vanished at the sight of Mabel's distressed pout and her own cheeks colored slightly from embarrassment for starting off their first date with an insult, even if it had been meant as a playful one.

"Sorry about that… it's just really hard to turn it off when you've been doing it all your life. I actually kind of like your outfit," Pacifica added with just the slightest hint of dishonesty, "it's very… Mabel."

_Loud, colorful, kind of weird but somehow very cute at the same time, _Pacifica thought to herself, _so very Mabel-ish._

Mabel cocked her head slightly in confusion at the rare sight of an embarrassed Pacifica and felt herself loosen up and relax. The fact that Pacifica was apparently just as nervous about the whole situation made everything feel a lot less awkward for her.

"I'll be willing to forgive your jerkitude if you agree to buy me some cotton candy once we get to the fairground – two or three should do the trick," Mabel said in a haughty tone of voice, flashing Pacifica a friendly smile to let her know she was joking. Mostly joking anyway, since thoughts of cotton candy had been heavy on her mind all day.

"Are you sure you just don't want me to buy you the whole cotton candy stand instead?" Pacifica asked teasingly.

Mabel's eyes grew almost impossibly wide at the heavenly thought of her own personal cotton candy machine and Pacifica frantically waved her hands in front of Mabel's face to try and dismiss the idea from her mind.

"That was a joke – I only brought my change purse today, so I don't think I'd actually have enough for that. I can do the cotton candy pretty easily though… how much is it anyway, like fifty dollars a bag?" Pacifica asked skeptically.

"It's just a tiny bit less than that," Mabel said with a slight roll of her eyes, "but if you've got that much spare money burning a hole in your pocket I can introduce you to a little something called funnel cake that I think you'll enjoy."

"Funnel… cake - how does that even work? Is it good?" Pacifica asked, curious as to how exactly a cake could be funneled. Maybe it was some sort of liquid cake? The things poor people did with their food…

Mabel shook her head sadly and wrapped Pacifica in an extremely over-dramatic hug, crushing her tight to her chest.

"Oh you poor deprived girl- let's get going, I have so much to teach you today." Mabel whispered pityingly, stroking her hands through Pacifica's hair and nuzzling affectionately against her face cheek-to-cheek.

Pacifica was a tiny bit annoyed, as she usually was whenever Mabel treated her like a space alien just because she didn't understand some weirdo peasant idea like "sharing" or believe her crazy stories about the existence of a coin called 'the penny'… on the other hand she was really enjoying the warm feel of Mabel's body close to hers and wrapped her own arms around Mabel's waist to hug her back tightly. Mabel shifted slightly in Pacifica's arms and now their faces were even closer, their foreheads gently touching and their breath mingling together in the brisk evening air. Pacifica's blue eyes locked with Mabel's wide brown ones and she suddenly felt her heart start to beat like crazy in her chest at just the simple closeness of the contact and at the expression on Mabel's face that she saw staring back at her… happy and a little nervous but very welcoming at the same time. Some instinct made Pacifica close her eyes and lean in closer but her lips only grazed very softly against Mabel's before she felt the brunettes head draw back, startling her and almost sending her stumbling off balance.

Mabel wriggled her way out of Pacifica's arms and gave her a flirtatious grin.

"Why Pacifica – trying to go in for smooches right away at the beginning of the date? How bold!" Mabel said teasingly.

"Oh shut up," Pacifica growled, her cheeks flushing hot with a hint of embarrassment. At the same time though she couldn't help but enjoy Mabel's flirty tone. How could the girl be so ridiculous but still cute at the same time? It was baffling.

Mabel felt like she'd punished Pacifica enough for the crack about her outfit by now, so she stepped in close and took the blondes hand in hers, giving it an affectionate squeeze. Pacifica's hand squeezed back, and Mabel felt a little thrill run up her arm like electricity that sent a goofy happy grin over her face. She was really here about to go on a date with Pacifica! Mabel knew that it definitely wasn't a dream this time because she hadn't seen a single talking dolphin or winged horse like she had before, and while those things might have made the date a little cooler it still wasn't as good as knowing that it was happening for real this time.

The girls walked hand in hand to Pacifica's car and then off to the evening of fun ahead of them.

* * *

><p>The fairground was bustling with activity as the girls walked side by side down the midway, Mabel happily burying her face in her 2nd cotton candy of the night while Pacifica was slowly picking away at a funnel cake with an uncertain look on her face.<p>

"So, what do you think of the funnel cake Paz?" Mabel asked as she looked up from her cotton candy. She'd been eating it somewhat enthusiastically and several small pink wisps were stuck to her face like the faint beginnings of a sugary mustache.

"It's all greasy, and smothered in powdered sugar and probably has like, 5,000 calories packed in it." Pacifica grumbled as she picked out another small piece and popped it in her mouth.

"You don't like it?" Mabel asked, somewhat shocked at the idea that _anyone _could hate funnel cake.

"It's probably the most delicious thing I've ever eaten," Pacifica sighed in dismay. She'd probably have to force herself to jog for hours tomorrow to make up for eating the stupid thing, but right now it definitely tasted like it was worth it.

Mabel chuckled a little and finished off the last of her own snack, tossing the small empty paper cone into a nearby trashbin and brushing her slightly sticky hands against one another to try and clean them off without messing up her dress. Now that her sweet-tooth was temporarily satisfied she started looking around the carnival for something fun to do and her eyes lit up when she spotted an enormous stuffed animal dangling from the wall of a nearby booth. Mabel couldn't quite tell what it was supposed to be, it looked sort of like an adorable cross between a rabbit and a dinosaur, but she knew that she absolutely _had _to win it for Pacifica. Mabel grabbed her date by the elbow and dragged her along toward the booth, and Pacifica gave a small sound of dismay when she ended up spilling some of her snack on the ground due to Mabel's haste.

The old man behind the counter gave Mabel a wide fake grin and offered her a beat up looking white ball with a wink and then gestured toward the wall behind him where a number of colorfully painted bottles were stacked up into a pyramid on top of an old table.

"Step right up, just a dollar a throw – knock all the bottles down and win the grand prize!" he said with the same oily tone that Mabel recognized as the one which her Grunkle Stan used when he was about to con some sucker out of their money.

_Pfft, as if she was going to lose at this. Even Dipper had managed to knock down a bunch of bottles like these once, and that was when they were both scrawny little twelve year olds._

"You might want to step back Pacifica, Mabel's gonna bring the heat!" she said confidently as she whirled her arm in a circle and sent the ball just a bit too high, barely knocking off the top bottle from the pyramid.

"You were so close that time!" the carnival worker said encouragingly as he set the fallen bottle back onto the stack, "Why not give it another try?"

Mabel grudgingly passed over another dollar bill and took the ball a second time, the tip of her tongue poking out from the corner of her mouth as she concentrated on the pile of bottles.

_Alright, you got this Mabel – just __be__ the ball, _she thought to herself, trying to remember the most encouraging lines from the last sports movie she had seen

This time the ball flew from Mabel's hand so fast that she was slightly disappointed that it didn't leave a smoke trail behind it, but her throw managed to hit the pyramid dead-center and sent bottles flying all over the place. She gave a triumphant little fist pump that turned into a frown when she saw that one stubborn bottle was left standing in the exact spot it started at.

"Dang it all to heck!" Mabel almost-cursed, shaking her fist vengefully at the remaining bottle.

"Tough luck there missy," the old codger chuckled, but he raised a hand defensively when he saw Mabel turn to glare at him, "but seeing as that was such a good throw I'll give you a nice consolation prize," he added soothingly as he reached behind him and grabbed the smallest stuffed animal from the wall and tossed it to her lightly.

Mabel glanced down at the small fuzzy toy in her hands and her frown softened somewhat. It wasn't as cute as the dinosaur-rabbit thing, but it wasn't too bad really… sort of a blue pig-squid with giant black button eyes and a slightly apologetic expression that made it seem as if it knew that it wasn't the one she had really wanted.

_I can't stay mad at that stupid little face, _she thought with a smile.

"A gift, for the fairest lady at the fair," Mabel said over-dramatically as she handed Pacifica the fluffy toy.

Pacifica accepted the weird stuffed animal with a genuine grin on her face. A few years ago she probably would have thought of getting a gift like this as overly childish, but hanging out with Mabel had gotten her used to getting fuzzy things handed to her. She probably could have carpeted her room with just the sweaters that Mabel had given her over the years alone.

"Thanks, I'll totally treasure it forever," Pacifica replied jokingly.

"You'd better. I wish I could have gotten you that big one though," Mabel said with a small frown as she glanced wistfully at the biggest toy on the wall.

Pacifica's blue eyes turned to the booth and she examined it carefully as the carnival worker finished re-stacking the bottles up once again.

"I'd like to take a try at that," she said once the final bottle was added to the top of the pile, passing a crisp ten dollar bill over to the man's eager hand in exchange for the ball.

Pacifica tossed the ball idly in her hand a few times as she gave the booth a final once over and then gave a satisfied nod to herself. Her lips pursed in concentration as she drew back and threw the ball with all her strength at the rickety leg of the table holding up the bottles, splintering the termite-eaten wood and sending the entire thing spilling on the floor. Pacifica noticed, with little surprise, that one of the bottles still seemed to be stuck to the surface of the table as if it had been glued there. The carnival worker turned to her with a furious glare but she gave him a smug smirk and pointed up at the biggest and most colorful animal hanging from the booth and he passed it over to her without a word.

"You can keep the change," Pacifica said sweetly, "to get a better table."

"Dang," Mabel said in an impressed tone of voice, "that was kind of cool, Paz."

"Thanks," Pacifica said, feeling a slight blush come to her cheeks from the look of open admiration on Mabel's face. "Here, this is for you or whatever," Pacifica added casually as she handed the rabbit-dinosaur to Mabel.

Mabel gave a small happy squeak as she hugged the goofy thing tightly, but at the same time she felt a little spark of something else inside her… just a tiny hint of that old rivalry that she had thought was totally dead was now starting to flare up in her chest once again. She'd been planning to win this for Pacifica and now that her date had beaten her to the punch it just wasn't sitting right with her.

_I mean, it's not like I'm mad that she won the bigger prize or anything… no that would be silly. I just want to get her a nice big prize too. A much bigger one. Like, ten times nicer than the one she got me so that I can shove it in her stupid beautiful face! That'll show her how much I like her! Haha!_

Mabel's eyes darted around the other booths until they spotted one that looked promising and she grabbed her date by the arm once again and dragged her along after her toward the colorful stand.

"C'mon, the nights still young and we've got more booths to ruin!" Mabel said cheerfully, her smile seeming somewhat manic in the bright flashing lights of the fairground.

The new booth was an old fashioned shooting gallery, complete with the little rows of metal ducks just waiting to be knocked down as they moved across their conveyor belt in a line. Mabel handed the tired looking woman running the stand her money and snatched up the pellet gun with confidence, bringing it to her shoulder with ease and sighting down the barrel.

_Alright Mabel, this is exactly like last summer. Just pretend the ducks are those angry little gremlins that tried to eat Dipper's face and you'll do fine. None of them got away either…_

Mabel took a deep breath and then rattled off a flurry of quick shots, each pull of the trigger knocking down one of the tin ducks with a satisfying 'PING' sound.

"Wow… you're really good at that Mabel," Pacifica said, her eyebrows raised in surprise at the bizarre display of marksmanship.

"I know," Mabel said with a cocky grin as she set the pellet gun back on the table. She stared at the offered prizes for a few moments with her finger held to her lips in thought before she chose a big fake-gold locket covered in semi-precious gemstones and handed it over to Pacifica.

Pacifica accepted the locket gracefully but inside her mind she felt a little jolt of her old Northwest cockiness flaring up and she grabbed the gun up off the table and decided to give it her best shot. Surprisingly she actually managed to hit most of the targets, but Pacifica had still missed enough of them that the only prize she was able to win was a cheap plastic ring with a candy gemstone which Mabel accepted with just a hint of a grin on the corner of her mouth. Pacifica felt a tiny burn of jealousy inside at the fact that Mabel had beaten her score, but at the same time she realized that she was also really enjoying herself. It had been a while since she and Mabel had competed in anything and Pacifica realized that she'd been feeling a little nostalgic for their old rivalry.

"Bet you I can kick your butt at the ring toss," Pacifica said to Mabel, her eyes bright with excitement since she always enjoyed a chance to show off her skills.

"I'll take that bet - what do I win if I beat you?" Mabel asked teasingly as she leaned in close to Pacifica, her hands on her hips in a cocky pose.

"I dunno, five hundred bucks?" Pacifica said with a shrug, not really sure what sort of stakes people usually played for.

"Sweet Sally! That.. um… I don't have that kind of money though. What do you get if I lose?" Mabel asked hesitantly.

"How about…" Pacifica began thoughtfully, a slight flush coming to her cheeks, "… a kiss?"

"Can I change my prize to that too?" Mabel replied in a flirtatious tone of voice.

Pacifica felt her heart start to beat hard in her chest at the look in Mabel's eye and her hand reached out and grabbed Mabel's, gently tugging her closer till they were standing only a few inches apart. Pacifica's blush seemed to be contagious because there was a definite pinkness to Mabel's cheeks now, but also a shy smile. Pacifica started to lean in and this time she felt Mabel move in closer rather than step away and when their lips touched she felt something inside her chest seem to sing from the warmth and the taste and the _everything_ about this moment. Mabel's arms wound their way gently around Pacifica's waist and she sighed happily into the kiss, and she felt her heart flutter in nervous excitement when she felt Pacifica's arms slide around her shoulders and pull her in firmly.

They stared silently at each other for a few moments after they broke the kiss, their arms still possessively holding one another and their eyes shining oddly in the dim lighting of the carnival.

"You know, I was really worried about this date going well," Mabel said quietly.

"I think you don't have anything to worry about there," Pacifica assured her.

"So, good date then?" Mabel asked with a smile.

"Great date." Pacifica nodded.

"I'm still totally going to whoop your butt at the ring toss though," Mabel said with a smirk.

"You're welcome to try," Pacifica said cockily.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sharing Heat**

"Okay, now pay attention – because this is the _really_ tricky part." Mabel said as she twirled a bamboo skewer over the crackling fire, her eyes locked with fierce concentration on the marshmallow that hung suspended over the blaze on its sharpened point.

"We're just cooking marshmallows Mabel – I think I can figure out something this simple without needing your camping-expert coaching," Pacifica said with a roll of her eyes as she absentmindedly twirled her own stick over the heart of the flame.

"You should have said that three burned marshmallows ago. S'mores are a lot harder to make than you give them credit for – that's why_ I_ have a perfectly toasty golden-brown treat here," Mabel said as she pulled her stick out from over the fire and blew gently onto the marshmallow, "while _yours_ has once again caught on fire and turned into sugary napalm."

Pacifica's eyes shot back from Mabel's face and to her stick, and sure enough her latest marshmallow was ablaze and dripping blobs of molten goop into the fire with small puffs of hissing blue flame. The blonde's face screwed up in an annoyed pout and she tossed her now-empty skewer into the center of the campfire, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring as she watched it burn.

"Hey, you don't need to get all grumpy about it Paz – I was just teasing you little a bit." Mabel said in a soothing voice.

She reached down to the box of graham crackers lying open at her side and snatched two out, expertly sliding the perfectly toasted marshmallow off her stick between them and topping it off with a piece from one of the gourmet chocolate bars that Pacifica had brought along on the trip. Once the snack was assembled she offered it to her friend with a conciliatory smile.

Pacifica's expression softened as she accepted the s'more from Mabel's outstretched hand, cheeks tinged pink from embarrassment at her earlier display of temper. She'd been making a conscious effort to try and act less bratty lately, but sometimes it was hard to not give in to old instincts… especially when she felt that she'd been shown up at something.

"Sorry about that. I don't really do a lot of cooking on my own at home," Pacifica said before she bit into the treat, its' delicious taste helping to banish the last of her annoyance.

"I never would have guessed," Mabel said dryly as she slipped a fresh marshmallow onto her stick and propped it up over the fire once more.

"These are _really _good though," Pacifica said, ignoring the little jab as she took another small bite of her s'more, "I can't believe that I've never tried one of these before."

"Well if you'd accepted any of my other offers to come camping I could have been filling you up with these tasty treats for years now," Mabel replied as she quickly assembled a s'more of her own and bit into it with a happy sigh.

Pacifica shrugged slightly and leaned back against the small folding chair that she sat on, absentmindedly licking the last of the melted chocolate and marshmallow goop off her fingertips.

"Maybe it's a good thing that I hadn't come along on those – I might have gained a lot of weight and then decided that you were my enemy again," Pacifica joked back.

"I don't think you need to be worried about that – we're going to be burning these babies off on our hike tomorrow. There are some _gorgeous _places on this old mountain trail that I want you to see… it should be a great time as long as we avoid Gnome country." Mabel said excitedly between bites of her own s'more.

The muscles in Pacifica's thighs gave a twinge from all the walking that they'd had to do earlier that afternoon to get the camp set up in the first place and she gave a slightly brittle smile in response.

"Can't wait!" she said with the barest hint of sarcasm.

It was true that this wasn't the first camping trip that Mabel had invited her on, but it _was_ the first one where it would have been just the two of them together. The girls may have buried the hatchet years ago and actually grown quite close since then but Pacifica still didn't get along with Mabel's dorky brother. The thought of spending a weekend out in the woods with Dipper and being passive-aggressive at each other the whole time hadn't seemed like a great idea- especially since it always annoyed Mabel whenever the two of them fought. Luckily for Pacifica he was currently off with his crazy old great uncle on a road trip to go take a look at a 'cursed' object for sale to see if they wanted to add it to that weird tourist trap museum of theirs. With that obstacle out of the way Pacifica had finally felt up for the idea of spending a few nights away from civilization… well, the lack of Dipper's presence was just _one _reason why the normally city-bound heiress had decided to allow herself to be dragged out in the middle of nowhere.

Mabel polished off the last of her snack and lay back in her own chair with a deeply contented sigh, her hands cradling the back of her head as she looked up at the field of stars that glittered up in the deep purple vault of the sky.

"Gosh I always forget how pretty it is out here," Mabel said as her eyes wandered from star to star, her gaze tracing along the lacy silver edges of the clouds as they drifted across the face of the moon.

Pacifica's glanced over toward Mabel and felt a small smile start to tug at the corners of her mouth at the wide-eyed look on her friends face. Her eyes lingered a little too long on the way the rays of orange firelight traced along the smooth curve of Mabel's cheek and glistened off her chapstick coated lips. She could feel her heart start to speed up slightly in her chest when her mind drifted along to the thought of what it would feel like to press those lips against her own and she reluctantly turned her face up toward the sky instead to distract herself.

"Yeah, it's really beautiful," Pacifica agreed as she absentmindedly glanced up at the stars.

_Maybe coming along on this trip was a mistake, _Pacifica thought as she wriggled about in her seat, trying to find the most comfortable way to sit.

_No, screw that! _Pacifica chided herself, _No second guessing yourself now Pacifica. I've got her all to myself for a whole weekend, with no weird distractions from her brother dragging her off to look for monsters or anything like that getting in the way. _

_This weekend I'm either going to tell her how I feel or just forget this whole silly infatuation of mine._

Pacifica gave a nod to herself, steeling up her resolve. She turned back to face Mabel and found herself looking into the girls large brown eyes. Mabel tilted her head to the side slightly and tucked a stray strand of her long chestnut brown hair behind her ear as she gave her friend an inquiring look.

"What's up Paz? You're kinda quiet tonight." Mabel asked, her lips quirked up in a friendly smile.

Pacifica froze up at the direct question.

_Well, just because I'm going to tell her this weekend doesn't mean I have to do it right this second, right?_

"Oh, I'm just relaxing… it was a lot of work setting up camp earlier," Pacifica said casually.

_I'll save it for the morning. That sounds like a better idea._

"Yeah, especially setting up that monster of a tent that you brought along," Mabel agreed, stretching out a sore muscle in her shoulder.

"If I recall you were the one who told me to get 'the best one' when I asked what sort of tent I should buy," Pacifica replied.

"I just didn't want to force you spend the weekend living in that weird mildew smell of Grunkle Stan's tents – it might have soured you on the experience. Don't get me wrong, it was super generous of you to get all this brand new stuff for our trip… I'm just worried about all those poor clowns who are now homeless because you bought their circus tent." Mabel said with a false sniffle of pity.

"Oh shut up," Pacifica said with a laugh, feeling her earlier tension melt away.

"Now they'll probably have to all sleep packed in that tiny car of theirs," Mabel continued over-dramatically, "all jammed up with their big floppy shoes in each other's faces."

"With the amount I spent on this thing those bozo's could probably afford to spend a few nights in a nice hotel till they find a new one," Pacifica joked back.

Mabel looked like she was going to respond with another joke of her own when the treetops began to creak and moan as a wind blew down hard from the mountains, the sudden blast of cold air stabbing like a knife through the girls' jackets and chilling them straight to the bone.

"Nuts to those clowns, I think we need the tent more than them right now," Mabel joked as she rubbed her hands together vigorously.

"Tell me about it – is it always this cold out in the woods at night?" Pacifica asked.

"Normally not during the summer," Mabel said with a shiver, "must just be a freak wind. It's not like weird stuff like this is anything new in this town,"

"Maybe we should turn in for the night," Pacifica suggested as she felt the icy chill of the wind on her own skin.

"Agreed – you head on in already and I'll put out the fire," Mabel said, rising up quickly from her chair to get the chore taken care of.

Pacifica gave her friend a grateful nod and headed off toward the looming shadow of the large tent.

"Leave a trail of breadcrumbs when you get inside so I can find you in there," Mabel called to Pacifica as she dumped the fire-bucket over the embers.

"Ha-ha," Pacifica called back flatly, feeling a smile come unbidden to her face.

* * *

><p>Mabel barely had to duck to get inside the doorway to Pacificas' luxury tent and she cast her eyes approvingly over the very cozy looking interior. The floor under her feet had a certain yielding springiness to it since it was lined with pads of thick foam, and the dome of the ceiling was so tall that the two girls were able to stand in it comfortably. A small brass hook dangled from the center of the dome and an electric lantern hung suspended from it, casting soft yellow light over the interior. Compared to the old canvas army surplus tents that Grunkle Stan always used when he took Mabel and Dipper out camping this place was practically a five star hotel.<p>

"Swanky digs – I think your tent here is probably more comfortable than my bedroom back at the Mystery Shack," Mabel said with only the barest hint of exaggeration.

"Thanks," Pacifica said as she started to unroll her extremely thick sleeping bag across the floor of the tent, "Glad you like it."

"Doesn't this kind of seem like cheating though? I mean, having a little luxury condo out here in the woods isn't quite the same as camping, is it?" Mabel teased.

"Just because we're spending a few nights out in the forest doesn't mean that we have to live like barbarians," Pacifica snipped back playfully as she smoothed out her bag.

"That's fine with me – I'm not sure how well I could pull off the whole chainmail bikini look that they have going on anyway," Mabel joked as she carelessly flopped her own ancient navy blue sleeping bag out on the floor, frowning slightly as a few stray feathers puffed their way out through a hole in its frayed lining.

Pacifica paused briefly in the act of fluffing up her pillow as the thought of Mabel dressed in a ludicrously revealing chainmail bikini barged its way into her mind, but she was able to shake the thought out of her head without much effort. She already had quite a bit of practice at banishing similar images by this point, though usually not of such a dorky nature.

Satisfied that her sleeping bag wasn't going to disintegrate any further inside her friends' nice new tent, Mabel knelt down by her backpack and dug around through her various supplies until she found her large cozy nightshirt. In typical Mabel fashion she had knitted it herself specifically for the camping trip, covering it with images of various woodland animals and plant-life artfully depicted in yarn, sequins and googly eyes.

Pacifica's eyes darted to the side as Mabel carelessly stripped off her jacket and slipped her sweater up over her head, folding it up neatly and setting it down next to her sleeping bag. She stretched her arms out over her head with a relaxing groan, rolling her head around on her neck before she kicked off her shoes and started to unbuckle her hiking shorts.

Pacifica firmly turned around and faced the blank wall of the tent at the sounds of cloth sliding against skin, trying not to think too much about what she was missing out on.

"Something the matter Paz?" Mabel asked.

"No, I just wanted to give you a little privacy," Pacifica said, half truthfully.

_Also I didn't want to feel like a creep for leering at you._

"Pffft, what for? As a great man once said 'bodies are nothing to be ashamed of'." Mabel said in a cheerful tone of voice.

_Yours certainly isn't, _Pacifica thought as the image of the soft yellow light of the electric lantern glowing on Mabel's smooth bared skin came to her mind.

"Whatever, just let me know when you're done," Pacifica said as she toyed nervously with the zipper of her sleeping bag. Her pulse thrummed hard in her veins as she saw the shadow of Mabel cast against the tent wall slipping off her bra, the gentle slope of her breasts traced out on the fabric like a movie screen.

"Don't worry, you can turn around now – I won't offend your maidenly virtue anymore," Mabel teased.

The nightshirt stopped just short of Mabel's knees, leaving her long creamy legs mostly bare and the soft sage green material clung snugly to the curves of her body almost like a very strange dress rather than a normal nightshirt. Pacifica felt herself starting to stare before she snapped herself out of the mini-trance. A felt owl gave her an accusing googly-eyed stare from over Mabel's left breast.

"Better?" Mabel asked.

"Yeah," Pacifica said, "that's a very… um… cute… _thing_," she said, not quite sure what to call the strange garment.

"Thanks! Would you want me to make you one too? We could be matching!" Mabel said brightly.

Pacifica briefly had a mental image of herself dressed in an identical garment and felt a shudder run through her body, banishing her earlier pang of arousal. Of all the things she loved about Mabel, her fashion sense wasn't one of them.

Pacifica slipped into her own pink silk pajamas, after making Mabel turn the other way, and the two started to settle in for bed. The blonde tossed and turned slightly, trying to get comfortable on the unfamiliar texture of the camping pad and sleeping bag and missing her large memory foam mattress back at her parents' mansion.

Before tucking herself up inside her own sleeping bag Mabel stood on her tiptoes and snapped the electric lantern off, leaving the whole tent shrouded in darkness. Pacifica could hear, rather than see, her friend slipping inside her own bag and rustling around to get comfortable.

"Good night Paz," Mabel called out softly in the dark.

"Good night Mabel," Pacifica said back, feeling slightly odd. She wasn't normally in the habit of wishing anyone good night but it was probably a lot more instinctive for Mabel since she grew up sharing a room with her twin… and also had a family that was probably slightly less cold in general.

The darkness made Pacifica feel suddenly bold, free from the gaze of Mabel and her accusing googly eyed sweater.

_Maybe I should just tell her right now? What's the point in waiting? Whether I say it now or tomorrow or never it doesn't change how I feel about her._

She squirmed uncomfortably in her hot-pink sleeping bag as doubts flooded her mind.

_What if this is a really bad idea though? I mean I don't even know for sure if she likes girls, and she doesn't know that I do… what if I just make things REALLY awkward between us and we'll be stuck here in the woods together all weekend with her feeling freaked out around me?_

_Though I guess if it came to that I could just drive us back… ugh._

_Fuck. _

_Maybe I really should just give up on this? _

_It's like Dad always says 'If you aren't sure that you're going to win, why bother competing?'_

_You can't lose if you don't try._

Pacifica slumped back and felt a pall of gloom settle over her. What was the point of having practically everything she asked for if she couldn't have the things she _really _wanted?

* * *

><p>The wind howling outside shook the flimsy walls of the tent and rattled the poles arching over the girls heads. Pacifica shivered to herself at the sudden burst of cold air that shot through the fine mesh air-flow panels of the tent and dug herself deeper into her thick downy sleeping bag. A sudden sound made the blonde turn her head and Pacifica realized that it was the noise of Mabel's teeth chattering in accompaniment to the clattering tent poles. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness now and she could see the outline of Mabel's body curled up into a heat-saving ball inside her thin and much-used sleeping bag, quivering like a leaf in a hurricane.<p>

"Are you doing okay over there Mabel?" Pacifica asked, her voice laced with concern.

"P-p-peachy," Mabel replied, curling herself up even tighter inside the flimsy cocoon of her sleeping bag.

Pacifica frowned to herself at the sight of her suffering friend and then remembered the small portable heater that she'd purchased before the trip. Since she had never been camping before and wasn't really sure what would be necessary she had just bought one of everything that seemed useful, and Pacifica was positive that she'd packed it up in the trunk of her car before heading out to pick Mabel up for their trip. She was just about to suggest digging the appliance out from her unpacked travelling bag when Mabel turned to face her with a slightly nervous look on her face.

"A-a-actually I'm not s-so much peachy as I am ice c-c-cream-y… um… do you t-think tha-that I could sh-share your s-sl-sleeping bag? Mine k-k-kind of s-sucks." Mabel chattered.

Pacifica felt a scarlet flush rise to her face that was thankfully invisible inside the darkness of the tent. She was just about to mention the possibility of using the heater but started to seriously consider the alternative that Mabel had suggested instead.

_Well I don't KNOW that the heater would even work, I mean I just bought it and didn't test it or whatever. Maybe it's actually a huge fire hazard? It's probably a good idea just to leave it where it is._

_Plus this would probably be a lot faster for warming the poor girl up… just having her in here, pressed up close to me… her arms around me… that's what you do in emergencies right? Share body heat?_

_Wow, is it like, suddenly really warm in here? _

_Well that's good isn't it? I mean – Mabel needs to get warm, right?_

_Plus she's always saying that I should share more. _

"Y-you doing ok-k-kay Paz? You k-kinda sp-p-paced out there for a se-second?" Mabel asked with an amused twinkle in her eye despite her obvious discomfort.

"I did not space out! I was just… thinking about… stuff," Pacifica said, her voice trailing off lamely as her mind failed to produce a solid excuse. "And of course you can come in with me – this thing is ridiculously huge anyway. You could probably fit three people in here if you tried,"

"Th-three people, eh? S-s-seems a li-little adventurous f-f-for you Paz," Mabel chattered with an exaggerated waggle of her eyebrows.

Pacifica's blush returned with force at the comment.

"Oh shut up and just get in here before I change my mind," Pacifica muttered, wiggling off to the side to leave more room for Mabel.

Mabel nodded appreciatively and took a deep breath before springing out of her bag, hissing at the touch of the cold night air on her skin. She scrambled over toward Pacifica's bag and had barely zipped it half-way down before she started to wriggle her way inside eagerly. Pacifica winced to herself at the touch of Mabel's icy cold bare foot against the skin of her calf, but made no effort to move away. The brunette gave a sigh of relief once she had re-zipped the bag and sealed the pair into the plush cocoon, purring happily as she wriggled herself against the down-stuffed padding.

"Oh my god this thing is amazing! It's like sleeping on a cloud of made of cotton candy… why doesn't _everyone _sleep in one of these instead of a normal bed?" Mabel asked rhetorically.

Pacifica shivered a little to herself, and only partly from the cold air that had been let into the bag when Mabel had joined her. She was extremely aware of the feel of Mabel's body tucked in next to hers, her familiar-unfamiliar scent seeming to fill the air as the brunette wiggled her way closer to Pacifica and wrapped her slightly cold arms around her in a crushingly tight hug. She could feel Mabel's soft curves pressing up against her body, sending her heart jackhammering in her chest and her own arms wrapped around Mabel in response, palms sliding gently up and down her back.

"Thanks for letting me in here," Mabel said softly, somehow wriggling closer into the hug.

"No problem," Pacifica said as she tried to slow the pounding of her heart, sudden paranoia making her worry that it would start thumping out of her chest like a lovestruck cartoon.

_Why did I just think that image? God, maybe I have been hanging out with Mabel too much lately…_

"So how much of this hug is gratitude and how much is you just trying to leech off my body-heat?" Pacifica asked with a slight shiver, trying to distract herself.

"Hey! It's mostly gratitude," Mabel said with a pout. "Mostly."

After a few more heat-stealing moments Mabel slid herself away from Pacifica and snuggled into the sleeping bag with a contented sigh, no longer feeling like the last popsicle left in the back of the fridge. She pillowed her head under her hands and gave a short kittenish yawn, closing her eyes.

"G'night again Paz," Mabel murmured.

Pacifica took a last look at her friends sleeping face and burrowed into the bag herself, contentment mixed with longing in her mind.

"Good night Mabel," she said quietly.

* * *

><p>Pacifica woke from a warm blur of a dream in a moment of sheer panic, her arms pinned tight to her sides and an unfamiliar weight dragging at her body. The fear quickly passed once Pacifica realized that the strange sensations had been caused when Mabel had apparently latched onto her in her sleep, her surprisingly strong arms and one long slim leg wrapping around Pacificas' body and her face burrowed tightly into the warm space between Pacifica's neck and shoulder. The feel of Mabel's warm breath caressing the sensitive skin of her neck sent a shudder through Pacifica's body, and she started to struggle and wriggle her way out from the brunette's grasp.<p>

The still sleeping Mabel gave a little mumble of protest and wriggled in closer, her arms clamping tight around Pacifica's torso as she snuggled her face in closer to her neck.

"I am not a stuffed animal," Pacifica grumbled in quiet protest as she tried to pry herself out from Mabel's warm grip, her cheeks and ears flushed burning red from the close contact.

Halfway through wriggling out she gave up, having managed to free her arms at least. The moon had dipped low in the sky and its light had flowed into the tent through the mesh panels near the ceiling, allowing Pacifica a full view of Mabel's sleeping face. There was a faint smile on her plump Cupid's-bow lips and a look of contentment on her gentle features. Mabel's' nose wiggled slightly as it was tickled by a stray brown curl of hair that had flopped over her face during Pacifica's silent struggle to escape, and Pacifica reached out a hand to gingerly tuck it back behind her ear. Her fingertips lingered as they traced their way along the soft curve of Mabel's cheek, enjoying the warm smooth texture of her skin. Her fingers stopped short at the corner of Mabel's mouth and Pacifica drew her hand away from Mabel's face with just a hint of frustration.

_She's right here next to me. Just being stupidly warm and cute and… okay, calm down. Just turn around, close your eyes and try not to think about the fact that the girl you're crazy about has you in some kind of unbreakable sleeping wrestling hold._

Pacifica didn't turn though, and her eyes stayed lock on the curve of Mabel's lips.

_What if…_

_What if I just kissed her? _

_That's not too bad right? I mean, it would just be one kiss. Quick -like a little peck… just to get it out of my head. Just to be able to look at her face without wondering what it would be like to feel her lips on mine. _

_Just one kiss now and I can forget all about this whole thing and we can go back to being friends and I can stop being all weird around her. _

_Just one._

Pacifica leaned her head in slowly, her heart beating so loud that she could practically hear the thump of her pulse in her ears. The distance closed and she could feel the warm puff of Mabel's breath against her lips, that last sliver of distance between them seeming like an uncrossable gap. Pacifica closed her eyes and moved that final inch, pressing her lips against Mabel's to feel the yielding warmth of her skin, tasting cherry chapstick and just a faint hint of chocolate from their campfire dessert. After a moment Pacifica pulled back and gave a short sighing breath… it wasn't really the same as a real kiss when Mabel was asleep, but it was still nice in a way.

It would be enough.

It would have to be.

Pacifica's eyes opened to find herself staring into Mabel's steady brown gaze and she felt a bolt of panic slam through her chest.

"Hi," Mabel said softly.

"Hi," Pacifica replied, completely off balance, her mind scrambling for some excuse or explanation of what had just happened.

"So if I remember the movie right this is the part where a bunch of short guys and animals come out and start dancing while we sing a love song?" Mabel asked, a small smile quirking up the corner of her mouth.

"What?" Pacifica asked, now completely lost.

"_Sleeping Beauty_ – you really need to brush up on your classics sometime," Mabel replied.

"Sleeping Beauty?" Pacifica said nervously.

"Mhmm," Mabel said, "because I was just here in the middle of my nap when all of a sudden you decided to do this-" Mabel said, punctuating her sentence by leaning in quickly to plant her lips warmly against Pacifica's.

After a stunned moment Pacifica leaned herself in and started to kiss back eagerly, the feel of Mabel's jaw moving against hers temporarily banishing her panic and confusion. She heard Mabel sigh happily into her mouth and Pacifica's arms wound around her neck in response, pulling her in closer and loving the feel of their bodies molding together.

The kiss broke apart and the two girls lay side by side, looking at each other with new eyes in the dim silvery light filtering into the tent.

"So… I guess you aren't mad that I kissed you?" Pacifica asked, feeling an unaccustomed nervousness in her gut as she asked the question.

"No – I thought I'd made that pretty clear right now," Mabel teased, "though I guess I'm a little annoyed that you didn't plant one on me earlier when I was still awake enough to enjoy it."

"You _wanted_ me to kiss you?"

"Yes! I thought I'd given you plenty of hints."

"Hints? What hints?" Pacifica asked in surprise.

"Paz, c'mon – I've pretty much been throwing myself at you all evening," Mabel said with a roll of her eyes. "I even wore my sexiest nightshirt."

Pacifica glanced down in confusion at the long fuzzy sweater.

"But it has googly eyes on it…" Pacifica said quietly, her fascinated horror at the colorful nightshirt temporarily overwhelming her surprise at Mabel's confession.

"Googly eyes can be sexy!" Mabel protested.

Pacifica stared at Mabel, one eyebrow raised in challenge.

"Okay… so maaaaybe I went overboard with the googly eyes," Mabel admitted with a shrug.

"Enough about googly eyes!" Pacifica snapped, "You're telling me that while I've been driving myself nuts over how I feel about you, that you've liked me back the whole time? Why didn't you say anything?"

Mabel's cheeks flushed red and her eyes dropped away from Pacifica's.

"I wasn't _really_ sure how you felt… I just kind of had a hunch… but I didn't want to do anything for a long time in case I was wrong and screwed everything up between us," Mabel said, her words mumbling out slightly. "So I thought that this trip would be my best chance… like, either I'd find a way to tell you now or just have to forget about it."

Pacifica stared at Mabel and felt a rush in her chest, a strange mixture of relief and happiness and a pulse of nervous energy at the absolutely unexpected nature of _everything _that had just happened.

"That was my plan too," Pacifica admitted.

Mabel's hand reached out and caressed Pacifica's face, her thumb stroking gently against the smooth plane of her cheek, and the blonde leaned unconsciously into the soft touch.

"I'm glad you didn't decide to give up then," Mabel said happily.

_I almost had though, _Pacifica thought with shock.

_I had almost decided to just give up without even trying… and I never would have known that she felt this way… I never would have kissed her…and..._

The enormity of the realization suddenly came crashing down on Pacifica, and she wrapped her arms around Mabel's shoulders and pulled her in to a crushingly tight hug, burying her face in the girls' unruly mane of long brown curls.

"I really like you," Pacifica whispered into Mabel's hair, feeling like she had just pushed a heavy weight off her chest at finally letting those words out into the air.

Mabel snuggled her own face in close to Pacifica's neck and planted a feather-light kiss on the side of her neck, sending a shudder through her body. Her lips traced their way up to Pacifica's ears and she whispered back-

"I like you too."

Their lips met once more and this time there was a hungry energy to the kiss that hadn't been there before, an affirmation of things kept long buried and a release of secret tensions that left them both slightly dizzy and breathing hard once the kiss broke. Drunkenly dazed blue eyes looked deep into a warm brown pair with a near identical expression – something between trepidation and desire.

"Soooo…" Mabel said slowly, her breathing slightly shallow as she became extremely aware of the warm pulse of Pacifica's skin against her own, "We like each other… and umm… we're here alone in the woods… with no one else around for miles and miles…"

"Yeah," Pacifica replied, "That seems to be the case," she said, nervous excitement edging into her voice.

Mabel reached out her hand and toyed with a stray lock Pacfica's long blonde hair.

"We don't have to do anything… you know, if you don't want to." She said. She gnawed her lip gently between her teeth at the plainly obvious undercurrent of the sentence.

Pacifica reached out and cupped Mabel's chin in her hands, locking eyes with her.

"I want to though..." Pacifica said. "Do you?"

In response Mabel leaned in and kissed her again, her fingers running down through Pacifica's long golden hair, cradling the back of her head to pull her face in closer. Pacifica's hands ran up along Mabel's sides, curving up over her back and gripping her shoulders, kneading the flesh there. Pacifica's pajama clad leg slid up slowly between Mabel's bare thighs, and she felt a warm pulse of excitement coiling up below her belly when she felt Mabel rock her hips against her knee. Mabel's lips trailed their way down and latched firmly on the crook of Pacifica's neck, sucking gently and sending a pulse of pleasure shuddering down directly to her core.

Pacifica was so distracted by the feel of Mabel's teeth and tongue nipping at her neck that she barely registered the feeling of Mabel's nimble fingers working open the buttons of her pajama top, only becoming fully aware of it when Mabel started to tug the garment down off from her shoulders and run her hands over Pacifica's bared breasts. She shuddered happily as the touch of Mabel's hands left phantom trails over her skin and she started to tug Mabel's soft nightshirt up over her head, helping her wriggle her way out of it like a snake shedding its old skin.

Pacifica hungrily kissed a wet trail down from Mabel's lips to her exposed chest, tentatively taking a nipple in her mouth and suckling gently, feeling a thrill at the loud moan that Mabel made in response. Her skin tasted just slightly of salt and with a hint of her floral bodywash. Mabel's own hands trailed their way down Pacifica's body, caressing along her sides and torso until one slipped its way beneath the waistband of Pacifica's pink silk pajama bottoms, her questing fingers finding the achingly hot joint between Pacifica's legs and stroking against her wetness with firm pressure.

"Oh fuck!" Pacifica gasped between clenched teeth, her manicured nails digging less-than-gently into the skin of Mabel's shoulders as her hips rocking instinctively against Mabel's nimble fingers. No one has ever touched her like this before and the sheer difference in the feeling is enough to leave her dizzy.

"Language," Mabel admonished teasingly before she crushed her lips against Pacfica's, stifling the blondes growing moans with her mouth as she worked her fingers faster against her, trying to find just the right rhythm to take her all the way to the edge.

She faltered slightly when she felt Pacifica's own determined hand slide its way down her belly and zero in on her clit, fingers swirling against the swollen nub in tight circles that send sharp electric flashes of heat through her body. Strands of hair are plastered to Mabel's face with sweat and her heart feels like it's going to explode in her chest as she recognizes the pressure coiling hot below her navel that is inching closer to climax. Mabel kissed Pacifica back fiercely and slid her own fingers harder against her wetness, determined to take her newfound lover to the end first, like a strange echo of their old rivalry.

In the end it's too close to tell who won the contest as they are both left shuddering and panting, foreheads pressed together and eyes squeezed tightly shut to savor the moment. Lips sought each other in the darkness and they kissed gently, murmuring soft endearments at one another. After only a short pause for breath they throw themselves at one another again and the sleeping bag becomes almost a sauna as the pair rock and squirm against each other, the flimsy walls of the tent echoing with moans and muffled curses, whimpers of building pleasure and wails of release.

* * *

><p>Time has passed hazily and Pacifica lay panting and drenched with sweat, one hand loosely toying with a strand of Mabel's hair as she snuggled into her chest. Her other hand was clasped with Mabel's, their fingers twined together in a tight grip.<p>

"Looks like the wind died down," Mabel murmured gently, her voice heavy with notes of complete relaxation.

"Yeah, looks like it did." Pacifica sighed back.

"Would it still be okay for me to share your sleeping bag tonight?" Mabel asked with a gently teasing note in her voice.

Pacifica gave a wicked smile and leaned herself in to plant a kiss against Mabel's lips.

"I'd just like to see you try and leave this sleeping bag tomorrow," Pacifica purred as she broke the kiss and met Mabel's eyes again.

It looked like it was going to be an eventful weekend.


	4. Chapter 4

**A Very Mabifica Christmas**

Pacifica pursed her lips speculatively as she examined the display of bracelets behind the glass case. Diamonds glittered up from the black velvet pad like fallen stars, rows of small expertly cut stones set with geometric precision into delicate chains of gold and platinum.

"Can I help you with something miss?" the woman behind the counter asked, her smile overly wide. The thick makeup she wore to hide the beginnings of the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes only served to age her further, and for a brief moment Pacifica was reminded of her mother.

Pacifica glanced up from the case, slightly frustrated. This was the fourth jewelry store that she'd been to this week and she still hadn't found anything that she thought would make a good gift for Mabel. Normally she enjoyed spending her free time wandering around high-end shops but the experience wasn't nearly as much fun when nothing she found looked _right_.

"I'm looking for a Christmas present for… someone special," Pacifica said, hesitating a beat mid-sentence.

Old habits die hard, and even after having dated Mabel for almost half a year Pacifica still had a little trouble saying 'girlfriend' out in public.

"A special lady?" the shopkeeper asked delicately, glancing down at the decidedly feminine bracelets that Pacifica had been examining just a moment ago.

Pacifica felt a warm flush threaten to rise to her face but she kept herself composed and fought it back down - there was nothing accusing about the woman's tone, she was just trying to learn more about her customer.

"Yes," Pacifica said, forcing her usual tone of practiced indifference into her voice.

"Well we have quite a selection available – if there's any piece in particular that you'd want to see just ask and I can bring it out," the clerk said with the same too bright smile as before.

Pacifica glanced back at the case again and shook her head. She tried to picture one of those slender gold baubles on Mabel's wrist and could all too easily imagine it getting lost in the tangle of odd charms and plastic neon bangles that she routinely wore. Gold and diamonds might even end up looking _dull _when compared to Mabel's usual overly colorful style.

"I'm not really sure about those… do you have anything more, I don't know – artistic?" Pacifica asked.

"Artistic?" the clerk asked, "In what way? We have a number of beautiful designer pieces in this case here-"

"Yes, I've seen them. They're very lovely but I'm looking for something different… do you have anything more creative? Something sillier?" Pacifica said.

"Sillier?" the clerk asked, her face twisting to a puzzled frown.

"Yes. Sillier. Like, I don't know… a pendant shaped like an animal doing something ridiculous or anything like that?" Pacifica asked.

The friendliness was completely gone from the clerk's expression now and her reply was curt to the point rudeness- Pacifica's earlier mental comparison of the woman to her mother seemed more appropriate than ever.

"No. I don't think we do."

"Do you know where I could find anything like that?" Pacifica asked.

"You might want to try a gumball machine if you're looking for something like that, or perhaps the prize bin at Hoo-Ha Owls Fun Time Jamboree."

Now the red was definitely in Pacifica's face, but from anger rather than embarrassment.

_Does she have any idea who I am?_

She was ready to snap out a biting response but held herself back, forcing a wide smile on her own face.

"Well thanks for your time anyway," she said with icy sweetness, turning on her heel and exiting the shop.

It had taken Pacifica quite a long while to get used to the fact that belonging to the richest family in Gravity Falls turned out to be incredibly meaningless to people living outside of the borders of that small strange town. Here in California she was treated respectfully enough, as people tended to treat anyone who looked like they might have money to give them, but with nothing like the fawning adoration she'd grown accustomed to in her hometown. The change had been incredibly jarring to her at first, but fortunately she'd had Mabel around to show her to ropes to being… _normal._

Well, as normal as Mabel got anyway.

Pacifica snapped a picture of the small jewelry boutique on her phone and attached a small text note to it reading:

"_Buy this out later, fire everyone, turn into mudflap outlet!"_

The message was sent and added to a small folder on her computer where she kept track of the various ideas and plans that came to her for what to do after she finally inherited the family business from her father. Half of them were ideas for actual serious business ventures, but the other half were mostly petty plans for revenge against anyone who had slighted her. She told herself that the latter plans were mostly just a way of blowing off steam and she was sure that when the reins of the family fortune finally were in her hands that she wouldn't actually carry any of them out.

Probably.

The small spiteful glow of imagining herself personally firing the rude clerk faded though when she remembered that she still hadn't managed to find a present for Mabel.

_It's not like she would have hated a bracelet or anything… but I can picture her just looking at it and saying that it was 'nice'. Like I'd just given her some socks or something. _

_Why couldn't I have just dated a normal girl – one who would probably be overjoyed by a regular expensive piece of jewelry? _

She blew out an exasperated sigh.

_Because if she was normal then she wouldn't be Mabel, _Pacifica thought to herself_. _

_I'm still back at square one though – what would be right for her? Her own personal mini-golf course? No… that would probably be way too expensive, even for me… plus she wouldn't be able to take it with her anywhere._

Pacifica walked slowly toward her car, her head bent low in thought.

_What if I try and MAKE her something? She'd never see that coming! _

For a moment she felt a sudden rush of excitement at having finally cracked the problem, but that quickly faded as she considered the practical aspects of the plan.

_Crap… how do you actually make things though? I mean, she's always giving me scarves and hats and stuff that she's made, but whenever she tries to show me how it works I just get frustrated or bored._

_I guess I could just hire someone to knit something or paint something or whatever and just say that I did it… no, that wouldn't be good. _

_What if she found out that I didn't make it? She'd break up with me for sure… I guess I could kill the creator so no one else would ever know the secret… but then I'd have to cover up the murder. _

Pacifica paused mid-step as she suddenly realized how absurd those last few thoughts had been.

_How on earth did I go from trying to think up a good Christmas present to wondering how to dispose of a body? _

_Mabel. _

_Mabel is how this happened. Even when she's not here she somehow manages to make things weird._

Pacifica felt a smile tug at the corners of her mouth. No one else could break through her resolve like Mabel could... the girl was simultaneously the most frustrating and wonderful person that Pacifica had ever met. Her clothes, her attitude, her sense of humor - she was as one of a kind as people came, especially considering the incredibly cliquish circles that Pacifica had been surrounded by for most of her life. Even now after having been her friend, and far more than her friend, for so long Pacifica wasn't really sure that she understood what made Mabel tick.

_And that's really the heart of the problem here - I don't know for sure what she wants. _

_What I need is an expert – a consultant… someone who knows Mabel inside and out... but who do I know who would be a good consultant for what to get Mabel?_

Pacifica frowned to herself at the thought. The only friends of Mabel's that she really knew were Candy and Grenda, and they still hadn't quite forgiven Pacifica for the fact that she had made their lives a living hell throughout their childhoods. Even if she hadn't antagonized them for a few years now the task of getting to speaking terms with either of them would probably take longer than just the week till Christmas came around.

_Is there anyone else who might… oh crap… I think I know just the person._

Pacfica pulled out her phone and grimaced as she flipped through the contacts list... this might be painful, but if it meant finding the perfect gift for Mabel it would be worth it.

With a resigned sigh she opened up the texting screen and began composing a message to Dipper Pines.

* * *

><p>Dipper glanced up in annoyance from the living room couch as Mabel stomped past him once again, her head hung low and her arms clasped behind her back in the most over-exaggerated 'thinking' pose that he'd ever seen. Sometimes he was sure that his sister had consciously chosen to pick up most of her body language from old Looney Tunes cartoons rather than actual people. He tried to turn back to the book in his hand, but before he could finish reading a page she'd whirled around and paced back once again, passing distractingly close to him.<p>

He sighed loudly, letting her know that she'd won this round of the game.

"Gee Mabel, is there something on your mind?" he asked, his voice laced with enough sarcasm to choke a horse.

Mabel glanced up at him, an extremely unconvincing look of surprise on her face.

"Oh, Dipper - I almost didn't see you there. I was busy thinking," she said, almost sounding as though she had rehearsed the line.

Dipper rolled his eyes, but decided to play along.

"Thinking about what?" he asked.

Mabel stopped in her tracks, straightening up and rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"Weeeelll... you know Christmas is coming up, right?" she asked him.

Dipper's eyes swiveled around over the many, he would argue an excessive amount of, holiday decorations that Mabel had put up around their small shared apartment almost the minute after they had returned from their parents' house from the Thanksgiving break.

"I seem to recall hearing something about that on the news yeah," he said dryly, "I think someone said that they were going to be doing it every year now - but who knows if that will catch on?"

"Right, right - you're a cynical butt, I got it," Mabel said, "but the problem is that the biggest gift giving day of the year is like, a week away & I have exactly zilch to give Paz." Mabel said, a worried tone coming into her voice.

"Really?" Dipper asked, genuine surprise in his voice, "I never would have figured that would be a problem for you. Don't you give her stuff all the time?"

"Yes, but that's just regular every day kind of stuff - this is Christmas darn it! Not only that, it's also our first big couple-type holiday together and I am just flat out lost about what to do! What could I possibly buy for someone who wears outfits that cost more than a whole semesters worth of classes while I'm living on a Ramen-diet budget?" Mabel asked.

"Look, unless you win the lottery in the next few days you aren't going to be able to buy your way through this - you've just got to find her something that she can't get from a store," Dipper said.

"Like what? Have you ever been inside of her house Dipper?" Mabel asked somewhat hysterically, "I'm pretty sure that her parents have enough money to literally buy Happiness! Like, by the pound."

Dipper shrugged helplessly.

**"**Search me, that had just seemed like the most obvious answer to the question."

Mabel plopped down on the couch beside him and leaned back into the lumpy cushions, staring at the ceiling as she let her mind wander.

**"**Okay… something that money can't buy… do you think there might be something in the Journal that could make for a good Christmas present?" Mabel asked.

Dipper frowned at the mention of the old book, now tucked safely away in a locked briefcase under his bed.

"I'm not really sure that's a great idea Mabel."

**"**Why not? You were always using that Journal to find stuff for yourself, why shouldn't I get a little use out of it?" she asked hotly.

**"**Because almost all of the stuff in there is incredibly dangerous! It's full of weird cursed junk and monsters, not exactly things that you can put a big poofy bow on and then slip under the tree," Dipper said.

Mabel recalled the few times that she'd flipped through the book herself and grimaced at her memories of some of the illustrations - as well as the often terrifying instances when she'd come face to face with those very creatures in person.

**"**Alright, I see your point. I just wanted to find her something really special, you know?" Mabel said.

Dipper laid a comforting hand on his sister's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, and she laid her own hand over his to return the gesture.

**"**Why don't you just make her something? You've got artistic talent out the butt, there's no way you couldn't make her something really one of a kind." Dipper said earnestly.

"I guess I'm worried that she might be all crafted out – I'm always giving her stuff that I made and I don't want her to get sick of it," Mabel said.

"I'm pretty sure that if she was sick of getting stuff from you that she wouldn't have been going out with you this long," Dipper reassured her.

"Well, can you at least go with me – I'm thinking of heading out to the mall and maybe having another set of eyes could be helpful," Mabel asked, consciously putting on her most pleading puppy-dog eyes possible.

_Ugh... going to the mall a week before Christmas? Maybe we should just use the journal instead - who knows, Pacifica might like a pet Leprecorn or something?_

He turned to Mabel and felt his resolve get blasted into nothing in the face of her overly-pouty expression and gave in with a grunt.

"Fine, we can go to the mall - but you're driving." Dipper agreed with a sigh.

Mabel gave a happy squeal and wrapped her arms around him for a chokingly tight hug before running off to her room to get ready for the trip out. Dipper glanced around the room looking for the last place he'd thrown his shoes after coming in and felt the phone in his pocket start vibrating. Dipper glanced down at his buzzing phone and felt his eyes widen slightly in surprise when he saw the source of the message.

**Pacifica**: Pines, I have a favor to ask. Don't tell Mabel.

Dipper glanced up and looked around the living room, but he could still hear Mabel pawing through her closet for a jacket in her room down the hall.

**Dipper**: Is not telling Mabel the favor?

**Pacifica**: The sarcasm isn't as charming as you probably think it is. No – I want to hire you on as a consultant.

His eyebrows quirked up in confusion. He and Pacifica hadn't made it a secret that they didn't really get along, to Mabel's annoyance, and the thought of Pacifica wanting his advice for _anything _seemed completely alien to Dipper.

**Dipper**: What exactly would I be advising you on?

**Pacifica**: I need to find something perfect for Mabel and I thought you'd be the best person to ask. Would one hundred dollars be enough for your time?

Dipper felt vaguely insulted at the thought that she was trying to buy his time and considered refusing her outright, but then his stomach rumbled at the thought of how much food he could get with that kind of money… maybe even something with real meat in it!

_Well, Grunkle Stan used to say that every man has his price... I guess mine is being able to eat something other than ramen and macaroni for once._

**Dipper**: Sure why not? Give me a minute and I'll let you know what I can come up with.

Dipper sat back in thought for a few minutes, mulling over a few ideas in his head and suddenly began to regret his impulsive decision to act as Pacifica's consultant. Just one week till Christmas and he was being asked to go help _two _people find gifts. For each other. This could very easily become a nightmare if he didn't find some way out of it.

_What can I do though?_

His eyes scanned the room as a sudden bolt of inspiration came to him and he hopped off the couch and snatched two decorations off the oversized artificial tree that took up half the space in the living room of the twins small apartment, stuffing them into the pocket of his jacket.

Dipper grabbed his phone off the couch where he had left it and fired off a quick question to Pacifica.

* * *

><p>Pacifica glanced at her phone again and suppressed an unladylike curse that came to mind. She'd been waiting at the foodcourt of the mall now for almost twenty minutes for Dipper to show up and he still wasn't there yet.<p>

_Why am I the one waiting around for him? I thought he was supposed to be working for ME in this situation?_

Almost as if by magic her phone gave a chime and she turned back down to it.

**Dipper**: Sorry about the delay, traffic was a killer. Be there in a few minutes.

Pacifica considered sending a sarcastic reply back, but decided against it... as much as she hated to admit it to herself she really needed his help right now and he could be incredibly obstinate when pushed.

Besides, she couldn't think of a good one at the moment anyway.

She amused herself for a few minutes playing some goofy ap game that Mabel had gotten her addicted to. She'd never admit it to her in person, but Pacifica had become just slightly obsessed with trying to get onto the High Score table... or at least beating out Mabel's own score.

She was so distracted by the game that she ended up almost jumping up in surprise when Dipper pulled the chair out from the table and sat down across from her. She glanced up at her score and noted with a pained expression that she was just a few points away from breaking her personal best, but she shut down the game regardless.

"Alright Pines, you've kept me waiting long enough - what's this idea of yours?" Pacifica asked coolly.

Dipper gave her a small frown and pulled out his own phone, which was buzzing in his hands.

"If you give me a minute I'll actually have the perfect present for Mabel all ready for you - giftwrapped even." he said as he eyed the screen and tapped out a quick message.

She eyed him suspiciously, wondering what he could have just sent but decided against asking. It might not even be related to this situation, but she highly doubted it. A few minutes of awkward silence passed with neither of them attempting small talk when an annoyed voice suddenly cut through the loud murmuring background noise of hundreds of people shopping like mad.

"Yo, Dipstick! Where are you?" Mabel called out.

Pacifica shot a furious glance at Dipper.

"I thought I had told you not to tell Mabel!" she said.

"I hadn't - she's here for a totally different reason," Dipper said.

Pacifica was about to respond when she saw Mabel homing in on their table - apparently she had only spotted Dipper at first but when she got closer she froze up, a slightly panicked look on her face.

"Pacifica! What a surprise to see you here," Mabel said nervously, her eyes shooting daggers at her brother.

"Yeah, completely unexpected." Pacifica said in a flat tone of voice.

"Okay, we can drop the acts now - I think you both know why you're here and its not really fooling anyone," Dipper said.

Mabel frowned at Dipper.

"What's the deal bro-bro?" she asked.

Dipper dug around in the pocket of his jacket and pulled out two small bows that had previously decorated the twins christmas tree and tossed one lightly toward Pacifica and the other toward Mabel, who caught it easily.

"The deal is that this thing that each of you are doing is insane! The whole point of getting someone a present is to show that person that you care about them, right?" Dipper asked rhetorically.

"Well, yeah," Mabel said.

"Well you both care about each other so much that you've apparently been driving yourselves crazy trying to figure out a way to tell it with some kind of symbolic present thing. You guys were even nuts enough to ask me for help - and I have zero experience with presents. Well, now you both know – so there, that's my gift to each of you. You're one another's presents. Enjoy!" Dipper said.

Pacifica stared at the small ornamental bow in her hand and glanced up at Mabel who blushed and smiled at her.

"You really were going to ask Dipper what to get me?" she asked.

Pacifica felt her face grow warm, but she couldn't bring herself to lie to that smile.

"Yeah. I wanted to get you something really special," Pacifica admitted.

Mabel grinned and walked over to the table, bending low to plant a quick kiss on Pacifica's forehead.

"Me too. I really was driving myself nuts trying to think of what to get you," Mabel said as she pulled up the chair next to her, and took her hand, lightly running her fingertips across Pacifica's palm.

"Well, this looks like my cue to leave," Dipper said as he saw the girls lean in close to one another for a quick kiss on the lips. "Mabel, call me when you're ready to go back so you can give me a ride home."

Mabel nuzzled her nose playfully against Pacifica's, her grin widening at the blush that came to the blondes face when she did so. She dug into the front pocket of her sweater and extracted the keys, tossing them lightly to Dipper.

"You can head out now if you like, I think Paz can give me a ride back later," Mabel said.

Dipper caught the keys easily in his hand and headed out, leaving the two alone in their own little world.

"You know, you're brother's kind of a jerk but he's not really that bad of a guy all in all." Pacifica admitted in slightly grudging tone of voice.

"Yeah, grouchy but with a heart of gold. That's Dipper through and through." Mabel agreed.

* * *

><p><strong>Epilogue<strong>

The door swung open and Pacifica was greeted by a blast of warm cinnamon scented air and the thumping noise of music. After a confused second her ears recognized the familiar sounds of old Christmas songs, though for some reason the bass had been cranked up and tampered with to try and turn them into something resembling dance music… the results of the experiment were _interesting_, if not exactly good.

"Paz! You made it!" Mabel shouted cheerfully over the din, wrapping Pacifica up in a warm and crushingly tight hug.

While she once might have been uncomfortable with such an open display of affection, Pacifica had grown to love those little gestures from Mabel. The blonde returned the hug gladly and tilted her head down to add a quick but enthusiastic kiss of her own. Mabel's mouth had a sharp peppermint flavor to it that added an oddly festive note to the kiss, and Pacifica was surprised to feel her girlfriends slim hands slide down her back and start to travel up under her shirt… Mabel was usually pretty bold, but feeling her up in the doorway during a party was a bit much even for her.

To Pacifica's relief, and admittedly just a tiny bit to her disappointment, Mabel's hands didn't go very far – they swept around her back and on to the plane of her stomach where they stopped just long enough to tap something sticky against her skin. Quick as a magician or pickpocket (of which Mabel was occasionally a little bit of both) the brunettes' hands were back out in the open and giving Pacifica an affectionate pat on the cheek as if nothing unusual had happened.

"What did you just do?" Pacifica asked, her voice tinged with cautious suspicion.

Mabel placed a shushing finger over Pacifica's lips, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Don't worry about it – I'll show you later," she said, taking Pacifica by the hand and leading her into the living room of the small apartment where the party-proper was taking place.

The living room of Mabel's apartment wasn't particularly roomy during the best of times, but now with Mabel having apparently invited a sizeable chunk of the student body of the college the place was packed up like a sardine can. Pacifica didn't recognize most of the other guests, but figured they were probably Mabel's fellow art majors or any of the friends that she would have met at one of her many clubs. The girl had a habit of starting, joining and abandoning organizations like normal people changed shirts but she almost always made a few friends during her brief stay.

About the only person that Pacifica knew on sight was Dipper, who was standing at the rickety refreshments table chatting enthusiastically with a mousy looking girl in an old Monstermon shirt.

_It's a holiday miracle, _Pacifica thought, _the nerds found himself a date._

Surprisingly she actually felt a small pang of guilt for having that thought. She swept the unexpected spasm of conscience from her mind and turned to Mabel, trying to make herself heard over the music.

"When you said you we're having a party at your place I expected something a little smaller," Pacifica shout-whispered.

Mabel cocked an eyebrow at her as she elbowed her way to the table to grab some drinks, passing a red plastic cup into Pacifica's open hand.

"Pacifica, I think you of all people would remember the fact that I am a champion party-er," Mabel said just slightly smugly.

Pacifica grinned back at her and accepted the cup, not surprised to feel a pleasant alcholic sting when she took a sip.

The tune suddenly changed on the speakers and through the distortion Pacifica thought she could recognize the familiar but extremely out of place sounds of the _Monster Mash_. She turned a confused look toward Mabel who grinned and shrugged at her,

"It's a holiday song isn't it?" she said.

Pacifica gave a small snort of laughter at the expressions of disbelief on the faces of the other guests, several of them glancing back down at their drinks with suspicious expressions.

"Would you care to dance?" Mabel asked in a faux courtly voice, bowing low and kissing Pacifica's hand with exaggerated delicacy.

"Gladly," Pacifica agreed, tossing back the rest of her drink in a gulp and taking Mabel's hand in her own.

* * *

><p>Time had passed and the party already looked like it was starting to wind down, though not before there were rounds of drinks, drunken holiday song sing alongs, karaoke contests &amp; enough dancing to make Pacifica wish that she had worn a more comfortable pair of shoes.<p>

The last of the guests were already starting to trickle out the door, and Dipper had already left earlier with his mousy looking lady friend. Pacifica had slipped a hundred dollar bill into the pocket of his jacket before he made it out the door, though she hadn't told him that she had done so. The important thing is that it was done. A Northwest always paid her debts.

Mabel had just wished the last of the guests a good night and then shut the door, giving a sigh of both sadness and relief that the party was done. The apartment looked like a stampede of particularly glittery rhinoceroses had just gotten done with the place, but that was something to deal with later. She went over to the couch and plopped down beside Pacifica, leaning her head against the blondes shoulder.

Pacifica slipped her arm around Mabel's shoulders and pulled her in closer, enjoying the flowery scent of Mabel's shampoo as her curls tickled her nose. As she moved in closer to plant a kiss on her cheek she saw something glitter on her stomach when her shirt had lifted up from movement and she remembered the odd incident at the start of the party.

Pacifica grabbed the hem of her shirt and tugged up, revealing a sticker applied to her stomach and just above her belly-button. A glittery and festive looking sticker depicting a bunch of mistletoe.

_Why would she put a mistletoe sticker on my- _Pacifica started to think before she looked down at her girlfriends face and saw a familiar expression, something that was halfway between playfulness and desire but definitely 100% Mabel.

_Oh, _Pacifica thought, realization dawning on her as she felt her heart speed up slightly and blood rush to her face.

"Well now," Mabel said with a grin as she shifted around and straddled Pacifica's lap, leaning in close to brush the long straight strands of hair from Pacifica's face, "now that everyone else is gone it looks like I'll finally get to unwrap my Christmas gift."


	5. Chapter 5

**Silver Linings**

Pacifica breathed deep and tried to calm the jackhammer beat of her heart and the twisting churning of her gut. It was dark behind the stage compared to the searing heat of the blue-white floodlights, and it had taken her eyes a long time to adjust to the relative dimness once she had disappeared behind the curtain after finishing her song.

Pacifica had been the first go up and that was fine by her – she preferred being able to sing distraction-free without letting any self-conscious comparisons to the other contestants affect her performance. The other girls who had followed after her on the stage hadn't been half bad, if she was pressed Pacifica might even grudgingly admit that they were good, but not good enough to shake her confidence. That was then though, and this was now.

When the last contestant had taken the stage and began to sing, the pure notes of her voice had echoed with beautiful clarity even through the muffling barrier of the thick stage curtain and Pacifica had felt her icy calm start to melt into a sickly puddle of stress. The young woman's voice was like honey and wine transformed into pure sound, and her song was sung with such soulful passion that the audience had gone totally silent so as not to miss a single note.

Pacifica felt like she was going to be sick.

The singing eventually died away and after a moment of silence she could hear the thunder of the audiences' applause shake the air, a tumult of loud cheers and clapping that echoed even in the high ceilings of the performance hall. Pacifica felt her heart cram its way into her throat... they loved her. They all loved her.

In the midst of the applause Pacifica's ears perked up as she heard a distinctive voice that cut through the noise.

"Boo! Boo! Bring back the blonde bombshell! North_WEST_ is the _BEST_! North_WEST_ is the _BEST_!"

Pacifica felt her face redden and burn, half from complete and utter embarrassment and the other half from an uncontrollable flood of happiness that swept over her.

Mabel. _Of course_ it was Mabel.

Ridiculous gestures of support aside the only real reason that had given Pacifica pause about asking Mabel to come along was that today, unlike any of the other performances that had lead up to the final judging, her parents were also out there somewhere in the darkness of the audience watching her. Her mother and father had almost never come to any of her events in the past – sports tournaments, talent shows, school plays… they just took it for granted that she was going to succeed without bothering to watch, but they had made a special point to call her and let her know that they were attending her performance this evening.

Pacifica had been worried at first about inviting Mabel along to the final performance of the contest since they were here, but she knew that there was no way to keep the crafty brunette out if she wanted to come. Mabel would probably have found some way in even if she had to use that ridiculous grappling hook of hers to sneak in through the ceiling and watch from the rafters. Truthfully, Pacifica wouldn't have felt right singing up on the stage without seeing Mabel in the audience waving that huge ridiculous pink silk pennant that she'd made, which had a surprisingly accurate portrait of Pacifica's face embroidered on it. Emotional support wasn't really something that had been a regular feature for much of Pacifica's life and now that she'd gotten a taste of it she was afraid she might be getting addicted.

As far as Mr. and Mrs. Northwest knew Mabel Pines was Pacifica's "good friend". If her parents had ever wondered why the quirky brunette that Pacifica shared an apartment with was always tagging along with her to any of the tedious social functions that were thrown at the Northwest manor, they had done what they always did with inconvenient questions: ignored it. Mabel sometimes joked that their relationship was like an invisibility cloak to Pacifica's family, but she never said it accusingly which Pacifica was secretly grateful for.

_I wonder how oblivious they're going to stay if either of them have spotted Mabel waving that ridiculous flag of hers in the stands, _Pacifica wondered to herself.

The giant red felt hearts spattered across its surface _might _be enough of a visual clue to make even the selectively dense Northwest's realize why Pacifica tended to spend more Thanksgivings and Christmases at the Pines household than back in Gravity Falls.

_That'll be a fun conversation, _she thought darkly, her mind briefly distracted from her stress over the contest.

The distraction didn't last long however, and when the curtains parted slightly and the girl with the golden voice strode past Pacifica with her head held high she felt her stomach re-knot itself.

She blew out a shaky breath and tried to calm herself down. She was still Pacifica-goddamned-Northwest and she couldn't start doubting herself now. Pacifica was good. She _knew _she was good. She'd been training with the best vocal coach that money could buy and had practiced till her throat had gone raw from singing time and again. Pacifica had sung her piece so many times that she could practically do it in her sleep, something which Mabel had claimed that she had actually done once after an especially exhausting night of practice.

Was she good enough though? Good enough to win?

She hoped so.

The MC was back on the stage now, showering praise on the contestants and building up the audience's anticipation with practiced skill. Pacifica's hands clenched together hard on her knee's, waiting for the announcement. Three names were called – Aubrey Garcia, Janet Sherman & Pacifica Northwest, and told to come back onstage. She hadn't realized that she'd been holding her breath until she gave a sigh of relief at hearing her name.

She shot a quick glance at herself in the mirror, panicking like crazy that she'd dissolved into a gross sweaty mess from all the stress, but even her overly critical eye couldn't spot any major flaws. She rose up on trembling legs and walked forward in a daze, trying hard not to be blinded in the light of the stage.

* * *

><p>The cheering had long since died down and Pacifica was making her way dully down the aisle of the auditorium, her steps slow and shuffling. A silver medal dangled from a ribbon around her neck and she felt like it was dragging at her like a brick of lead.<p>

"Paz!" a voice called out excitedly above the murmur of the audience filing their way out of the building now that the performance was over.

Pacifica glanced up with dead eyes just in time to catch sight of Mabel diving at her with a joyful squeal. Slim arms wrapped almost crushingly tight around Pacifica's waist and lifting her slightly off the floor in one of Mabel's typically enthusiastic hugs.

"I can't believe it! You made it all the way up to 2nd place in the whole state! Jeez, I hope you'll let me have your autograph!" Mabel chattered, nearly breathless with excitement.

The dark cloud that had settled over Pacifica's brow began to lift slightly in the face of Mabel's overwhelming positivity and she felt a small smile start to tug at the corners of her lips. When her eyes glanced up from Mabel's broad white grin she felt her newborn smile disintegrate. Her parents were standing near the exit, her father's mouth a hard line and her mother's arms crossed over her chest.

Pacifica half-heartedly returned Mabel's hug and blew her breath out from puffed cheeks as she walked up slowly to greet them, each step feeling harder than the last.

"Mom, Dad," Pacfica said, giving a quick nod of greeting to each, "thanks for coming."

"Well, how could we have stayed away when we heard that our lovely daughter was going to be singing in a televised competition?" her mother said in an overly sweet tone, a sharp undercurrent in her voice like a razor buried inside a slice of cake.

"It was just a state-wide contest, I'm sure not too many people were really watching," Pacifica replied, trying to sound indifferent.

"Are you kidding? It's totally a huge deal! You're like, semi-famous now!" Mabel said excitedly, grabbing Pacifica by the shoulders and shaking her about.

Pacifica winced internally – her girlfriend was, as usual, completely oblivious to the uncomfortable atmosphere in the air between Pacifica and her parents.

"You're little friend Melissa is right," her father said, "It's actually a very big deal. I had to cancel some very important meetings with the board of directors to fly down here with your mother because we both wanted to see you _win_."

"I put off an appointment with the doctor myself," her mother chimed in reprovingly.

_Getting even more work done mom? I think most of you is probably younger than me by now_, Pacifica thought snidely.

"Well I'm sorry that I wasted your time then," Pacifica said trying to keep the tremble out of her voice. Her eyes were hot, her stomach was churning and right now she felt like she was five years old all over again.

"Why's everybody acting like someone just died?" Mabel asked incredulously as she glanced back and forth between the faces of Pacifica and her parents, "Paz just won second place! Do you know what that means?"

"That she didn't win first." Mr. Northwest replied, his words clipped and his mouth a taught line.

Mabel recoiled like she'd just been slapped and her eyes suddenly took on a hard look that Pacifica had never seen in them before.

"No! It means that she was freaking incredible up there! There were like, a bazillion other people in this contest and the girl in first place only was ahead by like, 2 points in the end!" Mabel said angrily, stepping forward and planting her fists firmly on her hips as she glared up at him.

"A bazillion isn't a real number," Mr. Northwest said, seeming at a loss for words when confronted by the small furious brunette.

"Yeah, well with that crappy attitude you don't seem like a real dad," Mabel shot back loudly, stepping in and jabbing her finger into his chest with a sharp jerk to punctuate her sentence.

Her father's eyes widened in shocked surprise and to Pacifica's surprise he actually ended up taking a small step backward away from Mabel. Pacifica was briefly reminded of a video she had seen online of an angry house-cat chasing a startled bear up tree. Her dad wasn't really used to anyone, _anyone_, talking to him like that and he seemed to have no clue what to do about it.

Her mother's smile was even more frozen than it usually was, her eyes darting around at the people who were starting to turn toward the commotion.

"Pacifica, your friend Mindy is making a scene. Are you going to let her talk to us like this?" she asked in a quietly cold tone of voice.

Pacifica turned to Mabel and saw the heat flashing in her eyes, and she felt her sinking spirits start to rise.

"It's a free country," Pacifica said, "and _Mabel _can say whatever she likes,"

"Yeah! Freedom of speech means I can say that you guys are being total butts!" Mabel said triumphantly. She shot Pacifica a grateful smile for backing her up.

Mr. Northwest's face began to turn purple with anger and he turned a sharp glare toward Mabel.

"Now listen here you-", he began, his voice a furious whisper as he noticed the small crowd that had turned their way.

"She doesn't have to listen to anything actually," Pacifica said to cut him off, grabbing Mabel by the wrist and marching out toward the door to leave her stunned parents behind in the darkened auditorium.

* * *

><p>The sunset looked gorgeous as it shimmered on the rippling waters of the park pond, but Pacifica wasn't in much of a mood to admire the scenery. She and Mabel had driven their way around the unfamiliar city that was hosting the contest for a while after they had exited the theater, staying mostly silent. Mabel had enough experience with Pacifica's moods to know when to try and cheer her up and when to just let her work things out in her head, and she'd stayed quiet during most of the ride until the loud gurgle of her stomach had broken the silence in the vehicle.<p>

The girls had stopped for burgers and at Mabel's insistence they had gotten the food to-go so that they could eat at a large park they'd passed by about three or four times as Pacifica had driven around the city while trying to decompress. Pacifcia had taken a few half-hearted bites of her dinner, but the food hadn't tasted like much to write home about and she was still too queasy from the fight to have much of an appetite. Mabel sat beside her on the bench of the park, tossing out small pieces of hamburger bun to the ducks in the pond who had begun to cluster near her as the flock sensed that they had an easy mark to get food out of.

Pacifica reached into the pocket of the windbreaker that she wore over the ridiculously expensive dress that she'd bought to wear for the contest and pulled out the silver medal that she'd been presented with on stage. She could still hear the faint echoes of the polite applause that audiences always reserved for runners up and her fingers squeezed tightly against the metal disc, its edge biting slightly against the flesh of her palm.

Her blue eyes glanced up at the lake, now mostly empty of ducks as they had all began to crowd around an increasingly worried Mabel, and she felt like drawing her arm back and tossing the stupid medal as far into the water as she could. Maybe she'd feel better after watching it sink to the bottom... maybe she could just forget about this whole stupid thing.

"Gah! Fine - take it you filthy buzzards!" Mabel screamed, derailing Pacifica's gloomy train of thought as she hurled the remaining half of her burger out into the lake with a splash.

A stream of quacking ducks stampeded after the waterlogged sandwich, leaving the two girls to each others company once more. Mabel turned to Pacifica with a slightly sheepish expression on her face, her hair disheveled and small feathers stuck here and there to her sweater.

"Sorry about that," Mabel said, "It turns out that ducks are kind of greedy jerks even if they are cute."

Despite her mood Pacifica couldn't help but let out a small giggle at the sight of Mabel's condition, and she reached out a slim hand to tuck a stray curl of chestnut brown hair back into place. Her fingers traced an affectionate line down Mabel's soft cheek and the brunette seemed to melt at her touch.

"Thanks," Pacifica said, her voice quiet. Her eyes dropped back to the hateful medal in her hand and she gave another sigh.

"Thanks for what?" Mabel asked, a note of concern in her voice at the look in Pacifica's face.

"For being there for me. Supporting me. I was worried that... I don't know, that I'd let you down," Pacifica said.

"What in the ever-loving fiery heck are you talking about Paz?" Mabel said.

"Well I lost..." Pacifica said.

"You got 2nd place! Geez, does your family not understand how numbers work or something?" Mabel said incredulously.

"Second isn't the same as winning... and silver's not the same as gold." Pacifica replied, wincing slightly to herself as she heard the echo of her father in those words.

"So what if silver isn't gold? Silver is way prettier anyway!" Mabel said, "plus its tons more useful since you can use it to keep werewolves away,"

"What do werewolves have to do with anything?" Pacifica asked, confusion battling with her gloom.

"Not much I guess," Mabel admitted, "though when you grow up living with Dipper this kind of stuff comes up more often than you'd think. Heck, you may have just saved our lives in the future if some blood crazy monster decides to burst into our apartment during a full moon."

Pacifica stared at the look of complete seriousness on Mabel's face and all at once she just burst out laughing, a long hard belly laugh that made her ribs ache and left her gasping for air. She couldn't remember the last time that she'd laughed this hard, and she felt the stress pour out of her with each wracking spasm until she was left as short of breath as if she had just run a marathon.

"Okay," Pacifica said as she began to regain control of her breathing, "when you put it like that I guess I won't pitch this stupid thing into the lake."

"Of course you won't!" Mabel said, "We are gonna display this baby! I can build a nice frame for it with glitter and everything."

"I'd rather just keep it out of sight in a drawer or something, you know - for the werewolves," Pacifica said.

"Not to be super rude or anything but... why is this such a huge deal? I mean, I get that not getting first place can be disappointing but second isn't bad." Mabel said.

Pacifica stared hard at Mabel for a brief moment and then realized that she was being 100% serious. There wasn't a hint of mockery in her voice.

"Well," Pacifica began, feeling somewhat hesitant, "when I was a kid... look, my folks weren't bad to me, you know? Like they didn't hit me or yell at me or anything like that. Actually they really didn't do much of anything with me... pretty much the only time they really paid attention to me at all was when I won something. Coming back from a mini-golf tournament or a talent show or whatever with a trophy was pretty much the only time they acted really happy to see me. We're Northwest's - so we don't lose."

"Paz, I love you and don't take this the wrong way - but your folks seem like real dicks," Mabel said, laying her hand gently over Pacifica's and giving it a small squeeze.

Pacifica stiffened, but after a brittle instant she felt her muscles relax.

"I... yeah, I know you're right. I mean, I _know _they aren't really nice people, but they're still my parents. I didn't want to disappoint them. Even if I know the whole 'Northwests are the best' thing is bull now, I still just feel _awful_ when I lose at something." Pacifica said.

"I can kind of relate to that a little bit," Mabel said.

"Really?" Pacifica replied, skepticism in her voice.

"Well, there was one contest that I really hated losing. The memory of it still haunts me to this day," Mabel said.

"What was that?" Pacifica asked warily.

"It was a pie-eating contest that I'd gotten into as a kid. I made it all the way up to the finals but got disqualified for barfing." Mabel said solemnly, her eyes staring far off into the distance as a convenient gust of wind blew her hair dramatically out behind her.

Pacifica gave another snort of laughter.

"Hey, I'm being totally serious here!" Mabel said, "I still have nightmares about blasting out blueberry pie-chunks like some bad crossover between _the Exorcist_ and_ Willy Wonka_!"

Pacifica's hand shot out and gripped Mabel's shoulder tightly while she clutched at her aching ribs.

"Please stop, if I laugh any harder today I'm pretty sure that I will literally die," she said.

"Alright, I'll knock off the jokes for now. Not sure what's so funny about me projectile vomiting like, four gallons of pie-filling anyway." Mabel said, sounding slightly miffed.

Pacifica looked up and saw the first few dim stars coming out in the sky as the sun sank lower over the horizon. She snuggled herself in closer to Mabel and wrapped an arm around her girlfriends waist, giving her a tight squeeze. Mabel leaned her own face into the side of Pacifica's head, planting a quick kiss on her cheek.

"I really love you Mabel," Pacifica said quietly, "even if you are apparently a failure at competitive pie eating."

"Paz," Mabel said, "you could come in dead last in every contest you enter for the rest of your life and it wouldn't make me love you even a tiny smidgen less,"

Their lips met and Pacifica felt all of the days stress melt away in the kiss and the weight dragging in her pocket reminded her of one of her optimistic girlfriends favorite sayings about clouds and silver linings.


End file.
