Enjoy this sappy one-shot I wrote on July 4th, 2018.

"Happy Fourth, Dipper!"

Dipper Pines grimaced at this rude awakening. "Mabel... what time is it?"

"Time for you to get a watch," Mabel replied. "Eyyo!"

Dipper opened his eyes just enough to glare at his twin. Mabel was decked out for Independence Day: a homemade sweater patterned after the American flag, blue star-shaped glasses, and confetti poppers, which she set off right over Dipper's head. Red, white, and blue confetti flew everywhere.

"Mabel! I'm not cleaning that up!"

"That's okay, Waddles will!" She grabbed her pig, who was dressed up as Uncle Sam, and waggled his front hooves. "Won't you, Waddles?"

Oink!

Dipper sat up and shook confetti out of his hair, still trying to figure out what time it was. The sun was up - but that didn't mean it wasn't early, not in the Oregon summer.

Mabel answered his question in her next words. "Wendy's downstairs trying to convince Stan to close the Shack for the Fourth," she said. "I doubt it'll work, but we should go back her up."

"Oh, y-yeah!" Dipper said, his voice cracking. He swung his feet off the bed and grabbed his blue vest.

"Ew, Dip, you've been wearing that outfit for a week," Mabel said. "And it's not even patriotic!"

"What? Is too! This is blue and red!"

"That's orange," Mabel said matter-of-factly, gesturing to his days-old shirt.

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Close enough. C'mon, let's go help Wendy."

The twins bounded down the stairs and into the gift shop, where Stan and Wendy were arguing. "No, Wendy, final answer," Stan was saying to the disgruntled teen. "The Fourth of July is one of the best times for tourists! And I don't trust either of the squirts with the till, so you're stuck here. Suck it up."

Wendy gave Stan her patented glare, then threw up her hands dramatically and stomped off to the cash register. "Yeah, yeah," Stan said. "Good try."

Stan's eyes landed in the twins. "Oh, good. You two get to stock today. Merch goes fast on the Fourth. Do your best to sell stuff to suckers - I mean, customers - too."

"Aw, what?" Mabel pouted. "Grunkle Stan, it's Independence Day! I wanted to go see the parade!"

"The parade here is dumb," Stan said bluntly. "Not even worthy to be called a parade. I had dreams to start up my own once - you know, to promote the American ideal of capitalism - but it never happened." He looked out across his three workers, all scowling or looking disappointed. "Oh, cheer up! You'll have plenty of free time tonight. Now look alive, there are customers coming." With that, he left the gift shop.

Mabel's eyes lit up. "Yeah, tonight! I bet the fireworks show is awesome, huh Wendy?"

The teen shrugged. "Meh. Not really." Then she grinned. "Nate had an idea to spice them up this year, though. If it works, you'll definitely want to be there."

Dipper felt his hopes rise. Be there? With Wendy, maybe? He wanted to ask, but he was way too nervous about her response.

"Hey, you kids wanna join us?" Wendy asked.

It was like fireworks went off in Dipper's prepubescent chest. "Y-yeah!" he squeaked.

Mabel gave him a knowing look. "Sure thing!" she told Wendy. "Where?"

"Community pool."

Just then, the door to the gift shop opened, admitting those customers Stan had mentioned, so Wendy and the twins couldn't talk anymore. The drudgery of the day's work had begun.

But Dipper's heart was lighter than air as he thought about watching the fireworks with Wendy.

~~~~~

That night, Dipper and Mabel showed up to the community pool ready to beat the summer heat. Wendy said they'd swim as the sun's set, then get out to watch the fireworks.

"Boop!" Mabel shoved a pair of star glasses onto Dipper's face, much more violently than her innocent exclamation had implied.

"Ah! Mabel," Dipper said in annoyance, taking the glasses off. Mabel gave him puppy-dog eyes until he sighed and replaced them on his nose. "How do you even see in these?"

"You don't need to see if you look fabulous," Mabel replied.

"Hey Dip!" came the call from the lifeguard's tower. Wendy sat at the top, looking amazing in her red swimsuit - as always. "Hi Mabel! Get in!"

Dipper blushed for no discernible reason. "O-okay!" he called back, taking off his glasses.

"Cannonball!" Mabel yelled.

They swam for hours. Dipper was sad that Wendy couldn't join them, but Nate and Lee invited the twins to play water volleyball with them, and that was fun. The lower the sun got in the sky, the harder it was to see the ball, but that just made for more laughs.

"The fireworks are about to start!" someone called as they were playing Marco Polo. Thompson, who'd been trying to touch someone for five minutes, opened his eyes and grinned in excitement.

Wendy hopped down from the lifeguard tower. "Everybody get ready!"

The pool emptied (except for Old Man McGucket, who everyone ignored anyway). It seemed the whole town was there, and they congregated around the pool to get the best views. Dipper tried to get as close to Wendy as possible, then felt awkward with their proximity. He felt his face heat up as his sweat glands went into overdrive.

Then Wendy put her arm on his shoulders just as the first firework exploded. Dipper's heart exploded too.

"See?" Wendy said. "Not very cool."

Dipper thought it was amazing. Wait, what was she talking about?

"But just wait until Nate and Lee's go off. They snuck some real fireworks in. Swapped 'em out with the lame ones. They should be going off any... minute...."

BOOM!

The bright blue firework burst, rattling Dipper's ribcage. "Yeah, there we go!" whooped Wendy. "Keep 'em coming!"

The gang of teenagers cheered and fist-bumped Nate and Lee as more earth-shattering fireworks tore through the sky. Mabel joined them.

Dipper, though, just sat there at the side of the pool. He was content to listen to the fireworks - feel them, more like, with how powerful they were - and sit with Wendy on this amazing Fourth of July.

And as the evening wore on, he could've sworn the fireworks were going off to the same beat as his heart.