In all my nights I lie awake, I see you. Even though our love can never be. Even though we fight for us, I can't escape the dreaded thoughts of us drifting apart.

I know we had our differences and such, but I feel I'm losing you, and I don't want that.

This past summer has been amazing, even more so sharing it with you, I hope you know that.

Keep heed of this, every night I can't sleep, it's because of you, Dipper.

You really are the best.

Yours,

Wendy

Dipper's POV

Mabel and I, we've been through literally everything two people can go through together. Being born, celebrating Birthday's and knowing how to make them perfect, being in, and out of love. That was a big one for both of us. Through thick and thin, we've been there for each other and stuck through it all. On a midday afternoon, an unexpected turn of events shocked me with something I never thought I'd hear.

I was sitting at the kitchen table, just looking at the orange sky as the sun was setting. The breeze caused the trees to dance. In addition, I was reading a letter I got from Wendy, a long time crush of mine. I guess I found out another reason for why they call it a crush. Grabbing my mug and placing it in the sink, I heard the front door open. I hurried back to where I was sitting and folded up the letter and left it by the envelope. Mabel walked by me, and slumped in the seat across from me.

In the back of my mind, I always knew that Mabel was boy crazy, and when something happened, she usually just did whatever she did to vent. I didn't want to find out how.

She draped her jacket over the chair, and rested her head on her hands. Blowing her hair out of the way from time to time.

I'm not speaking from experience, but I know not to break the silence or disturb her when she's like this.

Instead, she was the one to do just that.

"Three words Dipper, THREE WORDS!" She said getting heated

'Oh boy, here we go' I thought

"Guys are scum! You hear me!? SCUM!" She said

I said nothing. She then reached across the table and grabbed me by my shirt collar.

"I hate guys! They do nothing but lie, cheat, or are just plain dicks!" Mabel continued

"Do me a favor, next time I hopelessly fall in love with another guy, CONVINCE ME TO NOT EVEN START!" She said

I felt her let go of my collar and shove me over causing the chair to fall backwards. The ear piercing sound of it tipping over and the feeling of it falling apart didn't help either. Basically, she shoved me so hard she knocked me out of it. My hat fell off as a result in addition to her shove.

This is the first time I've seen Mabel get violent over a breakup. Guess this one really hurts.

I slowly got up; avoiding eye contact with her, fear making its way into my brain as to what she would do next if my eyes looked into hers.

My hat made its way to the living room; I slipped it on my head as I went out the door.

I'll take a walk for a while and let her cool off, if she will, hopefully. I made my way to the forest, admiring the sunset's rays streaming through the gaps between the endless amounts of pine trees. Along a path I've walked many times, I reached a river me and Mabel used to swim in back when we were kids, and continued up to today. I swear, it just got funner and funner each year. Flashbacks of us drenching each other for hours, skipping rocks, even fishing there all came back. A feeling I always love.

A hand on my shoulder startled me.

I turned around. The figure behind me calmed my nerves, it was Candy.

"Hey Dipper." She said cheerily

"Hey." I said trying to sound like my normal self

"Is something wrong?" She asked

"Kinda, Mabel's going through a bad breakup, so I figured I'd head out here while she hopefully cools off." I said

"Ah, tell her that I'm here for her if she ever needs to talk to someone." She said

"I'm sure she knows that, but I'll remind her." I said faking a smile

"Are you sure nothing's wrong in your world? Other than seeing Mabel all upset?" She asked

"There is, but I've been debating on and off whether to even bring it up." I said

"You can tell me if it'll make you feel better." She said

I took a breath in, and exhaled as I caught sight of my breath.

"I got a letter from Wendy, it's a breakup letter." I said quietly towards the end

"What was it?" Candy asked not hearing the last part

"It's a breakup letter." I said

"That stings Dipper, ouch." She said

"What did it say? If you don't want to say, I understand." She said

"I practically have it memorized." I said

"It said 'In all my nights I lie awake, I see you. Even though our love can never be. Even though we fight for us, I can't escape the dreaded thoughts of us drifting apart. I know we had our differences and such, but I feel I'm losing you, and I don't want that. This past summer has been amazing, even more so sharing it with you, I hope you know that. Keep heed of this, every night I can't sleep, it's because of you, Dipper. You really are the best. Yours, Wendy'" I quoted

"Well, from all that, it seems like she still wants you as a friend and not all like 'Ok, get out of my life, move on, you suck' right?" Candy asked

My heart sank.

"Ohhh yeah, way to brighten the mood. But, you're right." I said

"I'm sorry Dipper." Candy quickly said

She hugged me tightly, a little too tightly, but I didn't mind.

"How much?" She asked

"What?" I asked

"How much are you hurting? 1 being the worst, 10 being completely fine." She said

"I'd say a 4." I said

"It's not 1, so that's good." She said

"I'm serious Dipper, I'm always here for you if you need to talk to someone, you know, who isn't your sister. Heck, I don't even know if you two talk about this stuff, what do I know?" Candy said chuckling trying to brighten the mood a bit

"We do sometimes, but we don't bring it up a lot." I said

"When things get bad, you'll always have me to turn to." Candy said

We separated.

"Thanks Candy, that really means a lot." I said

"Hey, since we're here, wanna skip some stones?" I suggested

"Sure! Haven't done this in ages though." She said

We found some flat stones and started skipping them.

"Like this?" Candy said as she swung her arm

The stone skipped 4 times.

"Yeah! That's it, relax your arm a bit, and don't forget the wrist flick." I said

She skipped another stone 6 times.

"You got it! And you said you haven't done this in ages." I said smirking

Candy punched my arm.

"Just needed a refresher I guess." She said

I threw my stone and it skipped 10 times.

"Woo! Refresh that!" I said

"Gladly." She said

The stone skipped 14 times. I made my eyes go wide in mock anger and did the 'watching you' gesture

"This isn't over." I said

"Yet." She replied

We laughed.

"This was fun. We should hang out more often." Candy said

"Yeah, we should." I said

"See ya." I said walking home

"Bye Dipper." She said

On my way back home through the woods, I hoped that Mabel cooled off by now, or at least isn't as mad as she was when I left.

The sun was still setting, so there was some daylight left. Rustling through a few bushes and vaulting over some logs, I made it back and walked up the steps into the Mystery Shack.

Turning my head to the right expecting to still see Mabel where she was, her presence wasn't there. I assumed she went to bed early.

I hung my vest and hat up as I made my way to our, still shared bedroom.

Upon opening the door, I saw Mabel standing in the center, holding my letter to her chest that I forgot I left on the table when I went out. Something else I noticed was that she had what looked like a bloodshot look in her eyes. Was she crying after she read it? I didn't intend for her to see it, but it's my fault for leaving it there. She's already mad enough about a guy dumping her; I don't need to be on her case too.

She brought the letter in question to her side.

"Dipper." Mabel whispered

Now this was rare of her. When she's like this, as I unfortunately experienced a while ago, she's never one to hardly speak when she's going through romantic aftermaths. Must've been something in that letter.

I only blinked in response.

"How long?" She asked

"H-Hm?" I mumbled

"How long have you been hurting since you read this? Please tell me!" Mabel said concerned

Her shoulders hunched, she started crying again I assumed.

"You can speak to me you dork!" She said through her tears

I took a step towards her, and Mabel rushed me in a tight hug.

"I've been hurting a bit, but after a walk in the woods, me and Candy having a talk about this, and skipping stones with her, I honestly feel better than I did when I started reading it. Which wasn't too much to begin with?" I said

My arms found their way around her back.

"Dipper, I know we've had our sibling fights when we were kids and stuff. All siblings do." She said

"But what happened in the kitchen today, I'm so, SO SORRY FOR SHOVING YOU LIKE THAT! I had NO idea what came over me. I'm sorry I hurt you!" Mabel said

Her tears made their way to my shirt.

"It's ok Mabel, I'm not banged up that much, just some bruises. I'll live." I said patting her back

"But in all honesty, you had every right to feel the way you did." I said

"But I shouldn't've got so violent." Mabel said still crying into my shoulder

"It's ok, I'm tough." I said

Mabel chuckled.

"You know what I love about you Dipper?" She asked

"What?" I asked

She took her head off my shoulder and looked me in the eyes.

"You're not tough, you're STRONG." Mabel said

"You have a STRONG heart, and she doesn't deserve you. You deserve better." She said

"Thanks Mabel." I said

We still had our arms wrapped around each other.

"What did you and Candy talk about again? Fill me in." She said

"I just said the letter from memory, and told her how I'm feeling on a scale of 1 to 10, told her I'm a 4." I said

"That's good Dipper, that's good. It's not 1." Mabel said

"When I recited the letter, Candy said something helpful that I didn't think of a lot. She said that from the letter I quoted, it sounds like she still wants me as a friend, and not like shoving me away." I said

Mabel let go of me.

"Ok, I kinda know where this is going, soooo, no. Dipper, like I said, you deserve better." She said

I caught onto what she was saying, and butted in.

"It's not like that. I still want her as a friend too." I said

Mabel sighed.

"Listen, girls, they can be tricky." She said

"Yeah, no kidding." I said mumbling a chuckle

"But, if you still want her as a friend, that's fine. Just, kinda not talk to her till things die down. Hang out with Candy again, or go to the arcade, give yourself a good time. And I know we usually don't talk about this stuff much, but if you ever need to talk to someone who isn't Soos, or Grunkle Stan, you'll always have me." Mabel said

"Thanks Mabes, that's really, and I mean, really sweet of you." I said smiling

"Mabes? Where'd that come from?" She asked amused

"Don't know." I said laughing

"Plus, I'm your TWIN," Mabel said lightly poking my arm

"So my Twindar will always go off when something isn't right. We complete each other." She continued

"Amen to that." I said

"Now, let's burn this letter tonight, and celebrate a new you tomorrow." She said handing it back to me

"Couldn't agree more." I said

Night was coming fast, and the stars painted themselves in the sky. It's always crystal clear since Gravity Falls, aka, my paradise isn't like the city with all that hustle and bustle. Just peaceful and quiet.

Mabel grabbed some old newspapers while I found some firewood. The fire pit we had was an old in-ground one with that barrier thing around it. I arranged the wood so they all stood up. Mabel crushed the newspapers and put them in between the wood. I light one of the newspapers, and the fire soon started.

Now for me to burn the letter.

"Thanks, for being who you are." I said quickly placing it in the flames

An ember from the paper flew back and hit my left hand.

"Ah! Damnit!" I said shaking my hand

"Dipper! You alright?" Mabel asked holding my hand out to examine it

Turns out it was a bit more than an ember, the flames got my left hand. It was singed a bit.

"Come with me." Mabel said quickly dragging me back inside

By my good arm, thankfully.

"Shouldn't we let the fire die down first?" I asked

"Right now, you're more important! And watch that language of yours young man!" Mabel retorted

She was right, I'm becoming a young man. I've gotten taller, my voice deepened a bit, and I even got a bit of a mustache and goatee going. The swearing though, even if I let a few words fly is something I've been working on curving. Thought I had a grip on it till just now.

Mabel immediately grabbed a rag and ran it under cold water. I put my hand under while she was ringing out the rag. My hand stung like heck, but it'll heal in time.

"Keep this on there. Don' you dare even think about taking it off." She said handing it to me

"I won't." I said

"Good. Now sit your butt down on the recliner." Mabel said

I did as she said.

Mabel went and grabbed a kit from the bathroom and began patching up my hand. She nodded, saying I can take the rag off now.

"Seriously dipper, you gotta be more careful around fire. I know you always are, but slip ups like this can still happen." Mabel said rubbing ointment on my burn

I sighed in annoyance.

"Yes nurse." I said

The sting from the ointment sent a jolt of pain through me, and I jolted back.

"Gah! Jesus, this hurts!" I said feeling like my arm was being burned off

She brought out the gauze and began wrapping it around.

"I know it hurts now, but it'll feel better soon. I'm almost done." She said

She cut the last strand she needed.

"And, there." She said carefully securing the last of the gauze

"Thanks Mabes." I said

"You're welcome bro bro." Mabel said putting the gauze back in the pack

I got up from the recliner.

"Awkward sibling hug?" I offered

"No." Mabel said

She hugged me with all her strength.

"Caring sibling hug." Mabel said

"T-thanks." I said feeling the air getting crushed from me

We separated, and she lightly kissed my wrapped hand.

"There, that'll heal it faster." She said with a smile

"Thanks. Hey, the fire still going?" I asked

She went to the door and looked out.

"It's just embers now." She said

"Alright, that puts me at ease. I'm gonna hit the hay, and it's been a long day for both of us." I said

"Yeah, you got that right." Mabel said

We both walked upstairs to our bedroom, the sound of our footsteps echoing with each step in the dark stairway.

When we reached the door, I went in and turned on my lamp so Mabel wouldn't trip, or something like that.

"What you said before you burned the letter, that was nice. It wasn't a 'screw you, you're the worst ever!' kinda thing, that was a short and sweet final message. And I know for an absolute fact that you're too sweet and caring to just curse someone out." Mabel said

"Y-Yeah. Night." I said

She ruffled my hair and poked at my birthmark on my forehead.

"Boop." She said

We chuckled.

"Night Dip." She said

I shut the lamp off and we finally got some sleep after such a long day for both of us.