Work Text:
“Dipper, is that a beard I spy growing in?!”
The male Pines twin rubbed absentmindedly at his jaw, fingers rubbing over the stubble. With a shrug, he nodded.
“Yeah I guess so, had to happen eventually,” he replied, giving Roxanne-the girl who had pointed it out-a confused glance. She giggled and nodded.
“It’s looking great, you’re gonna have the look of a mountain man before too long,” she continued. “A rugged, handsome mountain man.”
Dipper cast a desperate look across the table to Mabel; what was she trying to prove by inviting him out with her friends again? Especially if this was how her friends were going to behave around him? Adding to the confusion was the fact that Allison reached over and gave his arm a playful squeeze.
“Oh wow, he’s got some muscles hiding under the flannel, too, Roxie!”
He felt his face growing a shade darker as he stared at his sister, legs bouncing under the table of the restaurant’s corner booth. When his twin suggested he join her and her friends because he had been cooped up in his room for far too long, he never imagined the night going this way. And, from the way his sister kept giving her friends the stink eye, she hadn’t anticipated this behavior either.
Her eyes met his, an apologetic frown crossing her features. He made a small nod with his head as if to say ‘Help please?!’. When neither of her friends were looking at her, she screwed her face up into a nauseated grimace and groaned.
“Oh, oh no. I should have stopped at the second shake,” she moaned, clutching her stomach. Both Allison and Roxanne turned to stare. “Dipper, I think you oughta drive me back home before I paint this table barf-colored.”
With a hurried shuffle, he squeezed past his sister’s friends and around to her side of the table, helping her up and out of the building. When they got to the car, Dipper sighed with relief.
“Oh goodness sake, thank you, Mabel. Much more of that and I might have been the one barfing,” he muttered as he started up the car. When he was met with silence, he glanced over and noticed his sister staring at his jawline, with an almost wistful frown. “Mabes?”
“I, uh, sorry. About those two. I never thought they’d turn out to be so…” she apologized, a hand swiveling as she sought out the word.
“Thirsty?” he replied. His sister snorted with laughter.
“Yeah, somethin’ like that.” He just nodded and pulled out of the parking lot. When he glanced her way again, she was staring at him again, with that same, distant look in her eyes. Something like envy, regret?
“You aren’t really feeling sick, are you?” he wondered aloud. A quick blink and she seemed to snap out of her trance, going a slight shade of pink. Why would she be embarrassed?
“I, no! Maybe?” She shifted to stare straight ahead. “Just wonderin’ why the ladyfriends are only just now making nice about all your physical qualities. I’ve noticed them for awhile.”
“Noticed them? Noticed how?” For a split second, she had the look of a deer in headlights, but it melted away with a roll of the eyes and a brief raspberry blown through her lips.
“Hey, we’re twins. If I’m hot, you’re hot.”
His turn to snort had just come around, and he shook his head with a laugh.
“Yeah, yeah I guess I can accept that.” After a beat or two of quiet, he added, “Thank you for inviting me out, Mabel. Even if your friends did get weird I guess they’re right, I am getting better looking. I kinda needed a boost.”
Mabel smiled honestly at him. “Hey, any other time you need a boost, just lemme know, I’d be glad to help!”
“I dunno if I could handle your friends if they keep acting like that, though.”
“Who ever said anything about inviting them along,” she groused out loud, then swiftly clapped a hand over her mouth. Dipper cast a long, sideways gaze at his twin. That sounded a LOT like she was jealous. Was he overthinking things? Probably. He always overthought everything. But, there was always a way to test the waters.
“Well… I did wanna see the new Tiger Fist movie later this week. Wanna go?” She lowered her hand, glancing nervously at him. “Just us?”
A tiny, apprehensive smile appeared on her face. He returned the grin.
She nodded.