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“Dipper, maybe we shouldn’t do this,” Mabel worried. They were hiding in a bush, watching Robbie and Tambry have a romantic picnic. “I mean, every time we’ve played with people’s fates, it’s only made things worse.
“They are kind of perfect for each other. In a gross way.”
“But what about our friend group?” Dipper asked.
“Well, maybe it'll sort itself out,” Mabel said. “I mean, there's got to be something that could bring everyone back together.”
They turned their attention to the friend group, and then watched a ridiculous scene where Thompson somehow managed to manipulate his friends to get along again.
“Yeah,” Dipper said. “Yeah, maybe you’re right. Hey, guys, wait for me!” He ran over to hang out with them. Mabel watched them, then turned her attention back to the anti-love potion. Then back to Robbie and Tambry.
“...They’ll be fine,” she decided, and was just about to leave before Robbie noticed her.
“ Hey! ” he snapped, and Mabel winced. “What are you doing here, brat! We’re on a date!”
“AAAHHH, I’m sorry!” Mabel screamed as the two teens advanced towards her. “I put love potion in your food this morning because I wanted to fix the rift between your friends but I was having regrets and now you know!!”
“I---” Robbie blinked. “Uh. What?”
“ Love potion ,” Mabel breathed, bringing out the pink bottle and holding it up for the teens to see. “You’re aren’t really in love at all, it’s just magic.”
Tambry squinted at the label. “This thing says it wears off after three hours. We ate that food at ten AM. It’s been way more than three hours, and we’re still in love.”
“What?” Mabel brought the bottle closer to herself and read the label. Sure enough, it said that the potion wore off after three hours. “Oh…oh! I guess it was more of a nudge than…what it would be otherwise! Gosh, I’m glad that’s resolved!”
She turned to skip happily away, but Robbie caught her by her sweater and held her up like a kitten being held up by her scruff.
“No-no-no, you’re gonna explain just what you mean by love potion ,” Robbie growled. Mabel put on her best smile, holding her hands up in surrender and silently thanking merciful G-d that she had hidden the anti-love potion in her sweater earlier.
“Robbie, put her down,” Tambry frowned. Robbie grumbled, but conceded. Tambry sighed, flipping her hair back with a nod of her head. “Right. This just seems like you found some hokey ‘love potion’,” she put obvious air quotes around those two words, “and got way too into playing make-believe. Honesetly, with how pink that thing is I’m guessing it’s a miracle we didn’t die of chemical poisoning. You won’t do it again, and you agree that you should’ve asked for consent anyways, right? ”
Mabel blinked. That wasn’t what had happened at all , but…Tambry was looking at her in a very specific way…Oh! She knew what had really happened, and was expecting Mabel to play along for Robbie’s sake!
“ Riiiight!! ” Mabel grinned, poking her cheek with her finger. “Silly ole Mabel, always falling for the most obvious scams and accidentally nearly poisoning people! What an oopsie, am I right?!”
Tambry gave her a weird look, but Robbie huffed, seeming to be convinced. “Yeah. Well. You’re still a dork. And short. And not a teen!
“But…I guess you did help me find Tambry, so…thanks. I guess. Yeah.”
Tambry smiled. “You go on ahead, babe. I just need to check in with Mabel, I’ll catch up soon.”
Robbie’s whole entire face went red as a tomato. “Yeah! Of course! Take all the time you need! Babe!”
With that, he stumbled off towards the others.
Mabel sighed happily. “Lovesick fool,” she murmured affectionately.
“Hey, Mabel,” Tambry said, catching the younger girl’s attention. “You understand what you did was wrong, right?”
Mabel felt panic and guilt fill her again, tying her stomach into knots. “I---I’m sorry, really, I just---I just wanted you all to stop fighting!”
Tambry smiled tiredly. “I know, and that’s fine. You know now, at least, and you actually didn’t cause as much harm as you could’ve.” She turned to the ruined Woodstock festival---particularly, Stan’s ruined air balloon and the havoc it had wrecked. She shuddered. “Yeah, my point is---you’re a kid. You’re allowed to make stupid mistakes, as long as you learn from them. Besides, this one had a good outcome!”
She moved to look down towards Robbie. “I actually like that jerk, now that I’ve gotten to know him.”
“Woah,” Mabel breathed. “You’re so wise. How’d you know all that?”
Tambry snorted. “I spend a lot of time on the internet,” she explained, holding up her phone. “Mostly fandom. And fandom loves emotional intelligence.”
Mabel smiled. “I’m glad you two are happy. I’m glad everyone is happy now!”
Tambry smiled back. “Me too.”