Gravity Rises (S1)

MM: Part Two

Hours later, the twins sat on the gift shop floor with Robbie, chatting with him as he counted the money from the till. Dipper told Robbie about the cave they'd found (no prophecies, so it wasn't Harbinger Hollow, but it was still cool). Mabel listened idly to the boys, finding her eyes focused on Robbie a lot more than they were on Dipper.

"And then we heard something growling at us in the darkness, so of course Mabel ran out all scared — I totally would've stayed and fought the monster off, but—"

"Dipper!" Mabel cut in. "That's not what happened! You got spooked first!"

Dipper waved a hand. "Yeah, yeah. Potato, tomato."

"It's 'potato, potahto.'"

"Have you ever been exploring in the forest, Robbie? It's really cool."

"Yeah, some," Robbie said. "I've been spelunking in some sweet caves with my friends." He swatted Dipper's hand away from the money as he spoke, not missing a beat in his sentence. "Hey, Mabel, could you hand me that stack of fives?"

Mabel blinked, a bit startled. "O-oh, yeah, sure." She picked up the stack and handed it over, flushing as Robbie's fingers brushed her own.

He didn't seem to notice anything. "Thanks, kid."

Mabel nodded, clamping her mouth shut so she couldn't say anything embarrassing. Why did her crushes always leave her in such a blabbering mess? And. . . did she have a crush on Robbie? She thought she'd gotten over how cute he was days ago. But what he said to her earlier, when she was drawing in the corner. . . apparently that conversation had sparked something in her brain.

"Earth to Mabes!" called Dipper.

Mabel started, looking up at Robbie and her brother. "S-sorry, what?"

"It's cool," Robbie said, counting out a handful of bills. "I just asked if you were feeling better."

"Uh, y-yeah, I am. It was, um, really nice to go exploring for a while." Mabel tried to smile, then realized Robbie wasn't making eye contact with her at the moment.

"That's good. Hey, Dipper, you take care of your sister, 'kay?" He gave the younger boy a nudge. "You are the man of the family, aren't ya?"

Dipper grinned. "Yeah!"

"I'm older!" Mabel blurted. Her mouth closed with a snap, but the words were already out. Wonderful.

Robbie chuckled. Dipper was about to retort with something like "By six minutes!" but then paused. He slowly turned his head towards Mabel.

Uh-oh.

Yep, he had picked up on it. Dipper could sniff out a crush a mile away, which wasn't exactly helpful when his sister, who was prone to having occasional crushes, never wanted to do anything about them. Honestly, it took him longer this time than Mabel expected. His face lit up in that look of his: the look when he was bursting with something to say but was trying to hold back. Mabel shot him a death glare when Robbie wasn't looking, but the expression didn't go away.

"Sorry to be such a bore," Robbie said, "but Mr. Pines wanted this all counted tonight."

Mabel blinked in surprised. She wasn't bored at all, though she was a bit mortally embarrassed. "W-we could help you!"

"Yeah!" Dipper's hand was slapped away again as he reached for the money piles.

"Nah, it's good. So, where are you guys from, again?"

"Piedmont, California!" Dipper replied. "It never snows down there."

"Is it your first time seeing snow, then?"