Framed

Hey! So it’s been, I dunno, several units of time since I posted the last story. Here’s part 3 of the Wenpines trilogy story that I started like forever years ago. 

But hey, here it is. Also Posting at midnight is clearly the best time of the day to put up a fic for a third part of a story about a rarepair (trio)! Sure, this is the best way to get readers’ attention! Well, enjoy, all four of you! 

Part 1

Part 2

Days passed and the texts slowed down. Mabel’s messages dried up after her last visit, though Dipper still checked up on her a few times since then. But he wasn’t asking her to come back. Of course. His sister tried to extend that invitation to her but she freaked out on her. The girl was the dictionary definition of sweet, beautiful, and amazing, but Wendy Freakin’ Corduroy just doesn’t have it in her to admit when she was being a psycho. Okay, so she had an emotional…thing, or whatever. But she was over it. She was ready to go back…well…home.

She’d changed out of her work clothes as well as her fake work smile. She sat against the pile of brightly colored pillows in a wear worn pair of old sweat shorts from high school. Though, the elastic had worn out years ago, so she rolled down the waistband. They fit her more like underwear than like shorts, but they were comfy. One hand tucked into the waistband, the other loosely held her remote. The often terrible programming on Gravity Falls cable was always good for tuning the world out. That is, unless you’re suffering through the very same marathon of crap they’ve been airing for the past week. Maybe someone fell asleep at the programming desk or something. It was the same ten episodes of the 90’s cartoon reboot of the original 1960’s Ducktective, Sherlock Holmes in Space and Sherlock Holmes vs The Planet People of Planet Planet (one through three), and Agnes and Ladle’s mystery crew. The latter was some strange cartoon that felt eerily familiar.

Ladle and his twin sister Agnes ran around solving mysteries with the help of their friends Oso (a weird talking bear, or something) and Lizzie the Lumberjane. It gave her the jibblies. It was the same stuff, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Finally she couldn’t take watching the same episode for like the fifth time that week (since reruns ran at night too). Since the show took place during an outrageously long spring break they had the strange premise of a thanksgiving episode that took place in, like, March or whenever. She shut off the TV, threw the remote into the waiting arms of her big plush Pandaduck, snatched up a pack of cigs, and hopped down off her bed.

Her oldest bad habit saw her through more than one heart break, even if her family didn’t approve. Leaning her back against the front wall of her house, she flipped open the little box and reflected. The twins didn’t like her smoking either. Of course they never got too pushy about it; it was just her desire to not disappoint them that’d helped her kick the habit, until now that is. She only realized that she was staring at the cigarette instead of lighting it after a minute or so. She guiltily returned the single cig to the rest of its family in the pack. She could resist that particular vice as long as her other one still had any ammo.

Wendy plucked her jacket from the railing next to her and dug a deltoids tin out of the pocket and rattled it. She popped the lid and a pungent aroma filled her sinuses. The little metal box was designed to contain the peculiarly strong mint smell in which made it a perfect stash. She extracted a half smoked J from it, popped it between her lips and lit it up. After a few minutes she felt just a bit better. It never made her problems go away, but they did seem less important. Though she was gonna have to remember where she got this stuff, cuz it definitely sounded like her life suddenly had a sound track. Wendy tried clearing out her ear with a pinky but the music was just getting louder.

“Take a slide in to the hazard zone!” The song now blasted out louder than ever. It was then that she saw the boombox. An actual, old school 80’s style boom box being held up high by Dipper, who was wearing aviator shades, a bomber jacket over a white t-shirt and acid washed jeans. There he was just walking down the sidewalk, giant metal box held up high as the theme played through.

He set the antique down next to Wendy, but said nothing. She was still surprised enough that she didn’t think to ask any questions when he clicked the stop button just as another song ripped out across the distance. The twins had obviously put some thought into their plan. The hilly, shrub laden neighborhood Wendy’s family lived in had tons of blind corners and dips between the streets to hide in. Vonjon Bovi’s classic anthem ‘Dwellin’ on a Hope’ blared over the relative calm of the sleepy community from about the halfway point of the song.

“Holy shit” was all Wendy could manage when she spied Mabel rounding a corner on the biggest big wheel trike she’d ever seen in her life. It was just like one of those hard plastic, black, yellow, and red ones made for kids, only huge. The leather tassels on the handlebars matched Mabel’s leather jacket, which Wendy could swear was made one hundred percent out of fringe.  Her hair looked like a cloud of hair spray and teases curls, she was the very image of Vonjon Bovi himself, though her sunglasses matched Dipper’s. Despite the single incongruity, she could have pedaled straight out of a laser and fog filled music video.

Mabel managed a power slide as she wheels screeched to a halt on the sidewalk in front of Wendy’s dad’s house, stopping just in front of Dipper and Wendy. By the slight cringe in Dipper’s tone she figured Mabel must have practiced that moves a couple times before getting it right. Before either of the twins said a word she took notice of the color scheme of Mabel’s ride. There was a shooting star painted on the rim of the real wheel closest to her and she was pretty sure there was a pine tree on the other one. The entire front wheel was painted red except for the treads where the paint had been scraped off.

“Wendy” Dipper started. She jumped slightly because she’d almost forgotten about him after Mabel’s entrance. “I want to say that there is no third wheel in our relationship-“

“But then we found this awesome big wheel online!” Mabel interrupted. “So we figured it’d make a way better metaphor.” A grin stretched across her face as she applied a decal to the side of the wheel that looked like a bag of ice. “You keep us from spinning our pedals.”

“You guys…”

“We love you” Dipper blurted out before Wendy could say anything he’d regret. “Just as much as we love each other.” He twined his fingers with Mabel on one hand and reached out for her with the other. She accepted, feeling more than just a bit fluttery from the gesture.

“We need you in our lives. You’re our third gunsketeer, the B in our L T“ Mabel added. A flush rose in Wendy’s cheeks and neck.

“I…love you guys too.” She muttered meekly, unable to meet the gaze of her own reflection in their glasses.

She found her hand joining with Mabel too just then, perking her attention back up.

“Seriously, Wendy, we love you. We’d have proposed to your lanky ass if there was some way two freaky-deaky twins could both marry their best friend.”

“And we’re pretty sure you love us back” Dipper concluded, removing his sunglasses, tucking a leg into his shirt collar.

“Thus the big, romantic gesture, eh?” Wendy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You guys don’t really do subtle, huh? Just kinda puttin’ it all out there?”

“Pfft. Subtle. If I cared what people thought about who I love, I wouldn’ta been bangin’ my brother since we were teens.” Dipper, who normally would have been slapping a hand over his sister’s mouth, or cringing behind a bush, seemed strangely calm about her declaration. Though she could have sworn that she caught him cringe just a little.

“Wendy.” Dipper drew her eyes over to his own. “Sometimes the two of us can be a little dense. We’re so different, but obviously there’s the whole twin telepathy thing going on so-“
“Hey!” She managed to crack a smile “You fuckers told me you didn’t have that.”

“Top secret stuff” Mabel replied with a serious look on her face. She even managed to hold it without cracking for about three seconds, which impressed Wendy. “For serial, though, we do sometimes forget that you haven’t been with us with us as long as it feels.”
“-And maybe we forget to say things, like exactly how happy you make us” Dipper finished for her.

“So-”
“Will you-“
“Be our-”

“Third Wheel?” The twins asked at first one, then the other, and finally in unison.

“Jeeze, guys. How could I say no to that?” She pulled a hand back to wipe some tears away before attempting to crush the both of them in a hug. “I mean, what even was this?”
“I wanted to go with fireworks too, but Dipper was all like ‘nooo Mabel, that would be too dangerous or whatever. Bluh bluh bluh, I’m Dipper, I wanna see boobie’” Mabel mocked. Dipper just rolled his eyes.

“It took hours just to whittle down the musical selection to two songs. I actually really liked Oho’s ‘I’ll be gone’ but Mabel said the high pitch would bother the local wildlife. But the imagery is pretty good, huh?”

“Alright, alright, don’t hurt something trying to pat yourself on the back, you dorks.” Wendy planted a peck on both of their foreheads, then their lips. “Really though, thanks for coming out here for me guys.” Dipper blushes and looked down at the sidewalk for a moment.

“Well, I mean, it seemed like you were feeling really down and we know you do that thing where you just bottle up all your stress. We’d be pretty crappy lovers if we didn’t reach out. “ Dipper reasoned.

“Well, thank you anyway. What’s the plan to do with this thing now that you got me?” Wendy motioned at the giant big wheel.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. We’ll repaint it and give it to Tyler to use as an official vehicle of office. Everyone knows that small town mayors have to be super quirky. Besides, him and your dad really helped u-“ Mabel’s mouth was covered by Dipper’s hand before she could finish. Though of course she immediately licked his hand and he retracted it.

“So they knew about this whole plan of yours?” Wendy smirked. “I shoulda known. So does that mean they know everything everything?”

“Well, I mean, not like our favorite positions, or the strap-ons or anything, but yeah, pretty much.”

“Oh, jeeze, Mabel.”  Dipper blushed. “B-but yeah, they know about the three of us. I mean, we couldn’t exactly keep that a secret from your family forever.” To Dipper’s great surprise Wendy just burst with laugher, with an arm around her stomach when it started hurting.

“Oh man. That explains so freakin’ much. How long do you think they’ve known?” She wiped her eyes.

“Well-“ Dipper started, pausing for a moment to arrange his thoughts. “-They called us the night you moved back over here. Tyler didn’t outright say it, but he definitely knew; but way before that, like months ago, your brother Mikey came to my work and just sorta hung out for a while. Then he came up to me and gave me a cool looking rock and he left. Looking back on it, I feel that must have meant something.”

“Also, not to be too on the nose or anything, but I just got a text from Tyler. He wanted to know if the three of us are back together. He says he thinks you look happy, Wendy.” Mabel awaited a response so she could text Wendy’s step-dad back.

“You know what? I am. Just seeing you guys makes me all warm and junk. And if you really want me back, I think I’m ready to come home?”

The twins looked to each other for a moment then bowled her over onto the front lawn with an embrace, kissing her all along both sides of her face and neck. Though they were cut off by a faint call from somewhere inside of the house that sounded like “Git ‘er! Git ‘er!”

When the three of them were done giggling, and managed to compose themselves Dipper stood up and kissed both of his girls on the tops of their heads.

“I really hate to go, but I have to get to work in like a half hour.”
“Shit, really? You didn’t get the day off?” Wendy asked.

“I tried, but I could only get the morning off. But Mabel has the rest of the day off, plus I’ll bring home dinner when I get off.”

“You’d better, you dork.” Wendy delivered a gentle punch to the arm. “Do me one favor though.”

“hmm?”
“Make sure you’re wearing that outfit when you come home.” She bit her lip, looking him up and down, which resulted in a full blush from Dipper before he turned and ran down the street to avoid further embarrassment. “Yeah! You shake that ass, Pines!” Mabel and Wendy collapsed into laughter when they heard a faint “Git it!” from the house.

It didn’t take long to pack Wendy’s things back into her van. She honestly hadn’t brought that much with her when she left. Tyler packed lunch for the girls and they were on their way. It’s like nothing had changed at all. When they walked into the apartment however, it struck her. The twins had spent money on buying that ridiculous tricycle, but that must’ve kept them from replacing that broken bed. A quick check of her bedroom confirmed it. There was a mattress on the floor and an idea struck her.

“Hey! Sparklebutt!”
“Mmmmmyees?”

“If big dumb romantic gestures are the name of the game, I have an idea, but we only have like six hours and I can only surprise one of you with it, so I need your help. You up for it?”
“Yes ma’am!” Mabel saluted.

“Cool. Step one, we need to empty out my van. I’m gonna give my dad a call to get some supplies. Gideon still runs a bunch of shops in town, right?”

“Uhh, as far as I know?”
“Including that discount mattress store that looks like a giant red bard in the middle of a strip mall?”
“I haven’t kept tabs, but I think I’m pickin’ up what you’re puttin’ down.”
“Good. I dunno if I can afford one all on my own so I might need some help, but it’ll be worth it.”

“Yello? Wendy! How’re you doin’? Did that thing them two kids were doin’ work out?”
“Hah. So you knew about it too, dad?”

“Mmm.” Dan grunted in response.

“Well, thank you. As a matter of fact it worked out perfectly. And I had an idea for how I could repay the gesture. Do you think you could load up a bunch of wood and bring it over to the twins’ and my place in like an hour?”
“You buildin’ sumthin’?”
“Yup. It’s gonna be a surprise. Long story short they shop at that Danish discount furniture store and now they know better.”
“Particle board ain’t real wood!” Dan howled into the air, much to the dismay of the rest of the grocery store he was in when Wendy had called.

“Totally. So, if you’ve got something nice, maybe oak or hickory or cherry? I want to make a, uh, y’know, a replacement. So I’m gonna need it to be nice and sturdy, cuz, I mean, it wouldn’t be a great gift otherwise.”
“Broke the bed, gonna make a new one. Got it. I’ll bring over ma tools and whatnot.”

“Y-yeah, thanks, dad.”

“M’little girl’s makin’ furniture! I’m so proud. I’m so proud!” The call disconnected after that. Either Dan had chosen a particularly dramatic moment to hang up, or he’d accidentally crushed another phone. Just as well if he had, Wendy didn’t feel like having the rest of the conversation about why they needed a new bed anyway; and buying her dad a new burner phone in exchange for his help would be a nice way to pay him back.

Mabel meanwhile was dropping Gideon a Bookspace message to let him know that she and Wendy were planning on stopping by his place of business. He responded less than ten seconds after she’d sent the message, saying that he’d be there. So naturally they took just a little too long to really doll themselves up and get ready for it. Making him wait to see them just that much longer would be the key to their success. When they did finally saunter through the double doors to the Bed Barn he was pacing back and forth in the back of the store, wearing for all intents and purposes, a giant version of the periwinkle blue suit he’d run around in so much in his youth. Neither Mabel nor Wendy had actually seen him in quite some time, but he was apparently doing fairly well for himself. He looked the spitting image of his father Bud, right down to the overbite. Though his fashion sense was somewhat more ‘gentile’ and he retained the shockingly white and shockingly tall pompadour.

“Well How do! My, my, my, my, my, as I live and breathe. Mabel Pines and Wendy Corduroy. What a surprise it is to see you two here in my humble little ol’ store. What brings you fine ladies into my establishment?” Mabel rolled her eyes and smiled.

“Oh come on, Gids, you knew we were comin’. And as a matter of fact, my uh, lady friend and I, were in the market for a new bed.” They each wrapped an arm around each other and bumped their hips together. “We sorta broke the old one.”

“Oh, oh my.” Gideon extracted a hanky from his pocket to mop his brow before returning it to his pocket. “Well, what size were you ladies looking for?”

“King sized.” Wendy purred, bending down ostensibly to look him in the eye a little closer, but of course her low cut top was doing plenty of talking for her.

“I-I s-see. Yes, well, right this way.”

He brought them over to the show room floor dedicated to the king size mattresses and they made a big show of bending and leaning over to examine the beds. When they found one they liked they both laid on it to try it out, cuddling up with each other. Wendy played the big spoon just then, nibbling on her lover’s ear while she whispered.

“So, how do you think it’s going?”

“He’s just about to crack.” Mabel whisper-giggled back. Wendy sat up and adjusted her shirt, crossing one leg over the other and looked Gideon right in the eye, though it took him a moment to realize that and meet her gaze.

“Uh, hah, s-so y’all like the bed?”

“Mmhmm. We do. It’s really comfy. All soft and supportive at the same time.”

“Oh yeah, it is that.”
“Only, I dunno if we can afford it. It really is the nicest bed we’ve seen, but I suppose we’ll have to just do without. Come on Mabel, dear.”

Gideon shot upright and held his hands up to keep them from leaving.

“Now now, I’m sure we can work something out. I wouldn’t want you to walk away unsatisfied or nothin’. We have a lovely in home financing package?” Mabel sat up, brushed off her skirt and joined pinkies with Wendy to turn and leave. “O-Or we-I’m- I’m sure I could offer y’alls a lil’ ol’ discount, on the house, you know?” The couple stopped and set their hips to the side, Wendy quirked a brow up at him. “Uh Ten Per-Twe-Th-thirty percent is what I meant. Y’all can have it delivered same day even.”  The set of Wendy’s eyebrow told him that wasn’t good enough.
“Well, I can’t just give it away now. You wouldn’t lil’ ol’ me to end up on the street due to my generous nature? Forty?” Wendy and Mabel appeared to consider forty percent for a moment, and of course it was about what they were hoping for, but the sweat on Gideon’s brow told Mabel that there was still some profit left in it for him. She took hold of Wendy and shoved her against a nearby support beam and let her libido guide her hands. She nibbled on Wendy’s elegant neck and squeezed her butt, pressing their bodies closer together. Wendy reciprocated by squeezing her breast, eliciting a moan from her.

“Alright! Alright. I’ll give Y’all half off. Just knock it off before ya gimme another heart attack. Also….”
“Yeeeaaas?” Mabel asked. Wendy whispered into Mabel’s ear when Gideon’s answer wasn’t immediately forthcoming. They simultaneously raised their shirts and held them up for a five count. When they came back down it looked as though he really might have a heart attack, though it didn’t seem to be bothering him too much.

“So, uh, w-will that be cash or charge, ladies?”

With the mattress loaded into the back of Wendy’s van the girls took the opportunity to change into more carpentry friendly clothes before getting back to their place. Mabel changed while Wendy drove, slipping on a pair of denim overalls with sequins and stickers all over them. Wendy took the opportunity at a red light to slip the gear into park, unzip her skirt and shove her legs into some jeans and a button up plaid shirt over her bra. By the time they showed up Dan was already in the front yard with some saw horses, a work table and various other tools strewn about. The grass was already covered in saw dust from the belt sander he’d plugged in to smooth out the lumber. His over-sized pickup truck was packed to the brim with what looked like it could have been half of the good hard wood in his shed.

“Hey dad! Thanks for coming!” Wendy called out from her lowered window as she parked in the space next to his. “You think you can help us get this thing inside?” Dan smiled a gap toothed grin and his eyes seemed to unfocus. He was in his element when he got to put his strength to good use.  Mabel found herself feeling a bit surprised at how professional and put together Wendy’s dad looked when he was all kitted up with his gloves, goggles, tool belt and respirator. And judging by the set up he definitely knew what he was doing.

Once the box was unloaded in the living room Dan whipped out a trusty old tape measure and eyeballed a few measurements. Though Mabel felt a bit concerned when he didn’t write anything down, Wendy placed a reassuring hand on her arm and winked. Before they knew it, the old bed parts that’d been piled in a corner were thrown cathartically out the window and Wendy’s old bed frame and mattress returned to her room. Dan was a blur of activity when he really laid into the wood. The lumber was cut and sanded smooth in moments. He drilled and screwed the various pieces together before Mabel could even figure out how they were supposed to fit. It was her job to run new pieces in to Wendy who was in the bedroom finishing all the attachments. With an hour and a half left before Dipper even got out of work the bed was finished and the mattress was sitting snugly in place.

“Oh my god, Dan, you’re like magic!”

“Thank yuh, Bagel. I like workin’ with mah hands. You treat mah little girl right, so that makes you family. You gimme a call if yuh need anything else, got it?” Mabel nodded, holding back the waterworks while she did her best to wrap her arms around the giant man. He patted her back and turned to Wendy. “Hey darlin’, daddy’s all done here. Gonna leave you to it. I’m real glad you, uh, you gotcher life all smooth an’ nice. You do what makes you happy, cuz that makes daddy happy. I loves yas.” He carefully hugged his daughter as tightly as he could without breaking her, then kissed her forehead and lumbered out of their house to gather up his tools. She tried to hide the emotion in her expression from Mabel until she remembered what that lead to. Wendy turned back so she could be up front with how happy her father accepting her relationship with the twins made her, but having a Pines collide into a person, wrapping arms and legs around them, tends to shift the priorities.

When Dipper pulled his car into his space he couldn’t help but notice that the lawn, sidewalk, and parking spaces were absolutely covered in sawdust.

“Well, if they weren’t up to something after being alone all day I’d be surprised.” He gathered up the brown paper bag filled to the brim with Chinese, the plastic bag filled with Mexican in one arm, and the pizza box in the other. Lo mein taco pizza was a favorite in their house, and he decided the occasion was worth celebrating. After negotiating his way to the door he slipped off his shoes so as not to track anything inside, and left them just inside the door way along with a mismatched pair of Purple and Pink galoshes and to his relief, a muddy old pair of leather boots. He knew that Wendy hadn’t left again since her van was still out front, but seeing that she’d slipped right back into the way they lived still felt uplifting.

“Mabel! Wendy! I brought Diiinnneeeerr!” He called up the stairs as he set the various constituents of the meal in the kitchen. No response came after a few seconds, so he decided to go upstairs to let them know he’d brought food as promised. The door to the master bedroom opened before he could turn the knob himself and Wendy and Mabel burst out to greet him.

“Yay! Dipper’s home!” Mabel cheered. “After dinner we can start round five, but don’t tire him out too much, cuz I wanna squeeze in a six and seven.”
“Seven?” Dipper croaked.

“Hey, we gotta fill up that SD card somehow.” Wendy jerked a thumb to their camera set up on its tripod just inside the bedroom. “Plus, we gotta test this thing out to make sure it doesn’t break. No promises about not breaking you though, cuz I’m still pent up.”
“Seven?”

“Mmhmm, what’dja bring? I’m starving.” She asked as her and Mabel practically skipped down the stairs. “Oh! And surprise! New bed! You’re gonna love it!”

“Seven?” It wasn’t so much the leather chaps and vest that Mabel was wearing. It wasn’t even the 70’s biker hat, mustache and strap on that she had on. Wendy’s pencil skirt, cardigan and horn rimmed glasses didn’t even phase him. Nor did her hair all tied up neat in a bun with a pair of chop sticks holding it all together. The brand new bed was awesome, and the camera was an awesome idea. Hell, he had five more rounds to catch up on in his free time, apparently. But the hockey mask and rainbow afro wig they’d set out for him clearly begged some questions to answer.

He shrugged.

“Oh well, my family’s whole again. Don’t question it. Hey, wait up!” He called as he raced downstairs to join them. There was no way he was going to let Mabel hog all the duck sauce again.