AN: This is a day later than I planned it to be, but here it is. It's just a little Fourth of July Dipcifica story I did as a request for someone. Happy late Independence Day to anyone from the United States who is reading this.

Title from 'Fourth of July' by Fall Out Boy.

DISCLAIMER: I do not condone smoking, especially if it is done by someone who is underage.

Dipper Pines wasn't like a lot of other boys. He was attractive, but he didn't know it. He didn't flaunt it. He had brains in his head, but he wasn't a complete know-it-all. Despite his nerdiness, he was still capable in the real world. He also managed to treat girls with respect without acting like they were dumb little lambs. Rather than rushing in to save the day for you, he'd help you do it for yourself. He didn't impose his masculinity on the situation when that lumberjack was haunting her parents' mansion. He didn't tell her to 'let the man take care of it.' He asked her what she thought, what she knew, what she saw. He looked to her as he was being turned to wood, not with a despondent expression of 'all hope is lost now that I'm out of the picture,' but rather a hopeful expression of 'you can still do something about this.' He was one of the first people to treat her not like a trained little Northwest, not like a stuck-up brat, not like a useless dumb blonde, but like an individual with a brain and a personality of her own. Stomping mud into her parents' favorite carpet had sort of sealed the deal.

Pacifica Northwest was something of an enigma, even though she had all the wrappings of being a straightforward case. She lived in a mansion outside the main area of town, but still went to public high school and attended a party in the basement of the Mystery Shack. Her parents didn't treat her very well to an extent Dipper wasn't sure of, but she still held her head high and looked at the world like something she could conquer. She acted like a snob sometimes, but he'd seen her let loose on occasion. The result was someone who was very fun to be around. She'd grown up in a refined, cushioned atmosphere, yet she successfully fought for her own survival during Weirdmageddon. She was a little impressive. There were so many layers to her, and the mystery held an appeal that only made Dipper want to get closer to her.

July 3rd, 2016

Dipper Pines was laying on the couch with his legs dangling over one of the arms. Mabel was sitting on the other end of the couch, and they were the only inhabitants of the Mystery Shack who were home. While Dipper was busy emailing different scholarship applications in on his laptop, Mabel was scrolling social media on her phone. She had been trying to tell him to back off on the application thing since they had so much time before it was due, but it had been pointless to try.

A ping distracted Dipper from what he was doing. He checked the time and decided he may as well take a brief break upon seeing that he'd been working for a solid few hours. Picking up his cell phone, he saw that he had a new text message from Pacifica. The thought of her texting him made him blush, and he quickly opened it to see what she'd sent him.

I'm inviting you to a fireworks show tomorrow night. As far as I know you don't have any plans. If you can't make it, that's okay. I'd like for you to come, though. If you can, I'll come by to pick you up at 20:00 tomorrow.

The polite tone of the message was a little surprising, but it made a small smile spread across Dipper's face. It would be nice – maybe even exciting – to spend time with her watching fireworks. Plus, he wouldn't have to worry about awkward lulls in conversation since they would have the perfect distraction right over their heads.

"What'cha looking at?" Mabel asked, bending over his head so they were face-to-face.

Dipper felt his face flush at 'being caught.' Mabel's face split into a grin.

"Did you get a text from a girl?" she teased.

Dipper tried to school his features, but it must not have worked.

"I bet it's Pacifica!"

"What? Why would you think it was her?" he asked nervously.

"Oh, come on, I can see right through you," Mabel declared with her grin still firmly in place. "So, what did she say?"

Accepting his defeat, Dipper sighed and held his phone out to Mabel so she could read the text. "I'm thinking about saying yes," he admitted once he knew she was done reading.

"Do it!" Mabel encouraged. "I am here for you on this 100%."

Pacifica Northwest stared anxiously down at her phone screen. It had already been 2 minutes and 45 seconds since she had sent that text to Dipper, and he hadn't started typing a response, yet. She wasn't sure what exactly that meant. How long did it normally take for him to reply to a text? She had no way of knowing. They hadn't really texted each other before. They'd exchanged numbers when they were twelve after her parents brought him to the mansion to take care of the angry spirit, but they'd never used them.

She really hoped Dipper said yes. She'd been wanting to get closer to him for a while without knowing how, and it seemed like this would be a good opportunity. Fireworks created a great atmosphere for almost anything. They were just so thrilling. She had an idea for the big finale that would certainly top any fireworks show Dipper had ever seen. She would just need a few more materials. They would be easy enough to come by since she had plenty of cash.

Taking a puff off her cigarette to calm her nerves a little, she forced herself to look at her laptop screen where she had Friends playing on Netflix. That should distract her easily enough.

No sooner had she set her phone down on her bed than she heard it chime to alert her of a new text. With anxious excitement, she unlocked the screen with her thumbprint and read the new message.

Sounds like fun. I'll be ready at 8 tomorrow night. See you then.

He said yes! Now she just had to figure out which dress to wear… or maybe she should go shopping for a new one.

July 4th, 2016

Dipper sat on the living room couch jogging his leg up and down. He was dressed in his navy-blue suit with a dark red tie. He felt a little overdressed, but it helped that he'd left his jacket open. He thought about ditching the tie, but he felt like he was obligated to keep it on since he'd needed Mabel to help him tie it. The jacket could probably stay home.

Before he could make a real decision about the jacket, there was a knock on the front door. He abandoned his thoughts about what he was wearing in favor of focusing on the moment enough to avoid screwing up with Pacifica.

Pacifica smiled a little at Dipper when he opened the door for her. The awed expression on his face made her own break out into a real smile. It seemed she'd been right to think she didn't need to buy a fancy new dress to impress the younger Pines twin. She'd worn her dark red party gown with the diamonds around the waist. It pleased her to notice that it matched Dipper's tie almost perfectly.

Instead of saying anything, she nodded her head toward her car and started walking towards it, expecting Dipper to follow. When she was in the driver's seat, she saw Dipper staring at her car. It was a pink Lamborghini that she'd just had waxed, so she knew it practically glowed in the moonlight. The boy seemed impressed. The night wasn't getting any younger, though, so she rolled down her window and said, "Get in loser, we're going to shoot fireworks."

The phrasing broke Dipper out of his trance and he chuckled a little before climbing into the passenger seat. "This is a nice car," he commented as they pulled out of the driveway. "I haven't seen it before."

"I got it for my birthday this year," Pacifica explained as she lit a cigarette with a cheap BIC lighter. Dipper found it a little ironic when it was juxtaposed with the fancy cigarette holder she could almost always be seen with. "Honestly, I would have preferred a less cliché color than pink, but Mother was insistent that it was the best choice for a teenage girl," she added with an eye-roll.

"Pink isn't that cliché," Dipper disputed. "Cliché would be red or black."

"If you say so," Pacifica said noncommittally. "We're here, by the way."

"The high school football field?" Dipper questioned. "We're doing it here?"

"My parents didn't want us to disturb their party guests," Pacifica explained. "I'm just glad they didn't make me attend the party myself year. It's always too stuffy – and that's coming from me."

"Wait, so it's just the two us?" Dipper asked in surprise. For some reason, he had expected there to be… adults… and a crowd…

"Yeah, I thought it would be more romantic this way. Is that okay?"

Dipper blushed a little. "That's fine," he told her quickly.

"Good," Pacifica said, looking just a little relieved. "Help me carry the stuff out of the back."

He followed her around to the driver's side of the backseat and took the crate she handed him. It was filled to the brim with fireworks of all kinds, some of which he'd never seen the likes of. She carried another box herself and then led him to center field where they placed the boxes on the grass.

"We'll start off small," Pacifica stated as she pulled out a box of 10 sparklers. She got two of them out and handed one to him.

Pacifica positioned herself next to Dipper and told him to keep his hand still. Rather than pull out her lighter again like he'd expected, she brought her cigarette down and pressed it to the end of his sparkler until it was ignited. He watched with wide, impressed eyes as she did the same to her own sparkler. Why is that so cool? he thought.

It took a while for them to go through all of the sparklers, and Dipper spent the time getting comfortable in the situation. It wasn't quite what he was expecting, but he found he was grateful for that. There was somehow less pressure this way. If he screwed up, there would only be one witness. It also evened the playing field a little. Because of their opposing social standings in Gravity Falls amongst certain crowds, he probably would have been more worried about judgment from the surrounding people. This somehow gave him more room to be himself around the girl, and he hoped she would feel free to be herself as well. He understood, to an extent, that she was expected to behave in a certain way and normally followed through. There were no such expectations between the two of them… he hoped.

"We're doing Roman Candles next," Pacifica announced once they'd burned out all of the sparklers. "There are only six of them, so they should go more quickly. They should go off ten times each, so make sure you keep count. We'll do them together."

Dipper smiled to himself at Pacifica being her usual bossy self. He was more than okay with letting her take the lead in this. All the same… "Isn't is supposed to be dangerous to hold them while they go off?" he asked her cautiously.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Aren't cigarettes supposed to be bad for you?" she returned offhandedly. "Relax, we'll be fine. As long as you hold the correct end and don't point it at anyone, there's no real risk."

"I guess I'll take your word for it," Dipper reluctantly agreed, waiting for her to light the end of the explosive he was holding.

"Smart boy," Pacifica teased him as she lit her own.

Dipper's fired a few seconds before Pacifica's did, and he realized immediately that it had been the better choice to hold it. He liked the slight kickback from it, and there was something exhilarating about holding something in your hand as it shot color into the night sky. It was almost like being a wizard in the Harry Potter books, though he would never admit that out loud on a date with Pacifica. Or at least he hoped it was a date.

The amazed smile on Dipper's face brought an indulgent one to Pacifica's. She thought for sure he would have done this sort of thing before, considering who his sister and one of his great uncles were. Then again, maybe neither of them had been able to convince him to keep hold of anything beyond a sparkler. It was a little thrilling to show something new to Dipper like this. She almost felt proud of herself for it. She was also happy to indulge herself with watching the joy on his face. She'd give anything to be able to see him like that all the time.

An idea struck her. She pulled her cell phone out the hidden pocket in her dress. "Selfie," she told him, leaning in close and holding the phone out in front of them. She promised herself she wouldn't take any more for the rest of the night. She didn't want to detract from the moment by trying too hard to document it. Dipper went along with her, his facial expression barely changing as he got into the frame and waiting for the lens to capture their image. "You look good," Pacifica commented once the photo was saved to her phone. She was pleased to noticed Dipper's cheeks turning red.

"You, too." The words earned him a smile.

What followed was a series of colorful explosions that ranged from beautiful and breathtaking to dangerous and terrifying. The fountain fireworks nearly set the field on fire before Pacifica stomped out the sparks. Even so, they were a little awe-inspiring. The rockets didn't pose much danger and were probably Dipper's favorite. It was easy to lose himself to the display as Pacifica did all of the lighting. The noise didn't even bother him like it usually did.

After Pacifica finished off the cigarette she was currently on, she flicked it away from her without much care for where it landed. She should have cared. She heard Dipper make an alarmed noise and turned to see him staring at the crate of fireworks that had been left untouched up to this point. Her cigarette had landed in the middle of it, and it wasn't as extinguished as she'd thought. There was little they could do but duck for cover as the whole crateful ignited and fireworks went off in every direction. For what could have been hours or minutes, they kept their heads low as BANG followed POP followed sizzle and another BANG.

When it was over, they stood up and looked at each other before bursting out in nervous but ecstatic laughter, ignoring the small corner on the roof of the field house that was on fire.

"Well, let's never do that again," Dipper said, a grin on his face.

"But it was so much fun," Pacifica protested, eyeing the remaining fireworks.

"Maybe next year," Dipper compromised. "What's next?"

Just when Dipper thought Pacifica couldn't surprise him more, her hand went into her pocket and came out, not with another cigarette, but with a huge cigar It was one of the thickest ones he'd ever seen. It had to have been ridiculously expensive. The holder had apparently been put away. Frozen, Dipper could only stare with his mouth open as the cigar was lit. Somehow, this was more amazing to him than the cigarette holder had ever been. His feet glued to the ground and his eyes glued to her, he grew even more impressed when she held up a small tube to the end of her cigar until it ignited and then casually tossed it to the ground.

"Ground spinner," she stated, as if he'd been wondering what the spinning ball of flame was, as if that was where his focus was. It took two more 'ground spinners' before he was in control of himself again.

Pacifica had to admit she was pleased with Dipper's reaction to the most recent turn of events. She'd never truly managed to render the brunette speechless before, and she hoped she'd be able to do it again. Something told her she might with what was coming soon.

Dipper found a new favorite with the firework cake Pacifica brought out. There seemed to be no end to the beautiful display above their heads, shower after shower of sparks shooting into the air and blossoming out from each other into the night before dissipating and being replaced in a continuous cycle. It seemed to last forever, until abruptly it was over. Fireworks had a strange effect on time.

"I need to go get the last part of the show," she told him. "Hold this for me and close your eyes."

She stuck her cigar into his mouth and he was suddenly inhaling the smoke from it. He yanked the cigar out of his mouth and doubled over coughing, vision blurring as his eyes watered. By the time he had control of his lungs and his eyes had stopped watering, Pacifica had disappeared. Remembering what she'd said, he kept a careful hold on the cigar and closed his eyes.

A loud squeaking noise reached his ears. It sounded a little like metal on metal, and he wasn't sure what to make of it. He couldn't come up with any firework-related thing that would make that noise.

When the noise stopped, Pacifica finally told him, "Open your eyes.

Dipper did as he was told and felt his eyes widen. There was a canon in front of him. It looked big enough to fit a fully-grown man inside. The barrel was solid black up to the opening in the end where it faded to red. It rested on two large red wheels with a chain attached to the axle. A long fuse stuck out of the back end of it.

"What do you think?" Pacifica asked him with a smirk on her face. "Impressive, isn't it?"

"You could say that," Dipper agreed. "Whatever you plan to shoot out of that must be pretty huge. This was definitely a good choice for the grand finale."

"You're absolutely right," Pacifica confirmed as she took her cigar back from him. She took a puff from it before telling him, "You're going inside."

"What?" Dipper asked dumbly.

"You're the one who's going to climb in here, and you're going to be the next thing to be fired into the sky," Pacifica explained with a smile. "Trust me, it'll be great."

On another night, Dipper might not have agreed. He was almost riding a high from all the literal sparks that had flown that night, and as he looked at Pacifica in front of him with that cigar hanging out of her mouth, he felt even more inclined to go along with whatever she had planned. Everything had worked out spectacularly so far. "Alright, I'm game," he finally decided.

"I knew you'd agree," Pacifica said triumphantly. "Let's get you inside." They pulled over an empty crate and set it on the ground at the opening of the canon. Dipper climbed in with little difficulty and got settled with his head and shoulder sticking out of the opening.

Despite her earlier promise to herself, Pacifica knew this was an opportunity she couldn't possibly pass up. She took her phone back out and opened her camera app, holding it out in front of them to take a selfie.

Mabel was playing Mario Kart on the couch, trying to get another character unlocked, when her phone went off. Hoping it might be Dipper giving her an update on his date with Pacifica, she paused her game and opened up her messages. It was an image from Pacifica. It showed Dipper in a freaking canon while Pacifica stood behind him, a wink on her face and a cigar in her mouth. Don't wait up for us, she'd captioned it. Holy crap, Mabel thought, staring down at her phone.

"I put a few small explosives in the base of the canon to help you on your way," Pacifica said as she moved back to where the fuse was.

"Wait, what?" Dipper questioned nervously.

"It's all fine," Pacifica said nonchalantly. "If it makes you that nervous, though, we don't have to do this."

"No, I'm already in here. I may as well go. Besides, everything else has been really great tonight. I've had a lot of fun with you. I have no reason to believe you'd steer me wrong now."

"I'm glad you had a good night," Pacifica said. "I have, too. I really do know what I'm doing here," she added.

"You don't have to convince me, now. I've agreed, you know."

"I know, and I'm grateful. I wasn't sure you would," she admitted. "Are you read, now?"

"As I'll ever be," Dipper replied.

"Here you go!"

She held the lit end of her cigar to the end of the fuse and watched as it slowly burned down. Dipper focused on looking ahead so that he didn't break his neck when he was expelled from the canon. He occupied himself with looking at the stars above and picking out the Big Dipper. He barely felt it when he started moving towards it.

Pacifica covered her ears to avoid going deaf when the canon discharged, making a huge bang and rolling backward a few feet with the recoil. She watched from the ground as Dipper steadily shrank and then vanished into the night with a twinkle.

Once Dipper had disappeared, she quickly kicked off her shoes and climbed into the canon. Wasting no time, she stretched behind her to light a second fuse before extinguishing her cigar on the side of the canon and dropping it onto the grass next to her heels. In no time at all, she was chasing after Dipper into the night sky.

If you were in Gravity Falls, Oregon that night and looked up at the sky above the high school football field, you would see an unfamiliar constellation. It was shaped like a boy and a girl. The girl was wearing a dress while the boy had donned a suit and tie. The stars around them almost looked like fireworks. The two figures smiled at each other.

July 5, 2016 – 5:05 AM

Dipper and Pacifica woke up lying next to each other on the football field. They were both covered in soot but felt no different than if they'd gotten a good night's rest. In the grass surrounding them were a crate, a pair of high heels, a spent cigar, and a huge canon.

"Crazy night, huh?" Pacifica asked as she slowly got to her feet.

Dipper followed her, stretching his arms above his head. "Yeah, a little bit," he agreed. They dusted themselves off and gathered everything up off the field.

"I'll give you a ride back home," Pacifica said as she led the way back to her car.

It was a short ride back to the Mystery Shack. When the car stopped right out front, Dipper looked at Pacifica with a question on his face. "Was there something supernatural about that canon?" he asked her. "I mean, there had to have been for it to do that, right? Ordinary canons don't just shoot you into space and turn you int a constellation for the rest of the night."

Pacifica winked at him. "I'd be happy to test your theory sometime," she told him before leaning over to his side of the car. She planted a kiss on his cheek, putting a blush and a smile on his face. "You should call me whenever you're available so we can work on it," she said.

"Sure," Dipper agreed before walking back into the house. The smile didn't leave his face for the rest of the day.