"...Dipper?" The teenage girl appeared not only uncharacteristically subdued as she approached him, but she looked downright nervous. To say the least, it was quite the stark contrast from the boy in question, who was almost coolness incarnate as he calmly flipped his brim and answered back casually.

"Hmm?"

"I...I..." Wendy's cheeks were already shining with an unmistakable blush as struggled to speak, but despite her efforts she was finding herself horrifically tongue-tied. "I just...well, I..."

Suddenly, she dropped to her knees and hurled her arms tightly around him. Dipper didn't even do so much as flinch as she clasped him close and finally found the courage to speak. "Oh Dipper,you were...you were so...so...so brave to take on the monster like that!"

"Oh, what? That ol' thing yesterday?" He just smiled and shrugged faux-coyly at the adoring girl. "It was nothing, really. Just doin' what I had to do."

"Yeah, well ...sometimes, even nothing deserves a reward every now and then..." She giggled, leaning in as she gently puckered her lips...and then gave his cheek a good, long lick.

"Huh!?" he sputtered, as the teenager then started to snort directly into his face. It about then that the cliche-ridden daydream not only ground to a halt, but it came crashing down around him in a spectacular flaming heap. Dipper quickly back to a reality if anything, was worse than his trainwreck of a fantasy; there on the counter stood curious and overly-affectionate swine, who was busilly licking away at his nose and cheeks.

"Oh, gross! Bad pig! Bad pig!" Dipper scolded, tearing away from Waddles. "Bad! No! Ugh, how'd you even get up here anyway?"

The boy wiped his face furiously, while nearby his sister shook uncontrollably from shrilllaughter.

"At least buy him some flowers first! He's not that kinda pig." She managed to tease before another wave of giggles temporarily incapacitated her, delivering another blow to her brother's already badly damaged ego.

"Why don't you find another killer plant to live with us?" He fired back ruefully. The remark however didn't ruffle her in the slightest.

"Nah, I'm good with what I have for now." She declared contently, making sure to give Waddles a loving scratch behind the ears before lifting him up and settling him down onto the floor. "He's not gonna make me a meal anytime soon. And Franny won't, either!"

"Franny?" Dipper repeated, not recognizing the name. Mabel giggled, reached beneath the counter and pulled out her newest creation for her twin to behold; a small fern placed snugly inside a former coffee can-turned flower pot. Considering that they had nearly been mincemeat just twenty-four hours before, he had to admit it was a marked improvement, if not still completely normal thanks to the large pair of googly eyes she had glued to one of its leaves.

"Neat, right?" The adolescent girl beamed proudly. "She won't whine or bite or anything, and I'm gonna put her right up in the attic. Whatcha think?"

"I dunno..." Dipper pretended to look a little disapproving, which momentarily confused her.

"What's wrong? I said that she doesn't bite." She explain.

"No, no it's not that...it's just I think she'd look a lot better...in the Shack Suggestion Box!" He announced as he made his surprise move, snatching it clean out of her hands before pretending to toss it straight into the garbage can. Moments later Mabel was squealing again with laughter as the two became locked in fierce playful battle.

As they horsed about by the register, the great uncle strolled by, jabbing a finger at various paraphernalia while his sulky teenage employee followed in tow.

"...Mark up that also...these jackets could be a couple bucks higher...hey, and didn't I already tell you to take care of these caps yesterday? Wendy, look! Fifteen dollars apiece? What are we, running a charity here?" Stan scolded.

Wendy murmured something darkly under her breath and made a face. However, as soon as the old man glanced behind him she sprang a smidgeon more at attention and added a few more zeros to several nearby price tags.

"That's more like it. Also, you can move the post cards back near the cash register, where that plant was. Eeesh, kind of a shame to see it gone, just when I finally thought I had a brand new exhibit. How did you kids manage to overwater something that big, anyway?"

Not expecting to get called out on their cover-up, the twins looked to one another, and then met the mildly panicked gaze of Wendy. For a few seconds all were silent as statues they silently strove to come up with a remotely suitable response.

"...With a really big watering can." Mabel finally replied with a perky smile. To all their relief, Stan seemed to be satisfied by the almost ludicrously simple answer.

"Yeah, guess that happens sometimes. Shouldn't be getting my boxers in a knot over a whole lot of nothin', anyways. We made out pretty well yesterday, so we should be set for a loooooong time.."

With this he headed out, though not without issuing some final orders. "You guys man things down here, and let me know if any buses rolls in. Got it? Soos, c'mon! Those chicken wings and stuffed squirrels aren't gonna glue themselves together."

"Right away, Mr. Pines!" The portly assistant piped up. His arms were nearly overflowing with a load of several assorted taxidermy animals as he obediently he followed his boss out of sight, though not without taking time to call out, "See ya later, dudes!"

"See ya!" Mabel waved enthusiastically as if they were going off on a monthlong vacation. Wendy meanwhile took her customary place up on the rickety stool behind counter.

"I think we're done gouging for now at least." She joked as she lifted her feet up on the counter and stowed the marker aside.

"Yeah...good one..." Dipper instinctively stammered out with an overly forced chuckle. As she grinned back in reply, the already mildly embarrassed boy cleared his throat and finally asked, "So how you holding up?"

"Hmm?" She grunted, throwing him for a minor loop. Dipper cleared his throat and mentally cursed the fact that he was about as smooth as chunky peanut butter; what he wouldn't give for real life to resemble his terribly scripted fantasies even in the very slightest.

"I mean, after yesterday, when...y'know..."

The teen shrugged, her smile spreading a little wider. "All right. I mean, I'm still here, aren't I?"

"That's...that's true." He murmured the obvious. As he struggled with the awkward small talk as usual, Mabel passed a glance to "Franny" and giggled.

"A bowl of popcorn would go really well with this show." She teased, earning her quick but very dirty look from him.

"You guys have a knack for making things a little more interesting around here. Hey, livens things up though, right? Oooh, and that reminds me..."

"What-" The boy went silent as a statue as the teenager leaned over without warning to give him a very quick one-armed hug. Although it lasted for little more than a moment, to Dipper it was almost an eternity of bliss until she broke it off.

"Almost forgot - thanks for the save yesterday." She said warmly, before leaning over to give Mabel an appreciative high-five.

"Anytime!" The little girl whooped as she eagerly returned the slap.

"...No...n-no problem at...all." Dipper barely managed to mutter, somewhat in a daze.

"Well, I appreciate not becoming anything's breakfast." She then added teasingly, "And on the plus side, no one had to do a Lamby-Dance either."

"And good-bye to my self-esteem for the day." Dipper planted his forehead onto the counter in joking despair as the chortling teen give him an affectionate shove.

"Well, looks likes I've got another action-packed shift as usual." She remarked as she looked around the veritably dead room. "You guys have anything planned for today?"

"Yeah we do! A Pine-Ball match scheduled for this afternoon." Mabel announced excitedly. "Round three of the Mystery Shack playoffs!"

"Pine Ball?" The teen smirked and shook her head. "That's not that weird sport you guys play all the time where you just hit the ball and yell at each other for like an hour, is it?"

"Yes. Yes it is." Dipper answered back unabashedly with a smile, earning him a thumbs-up.

"Awesome."

"Yeah. Wish you weren't stuck in here." He blurted out, earning him a teasing nudge from his twin. Thankfully what tiny shred of dignity had had left remained intact, for the teenage actually became a bit thoughtful upon hearing this.

"Well..." The corners of Wendy's lips slowly curled into a mischievous smirk. "You're right, I do have work..."

She flashed the twins a wink before sauntering over to the door, where she carelessly flipped over the large sign mounted upon the front window.

"What? Uh oh, looks like we closed early for the day!" She exclaimed in mock disappointment, and clapped her hands to the sides of her face. Oh no!"

"Yeah! We're closed now, because...uh..." Eager to get it on the fun, Mabel fished some dirt out of "Franny's" can and sprinkled it onto the floor. "Freak landslide!"

"Darn it, I hate it when those happen!" Dipper joined along with a phony sigh of frustration. "Now how are we gonna manage?"

"I think I know how we can start." Wendy took a moment to fish about until she found a slightly bent golf club. "How about you guys explain some game rules to me?"

"You want in?" Dipper laughed.

"A third player?" Mabel gasped, eyes wide and shining in profound excitement at the thought of it. "Dare we live out the dream?"

"Yeah we are!" Wendy whooped, pumping an arm up in the air. "Three way match! Three way match! Three way match! Three way match!"

She didn't need to do this for long until she had totally the twins, and after fetching the necessary equipment, the little band practically sprinted outside. Less than ten minutes later, the yard of the Mystery Shack was alive with the sounds of playful insults and wild cries as preteens and redhead dashed about, striking hard at the battered beach ball lest it so much as brushed against the ground.

As they played, not too far away in the shade one of the mighty redwoods, two curious little plants looked oddly out of place as they sprouted from the soil. If their unusual appearance's weren't enough to catch anyone's attention though, then the fact that they were actively whispering to one another in unmistakably English syllables was more than enough to make them stand out from the other native flora.

"It would seem our sibling has failed." One of them hissed softly in disappointment. The other however replied by briefly revealing two rows of tiny needle-sharp fangs as it flashed a confident smile.

"Never fear. The fleshy ones have won the for now, but it's just a matter of time. Our numbers may be few, but our day will come. And when it does, the feasting shall commence, and we will feed like none other!"

Its fellow plant beamed happily as images of bloodied and screaming meals floated through its mind. "Yes, only a delay! Today is theirs, but tomorrow...tomorrow, we feed!"

At this the two erupted into peals of shrill, wispy laughter, celebrating the inevitable grisly triumph the future held for them.

"It takes but one feeding for our victory to begin! Cities shall fall! Countries shall crumble! Absolutely none shall be safe from the jaws of...hey, what the?" One of them muttered confusedly as an odd-looking shadow descended upon them.

"What's wrong?" Barely had the question rolled off its sibling's lips when a loud bleat rent the air, signaling the start of lunch. Not concerned in the slightest that its meal had just been talking, the goat casually lowered its head and chomped down hungrily.

"Hey! Hey! Hey, what are you-AUGH! Stop that! Let him go! Shoo! Shoo!" The plant burst into frantic protest as it watched its brother get scooped up in one greedy mouthful. Alas, his protests fell on unforgiving ears. The goat calmly scarfed it all down, ignoring the muffled screams emanating from its mouth as it rested its beady yellow eyes on the horrified survivor.

Once it became clear what was going to be dessert, the plant simply rested its head on top of one of its leaves and just huffed grumpily.

"...Well, nuts."

The End

Many thanks to everyone who read and reviewed! I hope you enjoyed it as much I enjoyed writing this. If you'd like to see any more, drop a line and I'll be happy to try and supply another story or two. Again, thanks a bunch!