#Pinescon eSecret Santa 2018

[pinesconessecrets]

Mistletoe

Here’s your super duper uber late secret santa gift, Fri Fri! I hope you enjoy. <3

@sci-fri

Usually, it was dead in Wirt’s florist shop when the holidays began to roll around. His shop flourished in the spring and summer, customers coming in and out to browse his wide variety of flowers and other miscellaneous plants. As fall set in, the once steady flow of customers slowed down considerably, leaving Wirt fairly bored and often alone in his shop.

It was Christmas time now. Business picked up again briefly during the month of December and the first week of January. Everyone wanted assortments of holly, poinsettias, Christmas roses, chrysanthemums, and other Christmas themed flowers. Wirt got good at making wreaths very quick. Word of them got around town quick and the first two weeks of December was spent making the darn things.

After that, things really died down and he was bored. Really bored.

He spun around in his chair, leaned back and staring up at the ceiling. There was a week left to Christmas and boy was he bored. His family was supposed to visit him but their flight got messed up and they had to cancel. Wirt put on his happy face and told them it was fine, that he could just visit in January when the crazy holiday season has died down. Greg took it harder than Wirt did since the two brothers only got to see each other a handful of times each year.

The doorbell chimed, signaling that a customer was walking in. Wirt tried not to flail while straightening himself in his chair. He was a professional that totally didn’t spin around in his chair while he was bored. Nope, not at all.

“Hey, Wirt!”

He looked up, blinking in surprise. “Oh hey, Mabel. I didn’t think you would still be in town.”

Mabel made her way through the shop, setting a cup of something warm on the counter. “We were going to fly back to Washington to see our parents, but my lazybutt of a brother couldn’t get out of bed on time and made us miss our flight. Couldn’t afford another ticket so we decided to stay here. Mom and Dad are pretty bummed that we couldn’t make it but hey, it happens. What about you?”

Wirt picked the cup up, taking a tentative sip. Hot chocolate; he should have known. “There was a glitch in the airport’s system so they never actually booked a flight and they couldn’t schedule any flights until January. It’s not the first Christmas I’ve had to spend alone so it’s cool.”

She pursed her lips, her expression scrunching up. That was a look Wirt knew as Mabel’s thinking face. He had a feeling about what would happen next.

“You should come and have Christmas with us!”

Wirt chewed on his lip, thinking it over. Either way, he probably didn’t have a choice considering this was Mabel who was asking him. “Okay. Do you want me to bring anything? Like a pie or a side dish or something.”

“Honestly whatever is good. I think Dipper is going to try to bake a turkey, which means I’ll end up baking it because he should not be let anywhere near the kitchen.”

Wirt laughed into his drink. “That bad?”

“He almost set the microwave on fire, Wirt. The microwave. Do you know how hard it is to even do that?”

“I’ll take your word for it. I had a roommate back in college who burned everything in the microwave. Needless to say, he was quickly banned from going near it shortly after. Didn’t stop him though.”

“Oh man, that sounds exactly like Dipper. He’s hopeless when it comes to any type of kitchen device.” Mabel looked at the time on her phone, then let out an annoyed huff. “I gotta bounce! I swear, everyone would be lost without me at work. See you soon, Wirt!”

“Later, take care.”

Mabel waved at him as she walked through the door, leaving Wirt alone in his shop.

  *****

Wirt sat nervously in his car, fidgeting with his seatbelt. A freshly baked apple pie and a cinnamon butterscotch pie were carefully placed in the backseat, filling the car with their sweet and tempting aroma. He didn’t know why he was so nervous to go to the Pines twins apartment for Christmas. They were his friends; he had no reason to be feeling this nervous.

Okay, maybe he was slightly crushing on Dipper. It was just a little crush, nothing to worry about, right?

Right.

Wirt turned his car off, pocketing the keys before stepping out into the biting cold. He gathered the pies up in his arms carefully, beginning on making his way to the apartment complex. The twins lived up on the top floor and thank god for elevators. He didn’t think he’d be able to go up four flights of stairs, let alone with two pies. Mabel’s spidey sense must have kicked in before Wirt had the chance to knock on the door.

“You made it! Come in!” she beamed, practically pulling him in. “You can put the pies on the counter in the kitchen.”

Wirt yelped and struggled not to drop the dessert. “You didn’t let Dipper in the kitchen, did you?”

“Nope! Chased him out with my trusty wooden spoon anytime he tried to sneak in.”

“You know I can hear you, right? Not cool guys.” Dipper leaned against the wall, dark circles under his eyes.

Wirt hummed innocently, glancing at one of Mabel’s multiple wooden spoons scattered about the kitchen.

“Oh no. No no no. You are not going to do what I think you’re planning,” Dipper scowled.

Mabel leaped at Dipper with wooden spoons in both hands, batting at him gleefully. “I am!”

“Argh, Mabel no! Look I’m leaving!” He quickly retreated from the vicinity of the kitchen, heading back to the living room.

She snickered, brandishing her weapons. “The turkey’s almost done cooking, so feel free to go chill. I’ll hold the fort down.”

“Call me if you need any help.”

“Will do!”

Wirt wandered into the living room, hovering awkwardly in the entryway. Dipper was sprawled out on the couch, one leg propped up on the coffee table as he lazily flipped through the channels on TV.

“You gonna sit down? I don’t bite.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” Wirt shuffled over, sitting down on the opposite end of the couch. He tried to focus on the movie Dipper picked, which was some cheesy Hallmark movie because seriously, what else is there to watch during Christmas.

But his mind kept drifting to Dipper’s presence. Oh, how he hated how his mind loved to kick into overdrive, making him overanalyze everything and anything. Did Dipper even like other guys? Wirt never had the courage to ask, let alone hint at bringing up any talk of it. He had a feeling Mabel must have figured he was harboring a tiny crush on her brother but she never mentioned it.

“… you okay, man? Kinda spaced out there.”

Wirt jumped, coming back to earth. “Y-yeah. It’s been pretty quiet at the shop so I’ve been uh, zoning out a lot. Not much to do since pretty much everyone’s out of town or busy visiting family.”

“Really? Figured everyone  would be lining up to buy some flowers or something.”

“My Christmas wreaths are pretty popular but the demand dies down once it gets close to Christmas. I guess people forget that flowers exist.”

“Lame. Maybe I’ll write a blog post about the importance of visiting your local flower shop. Buy a bouquet of flowers and get a discount on a tattoo. It’s the perfect deal.”

Wirt hoped that Dipper didn’t notice the faint blush rising to his cheeks. “Would people actually take you up on that?”

“Probably. People love their tattoos.”

“It’d be… nice. Thank you,” he mused.

“‘Course. You helped spread the word of my tattoo parlor back when I was first starting out. Kinda surprised me to have a slew of people come in.”

“Never underestimate the power of a mere florist,” he said slyly.

“Mere? Come on, you’re more than that. You’re like the flower whisperer.”

Wirt shook his head, laughing softly. “Flower whisperer? That’s a bit of a stretch. My mom’s the one who has the green thumb. She can bring plants back from the dead in record time.”

“So can you.”

“Not as well as Mom.”

“Shut up and accept my compliments.” Dipper threw one of the multiple pillows littering the couch at Wirt.

He squawked as the pillow hit him smack in the face, flailing around. Wirt chucked the pillow right back at Dipper, who caught it with ease. Dipper gave Wirt a smug grin, tucking the pillow back in its righteous place.

“If you two are done behaving like children, dinner’s ready.” Mabel poked her head into the living room, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the two.

“Says the other child,” Dipper muttered, low enough for only Wirt to catch.

“What was that?”

“Nothing!”

Mabel rolled her eyes, passing a plate to Wirt. Once they all had a plate, they began piling food onto their plates. Wirt didn’t take too much food, knowing if he got anymore he’d end up in some sort of a food coma and would pass out on the couch for a few hours. The kitchen table was covered in a mess of papers and sketchbooks, Dipper’s laptop and numerous coffee cups, so all three opted to sit on the couch to eat. Mabel and Dipper bickered over the remote, Mabel emerging victorious as she changed the channel to something that wasn’t a Hallmark movie. She settled on Home Alone, tucking the remote between her and the armrest.

Wirt ended up sitting between the twins, painfully aware of how close he was sitting to Dipper. It’s cool, act normal. Everything is perfectly fine. Don’t let your eyes wander oh wait is that a new tattoo? he thought to himself. A few sneaky glances confirmed that Dipper indeed get a new tattoo. It looked like a single vine wrapping around his forearm, varying types of flowers here and there. He picked out carnations, chrysanthemums, petunias, and roses. Wirt didn’t take Dipper to be a flower guy, unless…

“Are you done eating? I can take your plate,” Mabel said, already taking Dipper’s empty plate.

“Oh, no. I can get it.”

“Shh. No. You’re company. Give me your plate.”

Knowing better than to argue, Wirt handed her his plate. She nodded with a smug grin and headed off to the kitchen. Soon sounds of her cleaning kitchen reached the living room.

Before Wirt could get up to help her, Dipper shook his head. “She’ll just chase you out. I wouldn’t try.”

Wirt flopped back down on the couch with a sigh, bouncing a leg. Then, his stupid mind betrayed him and he blurted out, “Did you get a new tattoo?”

“Yeah! Mabel’s been wanting to practice and I told her that I’d let her give me one to stop hounding me. She insisted on flowers for some reason.” Dipper held up his arm to give Wirt a closer look.

Wirt scooted closer, adoring the amount of detail Mabel put into the flowers. She captured their beauty perfectly and not a single line was out of place. “Mabel did a wonderful job on these flowers. If I wasn’t so squeamish around needles, I’d love to get a flower tattoo.”

“I wouldn’t mind holding your hand while you’re getting one. I mean, if you’re cool with that and everything. I wouldn’t want to make you feel awkward or anything and oh my gosh I don’t know if you’d be comfortable with that and look here I am rambling again I’m so sorry,” Dipper stammered out, flailing his arms around nervously as he spoke.

Wirt chuckled, unable to stop himself from giving Dipper a slight smile. “I’d be okay with that.”

“Really?”

“Mmhm. When I can work up the courage to get a tattoo, that is.”

“Y-yeah, of course! Have you thought about what kind you want to get?”

“No, not yet. I know a lot of people get ones that have some sort of meaning to them and it’s the way I’d like to go, but I can’t decide on exactly what I want.”

Dipper nodded, leaning back on the couch. “Take your time. It’s definitely not an overnight decision to make.”

The two lapsed into silence, their attention focused on the movie playing on TV. Wirt remembered when Greg first got into the Home Alone movies. He tried to prank Wirt after that, but their mom put a quick end to it when she caught wind of what he was planning.

Out of the corner of Wirt’s eye, he noticed Dipper fidgeting. It looked like he wanted to say something. As he turned his head to speak, Wirt’s phone rang.

Wirt mouthed ‘sorry’ as he got up from the couch, answering the phone on his way to the door. Mabel was too absorbed in washing dishes that she didn’t see him walk by, not even looking up when the door was opened and closed.

The phone call ended up being from Greg, who wanted to check up on Wirt. He seemed pleased to hear that he wasn’t spending Christmas Eve alone, but was still upset that he couldn’t come to visit. Wirt assured him that they’d get to see each other in a few short weeks, and if the airport’s system got messed up again, he’d take some time off from work to drive back home to see Greg. And that was a rock fact. Soon, Greg had to hang up to go to bed since it was starting to get late, making Wirt promise to call him first thing in the morning.

Wirt slipped his phone back into his pants pocket and opened the door, only to be met with Mabel shoving Dipper towards the doorway. He shut the door behind him and raised an eyebrow at the two of them. Mabel simply shrugged before pointing up and hauling ass.

Oh no.

“Why am I not surprised?” Dipper rolled his eyes. “Of course she planned this.”

A mistletoe hung above them, easy to miss if you weren’t looking out for it. Wirt was feeling all sorts of panic now. She must know of Wirt’s crush on Dipper, or maybe it was the other way around? No, it can’t be the other way around because whoever had a crush on him had to be out of their mind.

“Well, this is awkward. I wasn’t planning on telling you that uh, that I liked you. At all really. But guess Mabel had other plans,” Dipper mumbled.

Wirt’s face burned. Dipper had a crush on him? What? Was he dreaming? He definitely was dreaming. This can’t be happening.

“I like you too.”

Why did I say that? Wirt screamed internally. No no no no no. Abort mission.

Dipper perked up. “You do?”

“Y-yeah. I hope that’s okay?”

“Course, man. God, this is going to sound so lame but I’ve had a crush on you ever since Mabel dragged me into your flower shop like a year ago.”

“Just kiss already, you dorks!” Mabel yelled at them from somewhere inside the apartment.

“Are you okay with…?” Dipper started to ask, his voice trailing off.

Wirt bit his lip but nodded. “Mmhm. Best to y-you know, before Mabel comes in here and shoves our heads together.”

He laughed, stepping closer. Wirt felt his heart thudding in his chest as Dipper grew closer, his cheeks turning redder when Dipper tucked his fingers under Wirt’s chin to tilt his head up. He let his eyes flutter shut, his breath catching in the back of his throat as Dipper’s lips softly brushed over his own. It was a small kiss but had the promise of more in the future to come.

“Took you dorks long enough. You’d still be pining over each other if it wasn’t for me.” Mabel appeared a few feet away from them, smirking triumphantly.

Dipper jumped away from Wirt, both of them equally embarrassed. “Mabel! Personal space!”

“You’re in the hallway. Not really personal space, is it?”

“Oh my god. You’re impossible. Go away.”

Mabel cackled and walked away.

Dipper dropped his head onto Wirt’s shoulder. “She’s going to drive me insane one of these days.”

“Thought she already was.”

“Haha, very funny. We should probably go join her in the living room before she comes back. But first…” Dipper kissed Wirt again with more confidence. Wirt let out a squeak of surprise, causing Dipper to laugh against his lips. “I think I could get used to hearing more of whatever that noise was.”

“Oh my gosh. No. It’s embarrassing.”

“It’s cute.”

“Just shut up and kiss me again.”