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It's October 5th.
The clock on the wall is ticking, loud. The hands twist around their axis like the Earth circling around the Sun. Dipper feels the ground shaking, rushing, whipping him around again, and again, and again. One more tick, one more second, one more drop of blood to dry up from the never-ending pool he's sinking into.
It's October 5th. It's just another day, but it feels important to notice each day as it passes, otherwise they'll start to blur together. This year's October 5th would be different from last year's, and from next year's.
(He has no idea how different. In twelve months, Mabel would be as pregnant as a person could be, almost ready to bring three beautiful new stars into the world, and if he thought he knew what joy was before he'd laugh at his dumb idiot past self because the world just released a brand new joy and he couldn't be without it. Mabel would also be deep in the throes of pregnancy madness, grabbing his hair and bashing his head into the table, but that was with his permission anyway and the pain was, ahem, hilarious.)
This October 5th is quiet. Stan is asleep on the rocking chair next to him. He's having a dream, clear as day to Dipper, where he's robbing a bank and also has massive muscles that he's using to rob that bank. The police surround him and he flexes, causing half of them to swoon and pass out. Dipper considers making his biceps explode like in that episode of SpongeJohn CirclePants.
"Hey. Loser."
He looks up. Wendy's flashing him her award-winning smile. She promised she'd keep that thing holstered.
"What?" He's long over her but his voice cracks anyway. 25 is such an awkward age. He wonders if there will be a non-awkward age.
Wendy smirks, as if to tell him no. "We're gonna go scare golfers. You in?"
"We?"
"Yeah!" Mabel's voice rings out. Wendy turns to reveal that she is wearing his twin like a backpack. "Wendy's got her megaphone and she's gonna do live commentary! I've got my grappling hook and I'm gonna swing from the trees like Tarzan! And Henry's going to read the rules really carefully to make sure we don't get arrested!"
Dipper smiles. "Yeah, I'd like that. I'm doing this thing where I'm trying to make every day count, because with this whole immortality thing I don't want them to start rushing by, and then I miss things, yknow?"
The girls just stare at him. Minutes pass, accompanied only by the whistling of the breeze in the eaves of the Mystery Shack. He starts sweating because the last time they acted this oddly they then tackled him and duct taped him to the floor. But then Mabel jumps off Wendy's back. Her face splits into a maniacal smile, and she marches toward him, her feet shaking the Earth beneath her. She smushes her nose up against his and breathes heavily.
"Hey. :)" she whispers. "You need to stop saying stuff like that. :)"
Dipper tries to pull back. "How... are you doing that?"
"If you're spending all your time thinking about making the moment count, then you're not actually out there making the moment count. :)"
It's cold. Dipper wants to shiver, but it seems like that part of his fake body doesn't work. "Huh?"
"Did I tame that wild horse because I wanted to make the moment count? :)" she drawls. "Did I con you into turning it into a zombie because I wanted to make the moment count? :) Did I train it to eat your commemorative Ducktective sweatervests because I wanted to make the moment count and also you broke my Dream Boy High ice sculpture?"
"I knew that wasn't an accident!"
Mabel grabs his face, and his ears fill with the sound of rushing water. He sees the clock hands spinning in her eyes, so fast that it's all they can do not to snap off. It's October 6th. It's October 8th. It's January 42nd. It's. It's.
"Planning on remembering things means you're living in the future and not in the now. :) Help us get rich people mad and do the remembering when it's time. :)"
Dipper blinks, and all is calm. Mabel is back on Wendy's shoulders, looking at him with a puzzled expression. He's seen that look often. They've both got their heads in the clouds but Mabel's clouds still circle the Earth. Dipper's clouds are stretched thin through the folds of time and space, weaved through multiple dimensions that humans can't perceive, and also some of them are alive and it's scary when they growl. Mabel is the best thing in his life but it's not fair to make her do so much work to help him. He could say the thing about wanting to make each moment count, but it's nice to give her the day off.
He stands up shakily, and coughs. "Did you say something?"
"I said you stink even though you've barely been corporeal today and you need to take a shower, but do it after the golf course thing because I think Pacifica's dad is afraid of smells."
"That's what I thought you said." Dipper stretches, feeling as if he just woke up from a long dream. He starts to walk off with them, then thinks twice and snaps his fingers, making Stan's dream muscles burst and deflate. The dream police all think this is very funny. He tells Mabel and she cackles, then launches into a story about this spooky fanfiction she's reading about a demon going to court.
It's October 5th. Nothing of importance is happening. He won't remember this. It's time to move on.