MISSING LINK

Chapter 6

"Tiger shirt... Panther shirt. Tiger shirt... Panther shirt."

Any other day, M/n would be annoyed at hearing the indecisive muttering from the customers inside the Mystery Shack. However, right now, his mind was preoccupied. He sat behind the counter, phone in hand, mindlessly scrolling.

"First your heart... Then your man..." He mumbled, recalling the dialogue from a clip he had seen the night before.

Unbeknownst to him, a certain brown-haired girl had come looking for him. She took note of how out of touch with reality M/n seemed as he sat behind the register. She grinned to herself and quietly made her way over to him.

When she got closer, she could hear his subtle hums. Her grin grew wider and wider until she decided it was time to speak up. "M/N!"

In that instant, M/n jumped, his phone falling out of his hand. He was instantly snapped back to reality. He noticed the concerned stares from the shop's patrons before turning his head to the source of the shout. Standing there was Mabel. She had a grin on her face, amused by the scene that had unfolded in front of her.

M/n put his hand over his chest, letting out a sigh. "God, you scared me."

Now that she had his attention, Mabel put her hands on her hips. "So? How was your date with my brother yesterday?"

Unconsciously, he smiled. "He certainly wouldn't call it a date, but it was fun."

"Yeah?" Mabel said, curious to know what happened.

"We took a walk around the forest, and he showed me these little flying creatures. I forget their name, but they were pretty and about the size of a paperclip."

Mabel squealed, happy that the two had a good time together. Just as she was about to ask for more details, she remembered what she had originally come to ask.

"By the way, I wanted to ask you something."

M/n arched an eyebrow. "What is it?"

Mabel pulled up another chair and sat down, laying her notebook on the counter. She placed the feather end of her pen against her chin and turned to M/n. "What's your advice on boys?"

"Advice?"

Mabel nodded. "See, there's going to be this party in two weeks. Candy and Grenda are going too, but they've already got dates. I kinda felt left behind so I thought that I should try and get my own date."

M/n sat in silence for a second. He thought about all the qualities Mabel had and began listing them out as they popped into his head. "Well, you're a really friendly person."

"Mm-hm," Mabel hummed.

"You're lovable."

"Uh-huh."

"And you're incredibly fun to be around."

"Yup! So, what should I do?" she asked, excitedly opening up her notebook.

She was ready to jot down any advice she was going to be given. But M/n simply shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know what to say.

"I don't know if I'll be much help with this," the (h/c)-ette said with a sheepish smile. "Isn't there anyone better you could ask?"

"Anything's better than Dipper's advice. I mean, you've seen how much of a mess he can be, right?"

M/n let out an airy laugh at her words. "Well... I guess... Don't try too hard?"

Mabel tapped her pen against her chin, squinting her eyes. "Elaborate."

M/n sat up in his chair and turned to properly face her. "You can't come off too hard or else you seem pushy or annoying."