Mermabel

Mermabel is the het ship between Mabel Pines and Mermando from the Gravity Falls fandom.

Season 1
In "The Deep End", Mabel meets a cute guy at the town's public pool on the hottest day that summer. Mabel crushed on him the instant she saw him and Soos tells her that he is never seen leaving the pool. Thinking that the guy is some "mysterious loner", Soos works up Mabel's confidence to try and talk to him, but she continues to crash into objects and people at the pool, embarrassing herself. Once she finally gets to introduce herself to the guy, he found her similarly charming. Mabel asks him out on a date, but he at first declines, citing some "terrible secret". Though Mabel is disappointed at first, she wants to find out what he meant by that.

Attempting to talk to Mermando again by giving him a sandwich, Mermando reveals his name and that he is actually a merman, trapped in the pool. Mermando tells Mabel his life story of how he ended up in Gravity Falls; he was caught in a fishing net while playing with his dolphin friends, then brought to Oregon where he tried to escape back into the ocean through Lake Gravity Falls and was sucked into the pool by a pipe through a series of misfortunes. Mermando suspects that Mabel would be freaked out by his merman nature, but she doesn't mind at all. They bond by playing a game of Marco Polo.

Despite the consequences, Mabel plans to sneak into the pool at night. Using the Mystery Shack's golf cart, she drives up to the pool and climbs over the fence. Having brought a scrapbook of "human activities", Mabel hopes to cheer Mermando up. She fails, as he can only think of the family that he had to abandon. Mabel asks him why didn't try to leave, he tells her that he tried once, never again. Mermando says that he's glad to have met Mabel and Mabel tries to lean in for a kiss, only for Mermando to ask what she's doing. She plays it off as having sour candy in her mouth and denies giving Mermando some. The next day, Mabel tries to play ball with Mermando, but he is still thinking about how much he misses his family. Saddened by seeing him in such a state, Mabel hatches a plan of helping him escape. She tells him that she will get him out by putting him into the golf cart's cooler. However, she catches Dipper's suspicion, who soon follows her. Speeding through the forest, Mabel in a golf cart, Dipper in the "pool mobile", Dipper thinks that Mabel was trying to steal the cooler, but Mabel introduces Mermando to Dipper and says that he will die if he doesn't get any water. Dipper agrees to give him "Reverse CPR" by blowing water into Mermando's mouth, Mabel's concern fades and she takes a picture of Dipper lip-locking with Mermando. Mermando points out that Dipper could've easily just rolled him into the lake, to Dipper's embarrassment.

Mabel wanted to give Mermando the pool megaphone, but Dipper denied it, saying it's property of the pool. Mabel then convinces him by saying that she would do anything to help Mermando, even if their relationship doesn't work out. Dipper then lets Mabel take the megaphone, reminded of his own relationship with Wendy. Mermando and Mabel say their goodbyes to each other, with him saying that he has never met anyone like her and Mabel returns the compliment (with a few "asides"). Mermando kisses Mabel in front of Dipper, who watches horrified, and Mabel is ecstatic about her first kiss and then teases Dipper that his first kiss was with Mermando as well. But before Mermando departs, Mabel and Mermando make a reference to the "Free Willy" poster, by having Mermando jump over her while she pumps her fist in the air, yelling "YES!".

Back at the pool, Mabel is happy about the many bottled messages Mermando sent her.

Season 2
In "Sock Opera", Mabel mentions that she was just getting over Mermando after meeting with her latest crush, the puppet player Gabe.

In "Society of the Blind Eye", Mabel mentions that Mermando send her another bottled message, telling her that he was arranged to marry the Queen of the Manatees, which he isn't too happy about.

In "The Love God", Mermando appears in a vision as one of Mabel's crushes as she was hit by a love potion bomb.

Fanon
Mermabel was a fairly popular ship within the Gravity Falls fandom during season 1, largely because Mermando seems to be the first (and to this day, only) male love interest for Mabel who is actually a nice guy and genuinely loves her. Though the pairing has fallen in popularity since season 2 introduced a bit more shipping fuel for Mabel, Mermando continues to be a somewhat well-liked character and possibly the most popular crush for Mabel. It is difficult to tell how popular the ship is on AO3, but Mermando is almost exclusively shipped with Mabel in fanfic.

Fandom
FAN FICTION