Taking Care of Dipper - Parapines

Taking Care of Dipper - Chapter One

Taking Care of Dipper – Chapter 1

Mabel took another bite of her cereal, crunching and humming a tune Norman didn't recognize. He just sighed; the morning seemed to be dragging on slower than usual. He poked his spoon in his cereal, but he didn't really feel hungry.

Mabel suddenly stopped humming, and gasped,

"WHERE'S DIPPER?"

Norman looked up, only just realizing she was right. Dipper wasn't with them. He saw Dipper stirring when him and Mabel had woken up, so why wasn't he downstairs already?

"S-should we go check on him?" he asked, his voice still shaky.

Before he had even finished his quiet words, Mabel was out of her seat and on her way to the attic. He quickly followed her, definitely just as curious as to what Dipper was up to as Mabel.

When he reached the attic door, he heard Mabel gasp again, but he could somehow tell that something was wrong as he lifted it up.

Dipper was still in bed, but sitting up, his eyes closed. Norman rushed up next to him as Dipper sniffled, rubbing his ridiculously-red nose.

He was sick. How had he not noticed this morning? He turned to Mabel, wondering what they should do.

Mabel was quick to play doctor, feeling Dipper's face enthusiastically. Dipper pushed her hand away before sneezing again, this time more violently. She grimaced and said, mostly to herself, that he was going to need some medicine, and stat.

With that, Mabel was running back downstairs again. Norman watched her go, contemplating following her again, but she'd probably be back soon. He wouldn't be of much help anyway, not knowing where anything was.

He hastily sat down next to Dipper,

"Uhh, d-do you need anything, Dipper?" he asked, not sure what to say.

Dipper just pulled the blanket around his shoulders tighter, and shook his head, sniffling again. Norman frowned. Dipper had been sniffling some last night. Why hadn't he realized that? If he was more observant, Dipper would probably be doing so much better already. But, instead, Norman was just sitting there, for no reason, doing absolutely nothing to help because there was nothing he could do.

There was a rustling downstairs, and Mabel came back upstairs, empty-handed.

"Where's the medicine?" Norman asked. Wasn't that why she went down there?

She pouted,

"There isn't any!" she exclaimed, "I mean, there's SOME, but it's all 'old people' stuff and it's all expired anyway!"

Norman glanced over at Dipper, who had started shivering, and had pulled the blanket up again, so now you couldn't see anything but his messy, brown hair. Norman stood up, turning back to Mabel,

"Well, what do we do? Go buy some?"

Mabel grinned,

"Yes! We go buy some!" she replied, and then turned to her brother, "Dipper, you stay here while we run out and—"

"Noooo," Dipper whined, throwing the blanket down, "I'll just….go wif you guys."

Mabel put her hands on her hips and glared at her brother,

"Dippy," she stared him down menacingly, "You are going to stay here and you're gonna like it! Now, get some sleep or something! The store isn't that far away, and we'll be back in no time! Okay?"

Dipper just sneezed again, but Mabel took that as an answer. She grabbed Norman's hand with a smile and led him to the door.

"W-wait!" Norman stopped her. He turned back to Dipper, who was watching them both with what looked like a mix of disdain and sadness. He bit his lip, and unzipped his jacket, taking it off. He walked over, and handed it to Dipper, who just looked at it blankly.

"Take it. Until we get back."

Dipper glanced up at him,

"Why?" he asked coldly, but then he shivered and frowned. He grabbed it, pulling it over his arms. He went to zip it up, but sneezed again, right into his hands. Norman grimaced, but leaned down to zip it for him.

"We'll be back soon, Dipper. Just try to lay down, okay?" he told him gently. Dipper stayed quiet, just tiredly staring at him. Norman hovered for a moment, but then walked back over to Mabel and descended the stairs with her.

"What was that about?" Mabel asked as they walked outside. Norman glanced over at her, but just shrugged in response. He was observant enough to notice Dipper was shivering. And his jacket was made of fleece because it's always so cold in Blithe Hollow. He just assumed it would help.

Mabel just skipped along until they finally reached a street. Norman followed behind her as closely as possible. He knew how to get to the store, so at least he was of some use today, but it didn't really matter if Mabel was leading…

"Norman?"

Norman looked up,

"Huh? What?" he asked, realizing Mabel was looking at him expectantly.

"I SAID, do you think we should get Dipper cold syrup, or should we get him some fever stuff, too?" she asked, giving him the same look again.

Norman blinked,

"Uhh," he started, "W-was he—did he have a fever?"

Mabel frowned,

"Well, I dunno! But his face was hot, so maybe! What if he has something else wrong, but we didn't check?! HE COULD BE DYING, NORMAN!"

Norman pulled on her sleeve, and she stopped and stared at him. Without a word, she took a deep breath, very deep, and put her hands up.

"You're right. Dipper's fine. It's just a cold. So… cold syrup. That works."

And with that, she continued along the sidewalk like nothing had even happened.

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