T W I S T E D

Dipper Pines

That's the name.

A name not so little known around the town of Gravity Falls, Oregon.

The self-proclaimed 'supernatural investigator' around town, though aside from that an outcast, was usually found...avoiding his real job. At a stupid tourist attraction. With his great-uncle. The only bit of his family he ever knew, was a scamming, greedy, ill-tempered, sorta chubby, kind old man. He had been taken in by this man, apparently the only one with a big enough heart to take a child off the hands of a hospital, the mother who died giving birth, to twins, might I add. Where's the other one, you ask? Simply another tragedy. A stillborn child. The father, consumed by grief, had committed suicide. This simple, shy, anti-social 12 year old boy, was the only surviving member out of the three in his family. At least, that was what he'd always been told. Something about how he should respect his family and how they brought him into this world, and that they're looking down from there. Apparently. Most of the time, he sure didn't feel it. If they really cared about him, they'd stop the bullying. If they really cared about him, they wouldn't have left him to some old grandpa in a hick town with no kids his age to talk to. If they really cared about him, they wouldn't have left him alone in this big world. This big world full of only hurt. Where no one had time for him or really even cared. His nickname was 'Lost Boy' and man, had that stuck. Because he sure was lost. He had been, since the day he was left behind. And the anniversary of that day happened to be tomorrow. The last day of summer. His birthday. As usual, he had no friends to invite. Well, aside from one. The other two girls his age always looked at him weird, though they were weird themselves... One sounded kind of like a guy, and the other had a very high pitched voice. Both were regular preteen girls that obsessed over gross girl stuff he didn't care about. They only ever came for the summer anyway. He had a single friend in this barren town, and that was surprisingly a spoiled little rich girl. Pacifica Northwest. He'd actually gotten to know the female over the current summer, and when he went to the party there to get rid of some vengeful spirit, it almost went wrong and they all got turned to wood. Don't ask. Pacifica had saved the day and he'd realized she really just didn't want to be the way she was. Sometimes he may or may not help her escape her old creepy mansion out into town, she took interest in what he liked and didn't pity him like everyone else did. It was nice. They had fought off other supernatural creatures together since then and found a lot of fun in it. His life had brightened a little for once. Oh, and about the supernatural. Gravity Falls, as he had learned, from a couple of weird books his great-uncle kept in the attic, was essentially a "weirdness magnet" of sorts, and a bunch of weird creatures and ghosts and stuff liked it there. And he'd been here his whole life, he liked to call himself an expert on a lot of the creatures living in the woods surrounding Gravity Falls. Of course, even that sometimes wasn't enough to stop... bullies.

Yeah, back to the present. Dipper sat curled up down one alleyway in town, trying to make out whether the voices he heard were fading or getting closer. He held a shaking hand over a black eye he'd already gained, honestly at this point he hoped they'd just beat him so hard he wouldn't have to talk about or celebrate his birthday, not if he's in the hospital anyway. Whichever was it went, he'd be pitied and people would just give him sympathy gifts or simply shake their heads. Both of those annoyed him extremely. His arm twitched, and he got up, keeping his back against the stone wall and sliding down, hearing footsteps and breaking out into a run. He had to make a run for the woods or the Mystery Shack, at least there he could lose them. His dirty sneakers slipped in puddles of rain from the previous night but he just kept on running, breaking out into the street and trying to speed up as he heard yelling behind him. His head throbbed with pain not just from his swelling eye. It was hard to focus, but he was almost there. Just a few more steps and-

Whack.

Dipper immediately toppled forward onto his face, trying to clear his vision and get his ears to stop ringing, barely grasping the realization of what had just happened.

Holy shit. They threw a rock.

He came to that realization at last, but he could barely move now, he was stunned for sure and could feel warm blood dripping down the back of his neck. Soon enough that became a weight on his back, likely a foot, and a yank on the collar of his sweater, pulling him to his shaking legs as he just squeezed his eyes shut, hoping the first hit would at least just knock him out.

"Robbie! Bug off." Dipper blinked his one eye open, as the other couldn't open more than a slit, and practically crumpled to the ground again as he was released, not really wanting or able to move. He could see Robbie walking over to a blonde, who held out a few bills. The rather emo-looking teen snatched them and sneered before walking off, spitting some cliche line like "I'll be back for more next time" or whatever. He already knew who the blonde was by the time she made it over, pulling his one arm with a slight grunt. "...Come on, Dipper. I know you're not passed out." She muttered, giving him some support as he got to his feet again.

"Th...thanks, Pacifica." Dipper wheezed, dragging one foot in front of the other. "You really...shouldn't just throw your money around like that... Though...god forbid he uses some of that on a bit of acne cream." He joked.

"Well, I have money to throw around, and if I choose to use it to save your sorry ass with, then that's what I'm gonna do." Pacifica answered, trudging with him all the way back to the Mystery Shack. She let him in first, staring at the back of his head. "Shit, you're bleeding." At that, Dipper's great-uncle Stanley walked by, done with tours at the attraction part of the Shack for that day.

"Language!" He warned, walking over and sharing a high-five with Pacifica before looking over at Dipper. "Dear fucking lord. What is it this time? Rabid wildebeests?" He observed.

"Bullies." Pacifica and Dipper said in unison, then shared a glance with a small 'pfft'. Dipper leaned against the wall, stumbling over to the nearest bathroom to clean up. After a bit he was back out, having taken off the sweater, which might have been green at some point, now slicked with dirt and mud. He had a t-shirt on under it so it wasn't a big deal to him. Pacifica walked up then.

"Yeah, no." She placed a hand on her hip. "Did you even do anything to your head? It was bleeding! Cover it up, what if you cracked your skull or something, dork." She pulled him back into the bathroom, where the first aid kit was, and grabbed a roll of bandages, pushing up his bangs to reveal his birthmark, shaped like the Big Dipper. She'd seen it before, so it wasn't a big deal, she wrapped the roll around his head a couple of times to cover up where it had been bleeding and pinned it, patting him once on the top of his head. "Now you're done." Dipper smirked slightly and stared into the mirror.

"I mean, it's better than the first time. It took me a whole hour to find and get all the safety pins out of my hair after that experience." He was met with a slap on the shoulder from his friend, and just laughed. "Seriously, though, thanks."

"You're welcome, you ungrateful buttface." Pacifica answered, sticking her nose in the air.

"Yeah-huh." Dipper yawned. "So, willing to escape for a birthday-I-wanna-forget-about hunt tomorrow?" He suggested. "Nothing special." Pacifica turned.

"Your birthday's tomorrow?"

"...Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"...Uh. Probably because that day is literally the bane of my existence?"

"...Right. Sure, I'm in." Pacifica shrugged. "I mean, if I can get away. I don't think I have any at-home plans anyway."

"Oh my god, you act like you have so many friends."

"I meant whatever my parents get me to do."

"Force you to do."

"..." Pacifica didn't answer. Dipper stopped with the sarcasm and stepped forward to give her a hug.

"Well, I hope you can make it. You're the only party guest, if you didn't already know." Pacifica hugged back.

"Yeah..." She said sort of quietly, stepping back after a few seconds and waving before walking out the door. "See you tomorrow. Guaranteed, you buttface you."

"You too." Dipper called after, turning and shutting the door with a slight laugh. It soon faded, and he messed around with his hair a bit. It was less than comfortable to have the bandages wrapped all the way around his darn head, but Pacifica would get pissed if he took them off. He just sighed and headed upstairs to his room in the attic to sleep off the aching in his...everything.