Dippers deal

Cursed water

Stan watched the water running down his hands, before it drained into the dark pit of the sink. The half-moon plunged the bathroom in twilight dimness. His mirror image looked like a ghost in this sort of light, creating deep lines around his eyes while his appearance seemed almost monochrome.

'Ah, quit it Stan.' he thought. He frowned, splashing some of the cold water onto his face. Finding sleep turned out to be difficult and when he had finally closed his eyes, his damn bladder had to wake him up. Stan groaned, turning the water off and dried his hands on his undershirt.

"Stupid, old body, waking me up in the middle of the night!" he grumbled, finding his way back into the hallway. On the way back to his room he stopped in sight of the staircase. Everything seemed peacefully calm up there, but still a feeling in his gut told him to go up to check on the kid. He debated the chance of waking them up by peeking in their rooms, while he called himself nuts that he had grown so overprotective of these kids.

"Ah, darn it!" he snarled, guiding his sore knees up the stairs but he didn't even make it into the twins room. As soon as he'd reached the first floor a keen smell burned itself into his nose, leading his attention to the slightly open bathroom door, where the metallic scent got stronger.

Stan swallowed, it didn't need a genius to figure out what it was.

'Blood.'

Fear shot like pain through his chest, Stan nearly stumbled while he took the distance with heavy steps, opening the door with heavy panting. But what he saw in there made not just his feet stumble in fear.

The bathroom floor was covered in spots and patches of blood and in the middle of this bloody mess laid-

"Dipper!"

He was beside the boy in seconds, pressing his finger into his cold neck, waiting for a pulse, while his own heart made his blood rush in his ears.

"Please kid... don't do this to me, Dipper." he swallowed, his fingers shivered on the boys blood smeared skin, and then, finally. 'There...'

A pulse, a normal steady pulse, that brushed his fingertips now and then.

Stan sunk backwards with a relieved breath, feeling the adrenaline still rushing in his veins while his heart pounded loudly against his ribcage, before he shook it off, carefully reaching out for his nephew again to search his skin for wounds. But he found none, Dipper seemed unhurt, he shivered a little but otherwise he was sleeping peacefully beside Waddles. Stan frowned, pushing himself up from the floor to look at the room properly again, now that he now that Dipper at least was alive.

It didn't take long for him to notice that the blood had a center in the room, namely- the toilet.

Nausea was rising in his own stomach, as he carefully approached the once white and now red dotted porcelain, to got a glimpse inside.

"Ew... gross! What the-?" he exclaimed.

Blood, nothing but slimy, thick blood, that already had become murky black and dry in some parts. The picture made even his old, obdurate mind spin, he stumbled back, slipping on a blood patch to fall flat on his bottom.

"Fu-Fudging mess!" he groaned, rubbing his aching backside while he listened for any other movements in the house, before he let out a deep sigh. 'Good thing Mabel is such a deep sleeper.' The only one that was looking at him in confusion was Waddles. The pig blinked and grunted questionably, while Dipper cuddled instinctively closer to the pig's tummy. Stan couldn't help the dry and sad smile that escaped his control as he petted the pig's head.

"Yeah, good pig. But next time you should rather wake me than sleep in this mess, now I have to clean you up too."

Waddles squeaked, stepping away as Stan reached out for Dipper carefully, to pull him out of his sweaty and bloody shirt, just to reveal Dipper's nearly fur covered body. Stan blinked at the sight of his nephews still bare chest.