Dippers deal

Lost

The morning was early and cold, the sun beams barely reached the mountains of Gravity Falls, only a view pinkish streaks made it through the dark forest to mix themselves with the dark blue color of the night, creating a deep purple which cloaked the city in a mysterious light. But despite the missing sunlight, Stan was awake at an ungodly hour, preparing breakfast after he'd lost the battle with his stone pillow, arguing about sleep.

The old man sighed and took another sip from his coffee. The bitter taste on his lips tried to break through the fog in his mind while he was slicing carrots for Dipper. He cursed- something that didn't involve butter biscuits or fudge, when the knife missed its target leaving a red mark on his index finger. He grumbled and put the finger in his mouth to avoid bleeding all over the place. The metallic taste caused a shiver to run down his spine. He sometimes missed being a Gargoyle, but the memories of Dipper injured badly was still too fresh in his mind. Stand grunted and used an old towel to wrap it around the small cut before he moved on with the deers salad.

But the thought of his nephew was still wavering in his mind, just like it had all night long, to be honest. Stan's gaze moved into the corridor, he wasn't able to see the staircase from his point of view but he kept on watching while a tiny spot of red was soaking through the grey towel. Stan didn't even so much as notice since he was too consumed by his own thoughts. Because after what had happened these last days Stan was simply afraid of what he might see when the kid's would come down these stairs.

It was right after the awful "new bandages for Dipper" episode, which had left the Shack in a mess and his ears ringing because his nephew's high pitched bleats, that Dipper had come up to him, while Mabel cleaned up the chaos her brother had made.

He was restocking the first aid kit which he used to keep in the gift shop when a shy bleat nearly made him jump in surprise. Stan turned around to face Dipper who looked to the ground the moment their eyes met.

Stan just sighed and put the last bandage aside

"If you're here to apology for the scrapes your little excuse for hoof gave me then forget it kid, stone or not I still am pretty thick-skinned."

But the way the small deer frowned told him that this wasn't the matter he was here to "talk" (or whatever he thought he was doing here) about, neither something of which he could lighten the mood that easily. One of Stan's bushy eyebrows slowly climbed its way up while he kept watching Dipper in silence. Finally when the fawn still refused to look at him, he knelt down and touched his furry shoulder in order to catch the kids attention.

"Dipper-"

But the moment the deer registered the sudden missing distance between himself and the huge human, who was actually touching him made Dipper jump back, just enough to bounce against the shelf behind him, cornered while the large figure in front of him raised again to look down at the frightened animal.

Stan could feel his heart, the thing that he had pretend to be just a romantic-good-for-nothing-myth before the twins had stepped into his life, brake inside him. His breath caught in his throat and he didn't dare to move a finger, looking down in the fear filled eyes of his nephew, only to register that it weren't Dipper's eyes, but the dark brown ones of an animal looking up to him. The sight itself was enough to make a shiver run down his spine, creating goosebumps on his neck.

The old man let out a shaky breath, lowering himself to the deer's level while he tried to soften his shivering voice.

"Easy kid, easy- I'm not here to hurt you, promise..." He whispered, even when he knew that with the black stare the small creature before him was giving him Dipper didn't even understand him. And so the bad feeling of this morning rushed over him again. He had tried to pretend that Dipper was just touchy with him changing his bandages, he tried to ignore the strange cautious look the deer boy had given him here and there, while a small voice in the back of his mind called him a liar and a coward.