(Not) Like You - Gravity Falls

Babysitting the Unresponsive

"I've got the same thing," Dipper said, pulling his keys out of his pocket and showing her his taser. She looked between the twins before sighing and looking back at the man.

"I still don't trust him."

Mabel and Dipper exchanged a look before sighing. Dipper spoke, "You don't have to trust him. You just have to trust our abilities to take him down." To punctuate it, Mabel gave her a wink that was more than conspicuous. Wendy smiled and rolled her eyes, deciding to let it go. There was no winning against those two.

A few moments later, Stan and Ford walked came to the trunk of the car. Dipper explained the footnotes version of the body. Ford didn't ask any questions. He simply grabbed the man's ankles as he and Dipper carried him out of the trunk and into the shack. They made their way through the living room and up the stairs to the attic before resting his body on Dipper's bed. They hadn't knocked him around too terribly, so they hoped that the man hadn't sustained any injury.

"What will happen when he wakes up?" Ford asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. Dipper shrugged.

"I don't know, but I'll research missing persons in the surrounding area." Dipper looked down at the man in his bed. He watched the man's chest rise and fall a few times before looking back at Ford again. "Unless you can find a smelling salt to wake him up."

Ford shrugged. "I'll look, but don't count on it."

They departed to work on their things. Dipper grabbed Mabel's pillow and propped it against the desk before grabbing his laptop and sitting, so his back was against the pillow. Ford left the attic to search the shack.

Dipper had grown savvy in his research abilities over the last few years. He knew what to search to get the answers he wanted, so when it came to finding an internet footprint, he thought that it would be easy as pie. The issue with that, however, was that Dipper had no idea how to make a pie. In a more literal sense, Dipper couldn't find anything about the man. Nobody fitting his description had gone missing in the area. He couldn't find any social media that belonged to the stranger. It seemed more realistic for him to have just appeared out of thin air.

By the time that he considered himself to be done, the sun had gone down. At one point, Ford had come up to tell him that his search for a smelling salt turned out futile, but Dipper was only paying half-attention. The man still hadn't woken up, either.

The teenager sighed before looking at his bed. He moved his laptop to the floor next to him before standing up and looking at the mattress. Dipper crossed his arms, debating whether or not he wanted to go downstairs and grab a bite to eat, (as per his growling stomach) or wait until the stranger woke up.

In the end, however, Dipper opted to stay. He and Mabel had told Wendy that they would watch the stranger until they could trust him. Since Mabel wasn't in the attic, Dipper knew that he was supposed to stay up there with him. Checking his watch, he found that it was nine-thirty. Mabel wouldn't be up to bed for another hour and a half. That meant that Dipper would be stuck in his room just as long. Ford, when he told Dipper about the lack of smelling salts, had brought Dipper a water bottle that he had long since finished. 

"I'm at the point of kicking you out," he threatened even though he knew he wouldn't be heard.

Whether it was luck or coincidence, the man started to wake up, his eyes fluttering open. He groaned and sat up, pressing a palm to his head. The stranger looked up at Dipper after a few moments before removing his palm from his head.

"Hey," said the stranger, a look of recognition on his features. "You were there when I woke up in the woods. And, now, when I woke up in..." He looked down at the surface he was on. "...Somebody's bed." He looked back at Dipper, giving him a sheepish smile.

"You're in my bed," Dipper said. He uncrossed his arms, his hands in his pockets. His left hand pressed against his taser. "Can you tell me who you are?"

The stranger was still for a moment. "Yeah, I think so," he said slowly. "My name is... Bill Cipher and I think I'm nineteen-years-old. What about you?"

"Dipper Pines. Do you know where you're from?"

Bill scrunched his eyes shut before shaking his head. "No, I'm sorry. The only thing I remember from before the forest is... falling, I think."

On the outside, Dipper was collected as always. On the inside, Dipper was face-palming. He hadn't thought to check death certificates. He spent hours going through missing person files, reaching a million dead-ends when the answer could have been right under his nose.

A silence fell over the two of them until Bill's stomach growled loudly. Bill's dark cheeks turned pink, and he crossed his arms over his stomach. Dipper blinked in his direction.

"When was the last time that you ate?" Dipper asked, unfazed by the noise. Bill shrugged. "Well, I haven't eaten, either. Do you think you can stand up?"

Bill nodded before slowly placing his feet on the floor, shiny dress shoes emitting a soft noise. Out of courtesy - and definitely not because he wanted to touch the male - Dipper offered to help Bill stand up, palms open for him. Bill paused, looking up at Dipper. There was something familiar to the amnesiac about the kind man's eyes. It incited feelings that he was led to believe would never be reciprocated. Gently, Bill took Dipper's hands and stood up. His knees wobbled under him dangerously, and Dipper found himself wrapping an arm around Bill's waist and holding their bodies together so Bill wouldn't fall.

"You're rather forward, aren't you?" Bill asked, attempting to ease the tension. Standing, Bill was taller than the teenager by a head and a half, a fact that added to Dipper's attraction toward the man.

Awkwardly, and with a blush forming on his cheeks, Dipper let Bill go. "Just let me know if you think you're going to collapse, okay?" Dipper said, taking a few steps away from Bill. He nodded and followed Dipper as the younger led him out of the attic and downstairs.

In the living room, Ford, Stan, Mabel, and Wendy were still awake. They watched the TV, the really terrible movie channel on. Playing was some chick-flick Dipper didn't care to figure out the plot of. Bill stopped a few feet behind Dipper, who stood at the doorframe. He took a glance at the room in front of them before putting his back to the wall.

"Who are those guys?" he asked. Dipper glanced at Bill before looking back at the living room.

"My family," Dipper responded simply. He was waiting for a commercial break, so they would be actively paying attention to what he was saying.

"Wow, we haven't even been together for a day, and you're already introducing me to your family," Bill joked, earning a sharp glare from Dipper. Bill laughed, and Dipper could have sworn he'd never heard anything better.

The terrible movie switched to commercial break a few moments later, so he grabbed Bill's arm gently before stepping into the living room.

Wendy was the first one to look over at the duo, her eyes widening when she saw the stranger. Ford and Stan looked over next. Stan just grunted while Ford gave him a short wave. When Mabel looked over, there was nothing more appropriate for her to say than what she did.

"Man, if I wasn't gay, I would hit that."