Hi there! I actually began writing this years ago when season 2 of Gravity Falls first began and kind of just left it hanging in my files for a while before finally deciding to finish it. This story takes place near the beginning of season 2 probably sometime after the first episode. I suppose it could also have taken place anytime during the first season. Either way, enjoy the story and happy reading! :)
If there was one thing that Dipper hated experiencing the most, it was the feel of leftover bits of food exiting his mouth in fierce spasms. Dipper retched into the porcelain bowl, emptying out his dinner from earlier. He moaned into the toilet, hating the stench and acidic taste prickling the inside of his mouth.
He wanted to cry. He'd been sick with the flu for nearly two days now and he was tired of feeling this way all the time; the continuous twisting of his stomach, the burning of his throat, and always shivering even though his head felt like it was on fire. All in all, Dipper Pines absolutely HATED being sick.
A dry sob echoed throughout the room as he fought to keep in the tears. A hand gingerly rubbed small circles on his back and he was faintly aware of his twin sister whispering comforting words to him. Dipper leaned back once he was sure he was done vomiting and was glad his sister was allowing him to rest on her for a moment. His chest heaved up and down with heavy breaths.
"You okay, Dip?" Mabel's soft voice asked as she patted his back comfortingly.
Dipper's stomach churned, and he moaned. Slightly curling in on himself, a tear slipped out his left eye. He let out a painful whimper.
"I wish we were back home, Mabel," he choked out.
"Kids?"
Mabel and Dipper jumped slightly at the gruff sound of their great uncle outside the room. The door squeaked open and Stan peeked his head through. He took in the sight of his great niece and nephew holding each other on the floor and fully entered the room.
He knelt in front of them and placed his hand against Dipper's forehead. He made a thoughtful noise before turning towards Mabel. "Go grab the thermometer, Mabel."
Mabel nodded before squeezing her brother's shoulder and exiting the room. Dipper pushed himself up against the wall and groaned. He saw Stan stand up, grab a towel, and run it under the sink. He wrung it until it was damp and knelt back down to his level, placing the cool cloth on Dipper's forehead. It felt good on his burning head and he closed his eyes.
"Geez, kid, it's been two days and you're still as sick as a mule. Any more three am puke fests and I'm gunna have to hire an exorcist," Stan joked.
Sudden guilt built up inside Dipper and he couldn't help the few tears that slipped down his cheeks. Stan noticed and frowned, worry filling his eyes.
"Hey, hey. What's this? Save your tears, squirt. You're gunna be fine," he said with a small smile.
"I'm sorry for making you put up with me, Grunkle Stan," Dipper rasped out between his tears, sobs escaping him and shivers running down his spine. Stan fully sat down next to him and wrapped a comforting arm around him, rubbing up and down to stop his shivering.
"Alright, alright. Sh. It's okay." Stan waited for Dipper's crying to slow down before continuing.
"Kid, I made a commitment to take care of you and your sister all summer and I fully intend to keep that promise. I'm doing this because I want to make sure you're better. I've never had any kids, but I care about you two enough to think of you as my own." He smiled down at Dipper. "No need to blame yourself for anything, Dipper. This stuff just happens."
Dipper wiped the tears from his eyes and looked up at his great uncle with a small smile of his own, secretly glad he wasn't alone to deal with this. "Thanks, Grunkle Stan," he croaked out.
Stan ruffled his hair affectionately. "Nothin' to it, kiddo."
Mabel entered the room at that moment and handed the thermometer to Stan. Stan took it and stood up, shaking the device up and down.
"Mabel, sweetie, come help your brother back to bed, okay? He needs a lot more rest if he's gunna improve."
Mabel lowered herself and wrapped an arm around Dipper's midsection gently. She helped hoist him to his feet and together they walked back to their room in the attic. Stan followed, still very much worried about Dipper's condition. Once there, Dipper crawled back into bed. His painful stomachache was finally drifting away from his earlier vomiting.
He curled the blankets in around himself tightly to ease the quivers. Stan walked over and told him to face him, so he could take his temp. Dipper begrudgingly did and propped up against the headrest, slipping the thermometer underneath his tongue.
Stan tucked Mabel in to bed, assuring her that her brother was going to be fine. He sat on Dipper's bed and pulled the thermometer out of his mouth. Eyes squinting, he read off the marked setting.
"102.2," he sighed out. "Alright, looks like you're not leaving this bed for a while, Dipper, so rest up while you can."
Dipper nodded lethargically and slipped back under the covers. Stan made sure he was safely tucked in before walking towards the exit. He looked back to see that both of the Pines twins were off sleeping soundly. He smiled.
"Night, kiddos."
"What do you mean, medicine?" Stan bluntly replied to Mabel's question.
Mabel blinked in surprise at the response before laying her hands on her hips and glaring up at the old man in his wife beater and striped boxers.
"What do you mean, what do you mean, medicine?" She pointed a finger up at him.
Stan scratched his chin while quirking a brow up at her. "What?"
The female twin gave an exaggerated sigh. "Grunkle Stan, you know Dipper needs medicine!"
Stan rolled his eyes and said, "Look, kid, when I was his age and came down with a sickness, I toughened it out and took it like a champ! All he needs is sleep and water, trust me. He'll be back on his feet in no time!"
Mabel pouted. Her great uncle may have been able to get over his past colds, but Dipper was different. He rarely got sick and when he did they were always horrible. Her brother was a sensitive case when he became sick. Her family even had to grab him specific types of medicine at the drug store to placate the illness. As tough as Dipper was in most situations, his immune system was not. It secretly terrified Mabel that it would become his demise one day.
With pleading brown sparkling eyes and lower lip trembling, Mabel gave her best kicked puppy impression up at her grunkle. Stan immediately tore his gaze away, frowning. He could feel her powerful gaze boring into the wrinkles of his skin. He dared a peek and regretted it when the tears started filling the brim of her lower lids. Finally, he gave a drawn-out sign of resignation.
"Alright, alright. Though my wallet pains to do this, I guess we'll go get your brother medicine."
Mabel squealed in delight and embraced Stan before letting go quickly and rambling off, "Thanks, Grunkle Stan! Okay, my parents and I always get Dipper the same medicine at the store. We'll get a few types of—"
"Types!? What, are you trying to rob me!?" He sighed at Mabel's frown, "Fine, we'll go, BUT, it won't be until after I've done my first tour, alright?"
Mabel gave him thumbs up. "You got it, hombre!"
Stan grunted before shuffling towards a drawer in the kitchen and taking out a small white box. He squinted his eyes and found the word TYLENOL on the front within the small print and took out two small pills. He beckoned Mabel forward and gave her the pills.
"Here, meanwhile give this to the kid. Hopefully it'll reduce that fever of his. Oh! And take this too, whydon'tcha?"
Mabel grimaced at the ancient looking cough syrup he was holding. The label was shredded and tinted yellow with age.
"Uh, I think I'll just take the pills, Grunkle Stan."
Stan opened his mouth to protest, but Mabel had already darted out of the room and up the stairs. Stan looked at the bottle in his hands.
"What's the big deal? Kids love cherry flavoring!"
Mabel rapped on their door. "Dipper?" She opened the door and peeked in. Dipper was still sleeping, breathing in steadily with the blanket wrapped tightly around him.
Walking up to the side of his bed, she placed her hand on his shoulder and began to lightly shake.
"Dipper. Dipper, c'mon, get up."
The boy let out a small grunt of annoyance and curled up even further into his ball of warmth. Mabel pouted frustratingly and shook him much harder than before. "Up and at 'em, Dippingsauce!"
Dipper's brown eyes creaked open and he glared at the rude awakening from his twin. She made no acknowledgment of the glare and held out the pills for him with a brace filled smile.
"Sorry, bro bro, but you know how the song goes! When there's a sickness in your tummy, take some meds and feel less crummy!" Mabel sang out of tune, her sparkly rainbow colored sweater bouncing as she danced a little jig for him. She motioned for her brother to sit up.
Dipper groaned and slowly unfurled himself. He sat up slightly and held out his hand to deposit the Tylenol down his throat. He took a sip of water from his night stand timidly. Thankfully his stomach was feeling fine, but he knew that it might come back. He couldn't even think about food at the moment. Right now, though, his head was killing him.
Mabel noticed the sheen of sweat glistening on his feverish forehead and told him that she'd go grab a towel for him. He watched her go and decided to sleep some more; he felt exhausted.
Downstairs, Mabel was grabbing a cool towel when Stan walked in dressed in his usual Mister Mystery Shack attire, sipping on a Pitt Cola.
"How is the kid? Doing better?" He sipped on his drink, flipping up his eye patch.
The pre-teen shook her head with a smile. "Oh, Grunkle Stan, I always forget you're old. Medicine takes time to heal a person. I'm sure he'll feel a lot better in a few hours."
Stan rolled his eyes at the jab about him being old and leaned up against the fridge, crossing his arms. "Well, it better be soon. Can't have him acting like a vegetable the whole summer."
"Dude, I wonder what kind of vegetable Dipper would be," a voice piped up. They turned to see Soos the handyman entering the kitchen with a broom. He seemed to be in deep thought.
"Lettuce? Cauliflower? Squash? Heh, heh...squash." The man child chuckled at the word.
"Nobody asked you, Soos," Stan deadpanned.
Mabel gasped in delight. "Maybe an eggplant! He's the thing that he can't stand!"
"Or asparagus!" Soos pointed out before shuddering. "My worst veggie nightmare…"
Mabel giggled and they started listing off vegetables back and forth. Stan rolled his eyes in annoyance when Soos shouted, "Cotton Candy!" He decided to break it off.
"Alright, enough, you two. Mabel, go busy yourself with stocking merchandise." Mabel mock saluted before skipping off into the gift shop.
"Soos," Stan began, and the latter straightened up, "Go ahead and give Dipper this," he said handing Soos the cool towel Mabel had originally been grabbing, "and while you're at it, give this to him, too. I gotta get rid of this somehow." Soos took the cough syrup Stan had offered Mabel earlier into his large hands. Soos squinted at the words that were too faded to see on the yellow stained label.
"Nice," he commented with a thumbs up and grin before making his way upstairs. Stan shook his head, finishing off his drink. He took off to go open the shop for more moronic tourists to scam them of their money.
"Yo, Dipper. Dawg, you awake?"
Soos peeked his head through the door of the twins' room. His eyes caught sight of the small figure sprawled out on his bed, breathing a bit shallowly. Soos walked in and set the cough syrup on their nightstand. His face softened at the semi-peaceful look on Dipper's sleeping features.
"Awww," he cooed, "Even when you're all passed out and sweaty you almost match your sister's cuteness." With that said, Soos carefully placed the soothing towel on his forehead and made his way out of the room to let the little tyke sleep.
Dipper hummed at the feeling of something cool on his face before his eyes fluttered opened. His lips smacked together as he turned his head slightly to his left. In his hazy state, he spotted a bottle next to him. He groaned in delight at the sight.
"Water," he rasped out before clumsily making a snag at the bottle. His clammy fingers grasped it and unscrewed the loose cap before bringing the lid to his mouth. Under the illusion that he was drinking out of a bottle of water, Dipper tipped it back and began to chug the substance. Almost immediately, he choked and spluttered as he spat out some of the substance in surprise by the foul taste slithering down his throat like molasses.
Coughing violently, he dropped the nearly empty bottle and it clattered to the floor, rolling underneath his bed. His hacking had him sitting up and clasping his throat. A moment later, the door burst open as Mabel came rushing in with a cup of water, the liquid sloshing everywhere as she hurried to get to him. Dipper, covering his cough, took the cup gratefully and began to down the substance.
He let loose a shuddering breath when he was finished, and Mabel patted him gently on the back with worried eyes. Dipper's eyes moved to hers and he gave her a small smile of gratitude before moaning and dropping back onto the bed, eyelids drooping low. Mabel placed the cool cloth on his forehead once more and went back downstairs to get him more water.
Stay tuned because I will be updating these daily! Until next time! *throws down grenade at feet and explodes*
Dipper: As always, Soos, you're right.
Soos: My wisdom is both a blessing and a curse.
(from other room) Stan: Soos! The portable toilets are clogged again!
Soos: I am needed elsewhere. (backs out slowly)