This is on tumblr and ao3 already. finally got around to putting it up here.
A is for Anomaly
"I'm- I'm weird, too," the boy stutters, wide eyes searching him a moment before looking away.
"Is that so?" Stanford hums, turning back to his desk littered with yellowing notes and Fiddleford's water-stained blueprints.
The boy's foot scraps against the concrete floor and Stanford wishes he would stop dancing around whatever he wants to say. However, he sets his pen aside and bends in his seat so he is at eye-level with the child, Dipper.
Dipper's face scrunches up a moment before it sets. His brows furrowed and mouth in a straight line.
"You look like Stanley," Stanford laughs, shifting in his seat.
"No way!" Dipper squeaks.
"What, do you want to look like me? Or your sister?" he replied, resting his elbows on his knees and cradling his face in his hands.
Dipper doesn't answer him, just searches him with narrowed eyes. Then he wrings his hands and starts muttering to himself.
"What was that?" Stanford leans in.
"I can't look like them…"
"Why not?"
"Because I'm weird."
"How so?"
"Well, it's not like I can make a worse impression," he mumbles to himself. Dipper sighs heavily, then sucks in a series of quick breaths. "I can- I can show you."
He sits awkwardly in his seat as the child struggles with himself. He thinks about laying a hand on his shoulder but is worried that it will only make him feel worse.
Finally, Dipper takes off his hat and brushes up his fringe.
"Oh!"
The lab is silent a moment and his anxiety spikes. He rocks in his seat as he watches the tears gather in Dipper's eyes.
"It's amazing!" he breaths, reaching out to brush a hand against the child's forehead.
"Really?" the boy grins at him, hands squishing his cheeks.
"Really."
"You don't think I'm weird?"
"No weirder than I am, Dipper." Stanford smiles and ruffles his hair.
"Do you- do you know why we're like this?" he asks, shyly brushing his hair back into place. He fidgets, playing with a loose curl around his ear.
"Guess it's in our blood. Pines freaks?" he holds out his hand which Dipper eagerly slaps his own against.
"Pines freaks."
