Dipper Pines loved the rain.
The sounds of water hitting glass, the howl of the wind around the wooden walls, even the sounds of the Mystery Shack settling down for the night; for some reason, it seemed to put his soul at ease, allowing him to clear his mind and focus his thoughts on what stood around him. Tack-boards on easels stood around him, six medium-sized rectangles decorated with poorly scribbled notes and colored pencil sketches pinned to each of their faces, various colors of thread linking each board together in some sort of twisted web of madness.
Taking a moment to look around at his handiwork, Dipper nodded to himself, running a finger along a strand of purple and plucking it slightly. The resulting sound sent a shiver of joy down his spine, allowing him to turn his attention towards the tagged paperwork, looking it over with a sense of accomplishment and comfort.
"You messed up here." His own voice cut through the serenity of the storm, interrupting his moment of triumph. He wasted no time looking back to see another twelve year-old musing to himself in front of another part of the web, the white-and-blue Number-Two hat the only differentiating factor between the two boys. "Why in the world would you link gnomes and faeries together? Makes no sense."
"Because, you know," Dipper rotated a hand in thought, trying to justify himself to his imaginary counterpart. "-creatures of the forest and that sort of thing?" He knew it was a weak defense at best, but he was tired and if Tyrone was there then he knew that he wasn't running on all cylinders. Surely he would give himself a free pass, right?
"That's just ridiculous." the phantom countered, beginning to take down the tack. "If anything, you'd be better off linking gnomes and squirrels together. Remember Jeff?"
Both boys shivered at the thought of the gnome leader and his furry bathtub, Dipper taking hold of the tack and removing the link. "Yeah... I guess you're right, Ty."
"Of course, I'm right. I'm you, after all." Tyrone clapped his counterpart on the back, retreating to Dipper's side of the room and relaxing on the lumpy mattress Grunkle Stan had 'acquired' for his charges, taking a cookie from the desk in-between and making a show of devouring the treat. "Gone, but not forgotten, remember? I'm still keeping an eye on you."
Dipper simply shook his head, the idea that his imaginary twin brother still had his back made him sigh in appreciation as he bunched up the green yarn, letting it fall to the ground in a useless ball. Ducking and weaving under and through the web, he joined Tyrone on the bed, taking a chocolate-and-cream snack and laying back to savor the filling.
"I was going to eat that." whined Tyrone.
Dipper rolled his eyes, popping both cookie halves into his mouth. "I think we both know that's a lie." He uttered through a mouthful of Oreo.
"Yeah, yeah-" the clone rolled his own eyes, taking a set of cookies and passing one to his brother. "I can't REALLY eat or touch things. I'm just an imaginary blah-blah-blah." He stuck the chocolate treat halfway into his mouth, simply savoring the flavor. "Doesn't mean I can't, you know, enjoy the moment or something."
No exchange of words were needed after that, both boys simply lying together and enjoying each others company. For a few brief moments, the only sounds to fill the room were the crunching of chocolate and feint murmurs of satisfaction.
"Hey. Dipper?"
"Mmm?"
"Have you ever thought about..."
"Mph?"
"...you know, maybe trying to see another girl or something?"
It would have been comical, the timing of Tyrone's question being the exact moment Dipper had been chewing his chocolate. Sadly, choking hazards weren't exactly high on Dipper's list of things to prepare for as he rolled around on the bed, banging desperately on his chest to finish swallowing the concentrated mass.
The glass of milk thrust in front of him was taken with salvation and greed, Dipper snatching the glass away and chugging the liquid down with appreciation; it wasn't until he had washed down the cookie that he realized it was Tyrone who had saved him, looking from his twin to the glass and back again with mixed confusion and wonder.
"Jeez man, don't do that!" the imaginary clone sighed to himself, patting himself on the back and wiping sweat from underneath the Number-Two hat. "Can't have you kicking the bucket too, right?"
Dipper looked up, returning the gesture in kind. "Uh, yeah... I go and you go too, right?"
"I try not to think about it like that." Tyrone shook his head, stepping away from the bed to admire the display of web and conspiracy before him. "But listen, don't you think it'd be nice to just spend some time with someone who isn't me or your sister? I mean, you remember the last one, right?"
Dipper sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose in thought; he remembered the exercise girl well, how could he forget, it was only a few days ago. Mabel had introduced him to her as 'a work-in-progress', as she had lovingly put it; she had become immediately smitten with the boy. She was taller than him, athletic and very touchy-feely; she had smelled of sweat and vanilla, especially after her workouts and she certainly wasn't afraid to let Dipper know she had just ran over a mile before hugging him close. They never even kissed once, but she loved to cuddle and yet after a few days of seeing Dipper's incredible lack of 'athletic ability', she deemed him a lost cause and they agreed to see other people.
The breakup was mutual and there were no hard feelings, but she had stated that she could just FEEL his attention wasn't 100% into making 'them' work and what was worse was that he knew she was right. Somewhere, deep down, he was still feeling 'something' stopping him and what made things worse was that he couldn't figure out what that 'something' was and until he did...
"Listen man, I don't know if I-"
Tyrone "Look man, I-I know, okay?" He sat on the lines of string, balancing himself so that he was sitting up, looking at the various postings around him. "I know that you still... have some hang-ups from Wendy and-"
"Dude, I'm TOTALLY over Wendy." Dipper crossed his arms, face contorted in annoyance. The copy looked back to the original, one eyebrow suggestively raised. "Okay, maybe I have a LITTLE hang-up. Little."
"Uh~huh, right. Little, he says." the smugness in his voice was annoying, yet somehow comforting. Tyrone looked to the candle-lit lantern in thought. "You can't lie to me THAT easily, brother-mine. I know you're pouring yourself more and more into the journal, but just..." He fell from his less-than-precarious position, making his way to the window and staring through in attempts to piece together Dipper's feelings, the falling raindrops and glow of the flame making for an interesting view. "...just, promise me you won't pass up a good thing if it shows itself, okay?"
Tyrone expected all sorts of responses from his other half, yet snoring wasn't one of them. Looking from the corner of his eye, it wasn't much of a surprise to see Dipper had fallen asleep mid-speech, arms wrapped around himself and curled up in a ball. Even he had his limits, thirty-six hours without any rest and a calming environment were all the ingredients needed for Dipper's body to fall prey to exhaustion.
"Never were one to listen to reason, were you?" he muttered, shaking his head and moving to the bed. "Especially when it comes from yourself." Tyrone pulled the covers over his brother, watching his shivers slowly quell into light breathing. Blowing out the light, he laid down on Mabel's side to watch himself slumber in peace.
"Just promise me, Dipper."
And with this last piece, the prologue chapters are finished. This chapter took much longer than originally anticipated, but that just means I'm putting more effort into each one now. I've many ways of contact, so please leave a review or an ask on Tumblr.
-LORD, FORGIVE ME, FOR I USE NO GIMMICK OR TRICK.
IT'S SHOWTIME-