A/N Well, that was a long wait for this one, but the chapter is pretty lengthy, so that kinda makes up for it, right? No? Oh well, sorry! Enjoy!
The Special Stranger
Bill had finally had his fill of the animated TV show after about two straight hours. Even before the current episode had ended, he unexpectedly popped up off the couch, startling the twins who were both only moments away from having fallen completely asleep. They could only tolerate so much of the yellow square's high-pitched voice and overtly innocent shenanigans before becoming overwhelmingly bored, and both had found themselves slumped over their respective ends of the couch. The sudden movement of the cushions being vacated by the bubbly guy dragged them from their sleepy state, and both looked over to see Bill stretching his limbs.
"Hey, you done watching TV now, Bill?" Mabel queried through a half-yawn.
"Yeah. My arms and legs were getting sore from sitting in one spot so long. This kinda hurts, too," he added as he reached around and rubbed his hands over his backside.
"Well, that'll happen after sitting in one position for too long," Dipper said, rubbing his own sore hip that had been digging into the hard frame of the couch. "So, other than that, how're you feeling? Are you hungry? Tired?"
Bill pondered that for a moment before answering, "I feel fine. Maybe a bit warm, though? And my mouth is kinda dry..."
"Lemme get you some water," Dipper casually offered.
Dipper scurried to the kitchen to grab a glass of water for Bill, smiling at the mental image of the blonde needing a sippy cup as a toddler would. He mentally scolded himself for that, stumbling into his next thought. Of course he'll be able to drink without using a sippy cup... It's not like he was born yesterday. The casual use of the common idiom held much more significance where Bill was concerned, the irony of which figuratively smacked Dipper clean in the face as soon as he thought it and he burst into a fit of laughter. Pulling himself back together, he looked at the glass again and thought of the blond. He figured a straw would do.
"Here ya go," Dipper said cheerfully as he handed the glass to Bill.
Bill looked quizzically at the plastic tube in his water, but decided to ignore it and began to drink from the glass like anyone normally would. Dipper smiled at this but decided not to say anything. He looked over at his sister, who was getting off the couch and ready to leave the room. She halted before fully exiting.
"Bill mentioned he was getting kinda warm, and it is supposed to be quite hot by midday, so I'm gonna go turn the fans on now."
It was the middle of summer, and the hot and humid weather of the Pacific Northwest could be quite unforgiving. They had no air conditioning, so they usually just made do with cool clothes, cold drinks, and strategically placed fans to keep the air circulating.
Mabel scurried out of the living room, leaving Dipper to find something else to talk about with Bill. Not that he minded, he felt perfectly comfortable around the now human demon. Well, pretty comfortable. Maybe only somewhat comfortable.
Thoughts of what the demon had done only three years prior suddenly flooded his mind again, as if to say 'How dare you feel any amount of comfort in the presence of a being that nearly ended your entire world!'
Bill seemed to sense Dipper's internal conflict and reached over to place a hand on the brunet's shoulder. "Pine Tree?" he asked, quietly trying to get the other's attention.
The close and sudden contact made Dipper jump and take a step back. When he looked at Bill, the blond caught a fleeting sense of fear in the deep brown eyes.
"Oh! Sorry, Bill, I was...uh, lost in thought, I guess." Dipper nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Did you need something? More water?"
Bill looked down at his now empty glass. "Um, no?" It came out sounding like a question, even though he knew for certain that he didn't want more. "Yes...I mean-" he stopped abruptly, seemingly trying to organize his thoughts. "No, I don't need any more water, thanks," he said as he handed the empty glass to Dipper, "but yes, there is something I need." He looked down at the floor before continuing. "I need to know things."
Dipper smiled. "Well, yeah, we're gonna help you to learn the things you need to live and-"
Bill's face took on a somber look. "No, I mean I need to know things like who I am, who I used to be, what my purpose is now. Those kinds of things. I don't even know why I'm here, or how I came to be here."
"Oh. Well, now you're going all existential on me," Dipper quipped, trying to lighten the air. "People have been asking those questions forever, and we still don't know the answers! But, seriously, I can understand you want to know these things, Bill, and Mabel and I can help you out a little, but we don't know many of those answers. We can tell you who you were, well, what we knew, anyway. But we have no idea why or how you came back. As for who you are now, well, that one's entirely up to you."
Mabel popped back into the room, seeing the boys were in the middle of a serious conversation. "What'd I miss?!"
"Not much. Bill just has a lot of questions about himself, most of which we can't answer for him," Dipper replied.
"Oh, well Bill's an extremely intelligent being, I'm sure he'll figure it out!"
Ah, Mabel. Forever the optimist.
For the rest of their day, the twins decided to stay inside, giving Bill a thorough tour of the shack, showing him the rooms he could and could not go in. It was mostly a day filled with Bill asking questions about every little thing and the twins answering him with what it was and what it was for. Although it was a good time spent with their new house guest, especially considering who that person was, Dipper couldn't help but continuously run his mind about discussing their past with him.
The thought of having to tell him what he had done to them over the course of that summer was a bit depressing. Bill had already told them he remembered somewhat about trying to hurt them, but what would he do if he knew what he truly was? Since he had shown up that morning, he was clearly unaware of his past, and even more unaware of what he used to be. Dipper couldn't help but worry about what Bill would do with that knowledge. He finally decided that worrying about it now wouldn't do him any good, and that he needed to enjoy the day. He could talk privately with Mabel about it later, hopefully when Bill was asleep.
Around six o'clock that evening, after a full day of learning how to eat and drink properly, watching plenty of cartoons, and trying to figure out if Bill could remember more about himself on his own, (he still couldn't remember much besides trying to hurt the Pines family, and the fact that he used to be a yellow triangle with a dapper fashion sense), Dipper decided it was a good idea that they work out sleeping arrangements before Bill got too sleepy and needed to go to bed for the night. They weren't sure how much sleep he had gotten the previous night, or exactly what time he had come into existence, for that matter, so they thought it better to be prepared for whatever sleep patterns he was already used to.
"So where's he gonna crash tonight, Dippin' Dots?" Mabel so eloquently questioned.
She would just as soon turn their bedroom into one giant blanket fort, shoving mattresses together on the floor and having one big slumber party, which would have been fine for a night or two, but Dipper needed to come up with a long term solution. Preferably one that didn't involve the three of them cozying up together on the floor of their room.
"Hmm... 'm not sure." Dipper absentmindedly grabbed a pen and began chewing on it, as per usual when faced with an epic quandary that needed some heavy thinking.
The shack was certainly large enough to accommodate one extra person, but the problem wasn't space. He can't stay down here... Dipper didn't want Bill to be alone on the main floor of the house, but at the same time, there were no extra rooms in the attic, either. The twins already shared a room, leaving minimal space to add another sleeping area up there. All the rooms downstairs were already being used- Stan's bedroom was full of his stuff, the smaller office room was full of, well, office stuff (like the safe and the old copy machine), and Ford's bedroom was full of Ford's stuff. There was no way Dipper was going to rearrange any of those rooms and face the wrath of his great uncles in doing so. They were very protective of their spaces, and the twins stayed out of their rooms as much as possible.
"Well, I guess we can just set up a spot on the floor in our room tonight until we can figure out a more permanent set-up." He glanced over at his sister to catch the sour look she had just given him.
"Dipper, he's our guest. We can't expect him to sleep on the floor!" Mabel huffed, as if highly offended by her brother's suggestion.
"Ok, then...he can have your bed, and you can sleep on the floor," Dipper replied smugly.
"What?! How about you give up-" she began, but was cut off by the blonde who felt the need to step in.
"Wait. It's alright, I don't mind sleeping on the floor. I slept on the ground last night, after all." Memories of last night came back to him and then he stated, "I could sleep on that couch on the porch! That was quite nice," he smiled, proud of himself for thinking of a solution to their small dilemma.
Mabel rolled her eyes and laughed out loud. "No way, you're not sleeping outside, Bill!"
"Then the floor is fine. Really. It's ok with me," the blonde tried to reassure the older twin. Mabel made a face as if to say 'I'm still not ok with this' but gave up quickly as she realized she was outnumbered by the two boys.
"Fine," she huffed, "but don't come cryin' to me when you wake up in the middle of the night with a sore back."
Mabel was nothing if not an overly generous hostess, and the thought of a guest sleeping on the floor made her physically hurt; like made her chest ache and her head throb. She tried to tell herself that this was Bill Cipher, the demon who almost killed her with the snap of his fingers, so she wouldn't feel as bad about it. But when she looked over at him... his cute, innocent face, his perfectly human features... she only felt worse for him. First night as a human, first time sleeping in a house, and this is what he has to sleep on, she pouted to herself.
Bill just gave her a perplexed look, then turned to see what Dipper was doing. The younger twin had gone into the hallway to retrieve some blankets and pillows from the linen closet. He returned with an armful that he couldn't see over the top of and nearly ran into the blonde, had Mabel not yanked him out of the way at the last second. He let the pile fall unceremoniously onto the floor.
"Here. Mabel's good at making up beds and stuff like that, so I'll let her do that...," Mabel rolled her eyes at her brother to which he continued, "and I'm going to get you some pajamas and show you how to work the shower. Unless you want to do that, Mabes..." he smiled and raised an eyebrow at her reddening face.
"Uh, no. That's ok, I'll get the bed ready," she laughed, lightening up a bit at her brother's words. Hmm...Bro-bro and Bill in the bathroom. I think I feel a Kodak moment coming. Her thoughts left a devious smile on her face, one that had Dipper suddenly regretting ever mentioning that he would be showing their guest how to use the shower.
Dipper quickly grabbed some of his extra pajama pants and a fresh pair of boxers out of his dresser and grabbed Bill's arm, leading him to the bathroom downstairs.
"Uh, what are we doing, Pine Tree?" Bill asked as he was being pulled down the stairs swiftly, the unfortunate benefactor of Dipper's haste to get done with what he had to do before Mabel finished with her task and came down to inevitably capture more priceless memories. "And why are we in such a hurry?"
"Well, I want to show you how to use the shower before Mabel can come down here and, well, you know... get in the way."
"Why would she be in the way? She seems really helpful-"
"Trust me. She won't be helpful in a situation like this. Now, pay attention so you can do this yourself."
Dipper proceeded to lead Bill into the bathroom, dropping the bundle of clean clothes and his towel on the hall table just outside the door before showing him how to turn the water on, get it to the proper temperature, and use the soap and shampoo accordingly. Things were going rather smoothly, and Dipper was satisfied that he had completely and thoroughly explained everything he needed. Thank goodness...that was rather quick.
"So, you think you can handle it from here?" he asked the blonde, but when he turned to face him, he was met with a face filled with pure horror. The poor demon-turned-human was hopping from foot to foot and looked about to cry. "Bill? What's wrong?!"
"I think...s-something...is wrong...my...my body...going to...burst!" he choked out, wrapping his arms around his lower abdomen.
"Oh gosh! I-I'm sorry, Bill...ugh." Realization struck, and Dipper quickly turned off the water, mentally scolding himself for having not thought to show Bill how to take care of this earlier. "You're not going to explode," he tried to reassure the blonde, "but you will need to take care of that, um, problem, right now." All Dipper could think about was how this was going to take a bit of careful explaining, but in his current condition, Bill appeared to not have the luxury of a timely lesson. He quickly lifted the lid of the toilet. "Just, remove all your clothing, sit on here just like you would a chair, and...um...well, your body will know what to do." He mentally cringed at having to say that.
Bill didn't need to be told twice. He'd nearly had everything off before Dipper even made it to the door. "O-oh! Kay, I'm just gonna wait out here," he called from the hallway. He slammed the door shut quickly, not looking back.
After a few minutes, Dipper realized he never got the chance to explain... well, the delicate art of cleaning one's self after... well, you know. He rubbed his hands down his face, took a deep breath, then opened his mouth to begin what he felt had to be the most awkward conversation he would ever have. Before he could get one word out, however, Bill beat him to it.
"Pine Tree!" he called out. "I think I'm done, because nothing more is com-"
"Ok! Yes! N-no need to explain...I get it! You're done then, ok...um." Wow, this is not something I thought I'd ever have to explain to another human being... "So, do you see that roll of white stuff next to you?"
"Yes."
"Ok, t-take some of that and, uh, use it to clean... clean yourself off i-in...uh, the area from which... justcleananyareawherestuffmayhavecomeoutofyou!" He face palmed, hoping that hadn't come out too fast to where Bill wasn't able to understand him.
When he didn't hear any kind of questioning from the blond, he was satisfied that the other had gotten the message and was taking care of himself properly. Aw, man... He scrunched up his face and pinched the bridge of his nose as another thought came to him.
"Hey, I forgot to mention- don't use too much of that white stuff or you'll clog up the toilet!" Again, silence answered him, and he hoped beyond hope that Bill was ok in there. He really didn't want to have to go in there and help him in any way, shape, or form. "When you're all done, push down on that little silver handle to flush it. Then you can just get straight into the shower...ok?"
"Ok."
"Ok, do you need anything else? Are you fine on your own now?"
"Yes, I think I can do this."
Dipper then heard the water of the shower start to fall and the curtain pulled closed. He sighed in relief that things went more smoothly than they could have, and turned to head over to the living room to wait for Bill to be done. After about ten minutes, he thought he heard his nickname being called, so he got up and went back over to the hallway.
"Bill? Were you calling me? Everything ok?"
"Yes."
"O-kay... What is it that you need, then?" he prodded as the blond wasn't exactly being forthcoming with what it was he had called him about.
"Do I just stand here and wait until the wetness goes away? Because that seems like it might take a while. Plus, I thought you wanted me to change into different clothes."
"Um, no...use the towel to dry yourself off, silly," Dipper giggled. "And, yes, please put on the clean stuff I gave you." Glancing to his right, he suddenly noticed the hall table with the neatly folded towel and clean clothes he had set there earlier, at the same time Bill began to speak.
"I would sure like to do that, Pine Tree, but those things are not in here," he stated matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, I see that...they're still out here. Sorry, Bill, just...stay behind the curtain and I'll bring them in for you."
"Sure, Pine Tree," he muttered as he pulled the curtain back over.
Did he sound... disappointed? No, that would be weird, and creepy ...frustrated, maybe? Yeah, he sounded a bit frustrated just then.
Dipper's mind was awash with suddenly being very perturbed about the tone he thought he picked up on in Bill's voice. He decided to let it go, not wanting to over think the situation like he has a tendency to do, and hoping it was just all in his head. He slowly opened the door and took the two steps necessary to be able to put the towel and clothing onto the counter where Bill could reach them. So keen was he on getting in and back out of the bathroom in a timely manner that he didn't catch on to the fact that there was a naked man standing in the corner behind the door. As the brunet turned to leave, Bill pushed the door shut, stood in front of it, and held a halting hand straight out in front of him, all in one fluid movement. The girly shriek that inevitably came next both startled and humored the blond, causing him to jump slightly and laugh.
"BILL! You scared the-" he paused to catch his breath. "What the heck, man?!"
The poor boy's eyes grew wide with realization and he slapped his hands over his face as he whirled around on his heel to face the opposite direction. He reached out to grab the towel he had just put down and then held it out behind his back to the still very naked man behind him.
"Wrap this around your waist, Bill!" he shrieked as he flailed the now unfolded towel around until it was tugged out of his grip.
Meanwhile, Bill's mind was racing with thoughts of what it was that he did that had Dipper so upset. I keep doing this to him. What am I even doing wrong? He decided to just ask him. Point blank.
"Uh, Pine Tree?" he began as he clumsily brought the towel up to wrap around his torso. "Why do you keep doing that?"
"What?! Me? What am I doing?" His defensiveness was getting the better of him. "You're the one who keeps, well...uh...exposing yourself!"
Dipper was clearly reluctant to want to say that out loud, but there really was no way of going around it. He knew that he was being overly dramatic about the whole situation, almost to the point that someone would go to when not wanting to be found out. Almost like he was going out of his way to deny something before even being accused... Something he wasn't ready to admit to...
Ugh...calm down, Dipper, he isn't really doing anything wrong...
Still calm and collected, Bill rephrased his question. "What I mean is, why do you keep getting so upset with me when my clothes are off?" The mere mention of Bill's clothing being off caused Dipper's heart rate to speed up and face to get hot. "See? You're acting all weird again. Your face turns red, and I bet you're even-" he paused and reached out to feel Dipper's face, like he had earlier in the kitchen. The blond's hands were also warm, having just showered, but he could still feel the warmth in the other's cheeks. "Yep! Your face is all warm again!"
Yep, I'm definitely the one with the problem here. What the hell is wrong with me?!
Unlike before, Dipper didn't protest Bill's touch, but just closed his eyes and actually found himself leaning into it a little. He decided not to think too much about the action, as he knew that it didn't mean anything other than innocent curiosity to Bill. Remembering how Dipper had responded last time, though, Bill quickly pulled his hand away, not wanting to make him mad again. The brunet felt the loss, mourning it for just the briefest of seconds, then opened his eyes in time to see the fleeting look of worry on the other's face.
"It's ok, Bill. Really. I have been over reacting a bit. It's just that, well, things like undressing and being naked are things you're supposed to keep to yourself, you know? In private. You keep doing it in front of me and it's just...a bit embarrassing. For me."
Bill's face was now painted with confusion. "Hm...embarrassing..." he repeated as he pondered the unfamiliar emotion. "That's a new one for me, I don't quite get it. Because- we're both boys, right? I mean, don't we both have the same parts?"
"Yeah, w-we do, but... certain areas of human bodies are meant to be kept to yourself, ok?" the brunet responded, still a blush of pink in his face.
"But why? What's the big deal if anyone sees if we all look exactly the same?"
Ugh. It was like trying to reason with a child. A grown-up child who had no background on normal human conventions. Dipper pinched the bridge of his nose and drew in a deep breath.
"It's just something you don't do, ok? So just... make sure you always have pants on, or a towel around your waist when you get out of the shower."
Upon saying those last words, Dipper's eyes unconsciously fell to Bill's lower half. The towel was still there (thank goodness) but had slipped down ever so slightly to where it was barely hanging on to his hips. Brown eyes widened in shock. Yes, Bill was just another guy, like himself. He had nicely toned abs, kinda like himself. His skin was unflawed, like his own. But there was something blatantly different. Dipper's mouth dropped a little, and only came out of his lucid bewilderment (?!) when he heard the other speak.
"Hey, Pine Tree?" Bill asked, rather concerned. "Is there something wrong? You're staring at me, and you just got done telling me how we're not supposed to be looking at other people when they're na-"
"Oh! God, sorry!" he quickly apologized as he brought his gaze up to the other's eyes. It was hard not to go back to staring at his mid-section, however. "I'm just shocked...is all. Bill, your body is missing something."
Dipper thought it made perfect sense, actually. Bill wasn't conceived. He didn't spend nine or so months incubating inside another human being to whom he was connected via a permanently attached flesh cord carrying oxygen and nutrients until the day of birth when said cord would be severed off, leaving the connection point on his own body to wither up and fall off, leaving a remarkable scar that would either sink in slightly, or protrude outward. You know, that thing no human being is naturally lacking; that which we have so cleverly dubbed the belly button.
"What?! What's missing?" the blond yelped, as he looked down upon himself, trying to see what was so clearly not there.
His slightly panicked reaction was just cute enough to elicit a small chuckle from Dipper before he reassuringly said, "It's ok, Bill. It's just your belly button. Or, well, your lack of one, actually." Bill scrunched his face, mumbling something about how it was that he was missing a button that was supposed to be attached to his belly. Dipper giggled again. "No, it's not like that. It's kind of like a scar, a spot on our belly that is left behind after we're born."
Bill looked up at him, disappointment now reigning in his eyes. "But...but I wasn't born, was I," he stated, solemnly. "So I'll never have one, or get to see-" he stopped speaking abruptly as his face suddenly lit up. "Wait. That means you have one...right?!" Dipper didn't like where this was going. "Ca-can I see yours?" he hesitantly questioned, hoping he hadn't overstepped the other's oh-so-carefully guarded and diligently outlined boundaries.
Dipper sighed, knowing that Bill was just curious and that it was just a belly button, after all. He lifted his shirt up a bit, just revealing his navel. "See? It's nothing, really, but a scar."
But Bill didn't think it was just nothing. He looked at it with all the fascination of a scientist discovering a new species of insect, or a new planet. He looked down again at his own empty expanse of smooth abdominal skin, running his hand over it. Dipper could almost hear a whiny, spoiled child's demand of 'But, I want one!' come from the dissatisfied look on Bill's face.
"Look at it this way, you are the only person on the planet with no belly button. So that makes you very special! One of a kind, even!" Dipper tried to candy coat it the best way he knew how.
"But I don't want to be special," the blond pouted, still running his fingers over his navel-less skin. "I want to be like you."
Dipper tried not to take that the wrong way, hoping Bill meant special as in 'different' and you as in 'all of the human race'. For some reason, the possibility that Bill meant he, personally, wasn't special didn't sit right with him. Kinda left him feeling a bit, well, sad.
Ugh...stop being stupid, Pines, he mentally admonished himself.
"Well," he began while nervously rubbing the back of his arm, "Y-you are like everyone else... mostly. It's just that one little thing, a-and nobody will probably even notice."
Bill brought his eyes back up to meet Dipper's, about to say something, but there was suddenly a knock on the bathroom door. Mabel didn't quite catch the conversation they were having, but knew right away that there were definitely two people occupying the bathroom. Her face split in two with a toothy grin. She hovered an eager hand over the pocket containing her phone, but then decided against getting it out. Dipper had been tortured enough today, she reasoned.
"Hey you two!" she exclaimed after the final rap of her knuckles on the door. "You boys havin' fun in there?!"
Dipper immediately flung the door open in a manner screaming that there definitely wasn't anything fun going on behind it. "Mabel!" he scolded for the umpteenth time that day. He quickly turned back to Bill. "Hey, you wanna show Mabel?"
Mabel's face immediately paled. "Uuuhh...show Mabel what?" she questioned, worried for the answer, especially after noticing that Bill was only wearing a towel around his waist...that was barely staying on, at that. Like Dipper had said, though, she never noticed anything missing from the blond's abdomen, though it's only fair to mention that Bill's hand was still covering the area.
Bill just stood there, not sure he wanted anyone else to know about what was different about his body that made him "special". "Oh, come on...it's ok to show her. It's just Mabel. She won't laugh or anything. She'll probably think it's really cool, like me!" Dipper tried to reassure.
Mabel's thoughts were swirling. I really don't think I want to know what they're talking about... And if that towel comes off, I am so out of here...
The blond rubbed his hand around his skin a few more times, much like a pregnant woman tends to do over her growing baby within, before shrugging and conceding to Dipper's suggestion. His hand then fell limply to his side.
"So, look at Bill, Mabes. Do you see anything different about him?"
Mabel looked over at Bill, eyes traveling him up and down, but mostly up. She couldn't really see anything that looked out of sorts. "What am I supposed to be looking for?" she questioned both boys. "I saw him this morning, remember? More than I wanted to see..." One more scan over him and she gave up. "I give up. He looks perfectly normal to me."
Dipper smiled. "That's just it! He is perfect. Not a scar on him."
Mabel still looked confused, and was now growing impatient. "Is this some kind of payback for earlier, Dipper? You're gonna play games with me, trying to get me to see something that isn't there?"
"Yes! That's it!" her brother exclaimed. "You can't see it because it's not there!" he exclaimed as he motioned to the spot on Bill's mid-section that should have a belly button.
Mabel's eyes suddenly grew wide and her mouth dropped. "Ohmygosh! Oh, that is soooo neat!" She leaned in a bit closer to Bill, reaching out her hand, but then stopped just short of actually touching the empty spot and looked up at him. "Can I?" she asked.
Dipper raised a brow at her strange request. Bill casually nodded his head, wondering to himself why she would possibly want to touch him, but satisfied that she had asked nicely and so didn't think anything bad would come of it. For some reason, she felt like she had to actually feel that there was no belly button there; as if her eyes were somehow deceiving her, but that her sense of touch would prove it to be true.
She slowly closed the distance and ran her fingers over the smooth skin. Stating the obvious, she blurted out, "Wow! It's really not there! Dipper, why doesn't he have one?" she questioned, suddenly concerned, like a mother who had just found out her newborn baby was missing a toe.
Dipper explained his previous thoughts to her as she continued to feel around Bill's tummy, as if doing it long enough would result in finding it, after all. She found Dipper's theory to be quite sound, accepting it as solid truth.
When Bill began to squirm a little, Mabel apologized and backed away. She was now standing shoulder to shoulder with her twin, to whom she leaned her head to the side and whispered, "He has really soft skin, Dipper...did you feel it? It's like a baby's!"
Dipper's first response to this was a sharp tug on his sister's arm in the direction of the door. "No, I didn't," he whispered back. Then, speaking louder so all who were present could hear, "Now, let's go so Bill can get dressed, shall we?!" He hastily ushered himself and his sister out the door and up the stairs.
The blond left behind just blinked once, shrugged, and proceeded to dress himself.
'He is perfect.' He smiled as he remembered these words Dipper spoke during the exchange with his sister.
Thanks, Pine Tree. I think you are perfect, too.
