It had been a few days since Dipper was literally thrown out of the house and things weren't so bad. He took peoples' orders and the other residents at Gravity Falls were starting to warm up to him again. They were noticing the humbled change in the boy and their kindness came out of a mixture of goodness and pity. He had discovered a sheltered place in the alley and with some of his money from tips he was able to make it more suitable for living. He figured he would have somewhere real to stay by the time winter rolled around.

Everything was fine. Until Bud sauntered into Greasy's Diner during Dipper's shift. He plopped down at one of the tables with Mrs. Gleeful across from him. She looked as nervous and scared as always, a wide, clearly fake smile plastered across her face. Bud had a confident, challenging look about him, as if to say I'm the one in charge here.

Dipper waited nervously for someone to go up to the table and take their orders, but no one came. With a deep breath, he steeled his nerves and pushed the door to the kitchen open, walking out and stopping at Bud's table.

"G-good morning. M-may I take y-your order?" He stuttered. His grip on his notepad tightened as Bud looked up from his menu and gave him a shocked look. His expression quickly changed to malice.

"Why you little…" Bud stopped himself with a deep breath. "You doin' this to spite me, boy?" He growled.

Dipper shook his head frantically. "N-no!" He squeaked.

"Well, tell that to my fist." He barked, slapping Dipper across his face. "Quit shakin' yer head, boy, or it just might fall off."

With that he stood and left, marching out of the otherwise empty restaurant. Mrs. Gleeful looked like she wanted to say something, but a shout from Bud made her scurry nervously out, shooting Dipper a pleading glance as she passed him. He just looked away from her, cupping his now red cheek in his hands.

Almost as soon as the Gleefuls left, the Pineses (is that how you spell it?) walked in and took a seat by the windows.

Dipper waited a little while, watching Bill, Pacifica, Stan, and Ford laugh and talk. From the way Paz's eyes gleamed and how she waved her hands in the air, she must have been telling one of her Waddles stories. He wished he had a family like that.

As he neared, the sound of their conversation came within earshot. "-and then I said 'Don't touch that dial 'cause the hog just ate it!' and pushed the air horn button a few times. Then the fart button. And the whole time, Waddles was chewing one of the dials!" She laughed as she explained the story.

"I know, Paz. I was there." Bill snorted, but a smile was on his face, showing he didn't really mind. Dipper's stomach felt like one of Lazy Susan's pancakes mid-flip at the sight of his smile. He shook the thoughts from his head and bridged the distance between him and the Pines family.

Once Stan saw him, a scowl spread across his face, making him look down. Pacifica looked as bubbly as usual and Bill seemed to brighten when he noticed Dipper. Ford looked on scene with interest, like he was watching a heated tennis match.

Dipper asked the customary question and Pacifica made no hesitation to order. Ford followed. He was fairly neutral in this situation. But Bill frowned when he noticed the red hand print on the side of Dipper's face.

"Dipper, are you okay?" He asked, eyeing the hand print.

Dipper flashed a please, don't ask look. "Fine." He replied, quietly. Even Stan seemed a little off put by the way the Gleeful kid sounded. He spoke softly with a note of broken-ness to his voice that seemed to make the temperature in the room drop ten degrees.

After that, the Pines family came in daily. They didn't let anyone know, but it wasn't because the food was good (even though it was pretty amazing). It was so they could check on Dipper. Each day he showed up with more bruises or red marks, like someone had been giving him a daily dosage of abuse. When they got back, Bill would be more worried than before, and Pacifica would have to comfort him an extra ten or fifteen minutes each day to the point where it took hours to calm him down.

It had been just over a week or so of this routine. Today Ford and Stan weren't there. Stan was managing the tours that day and Ford was pulling an all-nighter of research so Bill and Pacifica were the only ones to show up. Literally. When they got there, no one else was there. Someone might have been in the kitchen, but other than that the place was empty. They sat down and waited a bit, but Dipper never showed up.

"Paz… do you think he's okay?" Bill asked, his nerves fraying.

Pacifica reached across the table and patted him on the head, ruffling his blonde hair. "I'm sure he just doesn't know we're here. It's not exactly busy. You want to go look for him?" She asked, giving him a reassuring smile. Bill nodded, golden eyes like a sad puppy's.

The two stood and looked behind the counter. A few taps, a couple of them busted. No Dipper. They peeked into the kitchen. The only one there was Lazy Susan, dozing in a chair. No Dipper. They looked in the back. Cleaning supplies, baking ingredients, etc. No Dipper. Bill was about ready to cry.

"He-he's never late or absent or anything. Where could he have gone?" Bill sniffled and looked to Pacifica for help.

She was as uncertain as him. "I really don't know. We should get Stan and Ford and go look. He could be hurt or-" She broke off when she realized she wasn't helping. "Er, right. Let's go look for Dipper."

Together, the Pines kids ran out of Greasy's. As they began searching for Dipper, Pacifica called their uncles and they went and helped search the forest area. Pacifica searched the north end of town and Bill the south. With Stan and Ford in the forest, they had all of Gravity Falls covered.

Stan mostly tripped over roots and angered gnomes.

Ford ran into a colony of fairies and couldn't resist stopping to take notes.

Pacifica ran into Candy and Grenda and got caught up in her girl talk.

Bill had no idea he was now the only one truly looking. As he ran through the same streets for the fifth time, he noticed something that he hadn't heard before. The muffled sound of someone groaning. He backtracked a few paces and found himself in an alley. The groan sounded louder now. Then it stopped altogether. Bill's heart pounded so hard, he was convinced even that star-shaped demon he had met earlier that summer could hear it. Gideon, was it? Ugh, it doesn't matter! Bill thought. He searched around the alley, looking around trashcans and disturbing a couple of scruffy stray cats.

Then he looked around the side of the dumpster. His breath hitched when he saw a motionless shape lying there. A twelve-year-old boy in jeans and a blue and black striped T-shirt. A turquoise stone connected to a pocket watch chain lay in the palm of his hand, fingers wrapped tightly around it. His head was tipped back, eyes closed, one leg bent at an awkward angle. But worst of all was the bad gash reaching from his forehead to his temple, blood pooled around him and stained on his clothes, the cut going through a birthmark on his forehead that had once resembled the Big Dipper. Bill cupped his hands over his mouth and gave a silent scream. He hated blood. The sight of the stuff turned his stomach against him. He resisted the urge to throw up and whipped out his phone, dialing Pacifica's number.

"Hey there, cuz! How's the search going?" She asked, anxiously.

Bill swallowed hard and forced the words out, resisting the urge to start screaming. "Well… I found him. Get Stan and Ford over here now. I'm gonna need some help." He gave her his location and hung up before she could get a word in. "It'll be okay, Dipper. You're going to be fine. Help is on the way." Bill murmured, taking deep breaths to calm his nerves. He sat beside the battered boy and tried not to focus on how lifeless he looked this way. So pale and broken, blood dripping down his forehead, his mouth open slightly like he had been mid-sentence when he went unconscious. Bill shook aside the thoughts and gripped Dipper's hand. "Everything's okay. It's all going to turn out fine…" This time it was more to convince himself.

Dipper shifted a bit. His blinked and looked around a moment before his eyes closed again. "B-bill?" He croaked out his name as if it hurt, which it probably did.

"Yeah. Yeah, it's me, Dipper. Help is coming. Everything's going to be fine." He insisted.

Maybe it was Bill's imagination, but the other smiled just a bit at the sound of his voice.

"Of course. You're here, right?" He murmured. Then he slipped out of consciousness again, leaving Bill nervous and flustered, just as Pacifica, Stan, and Ford turned the corner into the alley.

A/N: please don't hate me for all of this. it's just part of the prompt i'm using. everything really will turn out okay. cool? cool.