No, I don't own Gravity Falls. That's pretty obvious, don't you think?

This takes place sometime during or after the episode "Dugeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons", but before the episode "Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future".

Also, I have no idea how to play the game that Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons is based off of, or the game in the show, so I'm going out on a limb here...

Defects

Ford shook the die in his polydactyl hands. Seated across from him with his eyes trained on the board was Dipper. The two had been locked in a game of Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons for longer than they could remember.

Ford let the die roll out of his hands. It skidded on the board for a moment, before landing with "12" facing up.

"Hmph," Dipper huffed. "Not your best roll... I guess you still beat the spell."

Ford crossed his arms. "It's your own fault for making a simple spell like that," he mocked. "A toddler could've easily beaten that."

Dipper looked up at him with a sly smirk. "Maybe," he drawled. "Maybe not."

"Why so smug?" Ford asked, narrowing his eyes. Dipper shrugged dismissively. "You're hiding something, aren't you?"

Dipper shook his head. "Why, whatever do you mean?"

Ford rolled his eyes. "Bluffing, are we?"

Dipper shrugged again. "You don't know that."

They continued playing the game for hours. Occasionally, they would engage in conversation, but for the most part their attention was trained onto the game, the game in which neither could gain the upper-hand.

After a few minutes with little words spoken, however, Ford decided to voice his own thoughts aloud.

"Dipper... sometimes I wonder why I'm the only one with a birth defect in this family," he mused, his gaze flickering to his six-fingered hands. For a moment, Dipper said nothing. His gaze was still fixed onto the board.

Then...

"Three..." Dipper muttered, his gaze still unwavering. Ford raised a brow in confusion.

"What do you mean, 'three'?"

Dipper finally lifted his vision to lock gazes with Ford. "I have three."

"Three what?" Ford asked, bemused. Dipper shrugged.

"Three birth defects," he told him casually. Ford blinked as Dipper went on. "I think you only have one... your hands, right?"

Ford nodded, his head tilted slightly to the side in both curiosity and confusion. "Yes, that's true... but you have three? What are they?"

At those words, Dipper's face reddened. "Nothing," he mumbled, averting his gaze, as if he was silently cursing himself for saying anything in the first place.

"Dipper, you can tell me."

Dipper sighed, before straightening. "Hold out your hand," he ordered. Ford did so, confused.

"Your hand has six fingers, right?" Dipper asked, stating the obvious. Ford nodded, not sure where this was going.

Dipper held out his own hand. "Now, look, can you see anything wrong with mine?"

Ford squinted his eyes, but for a moment, he couldn't see anything strange. When he did, however, he let out a half-stifled gasp and mentally slapped himself for only noticing now.

"You only have four fingers," he whispered. Dipper nodded, lowering his hand. Ford did so too.

"It's not actually uncommon," Dipper shrugged. "Mabel only has four, too."

Dipper smirked slightly. "You know, though, I'm a little surprised you only noticed now."

Ford gaped. "Wow. I feel like an imbecile."

Then Ford shook his head as if to clear it. "But, okay, that was one, what are the other two?"

Dipper sighed. "Okay, this one is... very uncommon. I don't know anyone else that has this..."

He trailed off, before he shook his head. He looked Ford straight in the eyes. "This might sound... very... unbelievable... but... I don't have any bones in my arms."

Ford, for a moment, thought he was joking. But then he looked at Dipper's expression. It was dead-serious. "W-what do you mean?" Ford stuttered.

Dipper sighed, setting a card he had had in one hand to the side. "I mean, because of that, I can do this."

Dipper extended his arms, and moved them slightly. To Ford's shock, they actually waved in the air, unhindered by any bones, and Ford couldn't find any words. When he did, however, all he could say was a whisper. "What the..."

Dipper lowered his arms to his side. "Mabel calls it 'noodle arms', which I guess kind of fits, so sometimes I do too."

"D-Dipper... doesn't that... How... WHAT!?"

Dipper let out a soft laugh as Ford tried to make sense of this. "Y-you... how can you even grab anything? I mean, you only have four fingers, and you have no arm-bones? Dipper, how can you do anything?"

Dipper shrugged, dismissing it casually. "I don't know. I've never known anything else, so I guess it's natural."

"Dipper, that is... I've never seen anything like that, and I've been in over a thousand dimensions."

Dipper shrugged again, and Ford thought he was acting way too relaxed.

"Dipper, have you told Stan about that? I mean, you've been living with him all summer, and-"

"Ford, let's be honest," Dipper sighed. "If I told Stan, he'd make me into another one of his stupid attractions."

"Fair enough," Ford murmured, still stunned. "But what's the last one?"

"Well, you already know about that one. It's just my birthmark."

"Okay... but Dipper, do you know how strange that is? How strange all of that is? That's unnatural!"

Dipper flinched away, and Ford wished he could take it back. "I-I didn't mean it like that," he reassured, though he didn't know if he did a very good job of it.

Dipper sighed. "It's... okay."

For a few long moments, there were no more words spoken between the two. Dipper still looked hurt, and his eyes were fixed onto the floor, with his shoulders sagging slightly. Ford cursed himself in his head for being so foolish with his word choice. "Dipper... I seriously didn't mean it like that. All of those things make you unique-"

"Unique isn't always a good thing," Dipper retorted. "I don't know anyone else like Bill Cipher. He's unique, but that doesn't make it good. It doesn't make him good..."

"Dipper, you're right. These things don't make us good, but they also don't make us bad, either. All of that doesn't matter if it's on the outside. It just matters in your heart... And there's nothing wrong with your heart."

"Ford..." Dipper started, but he didn't say anymore for a long while. Then he gave a deep sigh. "Thanks..." he muttered.

Then the boy straightened up, realization lighting in his eyes. "Oh, I forgot one."

Ford tilted his head slightly. "One what?"

Dipper rolled his eyes. "What have we been talking about, Ford? One more defect that we both have... And, well, basically everyone else has it, too. With the amount of people who have it, I think it's more normal than strange."

"Okay, but what is it?"

Dipper smirked. "Oh, you don't know? The amazing Ford can't figure this out?"

Ford rolled his eyes. "Come on, just tell me."

"We all have aniridia. It-"

"Dipper, I know what that is."

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but some people don't," he huffed, breaking the fourth wall. "It's when we don't have any irises. I mean, I can't be the only one who noticed that hardly any of us have irises?"

Ford gave out a laugh. "I guess we all have a lot of defects."

Dipper shook his head. "No... I don't think they're defects... A defect is something wrong with you... I think it's just... right. It's just right."

Ford smiled softly. "I think I like that better."

"I do too."