George's Archery Practice

SUMMARY: George shows off his archery skills; Dipper tells George a dark secret.

MAIN CHARACTERS: George Grand and Dipper Pines

George Grand was walking across the grassy football field with a bright yellow shirt with black shorts and white tennis shoes, him with a group of other students wearing similar attire heading towards a line of targets in the middle of the field.

It was gym class, something that he enjoyed because he got to run around for a little bit. He glances over to the side, seeing Dipper doing stretches, him with a frown on his face.

"Still not a fan of gym, Dipper?" George laughs, him stretching as well a bit.

"If I want to be outside I rather be in the woods," Dipper comments. "Running around in the woods is better than running for that guy." The brunette then gestures to the gym teacher, Mr. Ark, who was a brooding man with dark hair and big arms. The two boys give each other grimaces after glancing at the gym teacher.

"ALRIGHT LADIES," Mr. Ark barked out to his all male class, his voice deep and booming. "TODAY WE WILL BE DOING ARCHERY."

A few people groaned while George gives a grin. His weapon of choice is a crossbow, or sometimes a more technical bow gun. But, he did know archery as his family had done it on weekends. This was his specialty.

"This is gonna be fun," George says to Dipper, whom just rolled his eyes. "Archery is my thing."

"I rather shoot a gun," Dipper mutters, crossing his arms.

"PINES, YOU ARE TO BE SEATED OUT FOR THIS!" Mr. Ark bellowed.

Dipper makes an odd strangled sound. "WHAT!? Why!?" he shouts, the other boys were snickering at him, except for George.

"IT'S ALL IN YOUR FILE, PINES, NOW SIT ON THE SIDELINES!"

Grumbling to himself Dipper goes and sits on the edge of the grass, him tearing it up extremely bored. The other boys lined up and were all each handed a bow with a few arrows. Immediately George gets into his stance that he was used to, a few others trying to mimic him.

"ALRIGHT NOW, LADIES, I WANT YOU TO LOAD UP!" as Mr. Ark bellowed out in his deep voice George was already in position and actually shot the furthest target with great accuracy. Mr. Ark narrows his sky blue eyes at the dark blonde. "GRAND, I DIDN'T SAY START YET!"

"Well… I know archery, you were taking too long to explain," George pointed out, him giving a shrug.

"WELL I AM THE TEACHER-"

"Who obviously doesn't know a damn thing about archery," George interrupts. "Like for one, you didn't tell what the proper stance was. The feet should be shoulder length apart, a lot of people use a neutral stance though… everyone here is just standing like they don't want to be here."

"GRAND, ONE MORE WORD OUT OF YOU-"

"You also didn't mention about how to properly hold the bow-"

"YOU AND PINES GO TO THE OFFICE!"

"What the hell did I do!?" Dipper shouts from where he was sitting.

"YOU WERE SASSING TOO, BOY!"

"Have you met my great uncles!?" Dipper shouts back. "Where do you think I get it from!?"

George drops the bow and stalks over to Dipper. The dark blonde was grumbling to himself angrily. The two ended up going into the locker room and getting changed from their gym clothes to their normal school clothes.

"You know, I knew you knew how to use a crossbow, but actual archery?" Dipper tells George, him impressed. "That's pretty sweet."

"Eh," Geroge shrugged. "My family did it for years, my older brother was competitive in it."

Dipper whistles. "Were you in competitions as well?" he asked as he zipped up his navy blue hoodie, putting his pine tree hat on his head.

"Mounting competitions," George admits. "It's a difficult one, but surprisingly I'm good at it."

"You were riding a horse shooting a bow?" Dipper gasps.

"Yeah… why do you think I'm so good shooting while we're moving?" George tells him, the dark blonde putting on the sweater that Mabel had knitted for him a week prior. It was a dark green and in the center had an arrow. Once she found out about him being good at archery she insisted for an arrow to be his symbol, like she was a shooting star or that Dipper was a pine tree.

Dipper looks uneasy. "Hey… I didn't really know that, I'm not familiar with seeing you in action," he muttered as he grabbed his books and walked out of the locker room.

George winced, recalling the time that Dipper wasn't around because of his deal with Bill. He then calls out to his friend, "Dipper, hey man, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up-"

"It's fine." Dipper cuts him off curtly, maybe a little too harsh. "Sorry, I just meant… ugh, I don't know." He then takes off his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose. With a sigh he puts them back on. "I didn't mean to snap at you."

"Hey… it's okay, Dip, it's understandable." George tells him. The two boys then walked into the office and they explained what happed. Their gym class was their last period of the day, so they just sat in the office as they worked on their homework. "Hey, would you want to learn how to use a bow and arrow?" George then suddenly asked Dipper as the final bell rang.

Dipper raises a brown brow. "Learn to shoot one? Well, that seems interesting…" the brunette commented. "Sure, I'd like to learn."

"I know the Northwest Manor has archery equipment, we can go after school," George tells him. "I've shown Mabel a little bit."

"Alright, sure, why not?" Dipper agrees.

As school ended the two boys managed to get through the halls and get to Mabel and Pacifica. George tells the girls the plan on teaching Dipper how to use a bow and arrow, and both girls give a smile.

"Well, you two boys can play Robin Hood, I was going to help Pacifica sew a few dresses." Mabel responds.

Dipper sighed, "That would explain why you brought your sewing machine."

The group of four then walk to the Northwest Manor, both Pacifica and Mabel talking about different kinds of fabrics as Dipper and George walked in silence. Once they made it to the manor the girls immediately went upstairs to work on their sewing as Dipper and George went to the main garden of the manor to get to the very large shed that held the various sport equipment.

Both boys grab a bow, a quiver of arrows, and dragged a few targets out into the field. George helped Dipper get into position, telling him the correct terms and even simplifying them to remember easily. Dipper was able to hold the bow correctly, but every time he went to shoot the arrow would snap back and almost hit him in the face. George however was shooting the targets perfectly, the arrows on the target getting closer to each other.

"Do you know why Mr. Ark made you sit on the sidelines?" George asks Dipper as he helped him with his arrow again.

"Um… I have no idea," Dipper replies nonchalantly, him giving a side glance to George. Dipper then shoots the arrow, it hitting the target, but nowhere near the bullseye, but he still successfully shot it nonetheless. "Sweet, I did it!"

George gives his friend a skeptical look. He then shoots a few more arrows, the years of repetition coming back to him. It was almost automatic, everything feeling like it was as simple as breathing.

"Are you sure…?" George asks again, this time pressing.

Dipper lowers the bow and glares at George. "Okay… I do know, but I need you to not tell Mabel and Pacifica about it!"

George shot one last arrow, still staring at Dipper, his stone-grey eyes wide. Dipper Pines, the guy that has one of the most difficult times trusting people, was about to share a secret with him. The arrow that he shot missed the target completely and there was a crash in the distance, a cat screeching in panic.

"What… is so bad that it's on your record…?" George shakily asks, him lowering the bow.

Dipper sighs. He then glances around, his brown eyes narrowed as if he was making sure no one was around. "Okay… the reason why it's on my record is because I'm not allowed to have a gun right now," he whispered.

George gives his friend a confused look. Dipper was considered a great marksmen, him being an expert at a sniper rifle. Why would he not be allowed to have a gun? "Why, Dipper?" George finally asked.

Dipper then closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Did… did Mabel tell you I went into the woods and found Bill's statue?" he asked George curiously.

George's heart skipped a beat. "N-no… she hadn't…" he admitted.

"Well… that was how I got my memories back… and," Dipper continued, his voice wavering. "But… it was like I just wanted to get rid of them again… so I took a gun to my head and almost pulled the trigger, but Grunkle Ford came in and stopped me…" he then gives George a defeated look. "Please… don't tell Mabel or Pacifica… they're already worried about me enough, I don't want to burden them anymore." He then hands George the bow. "You probably don't trust me with this anymore, huh?"

George pushes the bow back to him. "Dude, a bow and arrow is okay… I trust you, like you trusted me with that," he told his friend as he smiled lightly. "Besides… if you keep going into the woods, you need some sort of defense, right?"

Dipper's eyes widened. "You… you trust me?" the brunette whispered in shock.

"Yeah, why not?" George shrugged. "You're a good guy, Dipper, you're still recovering. Also, you're my girlfriend's twin brother, I have to make sure I stay on your good side," he then gave a laugh.

The two then continued to shoot their arrows, Dipper surprisingly getting better with each time. George's skill was sharp and impressive. After a few minutes there was then clapping from behind. Both George and Dipper spun around to see both Mabel and Pacifica clapping.

"Wow, you two are great!" Mabel cheered excitedly. "And George, damn, you said you were mediocre, you scallywag!"

"Dipper, you need to stand up straight more," Pacifica informed.

"Oh, like you can do better!?" Dipper shot back. She then took his bow and an arrow from his quiver and gets into the correct position. The blonde gives the brunette a wink and shot the arrow perfectly to the bullseye. "Fair enough…" Dipper then sighed.

"Did you two have fun?" Mabel then asked George.

Both George and Dipper give each other a look.

"We had fun," they both said in unison.

The four then put away all the archery equipment, someone telling them that dinner was ready. Mabel already called the Shack and informed Stan that they were having dinner at the manor. As they sat at the table, along with all the other children and widowed mothers, George glanced at Dipper, thinking that it was so weird that he trusted him that much to him such a dark secret.

Hey, we're actually becoming better friends.

A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry about the lack of updates! So, I hope you guys enjoy a little George and Dipper bonding!

You guys seeing the theme yet?

Thanks for reading as always!

~Skye Hendersen~