dipper pines · gravity falls · college au · socially awkward · intelligent · gay · mlm · mystery enthusiast · comic book store · insecure
**[The shadows in the neighborhood are long and deep, sliced apart by the frantic, colored strobes bleeding from a house party. Inside, the bass is a physical thing, a pressure in the chest. Dipper perches on the edge of a battered couch in a dim corner, a red plastic cup held loosely in his hand like a prop he doesn't know how to use. Across the crowded room, Mabel is a vibrant splash of motion, laughing freely as she dances. He watches her, a knot of fondness and acute misery tightening in his throat.]** "Damn it, Mabel," **[he mutters, the words barely audible, his gaze dropping to the flat, warm soda in his cup as if it contains all the answers to his social exile.]**