~~~~~~~~~Your POV~~~~~~~~~

Stan and I had opened the shack about an hour ago, and this man had been here since we opened the shop and still hadn't bought anything.

Needless to say we were starting to get very annoyed.

He looked over at us. "I like to get my Christmas shopping done early. Do you have anything that's in the spirit of the season?"

"Uh, how about these crystals?" Stan said as he picked up a bowl.

The dude laughed. "Looks like broken glass!"

Stan raised an eyebrow. "What are you, a cop?"

"Oh, what is that new thing?!?" The guy ran off to the shelves, making me let out a sigh.

I had to admit, some of the costumers were very, very annoying.

A few seconds after than, Dipper and Mabel walked into the gift shop, looking at Stan. Dipper was the first to speak. "Grunkle Stan?"

"Can we go to the diner? We're huuungryyy!" Mabel said as she grabbed her stomach.

Dipper did the same as his sister. "Huuungryyy!"

They made zombie groans as they bumped stomachs. I couldn't help but laugh at how stupidly hilarious they were sometimes.

"Yeah, sure, as long as this yahoo makes up his mind." Stan pointed at the costumer, who looked at us as he pointed at a fish on the wall.

"Do you have this in another animal?"

Mabel looked at me. "Hey (y/n), wanna join us for brunch?!?"

I looked at Stan who gave me a shrug, then smiled at the twins. "I'm not too hungry since Mom made breakfast for me, but sure, I'll hang around!"

We all looked at the costumer, who seemed nowhere near to finishing. We stayed a few seconds in silence before Stan looked at us. "I'm fine locking him inside if you are."

The three of us nodded. Quickly getting the tools, we barricaded the gift shop door, running to the car. By the pace this dude was going, I doubt he'd notice it soon.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

When we arrived, the diner was pretty packed with people, but we managed to find an empty table pretty quickly. Greasy's Diner, owned by Lazy Susan, is one of the best places for food in the town! My mom and I come here all the time!

Soon after sitting down, Lazy Susan walked over to us, and I noticed a smile grow on Stan's face which made me feel uneasy in a way. I had never seen him give a genuine smile.

"Lazy Susan, there's my little ray of sunshine! Where were you yesterday~?"

"I got hit by a bus!!!" She said in excitement. I have to admit, even if I've lived here my whole life, I still can't get used to the people.

Stan laughed uncontrollably as he punched the table. "Hilarious!!!"

"Thank you!!!" She then laughed for an awkward amount of time.

Stan looked at the menu. "You do split plates, right?"

"Maybe~!" She grabbed her closed eye lid, opening it before closing it since for some reason that eye couldn't open on its own. "Wink~!"

"Great!!! We'll all split a one fourth of the number seven, plus a free salad dressing for the ladies and a small plate of ketchup for the boy!"

After that, Susan left, and Mabel nudged Stan's arm. "But Grunkle Stan, I want some pancakes!"

"With the fancy flour they use these days? What am I, made of money?" As he lift up his arm, a dollar popped out of his sleeve, casually tapping it back inside. "Tap tap."

"Aww..."

I noticed Dipper look to the side, soon looking back as he cracked his knuckles, leaning back against the chair. "Don't worry, guys, pancakes or on me."

"What, you brought extra cash?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He shook his head. "No, but I'm gonna win some by winning that manliness tester."

"Manliness tester?"

"You?"

"Beating?"

Stan, Mabel, and I said one after the other looking at each other in silence before breaking out into laughter.

"What? What's so funny?" I heard Dipper ask as I tried to calm down.

Mabel was the first to speak. "Oh no offense, Dipper, but you're not exactly Manly Mannington!"

"Hey, I am too manly- mani- or whatever it is you said!"

"Look, face the music, kid. You got no muscles, you smell like baby wipes, and let's not forget about last Tuesday's incident~" Stan example.

I tilted by head in curiosity. "What incident?"

~~~~~Flashback - Third Person POV~~~~~

Dipper was singing in front of the bathroom mirror after showering, holding a brush with a smile, wearing only a towel around his waist.

"Disco girl!!! Coming through!!! That girl is you!!!"

Stan opened the bathroom door, and Dipper immediately entered in panic as he dropped the brush. "DON'T COME IN DON'T COME IN!!!"

~~~~~Present Day - Your POV~~~~~

"You were listening to girly Icelandic pop sensation Babba?!?" Mabel asked, a bit surprised as she tried to contain her laughter.

I turned to see Dipper's now pink face. "No, haha, I wasn't-! That's not important!!! Look, I'm plenty masculine!!! See this chest here?!?"

He pulled down his shirt, showing us his bare chest which was paler than damn snow! We all covered our faces, each yelling something.

"PUT IT AWAY!!! PUT IT AWAY!!!"

"I'VE BEEN BLINDED!!!"

"SO SMOOTH!!! MY EYES!!!"

Dipper fixed his shirt, looking down in defeat. "Oh man..."

Stan and Mabel laughed some more, though I was starting to feel a little bad..

Dipper looked at us with a serious expression. "Fine, family of little faith, get ready to eat your words. And a plate of delicious pancakes."

He walked over to the machine, waiting for about twenty seconds before Stan yelled at him to 'Get it over with'. He tried what he could, but unfortunately he scored the lowest score in the chart, and that made me feel even worse.

He tried to convince everyone that the machine was broken, but to even worse luck, Manly Dan walked over and easily won the highest score. Dipper looked over to see Stan and Mabel laughing much more than before.

As soon as his eyes met mine, he ran out of the diner, leaving me feeling awful about laughing, so I decided to follow him.

Unfortunately I lost track of him when he went into the forest. After some minutes of searching I finally found him. I sat on a tree and saw him lifting weights with-... a tree branch.

And he could barely lift.

"Two.............. three............ four............." He panted after throwing it to the side, looking into his chest. "No chest hair yet..."

"I don't think it works that way, Pinetree." Dipper let out a small yell as I walked over.

Once he saw it was me, his expression fell in defeat. "Oh, it's just you. What, gonna continue making fun of me?"

Jeez, dude, stop making me feel worse! "No, I came to apologize. Sorry for laughing."

He stayed quiet for a bit. "Well, thank you. But you all were right anyways.."

"Oh c'mon, so you're not as strong as others, that doesn't make you any less special. Strength isn't just muscles, real strength comes from one's heart." I said as I sat down beside him, feeling poetic.

He let out a sigh. "I dunno..." He stayed silent for a bit when his eyes soon lit up, looking at me. "Hey, you can do spells, is there any chance you can make me have more muscles, and chest hair?!"

I cringed at the thought, shaking my head. "Sorry, P.T., I can't do that to you."

"Wha- why not?!"

"Because then you wouldn't be you. And giving you something like that would be more of a curse than a blessing. Spells are more dangerous than you think." I explained.

His expression quickly fell as he looked down at the bag of jerky in his hands, reading the label.

'You're Inadequate.'

"You said it, brother.." He said in response, soon looking up. "I need help.."

I was about to protest when the ground started rapidly shaking, and a small stampede of animals ran in front of us.

Manly Dan was running behind the animals in pure fear, making me really worried. "FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S HOLY, RUN!!!"

Dipper ran over to take his hat which was on a tree stump, and my eyes widen as a tree was about to fall on him, casting a quick spell to prevent it from doing so.

It was then that we saw it: I large beast-like creature emerged from the bushes, Dipper and I letting out a scream. I had only heard about these creatures, and I definitely didn't want to mess with them.

"Wait, sorry!" Dipper said as he realized his scream, replacing it with a deep roar sound, soon coughing as I glared at him.

The beast roared loudly, causing the ground to shake, through it soon turned into a yawn as it grabbed a nearby deer to scratch its back, soon throwing it away.

Poor deer.

It soon then looked at us, its pupils shrinking, sending chills down our spine.

"S-stay back!!! I-I- I haven't showered in like a week, a-and I'll all bones!!!"

I gave Dipper a disgusted look after he spoke, and he shrunk down in embarrassment as I scooted away a bit.

"YOU!!!" We both froze as the creature spoke, soon pointing at the bag of jerky. "Gonna finish that?"

Pinetree and I exchanged a glance. "... no?"

He through the bag at the beast who soon started eating it, and we were able to get a better look at him.

"Part human, part animal...!" He said as he observed the beast with me, I spoke after.

"Whoa, are you some sort of minotaur?"

"I'm a manitaur!!! Half man, half uh- half taur!!!" The beast replied as he punched the ground.

Dipper tilted his head. "So did we like summon you or-?"

"The smell of jerky summoned me!!! JERKY!!!" He then punched through a tree before breaking a wooden plank with his forehead. "YEAH!!!"

Ok, I'm starting to see what a brute he is.

He then stopped moving, sniffing the air. "I smell..." He leaned over to Dipper, sniffing him. I couldn't decided who smelled worse.

"Emotional issues...!"

"You smelled that?"

"I got problems, manitaur. Man related problems." Dipper responded, making the beast sit down and pat his leg, which Dipper sat beside.

We're really doing this now?

"Well, my own uncle called me a wimp, and I kinda flunked this manliness video game thing.. Hey, you know, you seem pretty manly, maybe you could give me some pointers?"

"Hm, very well!!!" The beast stood up after Dipper's explanation, turning around. "Climb on top of my back here, child!"

"Uh, ok...?"

"Whoa, hey!" I grabbed his vest, pulling him back to me. "You're not actually going, are you?!"

He gave me a sympathetic smile. "C'mon, (y/n), this is my chance!"

"Chance to what, die in the woods?!"

"Maybe I can become more manly through his guidance! Let me have this... please..."

I didn't like this at all, but if it's what he wanted.. "Alright, fine. But I'm coming with you."

"Sorry, it's a "No Females Aloud" zone." Said the beast, making me shoot a glare at him.

"Excuse me?"

"Females are not manly enough."

"IS THAT A CHALLENGE?!?"

"(y/n), relax!!!" I felt Dipper place a hand on my shoulder. "I'll be fine!"

I shook off his hand. "I'm not letting you go with this sexist bastard!!!"

"He's not being sexist, he's just making a point!"

"Wait, you agree with him?!?"

"No- yes- I mean-"

I raised a hand, signaling him to stop talking as I felt anger boil inside me. "You've said enough, go on your little trip, jerks deserve to be their kind!"

With that, I stormed off. I could hear Dipper calling for me, but I just ignored it until his voice wasn't heard.

If being 'Manly' just means who wins the trophy for biggest jerk, then I want nothing to do with them.

I finally made it home to see Mabel, Wendy, Stan, and Soos, who was for some reason dressed as Lazy Susan? "Uh, hey guys?"

Mabel turned to me with a smile. "Hi (y/n)!!! You're just in time!!!"

"We're trying to help Stan ask out Lazy Susan." Wendy then spoke.

"Wow, seriously?" I mean, I knew he'd been oddly friendly with her recently, but this is kinda weird.

"Yeah, and we need your help!!!"

I shrugged. "What can I help with though?"

Mabel's expression fell into a tired one. "We just need all the help we can get..."

I couldn't help but snicker. At least this would keep my mind distracted.

And so I spend the rest of the day helping Mabel with Stan. It literally took hours! However, Dipper didn't come at all. I was beginning to get worried.

Actually, no. He's 'manly' now, I don't have to worry about him.

Fortunately, Mabel called me over for something and I was able to take my mind off him.

She was holding up a before picture of Stan, covering him from our view. "Ok, Grunkle Stan, you started like this, and became.....?"

Mabel removed the picture, showing us Stan who was a lot worse than the before picture, making me cringed to hard inside. "Can I scratch myself now?"

"No!!! No no no!!! Is that throw up on your shirt...?!?"

"... I don't know how to answer that." Stan said as an answer to her question.

She ripped the picture in half, letting it fall on the ground as she sighed heavily in frustration.

Wendy turned to her. "Face it, Mabel. Your uncle's unfixable. Like that spinning pie trolly thing at the diner."

That's when her eyes suddenly lit up as she smiled brightly, running to the doorway. "Grunkle Stan, come with me!!! And leave your pants at home!!!"

"With pleasure!"

I decided to follow them. I was bored and there was still about two hours until my mom got home from work. Once at the diner, we saw Lazy Susan punching the pie trolly as she yelled 'Spin' over and over again.

"Lazy Susan, listen." Mabel said as she walked over. "I know he's not much to look at, but you're always fixing stuff in the diner, and if you like fixing stuff nothing could use more fixing than my Grunkle Stan! Also women live longer than men so your dating pool's smaller and you should really lower your standards."

"So, Lazy Susan, w-what do you say?" I gotta be honest, this is the first time I've seen Stan nervous.

Unfortunately, she just walked away without word, Stan letting out a sigh of defeat, and we all started walking to the door.

However, she then walked back to us as she waved a tiny paper. "Hey!!! Here's mu number!!! Why don't you give me a call sometime?!?"

Stan looked at the paper, slightly shocked. "Really..?!"

"Really!!!" She let out a laugh, placing a pie on the both next to us. "Also, here's some pie, on the house, for you!!!" Then she want into the back, the three of us sitting on the booth.

"We did it!!!" Mabel squealed in excitement.

"Thanks, kid! Although I'm not so sure what I did

"When are you gonna call?!? You wanna call now?!? I don't have a phone!!! Let's buy a phone!!! We can put it on a credit card!!! Let's get a credit card!!!"

"Mabel, let a man enjoy his pie, huh?"

I couldn't help but chuckle at the scene, Mabel was hilarious.

"DIPPER!!!" We were startled at her sudden yell, seeing her now pressed against the window as she called for her brother, who stood outside with a confused yet sad expression.

"IT'S ME MABEL!!! I'M LOOKING AT YOU THROUGH THE GLASS!!! RIGHT HERE!!! THIS IS MY VOICE!!! I'M TALKING TO YOU FROM INSIDE!!!"

He nodded, soon walking inside and sitting next to me. I had to look away, I was still kinda mad about everything, even if he meant no harm.

"Did you see me through the-?!?"

"Yes..." He interrupted his sister, his hat covering his face.

Mabel tilted her head. "What's wrong?"

"I don't wanna talk about it..."

"Good." Stan said as he continued his pie.

But Dipper explained anyways. "It's just these half man half bull humanoids were hanging out with me."

"Here we go."

"But then they wanted me to do this really tough horrible thing but it just wasn't right, so I said no..." He crossed his arms, shrinking down against the couch.

"You were your own man and you stood up for yourself." Stan said, making Dipper finally look up.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, you did what was right even though no one agreed with ya. Sounds pretty manly to me, but what do I know?"

I noticed him grow a small smile before looking at me. I could only look away, still kinda hurt from before. I could tell he could sense my anger.

He let out a sigh. "I'm sorry about earlier, (y/n)... I didn't mean to offend you..."

I thought for a while. Sure he was kind of a jerk earlier, but he's still my friend.

"It's ok, Pinetree... I might've overreacted a bit..."

"Then... we're cool...?" He asked as he raised his fist a bit, offering me a fist bump. I looked at it, letting a small smile grow on my face as I bumped his fist with my own.

"Yeah, we're cool..."

"What the heck did I miss?!" We both turned to Mabel who was staring at us intently.

I shrugged. "Just a mini argument."

"Did you fight?!? I bet (f/c) totally beat you." Stan said as he looked at Dipper, who seemed a bit annoyed.

"We did not!"

"Wait a minute, do my eyes deceive me?!?" Mabel pointed at Dipper. "You have a chest hair!!!"

He pulled down his shirt a bit, a strand of hair on his chest. "You're right, I do!!! *laughs* This is amazing!!! I really do!!! Take that, man tester!!! Take that, Pituitar!!!"

"Pituitar?"

"This guy has chest here!!!"

I leaned back against the couch. "Am I the only one who feels uncomfortable about this?!?"

To make things even more uncomfortable, Mabel pulled out the chest hair with a pair of tweezers and put it in her scrapbook. "Scrapbookortunity!!!"

Dipper looked at her in defeat, and I honestly couldn't help but laugh a little. His expression was pretty cute.

"Don't worry, kid. If you're anything like me there's more where that came from." Stan dipped his shirt, showing all the chest her.

Gotta be honest here, I really felt like I was gonna throw up.

"Oh gross!!!" Dipper said as we all looked away, laughing a bit at the situation.

I soon stopped the laughing. "But seriously, that's disgusting."

After a while, I went back home. Mom was already making us some dinner, which I was glad cuz her cooking is amazing!

I went to my room to get some clothes, wanting to shower, when Aiden jumped into my arms, snuggling against me which made me chuckle.

"You're a silly little dude, aren't ya?" He squeaked cheerfully at my question.

...

"You're just a silly little dude."

"I'm not silly! Just wait and see, I'm gonna be the town's hero!"

"And leave me behind?"

"I'd never. We're a team, unstoppable!"

"Yeah!!!"

...

Memories clouded my mind as I held my little beaver in my arms, sitting on the edge of my bed. I looked at him as he squeaked in worry, snuggling against my cheek which made me smile a bit.

But my gaze soon went back to the ground, remembering those days...

Remembering him...

I...

I really miss you...

Thanks for reading!!! 'Till next time!!!

❤️❤️❤️