Sometimes The Longest Journey Is The One Back To Finding Yourself 💙

grunkle ford's totally scientific solution to anxiety

shoutout to @thefallenangel2008 for letting me use her prompt!! :D

cw: anxiety & panic attacks, light hurt/comfort

word count: 2585

It was a secret to no one that Dipper Pines was anxious. Anyone who had met the almost teen could tell how much anxiety he dealt with on a day to day basis. How he overthought every word he said, every move he made, even how he breathed, trying desperately to make a good impression on anyone he met. The idea of screwing up any interaction terrified him, frequently leading Dipper to spiral into a panic attack. 

Dipper had tried anything and everything to help manage his anxiety, but nothing ever seemed to work. Taking deep breaths, the 54321 method, journaling, walking through nature, etc., and none of it ever worked. He just learned to live with it. 

But of course, just when Dipper thought his anxiety had finally become manageable, something had to throw a wrench in that and screw it up for him. 

Now, this wasn’t a bad wrench, quite the opposite, actually. Dipper had another great uncle. Not just any great uncle, no, the author of the journals. The mythical hero he had so many questions to ask if he ever had the chance. The hero he thought he’d never get to meet, just to find out he was related to the author of the journals. And he was so much cooler than he could have ever imagined!

Dipper’s anxiety was working overtime, not wanting to make himself look like an idiot in front of his idol. Just when he had gotten comfortable around his Grunkle Stan and had started to form a bond with him, helping his anxiety lessen at home, he started living with his hero. Now, even at home, he was overthinking everything he did, wanting to impress his Great Uncle Ford with how ‘grown’ he was for his age. 

Everything had been going perfectly. Dipper hadn’t made a fool of himself in front of his hero yet, and he hadn’t planned on starting now. But alas, the universe had other plans. 

Dipper had been rereading the third journal for what felt like the 100th time when Ford had come into his and Mabel’s shared room, asking if he wanted to help with his latest experiment. He immediately agreed, excited for a chance to prove himself to his great uncle. It was a relatively simple experiment; they were going to find two different anomalies in the forest and see how they interacted. 

Studying all the anomalies in the strange town of Gravity Falls had been one of Dipper’s favorite pastimes of that summer. He was so excited to learn more about the weirdness of the town and have a chance to impress his great uncle! This had been the opportunity Dipper had been waiting for! 

After getting the supplies they needed from the lab, Ford and Dipper began their journey into the woods. 

During the walk, pleasant, mindless conversation filled the air. Dipper and Ford had been talking about what creatures they were hoping to find for the experiment when suddenly a loud noise filled the air. 

Ford immediately pulled his great nephew behind him, grabbing his gun as he did so. Simultaneously, Dipper frantically searched for the source of the noise, reaching for the third journal to look for anything that could explain the commotion. 

“What was that?!” Dipper yelled in a panic. He still hadn’t found the source of the sound or an explanation in the journal. The noise hadn’t repeated itself, but the ground was rumbling beneath both their feet, growing stronger by the second. 

Ford yelled, “I’m not sure, I can’t see anything. Stay behind me!,” pulling his great nephew further behind him to shield him from whatever was coming towards them. 

“I can’t find anything in the journal about what the noise could be! Great Uncle Ford what do we do?” Dipper asked frantically. 

“Stay calm! Everything will be alright Dipper, just keep calm.”

To his credit, Dipper was trying his best. This was far from his first run in with a dangerous magical creature, but it felt different now that he was with Ford. He felt small and in the way. 

Interrupting Dipper’s self-deprecating train of thought, a giant monster came crashing through the trees where Dipper and Ford were. The two researchers took a moment to look at the creature. It was as tall as the forest, with trees for limbs, and its body was covered in moss. 

A few moments of silence passed before being broken by a yell from Ford. “Steve?!”

“What?! You know that thing?”

“I’ve studied him before, he ate my car and threw a deer at me!” 

“He ate your car?! And threw a deer at you?!” Dipper gawked. 

“Yes, it’s a long story. Watch out!-” Ford cut himself off. The tree monster began to walk towards them, staring intently at Dipper. 

Ford noticed the monster focused on his great nephew and quickly shoved him out of the way. He took a couple steps forward, pointing his gun towards the monster. Ford wasn’t quite sure what to do. Normally he would have reacted much more quickly, fighting the monster or running or anything but his great nephew was there. He could be seriously hurt if he did the wrong thing. Ford had to protect Dipper. 

Meanwhile, Dipper was thinking of what he could do. He hadn’t heard of Steve, he wasn’t in any of the journals he had read, he knew absolutely nothing about this thing in front of him. All Dipper knew was that there was a giant, hostile monster in front of him and his Great Uncle Ford and neither of them were doing anything. Suddenly, he had an idea. A very dumb and reckless idea, but an idea nonetheless, and any plan sounded better than waiting for Steve to act. 

Dipper suddenly ran out in front of Ford, yelling and waving his arms. “Hey, Steve! Come and get me!”

As soon as the words left his mouth he was sprinting as fast as he could. Dipper had no idea where he was going, what he was doing, or really anything at all. The only thought in his mind at that moment was ‘run’. Get this thing away from Great Uncle Ford. 

Dipper kept running for what felt like ages, Steve following close behind, until he made the stupid decision to look behind him. He tripped over a raised tree root, body flying through the air momentarily before crashing painfully on the ground. Dipper quickly rolled over onto his back, pulling himself away from Steve as quickly as he could to avoid being crushed. 

The tree monster roared at the child, angered at being bothered in his home by Dipper and Ford. Steve bent over to pick Dipper up in his rough, bark covered hands before pausing mid motion. Confused, Dipper looked around for what could have caused the creature to stop. 

Behind the tree monster, Dipper saw Ford standing there with his arms still raised, gun in hand pointing at Steve. The creature slowly began leaning forward, falling in Dipper’s direction. Ford quickly ran towards his great nephew, pulling him out of the way only seconds before Steve collapsed onto the ground. 

Both the researchers let out a shaky breath. They took a second to process what had just happened before Ford began speaking. 

“What in the world was that?! You could have been seriously hurt, Dipper! You almost died! You had no idea what that thing was capable of and you antagonized it?! That was incredibly dumb of you to do! If I hadn’t been here to shoot him with a tranquilizer, who knows what could have happened!” 

Ford continued ranting, not noticing his great nephew’s breathing progressively getting more and more shallow and quick. This had been exactly what Dipper had been afraid of! He was just trying to impress his great uncle and get them out of that situation and he made everything worse. Ford was right; Dipper really had almost died. He had to rely on his great uncle to get him out of a situation he had created instead of just listening to him. Ford could have been hurt too! It had been stupid of him to think he could have actually helped Ford instead of getting in the way. He was nothing but a small, pathetic, in the way kid who was nothing but a pest and would never live up to Ford’s legacy and he should have never tried to help and-

“Dipper! Breathe, son. I’m sorry for yelling, that wasn’t acceptable. I- I was just so worried.”

The younger nodded, trying to take deep breaths only for his breathing to quickly  become labored again. Dipper couldn’t breathe, his chest hurt so bad- stupid binder crushing his ribs- he swore his heart was going to pound out of his chest. 

Ford was wracking his brain for anything that could help Dipper. He really hadn’t meant to make his great nephew’s anxiety worse, he was just worried and apparently had a difficult time expressing that. Dipper had almost died in front of him and it would have been all his fault if such a tragedy had happened. 

Suddenly, Ford remembered something from when he was first beginning to live in and research Gravity Falls. For the first few months (realistically the first year) of investigating the odd town Ford had his fair share of panic attacks. Accidentally running into or even purposefully searching for the anomalous creatures was not for the faint of heart. 

Ford quickly reached into the bag full of supplies he had brought with them and rummaged through it, searching for a specific item. After a few moments of frantically moving objects around, he finally found what he was looking for…

His harmonica!

“Dipper, hold this against your mouth.”

“W-what?” 

“Please, just trust me.”

Dipper slowly held a shaky hand out towards Ford. The older gently pressed the harmonica into his great nephew’s hand, smiling at him as he grabbed it. Dipper held it, hand still shaking and breathing still shallow and fast, before bringing it to his mouth. 

The sudden noise made Dipper jump, jerking the small instrument away from him. He had no idea what his great uncle was on about, there was no way he was being serious. Ford had to be messing with him. He definitely fell for another joke at his own expense. Dipper just couldn’t believe Ford would be so cruel after everything they had gone through together-

“Son, please. I know it makes no sense, but I assure you it works.” Ford reassured his great nephew. He couldn’t believe it himself when he had first been told to try. It seemed preposterous but it truly did work. 

After a few moments, Dipper finally gave a small nod. He once again slowly moved the harmonica to his mouth with shaky hands. He jerked away from the sudden, loud noise again before holding the small object there. 

Loud, rapid harmonica noises filled the air, startling Dipper at first, he quickly grew accustomed to them. The harmonica began making short, silly noises in time with his quick breathing. After a few moments of the sounds, Dipper’s breathing turned from short, hollow breaths to more full, controlled breaths before being overtaken by a new sound.. laughter. 

The dark, empty forest quickly went from being filled with anxious thoughts and shallow breathing to light, childlike giggles. Ford let out a sigh of relief. 

“H-hohow did youhuhu figure that ohohout?” Dipper questioned through his laughter. He’d never had anything, or anyone, stop his panic attacks as quickly and effectively as that. 

“Personal experience. You learn to experiment with more than just odd creatures when you live here for long enough.” 

Dipper didn’t respond, continuing to quietly giggle to himself. He held the harmonica to his mouth again, laughter growing louder as the silly sounds returned. 

“C’mon, Giggles. You can continue playing with the harmonica on the way back to the house. I’m not sure how long that tranq dart will last and I’d prefer to not have another run in with Steve.” 

Ford helped Dipper off the ground, quickly checking the boy for any injuries from his fall. Upon not finding anything past a few scrapes, they both began the walk back to their home. 

After a few moments of walking with just Dipper’s giggles and occasional harmonica noises filling the air, he spoke again. “I really am sorry, Great Uncle Ford. I didn’t mean to get us into that mess, I just.. didn’t know what else to do. Seeing you frozen with that monster in front of you, I moved before I could even really think about it! I know I was totally irresponsible and dumb for that, but I’d rather me get hurt than you.”

“No, no- I’m sorry, Dipper. I should never have made you even feel the need to protect me. You’re my great nephew, I’m supposed to be the one protecting you, and yet you saved me today. If you hadn’t acted as quickly as you did, I’m not sure what would have happened. And yes, I would much rather you not put yourself in a life or death situation with a tree monster, but I’m proud of you for thinking so quickly on your feet. You didn’t freeze like I did, and I’m supposed to be the adult researcher here. 

And I definitely should never have spoken to you like that. I.. I was so worried that I wasn’t going to get to you fast enough, or not be able to do anything when I did. I lashed out, and that was unacceptable. I’m so sorry, Dipper.”

“I- thank you, Grunkle Ford.” Dipper responded, eyes welling with tears. His idol was.. proud of him? He had saved both of them?

“Dipper, I’m sorry, did I say something wrong? God, I made you feel worse, didn’t I? I know I’m not the best with words, but I-” Ford began to speak again in a panic, being cut off suddenly by Dipper throwing himself at the older man for a hug. 

Dipper wrapped his arms around his great uncle, crying again. However, this time it was happy tears. He hadn’t realized how much he needed to hear those words until that moment. 

Ford froze for a second before hugging his great nephew back. He wasn’t the best with children, or a big fan of physical affection, but he’d gladly make an exception for his great nephew. 

After a few more moments of happy tears and sappy hugs, Dipper and Ford continued their walk back. It felt like a new, closer bond had been formed in the forest that day. One more familial and less clinical. 

The walk back to the Mystery Shack went by quickly, with mindless conversation about anything and everything filling the air. They talked about everything from their favorite characters in Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons to their favorite movies to funny stories about their respective twins. 

By the time the pair returned home, it was almost nighttime. Despite the long day they had, and how exhausted the two were, they spent the night in the living room continuing to talk. Dipper and Ford chatted for hours, only stopping when they both fell asleep on the couch together deep into the night. 

Despite the rough start to it, Dipper and Ford were both grateful for the unexpected opportunity to bond with the other. 

(Plus, the added knowledge of how to stop Dipper’s panic attacks was a bonus.)

shifty's first word

Happy Neil Day! Please enjoy the very rare alternate Neil images!

Yeah

Them

Who’s a hungry boy?

is this all i am to you people. am i just a joke. you eat ONE pterosaur and suddenly you're the hungry boy for the rest of time. ford mixes up his rock samples and his rock candy all the time and doesn't even notice but do you see him getting messages like this? noooooo

big things coming tomorrow

I adore your art style and the old fiddauthor art I wish more people would explore post weirdmageddon!Fiddauthor. I like to think Ford’s feelings for Fiddleford come back and he’s like dipper in how he trips himself up around Wendy. Literally I love your art, for Gravity Falls and Over the Garden Wall, keep it up!!! :D

thank you so so much!! and yea i agree wholeheartedly LOL