The murky soil was wet against Dipper's sneakers and he made a mild noise of agitation. He'd admit that he wasn't totally sure what he was thinking when he'd ventured out into the woods, flashlight in hand and book 3 in a satchel-other than the fact that one of his stir crazy moods had taken over and he wanted to get out of the Shack. There'd been a torrential downpour recently, smack dab in the middle of summer (typical Oregon) and it seemed perfect for him to go out hunting for this week's creature of mystery.

So far there'd been no luck, but he wasn't easily discouraged. The moon hanging overhead was full, the ground was muddy, and it was far into the night. The conditions were absolutely flawless, and he started absentmindedly calculating variables that could be preventing him from coming upon anything of interest. Adding it all up to just his bad luck, he trudged to a lower elevation.

The boy's footsteps halted at a faint sound in the distance. Could this be the break I'm looking for? He pondered, excited at the thought of actually making some progress. There was a light shuffling that emanated from the distance, and Dipper precariously tread toward it-all the while taking note of his surroundings as to not get lost.

He turned a corner, and was met not only with silence, but a large clearing. Sheathing his flashlight, it was almost too hard to tell that his instincts had carried him to the cemetery. The boy waited anxiously for any consolation that he had not just been hearing things, but the only sound that came was the shaky, low strums of a guitar in the distance.

Dipper recognized the stylistic riffs almost immediately and was about to sigh in agitation and leave. That would've been the smart thing to do, he told himself. Dipper Pines, however, was both smart and curious, and often times the curiosity overshadowed what reason he had. Quietly, he tread toward the picnic table where the little black raincloud of a songbird sat unceremoniously perched.

"Robbie?"

The older boy froze before the second syllable could even leave Dipper's mouth. Robbie turned to him with a glare that could kill, ceasing his ministrations and mouth nearly frothing with anger. "What are you doing here, Dipshit?"

Hunting time-devouring mole worms, was what popped into his head, because he was, but he settled for a simple "I could ask you the same thing."

"Pfft," He broke his gaze with the boy, looking toward the sky. "I come here all the time, idiot. It's my hangout. This is where I write my music. It's my turf more than it is yours."

Dipper paused for a moment, paying curious attention to the unfamiliar waver covering the teenager's voice. "Are you crying?"

"Fuck off."

He nervously chewed the inside of his cheek, softening his tone. "Hey, dude, I'm sorry if I upset you, or-"

"It isn't you," Robbie hissed, pulling his hood over his head. "It has nothing to do with you. Why do you care, anyways? We aren't friends, okay? Don't pretend like we ever could be."

"I don't want to be friends with you, Robbie, trust me." Dipper responded. "But that doesn't mean I can't occasionally offer my hand when I'm absolutely sure no one is watching it to blackmail us later."

The teenager opened his mouth to spit another venom-coated retort, but ultimately decided the effort wasn't worth it. He sniffled pathetically, moving his hood so that his eyes just barely peeked out, and dropped his defenses for half a second.

"You swear this shit won't leave here?"

"Cold war pact, dude, remember?"

Robbie paused for a moment, and Dipper leaned next to him on the picnic bench, neither of them making eye contact, but instead just choosing to stare at the way the stars twinkled above them and the trees swayed in the wind. After hastily putting words together in his mind, the ravenette spoke.

"It's Wendy."

"Did she break up with you?!" He nearly sprung to his feet like an excited animal.

"God damn it." He drug his palm across his face. "No. Can you not be a little shit for like five minutes?"

Dipper was used to the accusatory glare Robbie often shot him, but only sometimes did he actually feel bad afterwards. This was one of those times. "Yeah. Sorry. Go on. What's up?"

"I don't even know!" He suddenly exerted. "I just... we were out, and some asshole was hitting on her like she was some kind of piece of meat. Does she really expect me to just sit there and watch while some dude treats her like a prize to be won? I'm sorry but I don't stand for that shit. It isn't okay."

"Yeah?"

"So I clocked him. Gathered every ounce of strength I had and just decked him in the face."

"Oh, man."

"I mean, I know Wendy can fend for herself. Hell, she's the strongest person I know-between you and me, she could wipe the floor with me if she wanted to. But... is it really so wrong for me to be protective of her? Even if she doesn't want it. I can't help being pissed off."

"How mad was she?" Dipper averted his gaze to the teen's profile against the forest.

"That's the worst part," Robbie hunched over, defeated. "She wasn't. She just gave me that horrible look of disappointment like I was her fucking dog and I'd ripped up the garbage or something. All she said was 'I can't believe you,' and walked away."

"Well... did you even try to go after her?"

"Of course I did! But she didn't want to have it, she was done with me. I may be a total screw-up, but I know when a girl needs her space."

The younger boy peered curiously into him, not being stricken with much else to say. After a whisper of still silence, Robbie dug his fingers through shaggy black hair, resting his palms on his tired eyes and facing the dewey ground below. His only contribution thereafter was "I just can't help but feel like she'll never forgive me." Another pause; then a wavering in his voice that told Dipper he was holding back what tears he had left. "I don't want to lose Wendy."

Seeing someone at their worst-when they're reduced to a pathetic mess of raw, unmasked human emotions-can really tell you who a person really is underneath it all. Here was this 16 year-old boy, a living personification of everything Dipper hated in the world-an egotistical, apathetic jerk of a human being-or so he'd been lead to believe all this time. Robbie and Dipper had been off to a bad start from the moment they'd met, and Dipper was sure he'd tried his hardest to be nice to the boy. But then he thought-maybe Robbie wasn't all that bad. He had friends. And a girlfriend. And more than Dipper had accomplished thus far, that's for sure. He'd always made up excuses for it-oh, he wears dumb clothes and plays guitar, or Wendy only likes him because he's aloof and dark-but he was starting to think that maybe he was wrong. Robbie was a menacing black raincloud that made everyone cringe when he entered a room; but somewhere inside there was a rainbow, and only the most perceptive of people could really see it.

"Hey, uh..." He struggled to find the part of him that actually wanted to comfort Robbie. "I don't think you need to worry."

In response, the older boy raised up his heavy head, looking back at Dipper. "Bullshit I don't have to worry. You have no idea how important she is to me, Dipsh-"

"No, Robbie. I do." He stopped him. "Look at me, okay? I know... exactly how you feel."

"As if."

"I know because I know what it's like to love Wendy Corduroy," He kicked his feet and looked down in a futile attempt to hide the colour that adorned his cheeks. "Maybe I don't have as much experience in the topic as you because I've only been here for a while-but 7 hours a day for a month or so is enough to know that she's strong, and beautiful, and independent. And that's scary."

Robbie didn't say anything, just wiped at his eyes and continued to shut up.

"But you have to trust her, Robbie. She's going to be upset that you had to resort to violence, it's inevitable. Maybe for a long time. But Wendy isn't stupid, and she'll understand that you had your reasons for doing it. If you give her some time and apologize she'll forgive you, man. If you can't trust her, dating her isn't going to be easy."

"Man, why is she even with me? I wish I knew what she saw in me. I'm so scared she's going to kick me to the curb as soon as she gets bored."

"I don't know why she does what she does," He shrugged. "But like I said-trust her. Everything will be fine."

"I guess I can do that..." He smiled, a grin that was trying so hard to force any leftover anxiety out of his mind. "You're not as much of a little shit as I thought you were, Dipper Pines."

"Yeah... and... I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Well, I realized... when we first met, I embarrassed you in front of your friends," He explained. "That's where this dumb rivalry we have started, if you can even call it that. You were proud of your art-proud enough to brag about it to a little kid you'd never met-and I made you feel terrible in front of people who genuinely like you. All this time I just thought you were being a big jerk, but I'm starting to reluctantly realize I've done my share of jerky things, too."

The teen was taken aback, but hesitantly nodded at the confession. "Yeah... don't worry about it. And, uh... sorryaboutthreateningtobeaty ouupthatonetime."

Dipper took the mumbled expression to heart and held out his arm. "Soo... truce?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Didn't we already have one of those?"

"Real truce. Like we're not just pretending to tolerate each other anymore."

"Yeah." Robbie shrugged, offering his gloved hand and shaking. "Works for me."

When they broke apart, Robbie jolted suddenly at a faint vibration in his pocket, and froze as soon as he looked at his phone. He'd have taken any combination of letters besides the one displayed across the screen, and nervously swallowed as it rung.

Dipper smiled, knowing exactly what was going on, and lightly punched Robbie's shoulder, turning to exit. "I'll leave you two alone for once," He said as he ran away, not looking back as he waved at the boy he'd learned to tolerate.

"Don't forget-trust her!"

Robbie nodded, melting away his worries, hoping this call wasn't going to kick his heart in the ass, and putting all his faith in the girl he and Dipper both loved so achingly.

Finally grinning, he pressed talk.