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Dipper rubbed his eye with the back of his hand, yawning loudly and not bothering to cover his mouth at all. He blinked blearily, shaking his choppy fringe out of his face. Damn the mornings, damn school, and damn every teacher he had.

Except Miss Johns. She was okay.

Dipper licked his chapped lips and blew a follicle of hair away from his mouth before he inadvertently caught it and started chewing on it. He glanced down the hallway, sighing in relief when he saw no signs of his sister coming his way. The last thing he needed was Mabel berating him yet again on staying up to late reading.

Dipper eyed the cafe automat perched in the corner, staring at him. The buttons were glowing white with laughter at his own tired expense and Dipper kept in mind to mash down the buttons extra hard just to make sure the machine got no pleasure from taking his money in exchange for something that would only keep his mind wired for perhaps an hour, tops.

Dipper shook his head again. "I really am tired," He muttered. Scuffing his feet against the floor, Dipper made his way for the machine.

However, before he could sidle up to the automat, a tall and large shape stepped out in front of him from seemingly nowhere.

Dipper froze where he was mid-step, staring up at the bulky form. The words that had been brewing on his tongue to spit died in his mouth at the sight of the off-white robe hanging from the other man's shoulders, which did nothing to hide his muscular shoulders and large arms.

Dipper's eyes darted down to the man's hands. They were huge.

Dipper clutched his art folder closer to his side,his fingers curling on its edges. He jerked his head back, hunching his shoulders and quickly looking away.

As much as he wanted to say something, he couldn't find it in himself to do so.

The man, after paying for his coffee, seemed to finally notice him while glancing back to check the time. His eyes were a soft, baby blue and framed with a thick forest of long, black eyelashes.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't notice you there. I hope I don't make you late for class," He said. His voice was slow with a thick southern accent that Dipperknew he should not be focusing on as much as he was.

"I- It's a- no problemeo. O," Dipper said. He winced at how high pitched his voice was and found himself whipping his folder around, bringing it up to his face to hide behind.

The man took his coffee and turned around completely. He was larger than Dipper had been expecting, with a soft fringe of white bangs that somehow made his already gentle features look even softer. A thin sheen of curly white hair poked out from what was visible on his chest and Dipper hefted his folder up higher.

Dipper's thoughts of I hope he didn't see me where interrupted by his own thoughts of I hope he did.

"Are you okay?" The man proceeded to ask. Dipper peeked over his folder and heat pooled in his cheeks at the sight of him tilting his head to the side curiously.

"Just! Very! So! Tired! Need me some coffee! Yup!" Dipper gasped out. His lungs felt as if they were on fire and his heart was lodged in his chest.

"Oh. Yeah I get you. Being a student here must be tough. This school isn't exactly easy. Here, what do you want?" The man put more money into the machine. "I'll get you something."

Dipper gulped. "Just. Coffee."

The man cocked a brow, but didn't say anything.

Dipper rocked back and forth on his heels he waited for his coffee. Part of him wanted to turn and bolt up the stairs so he never had to see the man again. However, he couldn't just leave the man standing there with two coffees!

"Here you go!" The man said, holding out Dipper's black coffee.

Dipper's hands quivered and he dropped his folder back down. He tucked the folder under his arm and made no move to blow his bangs out of his face as he took the coffee from the man.

"By the way, my name's Gideon," Gideon said, taking a sip of his own coffee as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry for being so rude. I totally forgot to introduce myself."

"It's no problem," Dipper squeaked, holding the coffee close to his lips. Steam leaked out and billowed up, fogging up his vision. "I'm Dipper! Like the asterism! It's not a constellation!"

Gideon stared at him, not blinking. "Excuse me?"

"Anyways I have to get to class I will maybe but probably not see you ever again thank you for the coffee got to go goodbye!" Dipper panted and before Gideon could respond, whipped around on his heel and darted up the stairs. He nearly tripped on the first step, but caught himself as he nearly crashed into the wall on the way up. His coffee, somehow, did not slosh onto him on the way up.

Dipper sighed in relief, leaning against the wall and glaring at the classroom he had to go to next.

He stared down at his coffee after a beat and took a small sip. It nearly scalded his tongue and his tongue nearly shriveled up at how bitter it was.

It was perfect.

~~0~~0~~0~~

I will probably write a sequel to this or more to this AU in general as I really really like it!

Thank you for reading! Comments are appreciated!