So there's this question flying around tumblr (one of which I have now!), and you know, the Gravity Falls fandom in general. How the heck does Dipper sleep at night? Gravity Falls may seem like show for kids, but so far in season two (as you probably all now) there have been some pretty scary themes. Especially for Dipper, because this kid has got to be having nightmares. Blame this on all those people who were saying "how does Dipper sleep at night?" This is not my fault. I'm just a messenger. It's the people giving me ideas that are to blame. Blame them.

If anybody reading this has read anything else of mine, you'll know I have something a little like this in Inspired (which is SuperPhantom dreble, so maybe avoid). I really like Danny in a mental hospital. I don't know why. But mental hospitals are my favorite! Mabel's wearing Dipper's vest, by the way. Think about that!

I don't own either of these wonderful cartoons, and I hope you like the story. ENJOY!

Danny wasn't exactly sure who the teenage girl in the vest was. She caught his attention only because she had visited the hospital every Friday for over a year now, no matter if it was summer or Christmas or flooding outside.

She always wore the vest. Sometimes over something, sometimes under something, sometimes with stickers or pins on it. But she always wore the vest. It was navy blue, worn, and a tad to small for her form. it obviously wasn't meant for a teenage girl to be wearing, because it was far too tight around her chest area.

She visited the boy who always sat two tables from Danny's in the lunch room. They looked similar enough to be siblings, or more likely, twins. Danny thought his name was "Dipper", or something along those lines. Well, everybody called him that, except for the same nurses who called him "Daniel".

There was something off about the two of them. Danny knew the boy was here in the mental hospital because of paranoia, so his habit of glancing around at everybody with constant fear in his eyes made sense. Danny was sure he imagined the boy looking at him more often that the rest of the patients.

The girl in the vest and her brother were a welcome distraction for Danny, to keep him from thinking too much on the reason why he was in the mental hospital. Dan. The Ultimate Enemy. He, himself, was a monster later, but if he could stop himself from becoming one now... No matter how many years he had to endure the nervous small talk with the nurses who'd read his case file, and the words potentially dangerous, and were wary.

Danny was pretty sure both Dipper and his sister were fifteen. Danny would wonder what a fifteen year old was doing in a mental hospital, but he'd been introduced here a little younger than fifteen, and had been here for two and a half years, so he supposed he wasn't in a position to ask. Unfortunately, he was set to be here a lot longer than that, because he was never going to get better.

Danny decided, since he had nothing else to keep him from going even crazier from boredom, he better go talk to the kid. It would at least satisfy his curiosity. Maybe he could mend a little of the kid, help him like nobody had bothered to do for Danny. Because all the people who really cared were dead, and Valerie was too busy hunting down Phantom to realize Danny was slowly dying inside. More than he already had.

Danny grabbed his lunch, a ham sandwich on stale whole wheat bread with something that should not be called cheese with any exaggeration on it. Instead of going to his normal table and sitting alone because everybody else was too afraid of the teenager who always looked calm but had gotten himself in here at fourteen because he was "potentially dangerous", he headed for the kid, Dipper's, table. He sat down without premonition and he and Dipper stared at each other.

"Hi," Danny said, smiling slightly. "My name's Danny. I thought, seeing as you've been here for a year or so, and we're the only two tens here, it might be time to formally introduce myself."

"'m Dipper," the kid mumbled. He had dark circles under his blood shot eyes. His cheeks were tinged red, his lips chapped, his hair mussed, and he looked and smelled like he hadn't showered in a couple weeks.

"Insomnia?" Danny asked, quirking an eyebrow at the kid.

Dipper nodded slowly, staring with glassy eyes down at his sandwich. "They h've t' pu' me und'r t' get me t' sleep." Bec'se p'r'noia."

"Yeah," Danny agreed, leaning his chin on the palm of his hand. "I get that too. Paranoia causes the insomnia because every car passing by makes the shadows on the wall dance, and every shadow is another ghost trying to take your family away. Even if they're already dead. You get the nightmares?"

Dipper blinked wearily at him, maybe a little more alert. "Yo' h've 'm too?"

"Yeah," Danny signed, tracing a pattern on the table with his finger. "It sucks, doesn't it? What brand of nightmares do you have?"

"Br'nd?" Dipper slurred out, peering up at Danny with dark blue eyes.

"The nightmares; they have types. You can see the monsters in your closet, the serial killer at your door, your own mangled body dying," Dipper flinched, and Danny sympathized. He still had nightmares about the accident, along with the ones of, "your family dying right in front of you."

"Wh'ch yo' h've?" Dipper wondered, and Danny felt the corners of his lips stretch up. "Why d'ya loo' like ya h've slept?"

"I see any and all of them," Danny replied honestly, shrugging. "I found a way to cope."

Dipper gave him a sleepy-inquisitive look. "How?"

Danny leaned close, like he was sharing a special secret. "I realized that no matter how many ghosts are in my closet, or serial killers under my bed, I'll always be the worst monster."

Dipper's eyes widened. "Why?"

Danny smirked, getting up from the table as he saw the tiniest shimmer appear in Dipper's eyes again. "Because I can kill them. You can too. You're smarter, faster, stronger, and better. Not to mention, you're human, and other humans will always have your back against the monsters that creep in the middle of the night." Danny widened his smirk considerably and flashed his eyes at Dipper. The kid flinched back visibly, and Danny was a little impressed that he didn't completely freeze up. "Get to sleep tonight, okay?" Danny asked.

"Y-yeah," Dipper agreed, eyeing Danny carefully.

Danny turned to walk away, but threw over his shoulder, "And say hello to your sister for me!"

I don't know why I wrote this. Except, you know, "How does Dipper sleep at night?". This is the result, people! Terrible fanfiction with a terrible attempt at bitter humour angst! Do see the fault in this? DO YOU?! Also, thanks to tumblr this kind of just exploded out of me in a flurry of a haze-ridden two hours alternating between the horrid math homework and this...whatever this is. If there's math in here that I missed in my proofread, tell me. I might need it for my homework.

Okay. And saying this while still meaning this fic is finished, UNTIL NEXT TIME!