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Dipper didn't want to go back home; he wanted to stay in Gravity Falls. Despite having promised his sister that they would always be together, a part of him wished to run away forever.
Life with his parents was horrible. They constantly fought about the divorce, something they talked about doing but never actually carried out... until now. They used to take out their anger on Dipper, blaming him for anything. They always made it clear how disappointing he was to them.
As they were getting ready to leave, Dipper remembered the times they had hit him, how his father had beaten him for being "not man enough." Of course, all of this happened behind Mabel's back. She never knew anything, and Dipper would never let her find out. He had his own makeup to cover bruises and hide old scars. That’s why, during his job as a lifeguard, he never took off his shirt.
Once, Dipper had come home late from school because he had stayed at the library, reading a very interesting book—his old refuge from bullies and his parents. When he got home, he found his father drunk, with a wine bottle in hand, almost empty. When his father heard the door open, he looked Dipper straight in the eye with a furious face. Dipper tried to explain, but his father approached him and hit him in the face with the bottle. Pieces of glass embedded themselves in his cheek, knocking him to the floor. His father sent him straight to bed, not wanting any trouble from someone like him. Dipper didn't even hold back the tears; he was panicking. He went upstairs and tried to heal himself as quickly as possible, hyperventilating. He was lucky that Mabel was at a sleepover with one of her cousins that time. He grabbed the first aid kit and treated the bruise that had formed. He removed the glass shards the bottle had left, lay down on his bed, and cried himself to sleep.
Dipper started to hyperventilate as he remembered all that. He didn’t want to go back; he would rather face another Weirdmageddon than return to his father, even if it sounded selfish.
"Dip... what's wrong?" That was Mabel, pulling him out of his spiral. He turned to her, panicking, sweating more than usual. He was trembling and couldn't catch his breath. Everything was fine there, he felt safe without seeing his father, but now... Dipper shook his head, taking a few steps back. Mabel looked at him worried. She watched as her twin brother's tears began to flow. "Are you hurt? Did Bill hurt you before?" Mabel tried to find some serious physical injury on her brother, but there was nothing suspicious. When she approached him, trying to touch him, Dipper flinched and pulled away from her, as if he were afraid of her. His brother started sweating and trembling while breathing rapidly, and his skin turned pale. She had never seen him like this before, she had never seen anyone like this… She went to call their uncles because Dipper wasn't responding.
When Stan and Ford arrived, they saw that Dipper was having a panic attack. They perfectly understood why Mabel had called them so scared. Stan was the first to try to calm Dipper down; somehow, he managed to get the boy to follow his breathing while they did a countdown. It reminded Ford of the past, when he himself used to have those attacks after being beaten by school bullies, and Stan would calm him down. Back then, those "attacks" didn't even have a specific name, and there wasn’t the information available now. It was a miracle that Stanley had been able to calm him then, even though his twin denied it, he always had a bit of a "fatherly" air (so to speak) on his shoulders.
"You're okay now, kid," Stan said, seeing how his nephew was becoming aware of his surroundings. He was calmer, but still shaky. Dipper just clung to Stan and cried.
"I don't want to go back to him," he whispered. Stan was confused; he thought the panic attack was due to everything they had gone through with Bill, to Weirdmageddon.
"Who, kid?" There was a moment of silence. Dipper clung tighter to his great-uncle.
"Dad." Then everything made sense to Stan: Dipper's low self-esteem, how he flinched at every noise or bang, the paranoia… Stan hugged him tighter. He felt that his nephew wanted to explain more, to let everything out, but he was holding back. Stan noticed this by the tremor and hesitation in his words, which were more like anguished whispers. Ford also noticed and convinced Mabel to leave them alone, arguing that Dipper needed space.
Stan sighed.
"You can talk now, kid. Your sister is gone." Dipper looked at him with tearful eyes; he was still trembling and hesitating.
"I can't go back home. I know I promised Mabel we'd be together, but... I'm scared... What if Dad gets custody and we have to stay with him?" Dipper started to hyperventilate again.
"Lose custody?" Stan was worried. Dipper looked at his great-uncle, distressed.
"They're getting divorced. I wasn't supposed to know that, but I heard them arguing. Dad got really mad at me that time and…" He couldn't continue, remembering what had happened once his father found out he was spying on them. It was worse than when he threw the bottle at him.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to..." but Dipper interrupted him, because if anyone should know, it was Uncle Stan. Maybe, if he knew, they wouldn’t take him back.
"He hit me," he sobbed. "It wasn’t the first time. That’s why I’m scared to go back. I’d do anything to stay here, where I feel safe… I know it sounds selfish because I promised Mabel I’d go back with her, that’s why I got so excited when Uncle Ford suggested I stay. It wasn’t just about solving mysteries..." The tears kept coming, and Stan didn't know what to do. He wanted to take Dipper with him and keep him away from his parents, but he couldn't do that, not yet.
"You're brave for confessing this to me, kid. I promise you everything will be okay. Your dad won't get away with this now that I know." Dipper looked at him with surprised, tearful eyes and hugged his great-uncle tightly. Stan returned the hug and placed his hand on Dipper's hair as a sign of comfort. "And if I make a call to your mom, maybe I can convince her to stay here until they settle the divorce." He heard Dipper’s loud sobs.
"Thank you, Uncle Stan."