"We should play a game."

"What kind of game?"

"A question game."

Dipper looked up at the dream demon, eyebrows raised in surprise. The two had been lying in relative silence for about half an hour. Bill had set the journal aside quite some time ago, and had taken to playing with Dipper's hands; counting every joint by lightly squeezing them, gently manipulating his hands into different shapes, tracing various letters and symbols into his palm, intertwining their fingers, following the veins in his forearm with his pointer finger. However, upon breaking the silence with his abrupt questioning, he released Dipper's hands, letting them fall back into the boy's custody. Bill smirked slightly, an involuntary reaction whenever he caught the brunet's gaze.

"What do you mean?" Dipper inquired curiously. Bill, who seemed incapable of sitting still, now began to play with Dipper's hair, running his fingers through it, twisting and untwisting strands of it absentmindedly.

"Well," he began as Dipper settled back into the crook of his arm, head rested on the soft spot between the demon's shoulder and chest, "I'll ask a question, then you'll answer it. And then you can ask me a question, and I'll answer it. It's pretty simple, but... you know." Dipper considered it, his lips pursed. He glanced over at the clock on his nightstand. It was still pretty early, the clock proudly displaying 8:46 PM. 

"Alright, sure. I've definitely got some questions for you," he chuckled. "You can start," he added. Cipher hummed in thought, silently reflecting on how soft the brunet's hair was as he considered his first question.

"Hmm... ooh, I've got one. Did you ever have any feelings for me before last year?" he finally asked. Dipper clicked his tongue, the corners of his lips slightly turned down as he pondered his response.

"I..." he began slowly, brow furrowed in thought, "I think there was something. But I don't think it was love, per say. I was... fascinated by you. Captivated. Curious. Of course, all that was outweighed by the terror of you and apprehension of what you had in store for my family. There was definitely a lot more fear and anger back then than there is now," Dipper replied, giving a small laugh. Bill let out a short laugh of his own through his nose, a faint smile on his face.

"Fair enough," he allowed. "Your turn." Dipper picked at the seam in Bill's jeans as he thought, not about what to ask, but instead about what to ask first.

"How about..." he shifted slightly, readjusting himself so he was more comfortably nestled against the dream demon. "If you were so clueless about being human before, how come since you've gotten a new body, you seem to know so much more?" Bill let out a laugh of genuine surprise, resting his head back against the headboard in thought.

"Am I that obvious?" he chuckled before pressing his lips together, pondering his response. "Well, Pine Tree... as I've said before, when I made a deal with you last year, I had every intention of ruining the lives of you and your family. In order to make my situation convincing, I had to, shall we say, play the part." He paused as Dipper let that sink in. The brunet nodded slowly, shrugging in admittance that it would make sense. "Now, granted," Bill continued, "there are still plenty of things I am unfamiliar with in regards to being human. For example, the range of human emotions, the extent to which pain can be felt, money, the strange concept that gender has something to do with love, love itself... these are all new and rather confusing things to me, as such things don't exist in the Nightmare Realm. However, when you've been around as long as I have, you pick up a thing or two about the dimensions you try and enter. I guess in summary, knowing about something and actually experiencing something are two very different things."

Bill looked down at Dipper only to see him peering up at him with a gentle grin. Bill felt his cheeks growing warm at the brunet's soft gaze, his stomach fluttering slightly. Acting quick so as to make sure his slightly flustered nature wasn't noticed, he smirked and planted a quick kiss on Dipper's lips. Just as the dream demon had expected, the brunet's face turned a soft shade of pink and he quickly looked down at his hands, smiling. 

"Your turn," he told him quietly. Bill hummed a sigh.

"Well...I guess..." he mused. "Is this... is any of this helping you?" Dipper furrowed his brow, looking back up at the dream demon.

"What do you mean?" he inquired. Bill sighed again as he returned his hands to Dipper's hair, running his fingers through it in slow, rhythmic strokes.

"Yesterday you told me that you don't know who to trust anymore. You said that you didn't know if I actually love you or not. And then earlier today, you were avoiding me because you felt I was a distraction, that you should be doing nothing but look for your sister and do what the world wants of you. Ever since your sister was kidnapped, you've... you've been in complete distress and disarray. I've tried to help when I can, but... is it doing anything? Is anything helping in the slightest?" Dipper's heart clenched at the soft undertone of dismay in the dream demon's voice. He sat up and turned to face the blond.

"Bill..." he began, staring into the golden orbs of the man before him. Dipper smiled slightly, reaching behind the chaos god's head to press their foreheads together. "You make everything better..." he spoke, his breath dancing across Bill's lips. "Things right now are... difficult, I will admit it, but... just by being here with me and loving me despite all my doubts, you make everything better. I promise." Bill's lips curled into a smile again and he parted his lips slightly in a chuckle that caused Dipper's lips to tingle before he spoke.

"Your turn..." he reminded, their foreheads still pressed together. Dipper smiled slightly, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Why aren't you completely insane anymore?" he wondered. Bill hummed a laugh, but he didn't seem as focused on the brunet's words as he was on watching his lips move.

"Well, I found a reason to act sane," he replied smoothly, leaning in to close the gap between them. Dipper smirked, pulling away before their lips could meet.

"Nope, that was too cheesy, you don't get a kiss," he decided, sitting back. Bill looked at him with slight shock on his face. Usually he was the one doing the teasing, not the other way around. He narrowed his eyes with a grin of his own, laughing slightly.

"No fair," he whined. Dipper just crossed his arms and raised his head in a mock-disdainful way. Bill scrunched his nose up at him. "Fine." The dream demon sat up on his knees, grabbing Dipper by the shoulders and pushing him backwards. Dipper let out a laugh as he covered his mouth with his hands so the blond get to it. Bill laughed as well, though he maintained his previous whining.

"Pine Tree..." he complained, grinning despite himself as he pulled at Dipper's wrists, straddling the brunet for better balance as he tugged at his arms. "Come on, just one kiss!" Finally, Bill managed to pull Dipper's hands from his mouth. He let forth a laugh of triumph, pinning the Mystery Twin's hands against the bed on either side of his head so that he couldn't try and cover his mouth again. Bill quickly pressed his lips against Dipper's before pulling away again.

"I win," he boasted, hovering above the young man. Dipper opened his mouth to respond, but found himself unable to speak. This was the second time that night he found himself pinned beneath the dream demon, and his pounding heart was not thanking him for it. He tried once more to speak, but it seemed that it wouldn't be necessary. Bill seemed to realize that he was exceedingly close to the brunet, not to mention the fact that his was practically straddling his waist. He hesitated, his stomach clenching, heart pounding, as for a moment he considered not getting up... However, the flustered look in Dipper's eyes was slowly becoming one of apprehension as time went on, and the dream demon pursed his lips in guilt.

"Last question," he said softly. "Are you... scared of me?" Dipper's eyes widened in surprise before he frowned at the blond. Before Bill knew what was happening, Dipper had pulled his hands free and grabbed the dream demon's head, yanking him forwards into another kiss. Bill grunted slightly in surprise at the ferocity behind the movement, but he soon melted into the kiss, no longer paying any attention to the almost angry grip the brunet held on his blond hair and the force with which he held them together.

After what felt like eternity yet no time at all, Dipper released the dream demon so they could both pull away from air. Bill sat back, letting the brunet sit up, free from his captivity. Dipper smiled softly at him, his breathing slowly starting to return to normal.

"The only thing I'm scared of right now is losing someone else I care about," he told him, flicking his hair out of his face. Bill smiled slightly in return. "Please stop doubting yourself..." Dipper requested, his eyes pleading. Bill nodded, scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry... It's just... I don't always think straight, and-"

"Well, obviously not, you're dating a boy, that's the exact opposite of straight," Dipper interjected suddenly, unable to help himself. Bill blinked at him in disbelief for a moment before allowing a short laugh.

"Dammit, Pine Tree, I'm trying to have a serious talk here, and you're making gay jokes," he whined in a humored nature. Dipper snickered to himself but lowered his head in apology.

"Sorry, sorry... please, continue," he requested. Bill rolled his eyes, but picked up where he left off regardless.

"As I was saying, I don't always think straight," he gave Dipper a pointed look to ensure he remained silent. "Just 'cause I act more sane doesn't necessarily mean I am more sane... sometimes I get a little out of control, and I... I don't want to scare you away..." he admitted. Dipper no longer felt like laughing. He took Bill's hand in his, covering it with his other hand as he looked the dream demon in the eyes, his brown orbs flooding with sincerity.

"Bill Cipher, when you brought chaos and panic down to our realm in Weirdmaggedon, I lost hope for a little while, but I got back up, didn't I? Did I run away?"

"No," Bill mumbled, "you were a consistent thorn in my side 'till the very end."

"When you possessed my body, did I give up and resign myself to life in the mindscape?"

"No..."

"When you entered Gruncle Stan's brain, did I turn tail and run?"

"No, you didn't..."

"So, if all of that didn't scare me away, what makes you think you could scare me off now?" Dipper questioned. Bill smirked at him, planting a gentle kiss on his forehead.

"Thanks, Pine Tree," he said softly. Dipper grinned, nestling himself back into the crook of Bill's arm.

"I'll always be here, Cipher," he whispered, letting out a small yawn, the events of the day beginning to catch up with him.

"Yeah, to give me hell, judging from past events," Bill teased. Dipper hummed a laugh, his eyes already drifting closed.

"Well, someone's gotta do it..." he murmured sleepily. Bill smiled fondly down at him, turning off the lamp on the bedside table and running his fingers through Dipper's hair again before speaking softly.

"I'm glad it's you."

LD YPEO NIBLQDB CINTIIB NOILI NTD... ;)

A/N: Sorry that this one is so all over the place. I've been writing it off and on for a while, since I haven't had all that much free time in the past few weeks. ANYWAY! I hope you guys liked it regardless! Things are moving much slower in this book, I know, but I felt like we didn't have very much actual shipping stuff going on in the last two, so... I guess I'm compensating for it now that they're actually together, lol. Let me know what you think in the comments, if you want! I always love getting feedback from you guys! :D Love you all, and I'll howl to you later!!!!