Dipper wondered if Bill was ever going to show up again. It had been three days since he’d thanked Bill for his help with Mabel and asked him on a date. Mabel was going to be discharged soon and it was starting to get really annoying how Bill was avoiding him.

He clenched his fists at his sides and chewed on his bottom lip. Bill still hadn’t fulfilled his end of the deal…not that that was a problem per se, but it was just getting on his nerves that Bill wasn’t taking him seriously. It was bothering him more so that Bill was staying gone for long periods of time because at this point he was losing opportunities.

He pushed open the door to Mabel’s room without bothering to knock. She looked up from where she was lying upright against her pillow, knitting a new sweater. It was something creative for her to do while she was in the ER that didn’t involve turning the room into her personal art studio.

“Hey Mabel,” he greeted lowly. Her response was delayed and in the hesitance, Dipper looked up at his sister to catch a massive grin spread across her blushing face. Her eyes seemed to sparkle.

“Hey bro-bro, guess what!” she beamed.

Dipper raised an eyebrow and turned slightly more toward her. “Is…everything alright?”

“Oh, it’s better than alright! How do you think this looks?” she turned her magenta creation around to show her brother. The design was a red cross with pink hearts in the four inner corners. The caption read ‘Love Doctor’. “Do you think Nurse Cullen will like this?” she asked.

“I…what?” Dipper questioned, face twisting in confusion. He dropped his shoulders and cocked his head.

“He’s so cute and I think I totally have a chance with him!”

“No offense Mabel, but don’t you think he’s a little too old for you?”

“Hush, I’m almost finished with this,” she silenced, bringing a finger to her lips. She then continued knitting furiously as if her life depended on it.

Dipper rolled his eyes and sat down in one of the chairs across from her bed. He pulled out his journal from under his arm and began flipping through it. As he scanned the pages, searching through obedience spells, truth spells, compulsion spells, and other manipulation techniques, he tapped a finger against his cheek and rolled his tongue in his mouth.

The air was quiet between them aside from the occasional clicking of Mabel’s knitting needles and the soft rustling of pages turning. The golden rays from the evening sunlight streamed in from the window and warmed the room, the low chatter from the hospital television allowing for a bit of atmosphere.

Soon a knock came on the door, followed by the squeak of the hinges turning. In waltzed Mabel’s caretaker, Nurse Cullen. A happy gasp rushed from her lips as her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and twinkled. As he approached her bedside, his skin seemed to glitter in the velvet rays.

“Miss Pines, how’re you doing this evening?” he asked with a lidded gaze. His voice was low and somewhat breathy. Dipper rolled his eyes; pretty boy.

Mabel hid her work-in-progress sweater behind her back so that her crush wouldn’t see it. She smiled even wider, if that was possible.

“Better now that you’re here,” she flirted. The nurse smiled and shuffled his clipboard around in his arms. He pushed back his overly gelled hair and broadened his shoulders.

“I’m glad to hear it, Miss Pines, because you’re being discharged tomorrow. Congratulations on your full recovery!”

And in an instant Mabel’s face dropped from overjoyed to heartbroken. Her mouth fell agape, eyes filled to the brim with horror. She scooted forward and sat up on her knees so she could put her hands on his shoulders.

“Tell me it’s not true,” she begged, pleading with her puppy eyes.

“Nope, you’re all stable and there shouldn’t be any more problems.”

“But–but I made you this sweater!” she protested, pulling out her unfinished project from behind her back and presenting it to him in a desperate attempt to quickly win his favour.

“Oh, that is lovely, Miss Pines! I’ll give it to my little sister, I’m sure she’ll love it. She wants to be a nurse just like her big brother,” he said as he took the unfinished product from her to observe it.

“No! I-I mean, I made it for you,” she blushed. His face seemed to drop a little, brows scrunched at her suggestion. He put a hand on her shoulder and breathed out a sigh as he looked into her eyes.

“Listen Miss Pines, you’ve been hitting on me the entire time you’ve been here,” he began, shrugging his shoulders a bit, “and I just don’t really feel the same way. I’m quite a bit older than you, you see. Besides, you’re being discharged tomorrow and we’d be apart again.”

“We could stay in contact!” Mabel said, clinging onto his coat. He frowned and shook his head.

“I’m sorry Miss Pines.”

“Please…” she breathed theatrically, lowering her voice to a whisper, “call me Mabel.”

“Uh-huh…” Nurse Cullen muttered, eyes darting awkwardly around the room. “Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow when it comes time for you to go home.” He moved to exit the room. “Have a good evening, Miss Pines.”

The light left Mabel’s eyes as the door clicked shut. A small whimper saddened the air. Dipper rolled his eyes again and pushed his nose back into the journal. His sister’s love affairs were the last thing he wanted to worry about, but in the back of his mind he just knew that somehow Mabel was going to ask for his help.

And strangely enough, that time never came. She just sat there in her bed, staring down listlessly at her unfinished sweater and clenching the blankets in her fists. The room was silent and somewhat tense. Dipper started to low-key hope that maybe she had learned to be less dramatic over her failed romances.

Oh, how he was wrong.

Evening came and in the later hours of the night, Mabel snuck out of bed. She peeped both ways down the hall to make sure no one was around before slipping away toward the staircase. As she was staring down the flight, clenching her fists and biting her lip nervously, a familiar voice came from behind her.

“Hey Shooting Star! Thinking about taking the plunge?” Bill said in a cheery voice, swinging his arms gaudily. Mabel yelped in surprise and nearly ended up tumbling down the stairs. She caught herself on the railing and managed to pull herself back to her feet, her heart pumping at ninety miles-an-hour.

“Bill!” she shrieked, “What are you doing here? Do you know Dipper’s been looking everywhere for you? What’s going on between you guys?”

“Whoa there, easy with the questions, kid.” Bill made a show of being run through with arrows in the shape of question marks, theatrically dying and then quickly reanimating with no arrows in him. “I’m aware Pine Tree’s been waiting for me, but I’m a busy guy, y’know. Got places to be and people to torture, you dig?” He spawned his cane and pointed the end of it at her. “I can’t spend all my time on him,” he shrugged, twirling his cane around his fingers.

“You still haven’t said what you’re doing here. If you’re so busy, how come you can make time for me but not for him?”

“Sheesh, it’s not like I’ve been spending days at a time with him or anything, right? He’s had enough of my time. I wanna hang out with you for a change!”

Mabel squinted at this remark, “Why?”

“Is asking questions all you ever do? I don’t have to explain myself,” Bill grouched, turning his back to her to hide the small blush that came over him. He crossed his arms, cane hovering on its own beside him, and huffed. Mabel also crossed her arms, squinting even harder at him.

“I don’t trust you.”

“Good,” he said, turning back to face her. “ You shouldn’t. But believe it or not, I’m not here to cheat you.” Mabel shook her head slowly in disbelief. “I’m just looking to help. You want that boy, right?” She raised her eyebrows in surprise before casting her eyes away and twiddling her thumbs.

“I’m leaving tomorrow and he still hasn’t realized that we’re meant to be together.”

“Exactly. I can fix that! But you can’t get something for nothing, you know. What’s in it for me?”

Mabel crossed her arms pompously, “I won’t tell Dipper I saw you tonight.”

“You drive a hard bargain, kid,” Bill hissed, pointing an accusatory finger at her, “but I’m gonna need more than that.”

“I’ll knit you a sweater, too; final offer.”

Bill stared her down for the next ten seconds without a word before Mabel threw her arms up and started to walk away.

“Alright, I guess I’ll go tell Dipper you’re here to–”

“Wait!” Bill halted, holding out a hand in her direction. Mabel kept marching. “Okay okay, I’ll take your dumb sweater, just don’t tell Pine Tree anything.”

“Yay!” Mabel delighted, running back over to Bill with her arms wide. As she jumped in to hug him, Bill reflexively split in half so she ended up sailing right through him and onto the cold, hard floor face-first.

“If you value life, don’t even think about trying that again,” he warned, melding back together. Mabel frowned and tidied up her hair as she got back to her feet.

“No wonder you’re so evil. You’ve never been hugged before!” There was a moment of hesitance before Bill spoke again.

“Move back over here,” he ordered. Mabel took this as a cue to try hugging him again and opened her arms. She took one step toward him before he ignited his hand and chucked a ball of blue flames at her. Mabel ducked in time to dodge it but the hairs on the back of her neck stood as she stared wide-eyed at him. “To the stairs. And F-Y-I, I don’t miss twice.” She got the hint. Repositioning herself at the top of the stairs, she looked up at Bill to see him extending his flaming hand to her. They shook, sealing their little deal, and in the next moment, Bill’s hands were on her shoulders.

“Have a nice trip!” he said all too enthusiastically. He shoved her backwards, sending her crashing down the staircase. She went screaming with her hands clasped over her head in defense. It didn’t help much in the end when she still ended up with a splitting headache and bruises dotted all over her body.

At the bottom, her motionless body lay staring up at the ceiling dizzily. A pair of Bills hovered over to her where she could see them and gazed down at her with an obvious delight. Mabel lifted a finger at the two.

“You never told me you had a twin,” she mumbled. Bill chuckled and rolled his eye.

“Seeing double, huh? That should be good enough for the white coats, what do you think?” Mabel squinted at the double vision-induced Bill twins and cocked her head a little bit.

“Wha…?”

Moments later, doctors came stampeding down the hallway. They rushed to Mabel’s side, checking her vitals, asking her a slew of questions that she felt way too dizzy to answer, and finally helping her to her feet so they could get her back to her room. Taking a moment to figure out what was going on around her, she took notice that one of the doctors at her side was her caretaker, the one and only, Nurse Cullen. She mentally fist pumped and whispered ‘yes!’ to herself before turning to look back at Bill. He held his arms behind his head with satisfaction in himself and Mabel mouthed a ‘thank you’ to him before her squad turned a corner and they were out of sight.

“Well, now that that’s out of the way…” Bill dusted metaphorical dirt off himself and straightened his bow tie and hat.

“Bill hecking Cipher!” a pubescent male voice called out.

Ah hell.

Bill dropped his shoulders and glared in the direction where Pine Tree was stomping toward him, a trail of rage in his wake. There was practically fire following his footsteps. His fists clenched at his sides, teeth grit, and posture hunched, he stormed up to Bill and pointed an accusatory finger directly in his face.

“Oh my god, I don’t even know where to start with you, you filthy freaking cyclops!” the boy snarled, shaking his head.

“Hey,” Bill said, crossing his arms, “that was totally uncalled for. Excuse you, but I’m nothing like a cyclops. Have you met those guys? They have absolutely no sense of civility.” Bill put a hand over his imaginary heart and closed his eye. “I prefer to be called a mono-optic being of pure energy.”

“The only thing I’m calling you right now is a liar and a scoundrel,” Dipper hissed. “You got my hopes up about that date and it’s been three darn days. Where were you?”

“I said ‘we’ll see’, kid. I never said yes. Don’t take it personally,” he defended, examining his nonexistent nails, “I’m a busy guy; I had places to be. I can’t babysit you all the time, Pine Tree.”

“Babysit? This is unbelievable!” Dipper fumed. He ran both hands through his hair, clutching it tightly in anger, and then threw his hat to the floor. “Bill Cipher, you have a deal to fulfill. It’s not about hanging out or dating, if I really have to spell it out for you. I commissioned you a deal–you get my soul, and I get to…get off. And you haven’t finished your end of the deal. You do know what happens to demons that don’t uphold their end of the deal, don’t you?”

Bill recoiled in shock. Who was Pine Tree to tell him about what happens to demons who break their deals? The very gall was offensive to say the least. All he could do was just stare the other down for a few moments while he decided what was appropriately evil enough of a response. Nothing came to mind.

Dipper continued speaking since Bill had been rendered speechless.

“And you know what else?” he said, “I just watched you push Mabel down the stairs. What the heck, man?! That’s my sister!”

“Now wait just a second, that one wasn’t my fault. She was asking for it!”

“Bill, I swear to god…”

“No, I’m being serious. She was literally asking for it. Shooting Star seems to think that if she stays here longer, she can convince ol’ white coat to fall in love with her.” Bill chuckled, “but she’s gonna need more than that if she wants his attention, let’s be real here.”

“Look, it doesn’t matter why you pushed her. You know Mabel doesn’t put her own safety before her feelings! You could have killed her!”

“Alright, casanova, what do you suggest to help Shooting Star win the boy’s heart?” he asked, juggling fabricated human hearts in his hands. Dipper reached out and fanned them away, to Bill’s disappointment. Bill put his hands on his hips.

“I-I don’t know. Isn’t there some kind of, uh, love spell or potion or something? Anything has to be tamer than pushing her down a flight of stairs.”

“Hm, come to think of it, Pine Tree, you’re right. There are a few things you could try, but personally I think this was much easier and way more fun,” Bill laughed.

“Ugh, well whatever,” Dipper groaned, pulling out his journal. He flipped through the pages, trying to find anything that seemed to have an effect on influencing emotions with no such luck. Bill hovered just over his shoulder, staring down into the book with him.

“Looks like you’re outta luck, kid. Nothin’ much in there except for a whole lot of hooey.”

“There’s gotta be something in here, right? You said there were a few things to try.”

“I figured you already knew! Don’t tell me you haven’t tried this out already on Red.” Dipper’s face flushed beet red and he clapped the journal shut as hard as he could. Spinning around to face Bill, he tucked the book into his vest and crossed his arms.

“There’s…nothing in there about love potions or whatever.”

Stroking his metaphorical chin, Bill hummed and then reached down to Dipper’s vest, only to have his hand slapped away by the other. Bill looked hurt. Dipper gave him a look that said ‘try that again and next time I’ll take off your hand’.

“Trust me, kid. I just wanna help.”

“Why on Earth should I trust you? You’ve given me no reason–”

“Look, I know you don’t have a lot of reasons to trust me, but I’m not trying to dupe you right now.”

“Forget it.” Bill rolled his eye.

“Well, if you don’t want my help, then I guess I’ll take my leave.”

“Wait, I never said that. I want your help, but you aren’t allowed to touch this journal. Besides, you still haven’t upheld your end of the deal–and frankly, I’m getting tired of waiting–how can I trust you if you can’t even keep your end of our deal?”

“How do you expect me to help if I can’t look through the journal for the spell, genius?”

“You’re Bill freaking Cipher, you don’t need to look through the journal to know a spell or potion.”

Bill had no response since Pine Tree was right. He wasn’t actually trying to do anything malicious, but he can’t deny the fact that there was a very real chance that he would have taken the opportunity to do something evil with the journal had he gotten the chance to take it. But if Pine Tree was going to play like this, there was little he could do. And he did aspire to help the kid, for whatever incomprehensible reason.

“Alright,” he admitted, “ya got me. I do know the recipe for a potion off-hand but don’t expect me to do your dirty work. She’s your sister, pal.”

“I’m not your ‘pal’, man.”

“I’m not a man, meatbag.”

“Just come on, mister mono-optic being of pure annoying,” Dipper grumbled, marching away.

“Do you even know where you’re going?”

“Back to the shack. If I’m making a potion, I’m gonna need alchemy supplies.” Bill stretched out and wrapped an arm around Dipper’s torso, stopping the kid from walking any further. He reeled him back until the younger was against his body. On contact, Bill blushed a tiny bit; Pine Tree was soft. He relaxed ever so slightly against the child, shamefully enjoying the plush fleshy feeling against his front.

“Now hold on there, Pines,” Bill said brightly. “Why would you wanna walk all the way back there when there’s a gold mine of alchemy supplies just lying around this place?”

“What? I can’t steal from a hospital! That’s wrong and not to mention illegal.”

“Like you cared about legality when you fought the tangle.”

“I…shut up.”

“Come on, Pine Tree!” Bill urged. He pushed the other lightly, but enough to nearly knock Dipper off his balance. As the preteen was steadying himself, Bill soared off down the hall.

“Bill, wait!” There was no way he could let Bill Cipher roam free in a building full of sick and defenseless people. God only knows what he’d do to anyone if he got his grubby little hands on them. Mutilation? Grand theft internal-organs? Replacing people’s tongues with slugs? Undoubtedly. A shiver passed over his body; he didn’t want to think about it. He shook his head and followed swiftly after the demon.

The pair came to a stop at the corner just short of the lab. Dipper peeked his head around to see if the coast was clear, only to see Bill already coasting down the hall without a care in the world. Doors blew open as the triangle passed by them, swinging open to reveal the patients asleep inside. Oh for the love of…Dipper grumbled as he tailed behind, shutting each door and muttering a quick apology to every patient inside, despite whether or not they were asleep.

Suddenly, Bill came to a halt and took a sharp turn at the next door. A small world of tubes, flasks, and vials unfolded before him. This should do nicely, he figured as he moved over to a counter top of choice where he stood until Dipper entered the room as well. He spawned his cane and strolled leisurely along, dragging the straight end along the glass tubes. As they clinked against the tip, Dipper bit his bottom lip. He rubbed his arm nervously.

“We shouldn’t be in here. We might break something.”

“What, you mean like this?” Bill said all too gleefully, making Dipper cringe. He picked up one of the flasks and threw it forcefully against the hard linoleum floors, causing it to shatter into a million pieces.

“Bill! That’s not funny!”

“Lighten up, Pine Tree, yeesh. No one’s gonna find us, probably.” He added the last word just to give the other goosebumps, which happened to be a rousing success, much to Bill’s delight. He chuckled at Dipper’s discomfort.

“Whatever. Let’s get this potion made and back to Mabel before we get caught,” Dipper commanded, marching into the kitchen and selecting the utensils he intended to use. “Alright, what’s first?”

“Heh, well let’s see… The base of the potion is simple! First things first, y–” Bill froze mid-sentence. He stood there on the counter top, eye fixed intensely on Pine Tree so strong that he was practically burning a hole into him. And then he was. The twinge of burning pain made Dipper yelp and pat at the ovular hole seared into his side by Bill’s pupil. Bill’s fists clenched and trembled slightly at his sides. He realized that he was about to willingly give out free, no-strings-attached information–to Pine Tree, no less! An abnormal heat radiated off of him, one that was a mix of frustration, confusion, and another emotion he was just going to pretend he wasn’t experiencing. A pulse of mana energy emanated off his being and rippled through the air. It caught Dipper’s attention and he turned to see Bill glowing brightly and visibly shaking. He opened his mouth to ask what was going on, but decided he didn’t know how exactly to ask the demon and still live too, so he flicked his eyes around the room, avoiding eye contact and hoping that Bill would continue his sentence or explain or something. Instead, he asked Dipper a question.

“How are you doing that?” he ground out, the beginnings of an angry shade of (what Dipper assumed was) red blooming over his shape. Dipper glanced at the wall then back at Bill. His gut twisted, shoulders tensing in fear.

“Uh…doing what?” he dared to ask back, inwardly prayed that inquiring that would not cost him his life.

In a flash, Bill lept from the counter and grew to twice Dipper’s size. Veins cracked on either side of his pitch black eye. He pointed an accusatory finger at Dipper and glared down at him.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Pines. You know what you did. How did you do it?” he thundered. Dipper jumped in his skin and curled inward a little.

“Uh…uh…I-I don’t know what you’re talking about! What did I do?” Dipper stammered. A rectangular white box opened up on Bill’s body and depicted, on the far left, an X. Bill shot a laser next to where the kid was standing. Dipper shrieked and jumped the other way, where he was then backed up against the counter where he was getting ready to work.

“Strike one. Manipulation? Compulsion? Speak up, brat! I saw you researching those spells in that dumb journal of yours! How did you almost make me tell you the recipe?”

“What? Dude, I asked you! What’s your freaking damage?” Bill fired again, this time shattering the glass tubes beside him. Another X appeared inside the box. “Geez, what are you, like, my mother? Why are you always counting down like I’m just a kid? Bill, I didn’t do anything! Did you ever stop consider that just maybe the problem is you?”

Bill wanted to say that he should crush him like an ant for that, but he couldn’t get it out–let alone actually do it. He stood speechless for a few moments more before shrinking back down to normal size, deleting the box and Xs, and restoring his former colour.

“Y’know something, Pine Tree, I’ve been shockingly nice to you lately and I can’t figure out why.”

“Yeah,” Dipper chuckled nervously, averting his eyes, “neither can I.”

“I think I’m gonna help you with this love potion, but don’t get used to handouts, kid.” Bill gestured to his eye with one finger and then added a second finger when pointing at Dipper’s eyes, “I’m watching you.”

Dipper grinned wide. His eyes lit up with a joy that would have been surprising, had Bill been human and understood social abnormalities. This was the second–or maybe third, since Bill didn’t kill him for suggesting that they start dating–instance of solid proof that all his hard work and patience was paying off. And more importantly, it was the first time he actually received a fraction of the end-game. It wouldn’t be long now, he thought.

“Wow, thanks Bill!” he beamed. He started to say more, but he stopped himself on the thought that he might accidentally say too much, so instead he just nodded at the other and turned back to his workstation. As he was reaching for new supplies, the broken ones suddenly seamlessly repaired themselves. The utensils that had been blown to the floor levitated back up to their original positions. When Dipper glanced back to the demon, he saw a smile in Bill’s eye. He looked proud of himself. Instead of verbalizing it, Dipper tilted his head and communicated his gratitude with his eyes. The gesture made Bill flush over again, but not in anger this time. He simply stared back at the kid, eye wide with a billion secrets behind it.

“Forget-me-nots,” Bill said eventually.

“Huh?”

“You need forget-me-not flowers, dried jasmine and rose petals, cinnamon sticks, fresh spring water, and vanilla bean pods.”

“That sounds like something you’d make in a kitchen, not a lab.”

“Yeah, well,” Bill pretended to examine his nails, “I wasn’t exactly going to be so nice at first, but lucky for you and your sister, I changed my mind. Besides, alchemy was born in the kitchen, Dipstick.” Dipper rolled his eyes and offered a friendly smile. “Okay, okay, that’s enough. Go on and get this show on the road,” Bill said, pushing Dipper out the door. When they got out to the hallway, Dipper suddenly grabbed Bill’s hand, causing the demon to reflexively ignite his hand in a blue flame.

“Come with me.”

Whoa.

Whoa.

Bill didn’t know how to respond to that. He was struck speechless. Without realizing it, his body faded away; going transparent, only his outline was visible to Dipper. But he still hadn’t let go or tried to pry the younger off. After a moment, he even started to gently squeeze back.

That was Dipper’s cue to start pulling him along down the hallway. Bill was silent all the way to the hospital entrance. When they stepped outside into the humid July night, he finally found his voice.

“Pine Tree…” he uttered. Dipper glanced back at him; he still hadn’t reverted back to his usual opaqueness. Bill extended his other hand and a tiny glimmer sparked the spontaneous growth of a single branch of fresh jasmine from the center of his palm. “You won’t find these anywhere in Gravity Falls, so here.”

Something went wrong. Dipper felt his heart thud in his chest. A small blush came to his face at the sight of an emotionally-conflicted Bill Cipher handing him flowers that he (technically) grew himself. His blood ran hot as an unsteady hand reached out to take the offering. Part of him expected Bill to incinerate the blooms before he could take them. Part of him wanted Bill to incinerate the blooms before he could take them; so that he could get mad and storm away and help Mabel all by himself, cursing Bill under his breath and himself for being so stupid as to momentarily forget his ultimate goals in light of Bill’s uncharacteristic kindness.

But Bill did no such thing. He waited patiently for Dipper to retrieve the flowers and then dropped his hand back to his side without another word. His eye locked on the younger, Dipper couldn’t meet the gaze to thank him silently, so he just whispered a polite thanks and pressed forward into the hot evening.

The pair made their way down the sidewalk from the top of Northwest Memorial hill, holding hands all the way into town. Bill allowed himself to be led along by the other to a small, twenty-four-hour country store at the bottom. About halfway down, he finally snapped out of his trance. He held a balled fist to his face and made a noise, as if clearing his throat, and turned back to his normal pallor. They came to a stop in front of the store where Dipper pondered whether or not he’d be able to get what he needed from there. Bill’s gaze didn’t leave him for a second. Only when they walked through the door did he finally slip his hand out of Dipper’s grasp.

“You think potpourri will work for the dried rose?” Dipper asked, finger tapping his cheek.

“Pfft, yeah. If you wanna poison your sister.”

“I don’t exactly have time to dry fresh ones,” Dipper frowned. Bill waved his hand dismissively.

“Don’t worry about it, just get fresh ones.”

“Well, alright.” Dipper searched the isles until he came to a small floral section in the back of the store. Red, pink, and white roses wrapped up in a plastic bouquet were soaking in a large vase. Dipper grabbed the red ones, believing them to be the most potent based on the deep shade of grey they were. Tucking them under his arm, he then browsed the isles for cinnamon sticks.

He was taking a long time and Bill was getting bored, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. Well, actually more like into Dipper’s hands. A crinkle of amusement in his eye, he twirled his finger around and then spoke in a tone of shock so loud it startled Dipper into goosebumps.

“Pine Tree, you seem to be experiencing the spice of life,” he said. “Your tiny flesh sticks look like fresh sticks…of cinnamon… Whatever. No good jokes come to mind,” he grumbled, rolling his eye and dropping his arms out in front of him.

“Huh?” Dipper held out his hand to see that his fingers had been transformed into rolls of cinnamon. He shrieked and shook his hand wildly in a fruitless attempt to make it go away. “Bill! Ugh, I’m tired of your dumb little pranks! I’m trying to help Mabel, here, and you’re not taking it seriously!”

“Ooh, ouch! Looks like your bark is worse than your bite, huh kid?” the demon said, bursting out in stitches of laughter. Dipper shot him a glare. Grumbling under his breath, he carefully plucked each of the cinnamon sticks growing from his palm, leaving empty spaces behind (he desperately hoped his fingers would grow back). Bill watched, satisfied with himself, as he did. And knowing the kid’s boundaries, tamely grew the digits back after all the spices had been removed.

Dipper bit his tongue. He knew he would have to swallow his pride if he wanted to stay on Bill’s good side, which he did. Half of him wanted to yell at Bill because Bill had proved that if he wanted, he could just spawn all of the ingredients they needed in an instant, but Dipper knew not to push his luck. Things were finally looking up; now was not the time to ruin it before he got what he wanted. So, amassing as much confidence as possible and putting a cork on the bottle of his pride, he let out a small chuckle. His eyes would not meet Bill’s for fear that it would give away his lie.

“That was actually pretty funny,” he admitted. Bill stopped cold, ceasing all laughter at once. It was almost chilling how quiet it was without Bill’s obnoxious laughter.

“Say what?” he asked monotonously.

“You have a pretty good sense of humor when it comes down to it,” Dipper replied, forcing out another fake laugh. “I mean, cinnamon sticks for fingers? Only you could help out that creatively! And I am loving that ‘bark’ pun.”

Once again, Bill had no response. Pine Tree actually liked his teasing? That was a first. It was also the first time anyone at all had complimented him on his teasing. For a moment, he wondered if he should play it off as another joke and say that he himself loved it too, but for once, part of him on the inside told him not to ruin the moment. Instead he just shrugged and looked away. It was the only other thing he thought to do.

Dipper smiled to himself; it was working. He stood up straight with pride and turned to go pay for the items.

The last two, the forget-me-nots and the fresh spring water, were going to be a royal pain to collect. According to Bill–in Gravity Falls, the flowers only grow next to the spring water which is located at the top of the cliffs somewhere off the trodden path to where the waterfall begins. It was a long walk that, to make it worse, had started with them on the opposite side of town. Not to mention, it was already very dark out. Dipper was inclined to ask Bill to be merciful and either teleport them there or carry him since he was endowed with levitation, but Bill snapped back with a response that he was ‘not a taxi service’ and would do no such thing. Dipper wasn’t surprised–his plan hadn’t reached that stage yet–but it was worth a shot.

It took them an ungodly amount of time–about three and a half hours–to make it to the top of the cliffs on foot. How Dipper had managed to drown out all of Bill’s incessant talking and pranks was no less than a miracle of nature. Though they’d had numerous close-calls including coyotes, raccoons, and stomach-faced ducks (those bastards), the duo had at last made it to the trail that lead alongside the river feeding into the waterfall. Not a moment too soon, Dipper thought as he rubbed the bruises on his arm.

“Alright, we’re finally here so what now?” he asked in a snappy tone. Bill shot his eye toward the other angrily. He clenched his fists and then crossed his arms.

“Easy with the attitude, Pine Tree, we still have a ways to go and,” he held up two fingers on each hand and made quote motions, “‘god’ forbid I start getting annoyed with you.”

Dipper bit his lip so hard it left teeth marks in the skin. He fought to keep his blood from boiling over the top, taking a deep, cleansing breath and pressing forward, expecting Bill to keep up.

“Yeah,” he grumbled. “God forbid.”

Not another word was spoken for the longest time. Bill simply floated alongside Dipper as they walked the path with his gaze fixed sharp on him. Dipper was walking with his eyes pointed straight forward (most likely keeping an eye out for any more of those stomach-faced death machines), and it honestly amazed him. For hours on end, Pine Tree had put up with his obvious attempts at breaking his spirit without so much as a shush. He’d roll his eyes from time to time or mutter things under his breath but that was honestly just about the tamest form of disgust he’d ever received. In a way, he really appreciated it and in that moment, if he could have smiled physically, he would have.

Tensions started to decrease and Bill dramatically sighed.

“You know something, Pine Tree,” he began, breaking the silence, “I give you such a hard time. And even though it’s all on purpose, and I have no intention of stopping, I’m actually kind of flattered that you put up with all of it without fuss.” Dipper turned to look at the demon as they–as he–walked. “I get it; when we first met, you treated me how you would have treated anyone trying to steal your great uncle’s memories.” There was another one of Dipper’s famous eye rolls. Bill passively dismissed it. “But I must admit, you have me officially puzzled. Why the sudden change of heart, kid?”

A breath of relief in Dipper’s mind that he had planned an answer to this question from the very start on the narrow chance that his plan actually work and not get him slaughtered. He put on a show of being mildly nervous, rubbing the back of his neck and clearing his throat, so that he would appear genuine.

“It’s something you wouldn’t understand.”

Bill gave him a deadpan glare as though that was the stupidest thing he’d ever said. He was the all-seeing eye, and there was little to nothing that he didn’t understand. Dipper forced a blush and looked away.

“I-I mean because it’s a human thing.”

“Intestinal gas?”

“Oh my god,” Dipper recoiled, locking his fingers in his hair and shaking his head. If ever there was a time he would like to un-hear something, it was now. “No!” he corrected. “No…it’s different than that.” He rolled his eyes again and muttered lowly, “but sorta just as embarrassing.”

“Oh, you mean human existence entirely!”

“Bill.” They exchanged amused and annoyed expressions respectively. “Just forget it, man.”

“Alright alright, geez kid. No fun allowed, huh?”

They continued in silence for the rest of the way until Bill showed Dipper where they needed to veer off the path. It wasn’t a very long walk from there until they reached the freshwater springs from which to gather the water.

Bill moved over to it and pointed, “right here.”

“Great, now we can finally finish the po–” the younger was cut off by the branch he was pushing out of the way swinging back and hitting him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Bill cracked up in laughter.

Dipper approached the spring and dipped in his water bottle. As he was waiting for it to fill up, the otherwise gentle movement of the water began to stir. He squinted at the surface, watching ripples appear in the current.

Just as he was opening his mouth to ask Bill if what they were doing was entirely safe, a webbed claw reached out from the pond and jerked him under. His hat was left floating along the surface. Bill laughed again, going over to circle the area where Pine Tree had been abducted.

Reflexively, Dipper started to scream, letting out most of the air from his lungs. Right away, he realized that was a mistake and shut his mouth tight. Everything was blurry, but he forced his eyes open, doing his best to focus on the outline of the creature that he was dealing with.

Its claws were digging into his skin, releasing some of his blood into the water. And from what Dipper could make out, it was not a siren or a dragon of any type. It’s shape was more like that of a salamander but with more of a mermaid-like tail. Soon, it had all four of it’s arms wrapped around Dipper and hugging him tightly to its chest as it swam to the bottom of the pond and rested against the floor. It was going to drown him.

Dipper fought against it, struggling to get out of its grasp. He tried to worm his way out, but seeing as that didn’t work, he then tried clawing it back. Still no response. Sinking his teeth into the beast, he resorted to biting it. This earned him a strangling choke hold from the beast, and with his lungs already screaming for air, he knew it wouldn’t be long. Chills ran all over his body, and human instinct took over as he flailed to find air. The last of his breath reserve was released in large bubbles, netting him a few more seconds before he would be struggling again for the final time.

Suddenly there was a light. Followed suit by an obnoxious voice.

It was Bill.

“So listen, fish breath,” he began, “I noticed you’ve got something of mine. And I’m only going to ask nicely once for you to give it back.” He added a small chuckle to emphasize his point. “And I’m not a guy you want to see mad, you can ask Pine Tree there–the one you’re currently drowning.”

The beast opened up it’s jaws, revealing it’s needle-like teeth and screeched at him, holding tighter onto Dipper in a nearly crushing grip.

“Suit yourself,” Bill shrugged as he snapped his fingers. The beast instantly dropped unconscious into a forced slumber. The demon then extended his arms and pushed it out the way, rescuing the trapped preteen and quickly dragging him to the surface.

He dropped the boy to the ground and Dipper promptly started heaving deep breaths. His head was spinning at a nauseating rate and the whole world seemed fuzzy. The air around him felt freezing cold to his saturated clothes. Bill hovered silently behind him, his arms crossed as he waited for Dipper to regain his composure.

“It was that easy?” he uttered with his head hung. Bill said nothing. Dipper shook like a leaf as he stumbled to his feet. “I was nearly drowned and crushed, and you could have saved me that easily?” he said, raising his voice to a shouting tone. “Bill, why didn’t you tell me there was a monster down there?”

“What do you think makes the water so special?”

“Ugh! I can’t believe you! You–you…” He started to pace the ground, fingers tangled in his hair with rage, before slowing to a stop. He looked at his hands, the world felt surreal. “You saved my life.”

“Huh?”

“Bill, I almost died down there. Without you, I’d be dead.”

“You don’t have to rub it in,” he said with a slight blush, making an effort to hide the fact.

“No no, that was amazing! I can’t believe you actually rescued me! Bill…”

“Kid, it was an impulse reaction, don’t get too–” he was silenced by Dipper lurching forward and wrapping his arms tight around him. His triangular shape didn’t exactly make the best for hugging, but all the same, Dipper couldn’t let go. His heart beat fast as he smiled against Bill’s textured body. This time, Bill didn’t–reflexively or otherwise–attempt to dodge. His eye went impossibly wide and he put off a heat that nearly singed Dipper’s arms, but the preteen wouldn’t let go. In fact, he held on even tighter.

And then slowly, sure enough, Bill lifted shaky hands to the child’s back and returned the hug.

It was too late to return to the hospital, so the two of them found themselves back at the Mystery Shack. On the way home, Bill had generously flash-dried Dipper’s wet clothes when he noticed the boy shivering.

They would have to get the potion to Mabel first thing in the morning, before she was released. How they were going to get it to the nurse was a whole problem on its own, but first things first, they needed to brew it.

Dipper made sure Stan was sound asleep before heading into the kitchen. He retrieved a sauce pan from the cabinet under the counter and turned the stove up to a simmering heat. The spring water went in first and then he turned to Bill to see what next to do. The demon was staring at him wordlessly and didn’t seem like he had the intention to speak any time soon, so Dipper spoke up first.

“Alright, so I’m supposed to simmer the spring water first. What should I do while it’s warming up?”

Bill’s light dimmed a little bit, but enough for Dipper to notice. He wasn’t sure he was exactly comfortable with giving out any more free information, especially not after what happened up by the springs. He knew now that he was getting in too deep; going soft. Pine Tree already knew too much and especially without giving anything in return. On the other hand, he enjoyed the warm feeling he got when pointing the kid in the right direction. It was like no other feeling he had ever experienced. Warm and smooth, somewhat like bubbles forming in his core.

The paintings on the walls started rumbling. Drawers shot out and cabinets swung open. The chairs slid out from under the table, began levitating, and spun in mid-air. The kitchen lights then started flickering. Dipper’s eyes widened, his stance dropping to a cautious one. Bill’s bright aura turned black around him and his pupil narrowed.

“Whoa, whoa! What’s going on? Bill, is everything alright?”

The chaos continued a few seconds more and then it all stopped at once.

Confused, Dipper remained on edge. He flicked his eyes away and then back at Bill like he was expecting something else to happen at any moment. But it didn’t. Bill pointed to the vanilla beans.

“Split them length-wise,” he stated, never taking his eye off Dipper. Nodding, Dipper moved slowly and took a knife out of the already open drawer. He held the beans still and cut them all one by one. Chills raced up and down his spine. Bill was hovering behind him so close that, if he breathed air, he’d be breathing on Dipper’s neck. His eye was so wide that the veins were visible, but Dipper did his best to ignore it. His shoulders were tense, but he made sure to cut slowly and carefully so that he didn’t accidentally hurt himself. He dare not ask Bill what just happened. The halves made tiny splashing noises as they plopped into the pan.

Next, Bill gently moved Dipper out of the way so that he was in front of the flowers. He held his hands out over the blooms. With a magical influence, the flowers rose up into the air. A crack of static charge split the silence and all petals detached from their stems, fluttering down to the counter top while the stems were reduced to ashes under an intense heat that Bill puppeteered. Below, the petals were flash-dried in the same way he’d done to Dipper’s clothes earlier. The demon moved back and let the other resume the recipe.

“Nice!” Dipper praised as he chucked the dried petals into the brew. Bill’s light brightened. “I know you told me not to worry about it, but I wasn’t expecting that! It was really cool to watch!” Brighter. “Thanks, Bill!”

“Don’t mention it, kid.” He crossed his arms and kept his back to the other. Dipper couldn’t help a smirk creeping onto his face, but wiped it off as quickly as he could.

“Do the cinnamon sticks just go right in?” he asked without looking at Bill.

“What do you think?” the demon muttered, pulsing waves of mana in a fashion similar to accelerated breathing.

The smirk returned and evolved into a grin as he dropped the sticks into the water and gave the mixture a light stir. Perfect.

“Okay, all we have to do is wait a bit for the stuff to drain out of the elements and then strain it, right?” Bill didn’t answer him. “So what do you wanna do while the potion’s brewing?”

“I’ve got places to be and people to torment, Pines, you really think I wanna stay here and babysit you?” Bill snapped. An icy stream of discouragement chilled Dipper’s veins, but he kept a steady voice and replied.

“Do you?”

Oh.

Um.

There was a long silence before Bill spoke again.

“What do you wanna do, anyway?”

Joy, pride, and satisfaction coursed through Dipper’s body like a vivacious electrical current. Unbelievable! He actually had a chance to make this work. He was unable to hold back his giddiness, but tried to make as little noise as possible. Now, as long as he didn’t botch it up, there was plenty of hope.

“Well, it’s almost morning. It took so long getting all the stuff we needed that the sun is about to come up.” Dipper stood on his tip-toes to look out the window and then turned back to Bill, rubbing his tired eyes. “You…wanna maybe catch the sunrise?” he drawled.

“What’s so great about seeing a ball of fire light up the Earth? You humans and your stupid sentiments.”

“I mean, I’m sure it’s nothing all that great to you, but we never did get to have our date…if you still wanna do it, that is. The morning fairies will be out soon, we could throw some rocks at them if you’d like.”

“Hm, Pine Tree suggesting we go torture innocent creatures; I never thought I’d see the day! Tell ya what, kid, I’ll take you up on that offer. Those stupid sun pixies owe me money,” Bill said with mild irritation.

“Great!” Dipper grinned. He took off running out of the kitchen, taking Bill’s hand on the way and pulling him along. It surprised the demon and his first instinct was to detach his arm. Dipper looked back, confused and seemingly a little hurt. Bill’s eye was wide and narrow, face dusting over with colour. Without meeting Dipper’s eyes, he retrieved his severed arm from the kid’s hand and attached it back to his body.

That was awkward.

A silent agreement not to talk about it came to pass between shifty eyes. The demon moved in closer and this time, he took Dipper’s hand. Willingly.

Another numbing thud pounded in Dipper’s chest at the tender contact. He couldn’t help a small blush. This was all very new ground to him. Mabel was the casanova, not he. And certainly not with a demon. Both of them stared at their interlocked hands for seconds before Dipper eventually slapped himself mentally back into the situation at hand. There was still work to do and even though it was quite obvious Bill was starting to grow a soft spot for him, he had to remain cold and focused as ever or he would lose all direction, sacrificing everything he’d worked for, and never get to solve the boundless mysteries Gravity Falls had in store for him. And that was not going to happen.

The preteen looked up and gave Bill a smile, but the demon didn’t seem to notice. He was far too lost still staring at the contact between them to realize his surroundings. Slowly, Dipper urged them toward the stairs. He led them upstairs and outside onto the room to watch the daybreak. The world was mute, chilling morning dew blanketing over the earth and dampening Dipper’s shorts as he sat down on shingles. Bill was paying no attention, still entranced by his choice to take the younger’s hand, but Dipper didn’t mind. It was actually kind of nice to not hear his voice running non-stop. Peaceful.

They sat together in silence for seconds-turned-minutes until the land grew lighter. The sun was beginning to peek over the hill, filtering between the trees. Dipper pointed ahead and broke the silence.

“Okay, here it goes. The fairies should come out any moment now.” Bill’s gaze rose from their hands to the morning sun and as they watched, little glimmers of fairy dust twinkled in the golden rays. Soon, tiny bodies began fluttering in front of the sun, casting small shadows onto the shack.

“There’s those jerks,” Bill grumbled, glaring at them. He held his unoccupied hand to his imaginary mouth. “Hey, sunspots,” he shouted, “time to pay your bill!” And in a friendlier tone, he looked to Dipper and chuckled with a smile glint in his eye, “Get it, Pine Tree? Bill? Cause that’s my name!”

Ugh.

Dipper cracked up laughing, squeezing Bill’s hand.

“Good one!” he congratulated. The moment Bill turned his attention back to the fairies, Dipper stuck his tongue out in the other direction and noiselessly gagged. The fairies seemed to ignore Bill’s presence entirely, fluttering on their merry way and collecting sunlight pollen.

“Stupid pixies think they’re better than everyone else. I’ll show them!” He stretched his arm all the way down to the ground and collected a handful of rocks to pitch at them. As he was reeling back to throw one, Dipper stopped him.

“Wait, let me throw the first one,” he asked.

Bill agreed, handing Dipper the stone. The preteen excitedly wound back his pitching arm and let hell fly.

It barely went twelve inches.

Bill broke into laughter.

“Shut up!” he snapped, quick as a whip. That only made Bill laugh harder. He kicked his legs wildly  and got louder and louder until the fairies stopped dead in their tracks and all turned to face the pair. Dipper raised his eyebrows at the sight; Bill’s laughing disturbed their work and now they were mad. “Bill, shut up, the fairies are upset. We got their attention.” The demon straightened up and wiped a tear from his eye.

“Hey, twinkle-toed freaks, time to pay up!” he demanded only to be met by angry chattering so quiet and fast that Dipper was unable to catch what they were saying…if they were even speaking English, that is. “Look, I don’t care about your dumb sun rays just pay up or Pine Tree and I are gonna have some fun with you guys.”

Synchronized growling shook the air at a resonating pitch that gave Dipper a splitting headache. He clapped both hands over his ears and grit his teeth. Annoyed at their resistance, Bill materialized a television remote and clicked ‘mute’, causing all fairy growling to go silent.

“See what I mean, Pine Tree? They don’t think they owe anything to anyone. Entitled little fucks, aren’t they?” Dipper hesitantly removed his hands from his ears. Bill dropped some of the stones into Dipper’s lap. “Maybe you can hit the close ones. At least get some practice, kid, you’re just pathetic.”

Humph.

Fairies scurried and panicked as an avalanche of pebbles and stones flew their way. Some of them hit, knocking the tiny bodies out of the air. Other fairies retreated to their homes in the tree tops. Bill and Dipper shared genuine and ungenuine laughs respectively. Finally, after five or so minutes, Dipper landed a hit.

“I got one!” he exclaimed, jumping to his feet with excitement.

“Nice job, kid. Keep working on it.”

Wow, Bill complimented him. Dipper smiled, looking down at the demon. There were first times for everything, he supposed.

After a while, all of the fairies were either downed or had forfeited; and Bill and Dipper were left sitting with their feet hanging over the edge of the roof, watching the sun climb higher into the sky. At some point, without even realizing it, they had ended up leaning against each other, Dipper’s head resting on Bill’s side. All was quiet between them for the time being after Bill had noticed that Dipper drifted off to sleep on his shoulder.

He watched him snooze soundly for a while until eventually, as much as he didn’t want to, he gently shook Dipper awake.

“Kid, it should be about time for that potion to be done,” he told him. Dipper stretched his arms and yawned.

“What time is it? Am I late for school?” he asked, still half-asleep. Bill thought about it for a moment and then responded.

“Yeah, you better get downstairs and get your breakfast.” It got Dipper up and moving, though a little sluggishly. As they got downstairs, Dipper had woken up a little more.

“Wait a second, it’s summertime. I don’t have school. Bill!” Bill chuckled. Dipper shook his head. “What a relief, actually,” Dipper smiled as he was pouring the brew into the strainer. A small vial topped with a funnel rested underneath to catch the juices. When it was near brimming, he sat the pot with the remaining brew back on the stove and turned off the heat. He corked the potion bottle and marked it with a tiny red heart.

“There,” Bill said. “Much easier than dealing with the love god. Hate that guy. The only reason he got his powers is because no one else would take a job so stupid.” Dipper grinned and shook his head.

“That, I would believe. Come on, let’s head back to the hospital,” he mumbled, halfway interrupted by a yawn. As he was staggering toward the door, Bill, making a snake-like motion with his arm (for kicks), put a hand on Dipper’s chest.

“Whoa there, kid. Speaking professionally as a dream demon, you need sleep. You won’t make it halfway there before you drop.”

“But I’ve gotta get this to Mabel before she leaves today.”

“Trust me, she won’t be leaving anytime soon. I made sure of that.”

“Oh yeah,” Dipper recalled, a little annoyed at Bill’s choice of actions. “Well…” he pondered, turning the bottle over between his fingers. “I guess it could wait.”

“Good!” Bill chimed, removing his hand and smiling with his eye. “Now off to bed with you!” The demon pushed him along toward the stairs.

“Wait, you’re not trying to trick me, are you?” Dipper asked, digging his heels into the ground.

“Now why would I do that? What reason would I have, Pine Tree, tell me that.”

While ‘Trust no one’ kept chiming in his head, Dipper went against his better judgment. Sighing and deciding it would be beneficial to put some faith in the other, he stopped resisting.

“Alright, Bill, I trust you.”

“Wow, really kid?” Bill made a show out of it by materializing a sign with flashing lights that pointed an arrow at Dipper; it read ‘Finally gets it!’. He fabricated a microphone with a cord that plugged into himself at his side. It brought a whole new meaning to ‘being of energy’. “And tell me, Mister Pines, what made you decide to go against that stupid journal, finally?” Dipper swatted at the microphone that was pointed at his face and the setup deconstructed into a smoke that diffused in the air.

“Cut that out,” he said. “You saved my life, Bill, I really have no reason not to trust you. Thanks again for that, by the way.” Bill rubbed a hand behind his head and shrugged.

“Like you said, I haven’t finished my end of our deal. I need you alive. If you die before I finish my end, it spells big trouble for me and that’s all I have to say about it. I’ll get back to you on it eventually, kid. I have my reasons for putting it off which you don’t need to know.” Bill couldn’t meet Dipper’s diligent eyes, trained on him and listening attentively. He put his hands back on Dipper’s shoulders and pushed him toward the stairs again. “Now get upstairs and go to bed, I’m very late for something and I can’t stick around anymore.” As much as he’d like to. Dipper glanced back at the demon for a second and gave him a tiny smile before turning and heading up to his room.

Bill watched until his door clicked shut and then closed his eye. He held each of his hands out to his sides, orbs of light glowing in either one.

“Sweet dreams, Dipper.”

And then he vanished.

{ It's 4am, and I cannot be arsed to do a proper end note thingie. Wait, what are these? There not author notes because there not really important, but... Meh, can't be arsed to explain it right now, I'll see you guys in the next chapter probably. Bye.}
Signing out,
Metalicana-scale~