“You’re gettin’ in too deep,” Bill muttered to himself as he pressed his palm flat against his forehead.

“Hm? Sorry, what was that?” Dipper asked, looking back at the demon following behind him.

“I said you didn’t get enough sleep,” Bill replied, raising his voice a little and changing his tone to a slightly more annoyed one.

“Oh, sorry. I really wanted to make sure I got this to Mabel as soon as possible.” The preteen turned the potion over in his hand. He hoped it would work for her sake. At least then she would get what she wanted after taking a nasty spill down the stairs for that dumb guy.

“Yeah, well…” Bill crossed his arms and blushed. He averted his gaze from the other. “Not sleeping enough will make you sick, and you don’t get a lot of sleep as it is.”

“Why do you care anyway?”

“What?”

“Why do you care how much sleep I get? Last time I stayed up late, you tricked me into making a deal with you so you could steal my body.”

“Your, ah, your dreams,” he mumbled, flicking his eye around the hallway and just anywhere but the kid staring him down. Dipper raised an eyebrow. “Your dreams get…your energy gets all messed up when you don’t sleep and it throws off…you don’t…Get off my back!” And with that, Bill made a dramatic exit in a ball of silver flames.

Dipper stopped walking for a second to process what had just happened before turning back and continuing along with a wide grin spread across his face that was almost villainous.

When he reached Mabel’s room, the door was already wide open and welcoming of visitors. Dipper had only managed to get about three hours of sleep before heading off to the hospital again, so it was still very early and Mabel was having her breakfast.

“Good morning, sister beast,” he greeted with high spirits.

“Looks like someone’s in a good mood today,” Mabel replied. “What’s the occasion?”

She wouldn’t get to know the real reason why, but Dipper hoped the potion would be a good enough answer for her.

“Guess who’s getting the boy of their dreams?”

“Is it you?” Mabel giggled. “You have been spending a lot of time with Bill lately!”

“What? No!” he groaned; though it was technically true if she wanted to think of it that way. “Mabel, I stayed up all night working on a love potion for you, see?” He took his sister’s hand and passed the vial to her. She reeled back, eyes lighting up as she examined the lightly tinted orange fluid and the little red heart drawn on the front. But she then furrowed her brows and looked back up to her brother, clutching the bottle tightly in her hand.

“Are you just messing with me, bro-bro?”

“Unless the recipe was wrong,” which was entirely possible considering the unreliable source, “I’m one-hundred-percent guaranteeing you that that potion will work wonders.”

“Aw Dipper,” Mabel cooed, opening her arms wide, “awkward sibling hug?” Dipper smiled, a light blush colouring his cheeks.

“Awkward sibling hug,” he accepted. After a few seconds, Mabel pulled back to look at her brother again.

“But wait, how are we supposed to get this to Nurse Cullen? There’s no way he’s just gonna drink some questionable fluid on his own.” Dipper frowned and shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know, Mabel. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly swarming with girls,” he said, crossing his arms and puffing his cheeks.

“That’s because you’re a big dork!” Mabel teased, falling back into her pillows and kicking her feet with laughter.

“Yeah, whatever,” he groaned. After all his work, she still continued to pick on him. “Anyway, I’m sure you could probably spike his coffee with it or something. Whatever works, I guess.” He turned to leave, but Mabel stopped him.

“Dipper wait,” she said. “Come on, bro-bro, I need your help.”

As Dipper was opening his mouth to retort, there came a knock to the door, followed by the squeak of the hinges turning. Nurse Cullen. Of course, who else? In one hand, he had his morning coffee and in the other was a clipboard that he held pressed up against his chest. Somehow, he seemed even more obnoxiously glorious than normal, but maybe Dipper was just being bitter about the whole situation. But then, he almost gagged once the smell of his cologne hit him. It was sickeningly overpowering and nearly choked him. He went to cover his mouth and nose, but Mabel shot him a look that told him to stop being rude. Begrudgingly, dropping his hands again, he practically glued them to his sides as the nurse walked past and stood at Mabel’s bedside. She inhaled deeply and held her hands clasped together up to her face, giving him the sweetest puppy dog eyes she could muster.

“Is that your cologne I smell?” she asked dramatically. Ugh. Dipper rolled his eyes; her flirting was smelt as bad as his overdone cologne. He eyed the door, thinking about how he was going to make his escape. Mabel’s voice sounded again, “Hey, look over there!” she shouted. The nurse foolishly turned to look where she was pointing and in the brief moment his eyes were off her, she uncorked her vial of love potion and emptied its contents into his drink. The whole thing went in there in barely enough time before he turned back around. Mabel snapped her arms back to her sides, hiding the bottle under the blankets and feigning a grin. She gave a nervous laugh and watched as he raised an eyebrow at her. “Whoops, guess I’m seeing things. Must still be dizzy from taking that fall down the stairs.”

“You should get some more rest,” the nurse said. “It’ll be good for you.” Mabel was watching him intently as he lifted the white styrofoam to his lips and took a sip of his coffee. A wide grin spread across her face, eyes twinkling with anticipation.

There was a silence.

Eventually, he simply nodded to her and told her that if she needed anything to buzz in for him. After that, he gave a polite nod to Dipper and left the room. Dipper didn’t nod back, only stared with disgust.

“Dipper,” Mabel griped, throwing her arms up, “why didn’t it work? You one-hundred-percent guaranteed it would work!”

“Maybe it’s the fates saying you don’t actually belong together, you ever thought of that?”

“Where did you find this recipe anyway, somewhere on the internet?” Mabel accused, crossing her arms.

“Hey, my source may be unreliable, but I’m not that dumb!” Mabel responded with a silent glare. “Look, maybe you should just give up on this dumb guy. He’s like, a million years older than you and he’s your nurse. There are plenty of other dumb guys to obsess over when you’re out of here, you know.”

“Well, if he’s a million years older than me, then at least he’ll have to be a vampire.”

“Or a zombie!” Dipper corrected snappily, prompting Mabel to roll her eyes and shake her head.

“Why don’t you just leave me alone, Dipper,” she muttered, casting her eyes to the floor beside her.  “Thanks for nothing.”

Ouch.

For a moment, Dipper stared at her with his mouth agape, completely shocked she would say something like that after all he’d went through to get it for her. He huffed out a breath and squared his shoulders.

“Fine.” Dipper straightened his vest and left the room in a small fury. He didn’t need her anyway. He’d been wasting all this time coming to visit her and making sure she got the guy she wanted when he could have been making sure everything fell into place with his plans. He hoped it wasn’t too late.

As he marched down the hallway towards the vending machines, he balled his fists, glanced around to make sure no one was watching, and then shouted out, “Bill!” He waited a few moments and when the demon didn’t show up, he spoke in a quieter, but still just as hateful, voice, “Bill, I know you can hear me, get over here right now!”

Like magic, the painted white bricks in the wall next to him reshaped to display a discoloured equilateral triangle. A half-moon crack appeared in the clay and opened up to reveal Bill’s eye. He said nothing, but just stared at Dipper half-annoyed.

“No, I said get over here. Don’t half ass it, you ignoramus.”

The triangular shape popped from the wall, leaving no visible indication it had ever been a part of the structure, and regained its pallor, spawning in a top hat and cane. Bill had a bored expression on his face as he stared down at Dipper, and the younger noticed that he was dripping with water.

“Colourful words for a colour blind kid. Make this quick, Pine Tree, I’m a little bit busy at the moment.”

“Why didn’t it work?” Dipper snarled, pointing an accusatory finger at the demon. “Did you lie to me? I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised, but come on, Bill I thought we–” he cut himself off and clammed up. His face grew hot suddenly and he broke eye contact with Bill. After a quick second of deliberating with himself, he figured it might actually be beneficial to say it and looked back at him. “I thought…I could trust you. I thought we were…I thought we were close last night.”

Bill’s eye widened and his pupil narrowed. Alarms blared, bells rang, whistles screeched, red lights flashed, and flags palpitated. Outwardly. Each warning object hung in the air around Bill’s saturated body, wailing their hysterical song, and Dipper gaped in disbelief. The boy threw his arms out in front of him and gave Bill a look that said “seriously?”

“Sorry,” Bill said. He reached out to grab the each item and then forcefully stuffed them back inside his non-physical body, never taking his eye off Dipper, “that just sort of slipped out.” Dipper squinted and crossed his arms, rolling his eyes. There was a few moments of silence between them where Dipper just shook his head and wouldn’t meet Bill’s stare. “Look, kid, did you think it was going to work instantly?” Dipper looked back at him through the corners of his eyes, refusing to give him the satisfaction of his full attention. “Ugh,” Bill slapped a hand to his forehead, “you called me here just for that? Pine Tree, you have to let it get in the fleshbag’s system, like one of your human antidotes or whatever. Unlike the love god’s phoney bologna ‘love’ potion, this one purifies emotions instead of making your puny brains chemically unbalanced. Get it?”

“I–”

“Good. Don’t bother me again. I’ll be back.” Poof, he was gone. Dipper blinked and shook his head. He groaned and ran a hand through his bangs. With an added sigh, he headed back for Mabel’s room…without watching where he was going and managing to slip on the puddle of water Bill’s questionably dripping wet body had left behind, crashing backwards with a shriek and a thud.

Stupid triangle.

As Dipper pushed open the door to Mabel’s room, the sound of lovey-dovey giggling made him suddenly nauseous. He paused halfway through opening it, contemplating if he even wanted to know what was going on behind that door. After a moment, he gave it another light push and peeked inside.

Mabel and her nurse were cuddled up together in her bed, giving each other eskimo kisses and arguing over which one of them was cuter. Gross. Corny romance movies were showing on the hospital TV, and he could hear the sloppy onscreen make-outs from where he was standing.

“Oh nurse Cullen,” Mabel cooed, “you make me the happiest girl to have ever slipped into a coma and fallen down the stairs!”

“Please,” he replied breathily, “call me Edwin.” Mabel giggled and snuggled closer to him. “Did it hurt when you fell for me, my love?”

“Yes! Yes it did!”

“Nope.” Dipper backed right the way out of there and threw his hands up, frowning as hard as he could and furrowing his brows. “I’m gonna barf. Nope, nope, nope. Goodbye. Going home.”

But deep down, Dipper’s heart smiled that his sister had finally gotten what she wanted–a vampire boyfriend. And on his way home, he slowed to a stop, looked back, and patted himself on the back for doing all of that for her. She sure was happy. Thank goodness.

‘Believe in Yourself 2: Believe Harder’ was the only thing on TV that afternoon that was worth watching. Much better than the first movie, this one had machine guns and sunglasses and explosions, which is probably why Mabel refused to buy the DVD when they saw it at the movie store. Not that Dipper really cared for warfare in movies, but the Used to be About History Channel wasn’t showing anything supernatural today, instead they were showing historical events. Pfft, like anyone would want to watch history on the Used to be About History Channel. Seemed like at that point, they were just trying to get views. Lame. And everything else on TV was soap operas and those awful romances that…Edwin…and Mabel were watching at the hospital and that was honestly the last thing he wanted to think about right now.

Dipper patted his lower stomach and muttered a ‘be strong’ as he curled a hand around his ice cold can of pitt cola and raised it to his lips. For once in weeks, he could relax.

“Hey kid! Got a present for ya!” Bill said in a chipper, enthusiastic voice as he appeared in an instant; for once, not making an over-dramatic entrance. He watched as Dipper seemed to be flailing excitedly below; must be really excited to see him! He was pounding on his chest and making short, breathless gasps, and turning red in the face, and even tearing up.

One final blow to the chest with all his strength and out of his mouth flew a peach pit that bounced as it hit the floor and rolled under the TV. Dipper sat there gasping and shaking and wiping away the tears from his face. He gazed helplessly up at Bill, a little angry that Bill did nothing to help, and  had an amused and cheerful expression on his face the whole time. Now he seemed offended.

“Gross, Pine Tree. Spitting is a dirty habit.” Dipper opened his mouth to retort, but Bill interrupted him before he even began. “Anyway, here, I got this for you,” he said as he held out the disembodied, fanged head of the spring water monster that attacked and nearly killed Dipper. He plopped it down at Dipper’s feet and hovered directly in front of him, between him and the TV. There was a distinct smile in his eye, and the hint of pride in his demeanor. “A head that never screams.”

No way.

Dipper’s heart rate sped up as he stared at the soaking wet and bloody mess laying before him. The way Bill seemed so proud reminded him of the way cats will bring dead birds and mice to their owner’s doorstep as a gift. Bill was the cat; the head was the gift. A warmth washed over Dipper. He couldn’t hold back the smile-turned-grin that crept onto his face.

The preteen sat up straight in his armchair and reached down to pet the course fur of the beast. It was dead. It was really dead. It tried to kill him and Bill avenged him, even when after he’d already saved him once. On one hand he should be a little mad because he didn’t get the chance to record it in his journal while alive, but he just couldn’t bring himself to be upset after this. It was really dead. He hung his head over it and tears started falling from his eyes, dripping down onto the deceased creature.

“Pine Tree, why are you crying? I did this for you because I thought you would be happy.”

“Bill,” he said in a shaky voice, “is this why you were dripping wet earlier? And why you didn’t want to fully visit me? You were in the spring…killing this thing?”

“You hate it, don’t you? Figures. After all the effort I went through for you, you ha–”

!!!

Oh.

This was…unexpected.

Bill stared wide-eyed down at the boy who had lunged for him, pressing his warm, fleshy human lips to the space just above his bow tie. His arms wrapped tightly around the demon, tears flowed down his cheeks, vanishing as Bill’s body absorbed them on contact.

Bill said nothing, did nothing, thought nothing. His mind was as blank as the void.

Dipper adjusted his position, settling on his knees and moving his arms away from Bill’s sides, instead taking his hands and lacing their fingers together so that their palms pressed together. Bill made no indication of resistance. For the longest time, he allowed Dipper to kiss him until finally…

Finally…

Bill kissed back.

His eye fell shut and he squeezed back on the grip Dipper had on his hands. He relaxed and centered his core body heat to where Dipper’s lips were against him in an attempt to simulate lips of his own. He leaned into Dipper’s touch, all of this making Dipper’s heart thud against his chest. His skin was tingling, mind dizzy with love and awe. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach, a frog leaped into his throat, his palms got sweaty and he low-key hoped that Bill wouldn’t notice or mind. And they stayed like that for a full minute before they separated again.

Their eyes were locked in each other’s gaze, neither one of them saying a word. Dipper praying that Bill wouldn’t leave him after that and Bill wondering what move to make next.

Silence.

They stared and stared and stared at each other wordlessly. An embarrassed blush eventually came over Dipper’s face and upon seeing his reaction, Bill’s body began to turn pink as well, right in his center.

Finally, Bill broke the silence.

“It’s a Bunyip,” he stated. It immediately became obvious to Dipper that he wasn’t going to talk about what just happened between them. And he was okay with that. Because Bill kissed him back. And that meant he had him right where he wanted him. “They’re only native to Australia, so you were pretty unlucky to come across one here.”

But then again, Dipper thought, he kissed Bill first. And not just a peck on the cheek, with the conscious intent of swaying him into liking him. It just happened. Without giving it a second thought–or even a first thought for that matter–he jumped at Bill and panted a kiss right where his mouth would be if he had one.

And that was a problem. He was losing sight of the endgame, what he really wanted in the end from Bill, and why this whole thing had even gotten this far. He would have to fight it, to remind himself why he was doing this, but the more that he thought against it, the larger the fire in his heart flared up and burned his resolve away.

Bill was staring at him. Uh oh, he needed to say something, but he only caught the first part of what he had said. Quickly, he hosted a nervous grin and gave Bill’s hands another squeeze.

“I’ll go get my journal!”

Peeling his hands away from Bill’s, he got to his feet and raced upstairs to his shared bedroom. The moment the door slammed shut behind him, he fell to his hands and knees and wept. He liked Bill Cipher. He liked Bill Cipher! It tasted sour on his tongue to mutter it silently to himself, but he could not lie to himself. Dipper found himself hopelessly in love with Bill freaking Cipher. This was going to put a major damper on all his plans. Not that it would make it impossible, but how could he allow such a careless mistake to distract him from his answers? Weeks had passed and he’s only learned about one silly creature and Bill killed it. At this rate, the summer was going to be over and he will have learned nothing at all because he was too wrapped up in that stupid triangle’s charming personality.

He raised an arm and wiped away his tears and snot, a stormy look taking over his face as he crawled over to his bed, lifted the mattress, and pulled the journal out from under. Grabbing a pen from off his nightstand, he got to his feet, took a deep breath, and headed back downstairs.

Bill was still in the living room, sitting in the armchair and surrounding himself with open books that hovered around them in a circle. The pages fluttered as he read through them and Dipper feigned a look of utter excitement before approaching him.

“Hey Pine Tree, did you know that as of a few years ago, at least one thousand five hundred Earth species have shown signs of homosexual behavior?” he said, giving Dipper a snarky side glance. Dipper wasn’t going to answer that.

“So you said it’s a Bunyip, right?” he asked, feverishly scribbling down a doodle of the severed head laying on the floor. “And they’re native to Australia?”

“You got it, kid. And usually, they live in swamps, so that one was a real fish out of water!” Bill broke into stitches and Dipper couldn’t help a genuine smile at his antics.

“That was really bad, Bill,” he said with a short chuckle.

“Actually, I think it was pretty good! Where’s your sense of humor, Pine Tree?” he snickered, shutting all the books around him and dropping them all into a chaotic pile beside him. “Hey, you know, you actually look pretty cute all excited about that journal and stuff.” What harm could it do anyway? The thing was already dead and Pine Tree sure was a sight for sore eye with the way he was hastily writing things in the pages of that dumb book.

“Oh,” he mumbled nervously, a tiny chuckle escaping him, “thanks. You…you wanna maybe go for a walk?”

“Only if you’re doing all the walking, ground-bound,” Bill chimed as he jumped off the couch and was airborne again. Dipper laughed and nodded.

“Of course,” he smiled, “so is that a yes?”

“Do I have to spell it out for you, kid?” Bill remarked, doing a cartwheel in mid-air as he boredly waited for Dipper to lead the way. “Let’s get going!”

Dipper blinked slowly, gazing at Bill somewhat dreamy-eyed. He tucked his journal under his arm and turned to hold the door open for Bill.

“Okay.”

While Dipper conjured up a mockup of the particularly fluffy and floppy eared jackalope before him, Bill made himself comfortable on a nearby tree branch and watched. Something about the way Pine Tree’s face lit up when he saw a new creature was addictive to say the least. Bill relaxed against the shaft of the tree, a wave of contentment washing over him.

“So what’s the deal with these guys, Bill? How did this even happen? How could two creatures in totally different animal kingdoms produce this?”

“Didn’t happen like that, kid,” Bill said without hesitance. “Jackalopes are some sorta genetic mutation from a virus that got embedded in their DNA back in the eighteen hundreds.”

Dipper feverishly wrote down every fact, occasionally glancing up to make sure the creature hadn’t run off. It was enjoying itself with a patch of wild carrots, so he figured he had time.

“Actually,” he continued, drawling the word a bit, “it wasn’t until the nineteenth century that it was documented as just a germ, but you know how you humans like to deny the supernatural.” Dipper rolled his eyes. That was the ugly truth. “But that’s why I like you, Pine Tree!” The boy’s writing slowed to a stop as his attention moved to where Bill was in the trees. “You’re not ignorant, and you’re not dumb. And, hah, I gotta admit that I was intimidated by that at first,” the memory of Bill crushing his laptop and making efforts to steal the journal flashed through his mind, “but you know, it’s actually impressive and I’m starting to think that not killing you wasn’t such a bad mistake after all!”

Dipper rubbed the back of his head and blushed, averting his eyes. It wasn’t the most conventional compliment, but he’d take it. Because coming from Bill, that had to mean a lot.

And when Bill taught Dipper how to properly approach a hippogriff without getting horribly maimed, an undeniable light shone in Dipper’s eyes. And as Dipper was drawing a sketch of the beast whilst sitting atop its back, Bill thought he would be cute and gave it a start by striking it on its flank; which in turn caused it to rear up and take off. Dipper’s reflexes chimed in and he dropped the journal, quickly grabbing onto Bill’s wrist. Bill’s sadistic laughter was replaced by screaming as he became an unexpected passenger of the flight.

But he couldn’t be mad. Not at Pine Tree.

He was pulled into the sky along with Dipper, soaring high over the Gravity Falls treetops. Once they had stabilized, Dipper glanced back to see Bill fluttering around in the slipstream, eye twisted into a crooked swirl. Dipper couldn’t help cracking up at the sight. He was probably incredibly dizzy. But who wouldn’t be if they were beating like a flag on a voyage at high altitudes?

With time, Bill managed to pry his wrist out of Dipper’s grasp. Dipper wrapped his arms around the hippogriff’s neck and laughed at Bill’s utterly peeved expression when he moved around to the side. Sure, he looked upset, but how mad could he be if he was still flying along with them? Bill rolled his eye. He’d let it slide. For Pine Tree.

And as they delved deeper into the woods, a gorgeous unicorn–possibly the most gorgeous–stood next a pond where the trees separated into a small clearing where it caught Dipper’s attention. He became entranced at the illustrious sight and he knew he had to get a closer look.

Without a word to Bill, he changed course and made his way through the underbrush that stood between him and the stallion. The closer he got, the more it seemed to sparkle and glint in the rays  that shone between the filtering leaves. It stopped drinking as he approached it, turning to look at him with shimmering eyes, making no indication that it was apprehensive of his approach. He came to a stop a few feet from it and started to draw its image. Sleek silvery hair, strong and built body, glimmering horn–it was…really beautiful. Maybe it would let him ride it.

Setting the journal down at his feet, he carefully pressed the pads of his feet forward into the mossy clearing. The unicorn kept its eyes fixed on Dipper’s hand he had held out to pet its muzzle.

So close, he muttered in a low voice, “Shh, I’m not gonna hurt you,” and made one more step towards it.

“Pine Tree, do not touch that horse!” Bill’s voice rang out as he came crashing through the trees. Dipper immediately froze.

The unicorn reared up, swinging its hooves in the air and stamped down hard, making Dipper fall backwards. He gazed on with horror as the gorgeous image that had drawn him in melted away to reveal a black-as-tar demon with no back legs and an aquatic tail in its place. It started to crawl forward to seize Dipper, waving its tail wildly behind it to help propel itself along.

Immobilized by terror, chills ran over Dipper’s entire body as it got closer and closer to him, whinnying in a warped bay. His eyes grew wide as dinner plates, body stiffened, heart rate near nonexistent.

Thank God (or maybe Satan?) for Bill.

An electric crash of lightening struck the beast right in the face, knocking out a portion of its skull and sending crashing to its side. Another bolt struck its ribs, blowing a hole where its innards should have been, but nothing except black goop seeped out of its body. It scrambled to get back to its hooves and made a u-turn for the pond, the tail nearly slapping Dipper in the face and missing him by just centimeters. He felt the wind.

“Eat nightmares!” Bill thundered, his glowing red form passing Dipper and following the beast back into the pond, throwing wave after wave of brilliant thunderbolts at it. It barely escaped into the pond alive, but evidently that wasn’t good enough for Bill.

Seething with rage, he plunged into the water after it.

A moment of stillness allowed for Dipper to shake himself of fear and get to his feet with wobbly knees. He stared into the motionless pool, watching with wonder and awe as he waited for something to happen.

A disembodied voice echoed through the trees, seeming to have no source, but the voice was unmistakable.

“Pine Tree

“is

“mine!”

Suddenly, the forest was illuminated by a photon of brilliant light where the pool of water shot off electricity that went straight up into the sky, connecting to nearby clouds and creating a static that made Dipper’s hair stand on his head. And neck. And arms. He had to shield his eyes from its light, and when he eventually peeked out, the pond had been reduced to a steaming ditch in the ground.

Dipper tiptoed up to it cautiously and glanced down into the pit where he saw Bill’s body surrounded by a blazing aura of fiery rage and quaking with ferocity. He watched him silently for a few seconds until finally, the fire died away and Bill’s arms dropped to his sides again. Without even turning to meet his eyes, he broke the silence.

“Don’t fuck with kelpies, kid.”

Dipper swallowed hard and reached for his journal. He would have to rewrite his entry.

And when Bill was dragging Dipper along through the trees, telling him to stop dragging his feet or they would miss the reincarnation, Dipper knew it had to be the same feeling Bill got when he was caught in the wind behind the hippogriff flight and he couldn’t help a tiny laugh. His grip tightened on Bill’s hand and at gazed at him with warm cheeks.

They finally came to a stop at a large ash pile that seemed out of place where it was in the woods and Dipper squinted at it in disbelief.

“A pile of ash–”

“Hush, Pine Tree, here they come!”

Dipper followed Bill’s eye up into the sky as the midday sun was gradually being blotted out by a cloud of blackness. The sky grew dark as though it were an eclipse and slowly, light came back to the world. Seconds ticked by and Dipper began to notice ashes trickling down in front of his eyes into the heap.

“Phoenixes only reincarnate once every thousand and a half years. I couldn’t let you miss this!”

Feint chirping manifested from the greyness and out popped hundreds of baby phoenix chicks. Dipper’s eyes twinkled at the sight and a wide grin spread across his face as he began flipping through pages in the journal for a new entry. Bill side-glanced at him with a delighted glint, proudly putting his hands on his hips.

“You’re welcome,” he said smugly. Dipper looked up to him with bright eyes.

“This is incredible, I can’t believe it! I’m seeing the mass reincarnation of a flock of phoenixes right before my eyes! Bill, you’re–you’re amazing!”

“Sure am,” he gloated, moving over to the ash pile-turned-nest and settling himself between a few chicks. The babies surrounding him started to peck at his body. “Hey–hey, Pine Tree! Get a load of this–I’m a chick magnet! Draw me, Pine Tree!”

Returning a smile, Dipper happily obliged.

Not long after watching the fiery display in the sky, Dipper was starting to feel peckish. He turned to Bill with a hand over his stomach as it growled.

“You think maybe we should call it a day? I’m starting to get a bit hungry.”

“Geez, Pine Tree, I slay a bunyip and a kelpie for you and all I get is a three hour date? Yeesh, chivalry is dead.”

“Sorry man, but unless there’s a burger joint right around that willow tree over there, I’m about starved.”

Bill put his hands over his face and pointed in the direction of the willow tree.

“Oh wow,” he spoke in an obviously feigned tone of surprise, “what is that over there by the old willow tree? Could it be? Is that a burger joint I see?”

Dipper smiled and rolled his eyes. He looked to where Bill was pointing and sure enough, Bill had conjured a mockup burger joint.

“‘Bunyip Burgers,’” he read out loud as he approached it, “‘made from real fresh bunyip!’ Seriously?” he laughed.

“Step right up!” Bill said showily, summoning his cane and twirling it around behind the counter. “Just slaughtered a fresh one this morning. Gave the head to some kid who nearly died to it. Real cute kid, got a nice head on his shoulders. Kinda fleshy though. I think he’d look better as a demon but that’s just my opinion.” Dipper crawled onto one of the stools at the counter and pushed his bangs out of his face. “What’ll ya have?”

“You’re really something else, aren’t you?” he teased, resting his cheek against his hand. A crooked smile painted across his face as he stared lovingly at Bill with half-lidded eyes. “What you got?”

“Hm,” Bill pondered, rubbing a hand against his nonexistent chin. He snapped his fingers and a portal appeared beside him; it swirled and out through it wriggled a few tentacles but Bill still reached in, rummaging around through it until he pulled out what looked like a banana sunday except that the ice cream was replaced by a giant snail whose body seemed to be composed of pistachio ice cream and his shell out of a giant lollipop. And where those twizzlers for eyes? “How about some escargice-cream from dimension fourty seven apostrophe backslash?” Ugh, and it was still moving. One of the eyes drew back into its body as it looked at Dipper. Gross.

“Uh, I think I’ll pass. Got anything a little less…y’know, alive?”

“Picky, picky. Alright what about…” he reached his hand in again and was nearly dragged into the portal by whatever was on the other side. Jerking his arm back, he put his feet on the edges of the portal and pulled hard until it finally came out, throwing him back onto the ground. He jumped back upright and set a plate out with what looked like mud and rocks and out of it was a flower that was making snapping noises. Dipper leaned back in his seat to avoid its jaws. “Snapdragon surprise!” He put a hand to the side of where his mouth would be, “the surprise is that it eats you first!” Well that made his stomach turn upside down. “This is considered a delicacy in dimension asterisk hyphen twenty eight, where the gelatinous plasma people are eaten by it and then cause an astronomical implosion that turns themselves inside out and puts them back on the outside of the plant where it’s then inside theirstomachs. Very exclusive stuff. You’d need a lot of gold to buy this! But instead here I am, giving it to you. Enjoy!”

“Um…that’s not less alive.”

“Don’t tell me you’re not going to eat this either. What about the rocks? Do humans eat rocks?”

“Not exactly.”

“Not even if they’re sautéed in a little mud?”

“Bill, I appreciate it, I really do, but maybe just something simple would be enough. Man, I’d kill for a–”

His sentence was cut short by Bill snapping his fingers and materializing a peanut butter and banana sandwich right before him.

“Done. Now, about that kill…”

“It’s a figure of speech. Besides, do you really think I’m capable of killing a guy?”

“Well, he’s not a guy per se, more like an ogre.”

“I’ll catch a rain check on that,” he said through a mouth sticky with peanut butter and banana. “I would kind of rather be spending the day with you, to be honest.”

A feint blush came over Bill and he tapped his fingers on the counter top, averting his eyes from the other.

“Yeah, well…the feeling’s mutual, kid.”

Dipper swallowed and smiled at him, resting his cheek on his hand again. His eyes locked on Bill in a gaze of affection as the demon fabricated an ice cream float made with pitt soda and slid of across the counter to him. This whole new side of Bill was unlike any mystery he could have expected to find in the forest. It captivated him.

“So, there are other dimensions besides ours?”

They went on like that for hours. Delighting in each others quirks and poking fun at each other, pressing buttons and getting on each other’s nerves, but nothing ever felt so right to either of them. They had become close and content with each other. Bill seemed to have no hesitance explaining to Dipper the secrets of the mysteries he’d come across, and Dipper never once had even the slightest feeling that Bill might be lying to him or leading him to death. It was bliss.

The world had grown dark, the sun had long since set and neither of them had any intent of returning home. Walking hand in hand through the trees and gazing fondly at each other, Bill set the mood by creating small glowing orbs of blue light that circled above them, following them along through the woods and illuminating the scene. In the back of Dipper’s mind, he wondered if they had been wondering souls, but he shrugged it off. That was just Bill’s way. And he had come to love that about him. Through the trees, the forest hummed a song. Each note made Dipper’s heart feel warm and at ease. The rustling of the leaves, the crickets chirping in the sleepy grass, even the moon’s lullaby all harmonized at once. And in that moment, the whole world around them seemed to disappear.

“You know, if other demons knew I was being this benevolent to a human, they’d say I’ve gone soft. Make fun of me, probably have me ripped from existence as we know it,” he said, twirling his hand as if it were no big deal. “But I think I’m okay with that, actually. It’s worth it.”

“You’re insane to be okay with that,” Dipper chuckled. Bill moved around to hover in front of his date as they walked, meeting his heartfelt gaze.

“Do you want to know why I’m insane?” he asked, taking both of Dipper’s hands in his and swinging them rhythmically to the soft melody of the forest. “Believe it or not, there’s a pretty good reason.” Dipper squeezed lightly on his hands in return, making a swift turn so that they swapped positions and he was walking backwards while Bill moved forward.

“Enlighten me.”

“It’s because of you.”

“Oh really?” he snickered.

“Well, because of humans like you. Ones who I’ve taken pity on and…perhaps even got a bit closer than I should have.” Dipper’s smile fell. “They all die eventually. And here I am, immortal. I live forever, Dipper, I’ve had to watch every single mortal I’ve ever cared about–human or not–get old or sick or injured and die. It starts to take its tole after a few thousand years, you know? And after a while,” he shrugged and cast his gaze to the ground, “I just sort of got used to it.”

“Bill…” Dipper muttered, unsure of what else to say. He hoped the sorrow in his eyes would say enough.

“That’s why I’m okay with this, Pine Tree. History repeats itself. You’ll die, I’ll lose another piece of my sanity, and move on. Maybe I’ll get found out and have my existence terminated, who knows? But I’ve accepted this.”

“…You used my name,” he finally was able to squeeze out. Bill squinted at him.

“Were you even listening?”

“Wh–yes!” he said, nodding. “It’s just that…you’ve never called me by my name before. It’s nice.” He offered a nervous smile. Bill kept a glare on him for a few moments longer before snaking an arm around Dipper’s body and coiling it tight as rope. With a quick jerk, he sent the boy spinning. And as soon as he retracted his arm, he used it to catch him just before he tumbled backwards and hit the ground. The opportunity was open; he pressed his lipless face to Dipper’s mouth and closed his eye. Dipper stared up wide eyed at the gesture. Amazing. He smiled into the kiss and wrapped his arms around the demon.

They could have stayed like that forever and never parted, keeping in each other’s embrace for eternity, but a light rain put a stop to that. Bummer.

Dipper pulled back and put his hands over his head.

“Stupid rain,” he grumbled. Bill waved it off and summoned his cane.

“Not a problem. Leave it to me, Pine Tree.” He flipped his cane upside down and out from the straight end popped an array of wires that quickly strung together with a translucent pink material and handed it to Dipper. The younger smiled as he took it and offered his other hand to Bill, who managed to successfully take it without igniting his hand in flames. “I think I’m finally used to this hand-holding thing.”

The rain started to come down harder as they made their way through the forest back to the mystery shack and as Dipper was looking up at the umbrella, a his stomach dropped.

“Is…is this made out of human skin?”

“Sure is! Hand crafted! Literally. It’s made from hands.”

“Bill!”

“Thought I’d give you a hand and get you out of the rain!” he blurted as his laughter rang through the trees. Dipper shot him a glare. “I’ve gotta handit to you, Pine Tree, it’s a good look on you!”

Dipper slapped a hand to his forehead and shook his head.

“Give it up, kid, you gotta love me.”

It felt weird to hear Bill say that. But it was true. He was having a hard time fighting his feelings after everything that had happened, all the times Bill had protected him and all the help he’d been. He could have never prepared for this, but he wondered if it was possible to love Bill Cipher and have all the answers to the journal.

And he hoped.

That maybe,

Just maybe,

He could do both.

{ DUN DUN DUNNNN! Hey howsit goin? I know, I know I haven't uploaded since the first but hey I'm a busy gal, ya know? So writing this chapter took around three days because I had to do around five or six essays that completely screwed my writing schedule. But I'm hopefully back on track and things should run as normal! Sayōnara! }
Signing out,
Metallicana-scale~

{ That above was pre-prepared so ignore it, thanks! }
Signing out,
Metallicana-scale~