Dipper stirred in his bed, his eyelids went from a dark black nothing to a dim red as the sun shone from the curtain-less window and onto his face. He stretched a bit but didn't open his eyes yet and instead slipped his arm beneath his head and pillow. He felt strangely content this morning, it felt like it was going to be a good day. He inhaled and picked up the familiar scent of pancakes that were probably now just a mess for someone to get sick of looking at to clean up. But he didn't mind missing breakfast truthfully. He sighed and stretched out his legs and toes before he arched his back and felt something fumble from his chest and into his lap. He opened his eyes and blinked before he sat up. His eyes widened in absolute disgust and horror.
"BILL!" Dipper's voice cracked as he screamed the demon's name. He pulled his legs up from under the blankets and up to his chest, never taking his eyes off the decapitated pigeon in his bed. He looked down at his shirt and made a distraught whine when he noticed that some of the poor animal's blood and soaked into his shirt.
The demon didn't show up and Dipper hissed. Squeezing his eyes shut he grabbed the edge of the blanket and pulled it to toss the lifeless creature to the floor. Wincing and shuddering at it plopped onto the floor. This was the fifth time this month Bill had left him something lifeless and mangle for him to find. If it were small enough, like a mouse or bird in this case he'd place it carefully with him. If it were something larger like one of the poor stray cats that wandered around town that would dangle like Jesus on his cross from a tree, or a gutted and toothless deer whose insides were twisted around it's growing antlers like some macabre Christmas tree decorations, then Bill left those for Dipper to find around their usual hanging spot in the deep forest.
Dipper took in a deep breath, once twice several times before he called out for his sister, praying she was still in the house, "MABEL!"
His wide eyes never blinked as he watched the headless bird out of fear that it would stand up and flutter its wings, taking revenge on Dipper for his death that he had no part in. Mabel opened the door and spotted Dipper huddled into the corner of his bed against the wall staring wide eyed at the floor, taking a few steps over she saw the pigeon and smiled a bit.
"Aww, Bill left you another gift!" She laughed and walked over, trying to hold her smile as she wrinkled her nose.
"Mabel this isn't funny nor cute! This is disgusting!" Dipper snapped at her, "I want it out, go bury it outside or something I don't know I'm not keeping it!"
"It's kind of endearing if you think about it-"
"It is not! Stop trying to encourage this!" Dipper covered his face with his shaky hands and refused to watch as his sister grab the broom and dust pan from her side of the room and sweep up the corpse to carry it away to never be spoken of again. Hopefully. Once it was clear he nearly ripped of his shirt and grabbed his sheets and carried them all to the laundry room.
X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_
Dipper was walking through the aisles of the store looking for the specific type of apple sauce he wanted. Nobody was in the aisle but him and it still being rather early in the morning meant that it wasn't very crowded in general. He jumped when he felt a pair of arms snake over his shoulders and long fingers with blackened nails formed a triangle in front of him.
"Guess who~!" Bill spoke in a sickly sweet and playful tune, "Kidding! You know who!" Dipper sighed heavily, "Hey, what's wrong? Did you see my present I left ya? It was so pretty! Just like you! You see, I was out and I saw some birds and it made me think, you're free spirited just like them and well I thought 'hey! There's an idea!' and so that's why you didn't see much of me yesterday, spend all day looking just for the right one for ya! Did you like it?"
Dipper turned his head to the side a bit away from the other when he went to kiss his cheek. Dipper chewed his lip, "Bill…. It's... Creepy… When you do things like that."
"What? Try and kiss you?" Bill was confused and pulled back to stand up straight, towering greatly over Dipper. The human swore he made his vessel purposely that tall just for the very reason.
He turned to him but didn't look up or even at him, instead he took to toying with his hair and stare at his fingers twisted a lock between them, "No, not that…. The whole, animal things…."
Bill titled his head, "What about 'em? I'm just giving you gifts like we do!"
"People-! Don't give creepy things to people they love, unless they're creepy or a stalker and serial killer," Dipper tried to explain this without being too brash with the demon, he moved his hand shakily down his arm and dug his nails nervously into his skin to scratch a bit too roughly, "I, I don't like them Bill, and I know you mean well, but it's not… I- please, stop with the dead things, okay..?"
The demon looked at him, and finally Dipper looked up to see his pale blue eyes. He didn't look mad or hurt, or well anything he was expecting him to look like, in fact he seemed rather… Content, "Alright. I wish you would've told me sooner though, heh, alright alright, I can stop with the dead junk, not your thing!"
Really? That was easy, huh.
X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_
Dipper sat on the back porch on the old splintering steps. Stan had been in a relatively good mood and told him he could have the day off, only if he left before he changed his mind. And of course Dipper had decided to take the offer to sketch down rough doodles and revise his own journal entries. The book cradled in his lap. Mabel had gone out to spend the day with Tambry, Wendy taking her place behind the register with a slam of her head against the countertop and a loud groan.
He was focused on the page he was working with, carefully writing down the quick notes into legible lengthy entries in a simply black pen. His nose in the notebook. He didn't even notice approaching footsteps nor the thickening air until his light was blocked. He looked up through his lashes at long legs before he clicked his pen and sat back, closing the journal in the process.
"Took me a while to find you," Bill smiled down at him, awfully cheerful as he held his hands behind his back, "You're not working your shift today?"
Dipper shook his head and leaned back on his hands, "Nah, Stan said Mabel and I could have the day off, so I decided to work on my journal. What do you have there?"
The demon smiled excitedly and Dipper raised an eyebrow at him. That was never a very, well, good thing when Bill got excited. Instead of fulling answering his question Bill pulled a box from behind his back, it looked like a normal shoebox. He moved and sat next to Dipper and propped his knees up to set the box in his lap.
"Bill, what's in the box?"
"A gift!"
"What's the occasion..?"
The man smiled, almost bashfully, "Well, it's our anniversary, so I thought I should get you something! Humans love gifts you know!"
"Right, okay, anniversary for what?" Dipper went to open the box but Bill covered the side he was reaching for with his own hand.
"Not important. But! I'm sure you'll love it! They're banned in at least four dimensions, which is ridiculous because they make wonderful pets! Better than dogs! And you're always running off getting yourself into trouble, so why not?" Bill went on, his eyes sparkled with excitement. He was obvious pleased with whatever it was he was giving Dipper, and judging by how he was speaking about it Dipper assumed it was very much alive unlike the majority of things the demon gave to him.
Dipper shifted to face Bill and he held the edge of his journal and waited for him to move and show him what he got, he tried to mask his curiosity but the other saw through, "But I didn't get you anything…"
"It's okay!"
Bill moved the box to between them and carefully opened the lid. Dipper leaned over and watched as he did so, stopping his action of brushing some of his dark curls behind his ear as his eyes widened when they landed on what was in the box. What was that!? It was large and coiled in on itself, at least a foot long and every inch of it's underside covered in long squirming legs. It was like a millipede but about as thick around at his arm. And of course, the dozen eyes that were staring up at his paled near white complexion didn't help with its unnerving features with large pinchers and several smaller feelers around it's mouth. Starting at the creatures 'temples' started soft bumps that turned into more blunt and prominent ridges down its length of back. He didn't know what it was. He didn't want to know.
"Do. You. LOVE IT!?" Bill beamed happily over at Dipper, a wide smile across his face.
Dipper's stomach knotted in anxious panic, he sat back on his tail bone, "Bill what the hell!?"
The immortal took notice of the other's expression, but before he could question what exactly was wrong the creature began to slither it's way over the edge of the box and into his lap. And Dipper squealed and kicked back.
"GET IT AWAY FROM ME!" There were tears in those large fearful eyes and Dipper pulled himself off the porch and bolted off in the opposite direction, his journal falling carelessly to the ground and leaving Bill sitting with wide confused blue eyes.
X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X
Bill hummed a small whine as he cradled his head in his folded arms on the table in the middle of the mall's food court, he felt awful… Mabel sat across from him and Tambry sat next to her sipping on a smoothie as the younger teen leaned over and gently rested a hand on Bill's elbow.
"Bill, come on, it's okay!" she assured him, "Everyone gives someone a gift they don't like at least once or twice! It's hit and miss, it's nothing to beat yourself up over!"
"Dipper hates everything I've given him…"
"That's not true at all!"
"I know it."
"Okay, okay, say he does hate them," Mabel pulled back and leaned in her chair, "So what! It's the thought that counts!"
The demon sat up in his chair and looked over at her, "Mabel! You don't get it! I'm doing everything-" his blue eyes shifted over to the other teen, who was clueless as to what exactly he was before back to Mabel, "-Other people do! I've given him gifts and everything and sweet words! But nothing works!"
"I don't think giving someone a bug is really considered a gift," Tambry sighed and sat her foam cup on the table as she looked over at Mabel.
"Yeah, Bill, Dipper kinda has a weird fear of bugs… I was always the one who always got rid of the spiders, or grasshoppers, crickets, whatever," the brunette gave the man a lopsided smile.
"Well how was I supposed to know!" Bill whined loudly and dropped his arms from the table to leave his chin digging onto the hard top, "He likes weird things so I thought he would like them, he likes being outdoors…"
"I know you mean well, and Dip knows too, but have you ever thought you ask him what he'd like?" she titled her head as she questioned.
"I can't do that! It doesn't count if he has to tell me what to get him."
"You can always do what I did when I first started dating Robbie," They turned to Tambry, "I snooped through his stuff while he was out at band practice with his friends, found out he liked to draw and got him that book. Never figured out how I knew, never asked, and I never told him. But he loved it so it all worked out."
"I can't snoop through Dipper's things, I'm giving him space and privacy and I'm not breaking that-"
"Aww, Bill look at you! Respecting boundaries-," Mabel smiled happily and coughed when Bill gave her an unamused look, "Sorry…"
"Everything I know he likes he already has or something, I just," Bill laid his head to the side and sighed heavily.
"Well, okay, when I started dating Paz she had no idea really what to get me, and Vis versa," Mabel started to explain, "We gave each other small trinkets and stuff."
"Stuff?"
"I would make her sweaters, or bracelets and necklaces! Can't go wrong with something heartfelt and handmade!" She smiled happily.
Bill sighed and looked over at the other, "What did you do for Robbie, or whatever..?"
Tambry took a moment to think, "I actually think the first gift he ever gave me was a Slurpee to make up for the one he took from me, and then I gave him the rest of my granola bar."
"Oh my God," Mabel held back a laugh.
"Yup, doesn't take much to win a guys or chicks heart sometimes," she took a drink of her smoothie before leaning back in her chair with a small almost proud smile of some sorts.
Bill simply sighed before it turned into a groan of frustration that got Mabel to lean over the table again, "Hey! Look, gifts aren't everything, Dipper doesn't care about that stuff."
"I don't even know why I do… But I wanna give him something he'll like…"
X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X
Dipper was on his bed sitting against the wall as he worked at his journal, eyebrows knitted in concentration while he tuned out the music Mabel was playing from her phone while she worked on a new scrapbook. The two perked up when the music chanted to white noise before a spine chilling draft hit the room.
"Hey Bill," Dipper sighed and relaxed when he already knew who was hiding.
The demon carefully materialized and his feet gently hit the ground as he stood with a small smile and his hands once again bent behind his back. Mabel looked to see what he was holding and she smiled widely. She closed the scrapbook and held onto Waddles as she watched the two without a word. Bill moved to sit on the edge of the bed and Dipper moved his journal out of the way to look at him.
"Hey, so," Bill started, "I'm a bit busy tonight, but I thought before I go off for the evening I would try and make up for the… Well, you know. And I noticed that you're almost done with that journal, and you don't have another one, and well… I got you one, it's special."
Dipper perked up as the demon moved his hands in front of himself and held out the journal. Dipper smiled widely and leaned forwards to grab the pale bound book before stopping and looking up at the other, "This, this is really sweet. What makes it special…?"
"Well, I made it for you!" Bill smiled and became more confident in the way that Dipper was far more calm than previous, "Well, not entirely, okay. So I wanted to make you something special, and well you like that journal garb so. Well, I decided to bind it in skin!"
"What."
His smile twitched.
"Bill, what skin."
The demon grazed his teeth over his lower lip and slightly retreated his hands back but still held the book out, he looked to the side, "You know… Like, maybe-"
"Bill, I'm not taking that!" Dipper once again curled up from the other and Bill dropped his arms entirely, "Oh my God, why do you- Look, I get it, but I just-"
"Dipper, please," Mabel stood up from her bed and the two looked up at her, completely forgetting that she was actually there, "Dipper… I told him to make you something, and I didn't think it would've been like that!"
"You didn't know! You know all about the other weird shit he's given me and you thought just randomly it would be normal all of a sudden!?" Bill winced and he felt his stomach drop… This was dumb, why was he doing this.
Mabel furrowed her brows and placed her hands on her hips, "He is trying! That's more than I can say about you!"
"What? You expect me to give him something, I don't even know what the hell to give him! One of my ribs?!" he outstretched his hand palm up to gesture at the seemingly forgotten demon.
Finally he spoke up, "Dipper I am trying! Okay! Look, I've never been good with anything even when it comes to demons like myself, and humans? Your entire 'normal' thing is completely different than mine! I thought, I was doing good… But obviously I'm not. And Mabel even said it was the thought that counts but maybe I'm just being thoughtless-"
"Bill, you're not being thoughtless at all," Mabel sat next to him and reassured the man, "You're putting so much thought into all these gifts and Dipper just."
Dipper sighed loudly, they were right…. He moved over to Bill, "I'm… Look, I'm sorry for yelling and screaming. But I'm not taking the book. I appreciate the offer but… Everything you've been doing, I know you mean well, but it's… Creepy. To humans."
"I'm not human so I don't know what you want."
"You can always just ask me you know," he looked up at the other but was quickly met with a shake of the blonde's head, "Why?"
"Because then it wont count."
"Your logic is super weird, you know that, right?" he leaned back on his hands and sighed, "I haven't been fair, I'll be honest. I haven't even thought about how you must be feeling and how hard you're trying… And I guess I don't understand where you're coming from, but at the same time you don't know where I'm coming from either-"
Mabel butted in, "I know! You two need to know where each other are coming from! I can help Bill, and Dipper you can go talk to Tad!"
Bill laughed a small bit at the girl's eagerness to get involved in playing matchmaker and love guru. Dipper closed his eyes and thought for a moment before he inhaled and nodded, "Alright, alright… You know, Bill… We still have that date on Tuesday-"
"You still wanna go?"
"Will people stop cutting me off," Dipper rolled his eyes trying to be playful, "Yeah, I do, and I'll try to get you something."
"And I'll try and get you something too, Normal of course!" Bill was eager to learn, Dipper would give the man that, "Well, as normal as I possibly can!"
Mabel squealed and leaned over the immortal's lap to hug her brother, smiling happily, "Oh you two! Someone set up an appointment for the dentist! I need to get my cavities filled because you two are just tooth rotting!"
"What are you going on about?" Dipper tugged at her choking grip around his neck.
"Nothing, never mind, I'm just so excited for you two!"
X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X
Dipper sighed to himself as he walked down the metal staircase of the small apartment building, he wasn't even sure if he remembered where the hell Tad lived. He only ever visited him with Bill and he just followed him. Surprise, surprise. The so called most normal man in Gravity Falls was far beyond normal as he seemed, and he had no idea until Bill told him. An interesting encounter. Dipper had always sorted demons into the same group of being power hungry and wanting to just be as chaotic as they most possibly could, but he guessed he was wrong. Meeting Tad for who he really was and not his mundane and boring persona he found out that the man was not at all who he said to be, but rather just some old demon friend that decided to lay back and live his life as low as he could. He preferred learning things about this and that rather than bring the apocalypse. Dipper found all this out when he had to pull a livid Tad off of Bill who simply laughed with a bloody broken nose he received from turning his friend to stone, simply saying he didn't know it was him.
He walked down the small hallway until he reached what he vaguely remembered to be the right place, knocking on the door after he debated on just turning back. No, he was doing this for Bill. He wanted to do something thoughtful seeing how much the demon was being for him. He shifted and waited for the door to open, hearing footsteps from inside the apartment until the clutter of the locks and door.
Silver eyes peered from the sliver of opened door before Dipper gave a meek smile, "Hey, Tad, just me."
"Thought you'd be with Bill," Tad spoke as he unlocked the chain and allowed the human to walk into the living space, "Usually have a good hour or two from when he actually says he'll show up until he does. So, you wanted to talk to me about something, I don't remember fully."
"Um, demon stuff…"
"Demon stuff?"
"Well," Dipper rubbed the back of his neck and stepped into the apartment, "We're kinda doing this thing… Mabel wants me to or something but."
Tad closed the door and watched as the other tried to configure his words, his shadow shifted as he stepped around passed Dipper and into the living room. Instead of following the human stood awkwardly in the doorway.
"I've, I know demons and humans are different in many ways… And I'm guessing that comes to gifts and stuff," Dipper started and stared down at his hands as he toyed with his fingers, "I was just curious as to what exactly… what do demons give to each other as gifts?"
The man across the room who was now sitting on the couch with his legs crossed and arms over the back hummed in thought, "Well, depends on the person really. While we don't necessarily give the simple gifts of flowers, chocolates, and small crane game stuffed animals. We give things that are equally sentiment for us."
Dipper heard the other move and he looked up to watch him with his dark eyes, the tall man walked over to a bookshelf that was set snug against the wall. Tad grabbed a large clear jar and cradled in close before gesturing a hand out for Dipper to come over and sit down in front of the coffee table. Dipper did as the demon wanted, cautiously making his way into the apartment and taking a seat far from the other and watched curiously as he removed the glass lid of the jar. There was a ribbon that wrapped around the bulb handle that secured a faded feather with it. He set the lid aside carefully before he looked down to the contents of the jar, there was a look in his silver eyes that Dipper noticed- it seemed almost like endearment. But Thaddeus quickly blinked it away before reaching in and pulling out a small rusted key and placed it onto the glossy wooden top of the table, followed by a small skull of a mouse missing its jaw, and then a worn and greatly faded bow. Followed by this and that, small little trinkets and ends.
"I haven't kept them all, but," Tad broke the silence as he looked over each little object, ranging from the macabre to norm, "Usually demons give each other little things we like. Whether it's what we personally like to show them we're caring enough for them to let them know a bit about us, or if it's things the other will like. So they know we're listening."
"This isn't anything close to what Bill's been giving me…" Dipper snorted a laugh as he looked at the small bones and trinkets, "He's been… Giving me…. Dead. Things."
"Bill's kinda always been like that," Tad shrugged, "Very eccentric, he's one of those go big or go home kind of people. Besides, like I said it all comes down to the person. I know demon's who'd give the fresh heart of a kill to their other."
Dipper brought his hand to his chest unknowing, "But… Why such, weird things?"
Once again the demon shrugged, "It's just where we're from, I guess we kinda get a twisted kick out of things. Or appreciate what others leave behind to wither. Whatever the answer, it's just who we are. Who's to say a pink plush bunny is any cuter or better than the skull of a rabbit?"
Dipper opened his mouth to say something before closing it like a fish to think, "So… Essentially what you're saying is I should put myself in the place of Bill and give him something I think he'd like…?"
"Well, yeah, why not. It'll show that you're listening to him and you accept his ways," Tad began to put everything back in the jar with care, "But, I'd start small for you. I don't think you could get a music box cursed with the screams of dying children so easily."
Dipper gave a grimace and mumbled a thanks as Thaddeus gave a small laugh at his reaction.
X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X
"Grunkle Stan I need to borrow something and it's not stealing if I announce it!" Dipper shouted aloud to nothing and no one in particularly as he walked into the Mystery Shack, Stan was out doing tours so nobody was really in at the time.
He walked over to the supply closet and reached for the tool box. Unlatching the lock he opened it and dug around through until he found the pair of plyers he was looking for. He looked at the worn red plastic that worked as the hand grip and sighed in thought. Okay, he could do this. Swallowing he lifted the back of his shirt and tucked them in the hem of his shorts, pulling his shirt and plaid over the back as to hide them better. Once he dusted himself off he closed the creaking door with a wince before padding out of the shack door only to nearly trip over his worn converse in a stop.
"Woah there dude," Wendy shoved her phone in her pocket again and gave Dipper her signature lazy smile, "Didn't even hear you come out, almost slammed right into you."
"Yeah, well, here I am," Dipper awkwardly laughed taking a few steps to the side to get out of her way, "And here I go!"
"You alright?" the red headed woman raised an eyebrow at him, "You're even more awkward than usual."
"I'm fine! Totally fine, nothing weird at all haha! I'm just, sweaty for you. I mean! For you, 'cause you know you're still on your shift and you're on your phone and not at the register and you know how Stan is!" Dipper mentally punched himself, why the hell was he acting like a twelve year old again?
Wendy narrowed her green eyes in suspicious confusion, her hand on the door handle to go back inside, "Riiiight, I'll be fine. Hopefully you will too…"
"Hopefully!" The younger laughed once more in a painfully awkward manner until the woman went back to her shift, once the door thudded shut he sighed heavily.
Why was he acting to nervous? There's nothing to be nervous about, it's not like he's doing anything illegal! Right? It shouldn't be illegal, but well, he definitely hasn't heard of anyone doing it before. Nevertheless he sighed once more and quickly stepped across the loose graveled parkinglot of the Shack until he reached the tree line on the further side of the house, walking down the driveway to the paved road all while listening out for anyone and everyone. God, he felt like a convict… Like he shouldn't be doing this, but here he was. Taking steps ever closer.
Normally he would bring Mabel out with him, her mindless chatter always seemed to calm him at least a little even in the most anxious of moments for him. But when he had gone to ask her earlier that day she was tugging a rather reluctant and bored looking Bill out the door with her, claiming something about having to stock up for a movie night or something over at Pacifica's. Why she was dragging the demon out with her was beyond him, but hey if it meant he had some time to do this without the hovering blonde then that was fine with him.
Instead of walking into town Dipper had turned the opposite way. Walking along the transition line of pavement and dirt on one side of the narrow road, keeping his eyes down along the horizon line. Not looking for cars but rather… Some unfortunate animal jaywalkers. Which surprisingly and much to his dismay wasn't as easy as he would imagine. Either animals have gotten much smarter and learned to stay away from the road or nobody really came down this road too often. Who knew. He'd walked passed the welcoming sign of Gravity Falls a good twenty minutes ago, and while a car or two had driven passed he had yet to see any sort of animal on the side of the road. He reached back to grab the plyers and sighed when he looked down at them. Perhaps this was just a sign that this idea was dumb and he should just go figure something else out.
He had stopped in his tracks when he had that thought, mentally debating in his head before he chewed on the inside of his cheek. No dammit! He was doing this for Bill, he was going to do this one way or another. Holding onto the plyers now with one hand he dropped his arms to the side and continued down the road. A good chunk of time which felt like hours but was actually probably just twenty minutes had passed, and his choice of skipping breakfast was one he was deeply regretted as he continued to walk along the road. However his heart seemed to jump when he finally found what he was looking for. He gave a heavy sigh of relief and a small smile before he quickly ran up to the dead carcass of a deer. Never in his life would he ever expect himself to be so excited to see roadkill on the side of the road and yet here he was.
His smile however dropped when it truly settled into what he was going to do. He swallowed shakily and buttoned up his shirt all the way to the collar and pulled it up to cover his nose and lower. He stared down at the decaying animal. Its black eyes were still there and vacant of any life, long thin limbs bent and sprawled in painful positions, head twisted all the way back to its spine, and its tongue lulled out. There was a large mark of the car grill where it had collided with the deer on its torso, the dirt and grim from the car mixed with the dried blood matted the fur. Dipper seemed to be the only one who was off put by this as the flies and other insects crawled around it like it was nothing. It was simply a way of life.
Dipper closed his eyes and tried to take as deep of a breath as he could. Reaching up he took off his hat momentarily to brush back his dark curls out of his face. He took a step around to the head of the deer and nudged at it with the tip of his shoe. A sigh escaped him as he looked around for a stick of some sort, not very hard seeing he was in the middle of the forest. Holding the stick in his other hand he went back to the head of the deer and knelt to see how he wanted to do this. Just as he was figuring something out he heard the blasting of a car radio, perking up he quickly stood and darted into the tree line. Hiding behind a tree until the car left and took its poor taste in music with it.
Why the side of the road!? This was wayy too risky. What if someone say him?! Well, they wouldn't know him, but what if they did? Or what if they were a tourist and knowing his luck he'd have a horrible conversation of "Oh hey weren't you that kid I saw on the side of the road playing with a dead deer? That's super weird, you're super weird!" Or oh God, what if they told the police!? How would he explain this to them!?
Dipper. Dipper calm down, it'll be fine. You have two options here, and only two because backing out is not part of the options. You can either suck it up or work with this deer, or you can wander aimlessly into the forest to find another one which A.) could take all day or even longer and or B.) lead you into some messy situation with a wolf or bear or basilisk.
He took a deep breath, deep breaths actually to calm himself. Remembering a few words of encouragement from Mabel and he pushed himself from the tree he was hiding behind and marched a little bit too confidently back to the deer. He settled his foot against its muzzle and pushed its jaw open as far as it could go, twisting and shoving the stick into the dirt enough so he could have his hand free for the plyers. He reached for another stick to push back the gums of the deer so he could see what and where he was grabbing. The teeth of the deer were worn. Beige and brown. Honestly he wasn't sure what he was expecting… But, if this was something Bill liked, and he knew it was, he would do this. He looked around and listened for any oncoming car. Once he judged nobody was coming he gripped onto the back molar and grimaced, squeezing his eyes shut and yanked. He continued this until most of the teeth were removed and in a little pile next to the deer's ear. Reaching in his pocket he grabbed a small ziplock and placed each tooth one by one into the bag.
He was going to really have to sanitize these plyers before putting them back…
X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_
Dipper was nervous, he shouldn't be nervous but telling him not to be anxious and nervous was like telling a fish to stop swimming. But he really shouldn't be. Bill and he have gone on dates plenty of times before! But… But this was different… It felt different, it felt like a test. Like he was being pressured. Like this was the first date they've ever been on. But it wasn't, and no matter how many times he told himself that he just wouldn't listen to himself, he couldn't.
This is dumb, he would tell himself, but he swallowed and tried to shrug it off. He spent the entire day trying to occupy his mind. Cleaning up after everyone in the shack, dusting off every shelf, reorganizing the postcards and knick-knacks. Gradually he scooted Wendy off the register and took over, allowing her to lean back against the wall and read some magazine she stole from the coffee shop. But after hours when Stan had finally shooed him out from working he found himself upstairs trying to make sure that if this entire gift thing failed he wouldn't be too upset over it all.
He would look himself over and over and over again in the full mirror in the shared room, but Mabel wasn't there to coach him through all of this- nope he was on his own. Looking over from head to toe, from his sneakers that he was very adamant over not wearing out for his adventures, up his jeans, to his shirt. It was just a random outfit but it didn't look too bad. Did it? Oh God it did he needed to change, the shirt makes him look stupid. Changing into just a tank and a gold and purple plaid that faded he buttoned it all the way to the collar and checked the mirror again. He gave an off smile before hastily unbuttoning the buttons with shaky fingers. He swung the closet door open again.
"Jesus Christ do I only own stupid plaids?! Who allows me to dress myself!?" Dipper's voice cracked in anxious frustration. He yanked a random black shirt from the hanger while he tried to untangle himself from the plaid. He pulled the shirt over his head and grabbed the same article he had just managed to free himself from to layer over. But before he could look in the mirror he heard Mabel call from the base of the stairs.
"Oh Dipper~! Your man of the night is here~!" She sung happily followed by her giggle as she not so sneakily hid behind the wall of the kitchen to watch the front door.
Dipper groaned a whine and ruffled his hair. He took a breath and looked at the small golden pouch he had set on the bedside table. He chewed on his lip before running a hand through his hair, maybe he could just lie and say he forgot… No, Bill would know that and Mabel already knows that's a lie. Besides, she's an eavesdropper so she'd most definitely call him out on it. Huffing a sigh and rolling his eyes he marched over and snatched the pouch. Before he turned to walk out the door he looked over at his hat and muttered a why not before grabbing it. While he walked down the hallway he fixed the hat on and the curls of brunette that peaked through, making sure his forehead was covered. Taking a deep breath he jogged down the stairs and his stomach knotted a bit.
Bill was up against the wall empty handed looking bored almost. Nice… Now he's gonna look like an idiot….
"Howdy," Dipper announced himself and heavily stepped off the last step with an awkward smile- why did he say howdy that was so dumb…
"Hey," Bill pushed himself off the wall and looked over at a giddy Mabel before his golden eyes landed on Dipper, he grabbed the handle of the door and pulled it open, "Shall we?"
"What wait no no no!" Mabel spoke out trying to get their attentions, but both ignore her.
"Y-yeah," the mortal's voice came out almost, disappointed already…
He stepped out onto the porch in the blue of the night, the sun not quite ready to fully settle down. And Bill was out behind him closing the door. The demon knew Mabel was already stumbling forward to whip the door open and butt in, but before she was able to a blue spark caused her to flinch her hand back from the knob and pout. Instead she settled on spying through the peephole.
Dipper's stomach was still heavy and in a knot, staring out at the intimidating shadows of the trees that lurked around them… Why did he even do this, of course Bill wasn't going to. But then again, maybe he didn't because he didn't think Dipper was going to… He didn't know, and before he could fully sigh the demon broke the silence.
"Seeing how it's one of your least favorite colors and you only ever place what's mine in yellow, I'm going to assume that's for me?" Bill pointed out, and Dipper turned around too look at his cocky pointed smile.
"It's not yellow, it's gold, you of all people should know that," Dipper raised an eyebrow and rolled his eyes, "And maybe it's mine, maybe it just doesn't fit in my pocket."
"Right, you're the type to flaunt something around, especially on a date, and not allow the other to know what it is," Bill continued to smile and leaned down a bit, "It's a gift! I know it, because of that whole conversation we had with Shooting Star!" His voice cut down to a whisper, "Tell you what, you show me yours, and I'll show you mine."
Before Dipper could make a retort Bill kicked back on the front door as hard as he could without causing any real damage, the only thing they heard aside from the serenade of crickets was Mabel's muffled voice, "Fine, I'm leaving!"
Dipper stepped back and held the pouch close, "Why don't you go first?"
"Because I gotta make sure you deserve it," Bill spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "But really, you're flaunting it around and I'm curious."
"I am not flaunting it," he mumbled but carefully handed it to the demon, biting the inside of his lip. Despite how dark it was without the porch lights on he knew that he could see every distinct feature of his face- the demon was like a cat in many ways.
Bill stood up straight and smiled as he took the pouch and cradled it in the palm of his hand, undoing the cinch to prod a finger in before he pulled out on of the teeth. Dipper was trying to make it seemed like he didn't care, not watching as the other's smile turned softer as he chuckled a bit.
"Deer teeth."
"Yeah, well it was the weirdest thing I could think of that would suit you and I went through a lot of trouble to get them," Dipper began to defensively ramble, "A whole mouthful of deer teeth! On the side of the road! They're gonna go clean it up and realize it's missing its teeth and then everyone is gonna freak out because of it- is it some monster or some creepy in the beginning serial killer!?"
Before he could continue on he felt a warm arm slither around his shoulders and pull him closer, just as he was turning he was met with Bill's lips pressing against the apple of his cheek, "This is very thoughtful, thank you."
Dipper sighed again, now at ease, his voice lowering and dropping the defensive tone from before, speaking between the two of them as he enjoyed the other man's arm around him, "Yeah… I, went to talk to Tad to get an idea, and this was the weirdest I could do… He kinda gave me a wider understanding of why you kept giving me those weird things… Well, weird to me."
Bill hummed while he listened to the other explain himself, enjoying the sound of his voice. He brought his free hand up and with a flick of the wrist he handed to Dipper a single red rose, its petals large and fully bloomed. Dipper looked down at it and up to Bill, "For you."
"This is, this is new," Dipper carefully took the flower and held it close to his chest, his eyes wide and looking up at the demon, "I wasn't expecting something this… Normal."
"Yeah, well your sister made me we watch over 30 hours of romance movies to get some sort of idea of what a normal gift is, and the flower thing kept coming up so I thought maybe I should start there."
Dipper looked down at the rose again before looking at Bill through his lashes, leaning forwards in the small space and giving him a kiss to the corner of his mouth, "I think… It's not a full start, seeing before… But, it's a better start."