He dreamed of sunny skies and good books the night after the possession. The dreams didn't seem weird at the time, but upon waking, Wirt knew that Bill had had something to do with them. He hadn't seen the demon in dreamland and he wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed. On one hand, he wasn't sure if he would have been able to face Bill so soon, on the other, he had wanted to hear Bill's take on things.

Dipper was asleep next to him. Wirt couldn't help but smile when incoherent mumbles against the pillow turned into muttering near his shoulder as Dipper shifted.

Wirt was contemplating going back to sleep when the door to the shop slammed. Startled, he sat up, hand on Dipper's side to wake him up. Both Dipper and Wirt had the shop key, and a couple people around town had a copy. If it wasn't one of them, there was only one other person Wirt could think of.

He shook Dipper. "Dipper, wake up."

Dipper groaned.

Wirt tried again, harder this time, "Dipper, either we're getting robbed or Mabel's here."

That woke Dipper up. He jumped out of bed before his eyes were even open. "Did you say Mabel? And robbed?" It was clear from his voice that he wasn't up to full speed. He still picked up the first jeans he found on the floor and pulled them on. Wirt got up at a more moderate pace.

"I heard the shop door," he explained. "So if they try to stay quiet, it's thieves, if not-" he didn't get to finish.

"Dip! Wirt! I'm home!"

"Well, there you have it." Wirt dug out a change of clothes. Dipper had ran down the stairs. He figured he would take his time, let the twins get most of the excitement at being reunited out of their systems. There were screams. Wirt was pretty sure it was Mabel but then, Dipper could reach the high notes with the best of them.

When he had showered and changed, and things sounded calmer, Wirt joined the two.

"Wirt oh my god!"

Wirt had just enough time to brace himself before he had an armful of Mabel.

"It's so good to see you!"

"You too, Mabel," Wirt said, giving her a squeeze before pulling back enough to look at her. With her heels, they were almost eye level with each other. She beamed at him.

"I see you're taking good care of brobro, he was sleep when I got here and everything." It was common knowledge to people in Dipper's orbit that he had horrible sleeping habits. Wirt had accumulated various tactics over the months to get him to sleep. What he had found most effective, was to just tell Dipper that he was going to bed, go to bed, and wait for Dipper to follow. It took between five minutes to two hours to take effect and Dipper was out like a light next to him.

"Someone has to," Wirt replied. Somewhere behind him, Dipper made an indignant noise.

"Guys, I'm right here."

"We know!" Mabel stepped past them towards the kitchen. "I'm making you two breakfast."

Wirt moved to stand next to Dipper who was staring after his sister, expression between irritated and excited. "Go help your sister, I'll go tidy up her room, alright?"

"What?" Dipper asked, absent before snapping back to the moment. "Oh. Yeah, sorry, it's just weird having her here again, you know? Familiar, but weird."

After a gentle nudge to get Dipper to move, Wirt wandered over to Mabel's room. He had stayed there, too, last fall. The colorful blanket was folded on the bed.

He pried open a window before moving on to check the sheets. Dipper had changed them in preparation for Mabel's arrival but Wirt wanted to make sure they were still alright. No dust or mysterious stains.

"Pilgrim, I need to talk to you."

Wirt reigned in his startled flinch the best he could. He kept his eyes on the chore. "What you need to do, is let Dipper spend time with his sister." If eye rolling made a sound, Wirt would have heard it then.

"Shooting Star chased him out after the first egg he let fall on the floor. Told him to come help you, and here he is, in the flesh."

At that, Wirt turned to him, just in time to see Bill grin at his own joke. Wirt sighed, crossing his arms. "If this is about yesterday-"

"If you're not mad about it, I don't see why we'd need to hash it out any more than we have." Bill marched over and flopped to sit on the freshly tidied bed.

Wirt wasn't angry, just disappointed.

"I need to talk to you about Star," Bill crossed his fingers and placed his hands on his lap. He indicated with his head for Wirt to take the spot next to him.

The methodological way Bill moved and waited for Wirt to sit down set off alarms in Wirt's head. Bill was never serious unless he absolutely had to be. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, shaky with nerves, Wirt waited for the demon to speak.

Bill studied him for a while. "I'm sure Dipper's told you about how hard it was for Star to come around to our arrangement."

Hearing Bill use Dipper's preferred name made Wirt's alarms louder. He nodded. Dipper had told him that things had been hard for the twins for a while after Dipper and Bill had first made their deal. They had made up but the way Dipper spoke about it made it sound like it had been a monumental change in their dynamic. Bill hadn't been there last Christmas, so Wirt hadn't seen Mabel interact with him. Wirt didn't know if she did at all.

"So I probably don't need to tell you that the history between me and Star has been," Bill paused, "spotty."

"I," Wirt started, cleared his throat, and tried again. "I have a general idea about what happened between you three, but." Wirt had to stop to think about how he wanted to put it. "I'm not very clear on how you and Mabel get along now."

Bill grinned, sardonic. "We get along by not interacting," he said. "But with you here, I'm hoping that could change."

Wirt felt a sudden bang of sympathy for the demon. He was sure Bill wouldn't appreciate it, but hearing that Bill wasn't even on speaking terms with Mabel, an integral part of their boyfriend's life, made him sad. He had to blink a couple times. "What can I do?"

"You get to play peacekeeper!" Bill declared. "Bring me up in casual conversation, be there when I take over around her, maybe even put in a good word for me."

So Bill wanted to put him in the middle of this relationship drama. Wirt knew there was no way he could say no to helping Dipper and Mabel to patch things up, and he did want all of them to get along. "I hate to break it to you but there aren't that many good words I have about you."

Bill looked delighted, "Rude!"


Wirt decided not to spring the Bill thing on Mabel before she had time to settle in. Judging from the way Dipper's eyes flashed yellow at him, Bill didn't agree. Tough.

Dipper didn't bring up the topic but he would get this absent, wishful look when he thought no one was paying attention. Wirt took it to mean that he was more or less on board.

Mabel was a source of cheer and energy. She got the shop and other public spaces in The Shack presentable within the first day of her stay. It seemed like one moment, as Wirt settled in to write, she was bustling about their grocery stocks, the next she reappeared from where she had ran off to and declared that the paperwork that Dipper had "goofed around with during winter season" was organized. She had somehow gotten Dipper out of the house to run errands for her around town. Wirt remained both awed and intimidated by her power.

The third evening of her stay, before Dipper was done with his errands for the day, Mabel let herself fall on the couch next to Wirt. He looked up from his book.

"Are you done for the day?" he asked.

"Yep! The Shack is ready to open tomorrow," she said, grinning. "I get things done, yo!" She threw up some made gang signs. Or what Wirt assumed were made up gang signs, it wasn't like he could tell the difference.

It was the perfect opportunity to bring up Bill. Wirt was about to send out a feeler, because he wanted for Mabel and Bill to get along. But. He hesitated, feeling a vague sort of horror. What if Mabel and Bill got along?! Combining Mabel's and Bill's drive, and their personalities, into a destructive force of both chaos and order, an organized mayhem, felt like the worst idea.

Mabel must have seen it on his face. It was too late.

"What's up?" she asked. The question was the harbinger of doom.

Wirt was aware that he might be a touch over dramatic.

"Uh," he said. "I've been thinking." So far so good. "You know how I'm in a relationship with your brother."

"No duh," Mabel interjected.

"But did you know that I'm also involved with, uh, Bill, you know the demon who's been a part of your brother's life since uh, forever?" Nailed it. Wirt knew that somewhere, Bill was face-palming.

Mabel's smile fell. "Sort of? I mean, I asked about it when you and Dipdop got together, officially, and he said that you were cool with that," she waved off into the distance, "whole situation. He never came out and said it, but I can put two and two together." She turned to sit so it was easier for her to face him. "Why do you ask?"

At this point, it was best to just come clean. "Bill asked me to help him get on better terms with you."

"Ah." Her eyes narrowed like Dipper's did when he was doing his scary perceptive detective thing. "So he got you to do his dirty work for him. Wirt, you know he's dangerous, right? Don't let his charming act fool you."

Wirt stared at her. He had to consciously decide to blink so his eyes wouldn't dry out. Bill? Charming act? They were talking about the same entity, right? "You've lost me."

Mabel looked at him with such pity he bristled. "Oh, Wirt, honey," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I know how Bill is, and I know how easy it is to fall for his thoughtful words and grand gestures. I've seen it happen, hell, I've almost had it happen to me." She leaned in to hug him. In his confusion, Wirt stayed still. She pulled back a moment later, hands on Wirt's stiff shoulders, looking at him with sad eyes. "Look, I know Dipper loves you but if you want out, I can help you."

"What," Wirt said.

Mabel shook him. "Listen to me please, I'm saying that if you feel like things aren't going well for you, I can help you leave."

It slowly dawned on him. "Oh," he said, then louder with a small, touched but amused smile, "Oooh!" At Mabel's alarmed look, he hurried to elaborate, "No, Mabel, you're so sweet but I'm fine, really." Wirt took Mabel's hands to his. "Really, I'm better than fine here. Bill hasn't," here, he had to laugh, "charmed me into anything, trust me. I don't know what Bill you know but the one I've met is an obnoxious asshole."

It was Mabel's turn to look confused. "What," she said.

Wirt squeezed her hands, smiling. "I can't believe I'm using these words to defend anyone, but he really isn't charming in the slightest and whatever grand gestures he makes come off more creepy than anything. Believe me when I tell you, the Bill I know isn't some smooth operator out to manipulate me." He laughed again. It was disconcerting that Mabel had this misconception but he could have words with Bill about it later. Right now, it was just funny. "I mean, he is manipulative, don't get me wrong, but I know to be careful."

Mabel said, "I don't understand. I thought..."

The door slammed. They were both startled. Wirt turned his smiling face towards the entrance to the living room, expecting Dipper. He was half wrong.

Bill took in the scene, leaning on the door frame. "Shooting Star, I think it's time we talked."

Wirt snorted. "You have a great sense of dramatic timing."

"I know, right?"