Mabel didn't arrive until the next day, causing Dipper to sit in the attic in anticipation all night. Since he now has confirmation that the demon was his teacher, he was desperate to talk about it with Stan but knew he would be better off waiting for the other two to arrive. It was past 2 AM when he finally was able to fall asleep.
Saturday morning, he woke up suddenly with someone jumping on him and pushing his body off the mattress. Groaning, he sat up and rubbed his head, looking at his morning attacker.
"Dipper!" Mabel's voice rang through his head. She tackled him to the ground in a bear hug before he could fully wake up and respond, leaving him grunting and struggling to hug the other twin back.
"It's too early for this," he mumbled in his scratchy, morning voice. She pulled away with a wide grin on her face.
"It's only 8, sleepyhead," she laughed, pulling him up to stand. "Thank GOD I'm out of that house. Do you know what she tried to do when Grunkle Ford got there?" Annoyance was dripping from her voice at the topic of her previous roommate.
"What did she do?" Dipper asked, rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes.
"She refused to let Ford in!" she exclaimed, stomping her foot. "She tried saying I'm not allowed to leave because she didn't have money for bills, but I told her that what she gets for only buying fancy things she doesn't need! I told her, all right!"
"Sounds like she was using you," he commented, stretching a bit.
"I think she was," she crossed her arms and grumbled a bit. "Grunkle Ford threatened to call the police for a hostile situation if she didn't let him in. She got scared so she did and was bitching at us the ENTIRE rest of the time we were packing. So annoying!"
Dipper nodded, feeling for his sister. "I'm glad you're here now," he told her, a little more awake. Suddenly, Bill's features popped into his mind, causing him to widen his eyes at his sister. "I need to talk to you and everyone!"
Before Mabel could respond, Dipper was pulling her with him and down the stairs. The brothers were already awake, shuffling around in the kitchen. Once the younger twins were noticed, Ford smiled at the two.
"Good morning you two," he greeted. "Breakfast is about to get started, it's my turn today." Stan yawned loudly, getting everyone's attention as he watched the coffee maker fill the coffee pot.
"Actually, I need to tell you guys about that teacher," Dipper started, sitting down at the table with Mabel.
"Your hot one?" Mabel asked excitedly, raising her eyebrows at him one by one. He quickly shook his head. "So your other one?" she then asked, slightly confused. Dipper sighed but before he could respond, Stan sat across from him.
"Are you serious?" he rolled his eyes, knowing what the younger boy was talking about. "What's the point in the memory gun if he's still alive?"
Confusion flashed over Mabel's face as she looked from her Grunkle back to her brother. "You're not talking about whom I think you're talking about, right? Dip-Dot?"
"Is it him," Dipper stated. "I called him out on it, it IS him."
Ford stopped cooking for a moment and looked back at Dipper. "How serious are you?" he questioned, anxiety slowing raising.
"He wouldn't talk to me so I asked his helper," he started explaining. "I asked if he knew that the professor was a dream demon and he said YES."
"Wait, wait, wait," Mabel babbled. "Which teacher? Your hot one?" Dipper sighed at the remark, suddenly hating that he told his sister his physical attraction to the blond, but nodded reluctantly.
Silence filled the room upon the news, everyone is at a loss on what to do. Ford went back to cooking, trying to distract himself from the bad news. Stan was staring Dipper down, trying to tell himself it was just a sick joke the younger is making.
"Dipper," Stan started, getting the boy's attention. "We aren't that young anymore. It hurt fighting 11 years ago, now I can barely stand longer than a half hour. Please, tell me this is just some sort of sick joke."
"I'm not joking," Dipper said desperately trying to get them to believe him. "Everyone at the college loves him, saying he's the nicest professor in the entire school."
"Why is he here?" Mabel asked nervously. "How long has he been here?"
"I don't know," he responded, looking back at his sister. "We can try to figure it out though. We just need to catch him when he's not working."
"Or you can just leave it," Ford chimed in, not looking back at the two. "If he's free and got into a teacher's body, we can't do anything about that. Just attend his class to keep an eye on him, nothing more. Got it?"
Dipper looked back to Ford and stayed quiet. The room was quiet for a few moments before the dipping in the coffee machine stopped. Mabel sighed and got up to retrieve everyone's coffee.
"Grunkle Ford," she started, filling the cups. "Why don't you let Dipper and I handle this? There has to be a reason he's back. You guys take care of yourselves, we'll be fine."
"Mabel," Stan chimed in. "You guys might be grown up, but that doesn't mean you can take this on by yourselves."
"We will," Dipper confirmed, smiling softly to his sister. "We're the Mystery Twins, we'll figure it out."
After breakfast came and went, the young twins were back in the attic to talk about what happened. Dipper filled Mabel in on the interactions he has had with the male. Their plan consisted of searching the town for that day and Sunday to see if they can find the male just living like a normal human. Stalking seemed a bit much but that's all they could think of for their first steps. They checked all the diners and retail stores but didn't have any use. The only good information they have is from asking the cashiers and other workers if they've seen a man of his description along with the helper that was with him. Turned out, everyone knew whom he was referring to. The helper ended up being someone that follows him around everywhere. Some thought they were in a relationship until someone asked for the helper's number and didn't get a reaction from the blond.
Their last stop was the now giant grocery store. The building had been upgraded after the school was built, allowing good deals for the students that went there. As soon as they got to in front of the store, Dipper looked around at the people entering the store. Near the bike racks, he noticed the tall, black-haired man that always accompanied the blond. Grabbing his sister's arm, he ran inside and hid behind a stack of cans.
"What's going on?" Mabel whispered harshly into her brother's ear. Dipper motioned her to quiet down and pointed at the two men as they entered the store. His sister's eyes widened a bit, staring at Bill as he grabbed a cart. "Is that him?" she looked at Dipper who nodded, staring at the same man. "You're right, he's hot," she stated, watching the men start to walk down one of the aisles.
Slowly, Dipper started to walk to the aisle next to the one Bill was in. Although the store was big, they didn't update the walls the products were sitting on. This made it easier for Dipper to move items around and watch the other male as he shopped. Currently, Bill was standing in front of a wall of can vegetables, reading the back for a few minutes before placing the product back on the shelf. Mabel was silent as they followed him. Once they reached the end of the aisle, they quickly went to the next, in fear of being seen by the other.
Bill did, in fact, go down the same aisle that Dipper and Mabel were just in. He was completely unaware of the twins following his every move, fully focused on reading the nutrition facts on the back of the products. Something caught Dipper's eye, a stray box sticking out from the bottom of the shelves. He furrowed his eyebrows a bit, not remembering the box being there before. While watching the teacher, Dipper silently pointed out the box to Mabel to see if she saw it. She shook her head in confusion, noting that the aisle was clear when they walked down it. Suddenly, there was a crash on the ground. Looking back, the twins noticed Bill on the ground, seems to have tripped over the exposed box. Andrew Stern was close by but didn't provide any reaction as the other fell to the ground. Dipper heard an irritated sigh and watched Bill get back up to his feet and dusting himself off before resuming shopping.
Little things like that happened throughout the store to Bill. It was almost as if he didn't know how to walk with how often he would trip over things or even slip. Dipper and Mabel started feeling bad for the older male, thinking he probably just didn't have good luck at that time. The entire time, Andrew kept his distance from Bill, not offering help nor getting help.
They were heading towards the checkout lines when someone ran into his side with their cart, causing him to let go of his cart to hold his side. Dipper watched as Bill breathed in slowly and look at the other shopper with a calm expression as the other started apologizing. He didn't even look annoyed.
Dipper, on the other hand, felt annoyed himself at this. Bill got annoyed so easily in class, why couldn't he be this calm towards him? Why does this shopper get to get treated better? He got pulled out of his thoughts when Mabel started slapping his arm quickly.
"Ow," Dipper growled at his sister, catching her wrists to stop her from hitting him. "What?"
"Look," she pulled one arm away to point at Bill again.
Just as he looked up, he saw one of the hanging cashier signs dangling from just a few threads. Just underneath was Bill, waiting in line to check out, completely unaware. Not wanting to get his attention, the twins started to tell some of the customer's around them. This was to see if they could react and get Bill's attention to move. Unfortunately, their efforts were in vain. Right as the crowd actually started to notice, it fell. Right on top of Bill's head. The blond didn't even get the chance to look up before he was knocked out.
Again, Andrew did nothing.
Without thinking, Dipper ran over to Bill and turned him on his back, propping his head on Dipper's shoulder. Workers were already running around to get help, worried about their unconscious customer.
"Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you?!" Dipper hears Mabel's voice close by. Turning his head, he saw her scolding Andrew for not reacting and still not trying to help.
A groan from Bill caused Dipper to look back in shock, the realization hit him on where he was and whom he was holding. His face is so close to his own shook Dipper to his core, his heart racing a hundred miles a minute. Bill started to squirm a bit but before he actually opened his eyes, a cashier took Bill from his arms and rested his head on a pillow that was on the ground. Dipper could hear his heart beating in his ears as Bill opened his eyes, looking around confused. When they landed on Dipper, he faded out of consciousness again.
Dipper moved away from Bill as more workers came over and heard sirens from outside pulling up. He went to his sister as she was still scolding Andrew. Grabbing her wrists, he glared daggers at the taller man.
"Why are you around if you don't do shit?" he hissed, walking away from him before he could respond. Mabel followed without arguing and they passed paramedics, prepared to take the blond man to the hospital.
They left the grocery store and went into the forest, heading to a small meadow that wasn't too far from the Shack. Dipper didn't realize how much his hands were shaking until he sat down and thought about what just happened. Mabel sat next to her brother, rubbing his back.
"What did he tell you," Dipper asked, breathlessly. "When you were yelling at him?"
"He only said he's there to watch, not intervene," she rolled her eyes thinking about how stone-faced he was talking. "But he wouldn't tell me why."
"I have a bad feeling about him," Dipper admitted slowly. Mabel nodded slowly, agreeing. "I mean, what kind of person just watches that and doesn't react?"
"Someone who's not a friend," Mabel responded.
"But they go everywhere with each other," he argued. "Why would he be friends with such an ass?" His sister shrugged.
"Your guess is as good as mine," she sighed. "You should try to get them to separate. You know, talk to him when he's not around. Maybe he'll tell you why."
"Why would he?" Dipper rolled his eyes. "Why would I even want to be friends with a demon anyway?"
Mabel was quiet for a moment before standing up and paced a little in front of Dipper, deep in thought. Her brother sat up and watched her closely.
"Mabel," he started, cautious. "what are you thinking of?"
"I don't think he's a demon anymore," she said carefully. Dipper started to shake his head and she held her arms out, motion for him to wait. "Hear me out." With a sigh, he nodded. "Think about it. If he was still a demon, wouldn't he have known those items in the store were there before he fell? Dipper, he fell a lot. I don't even think that's a normal amount of time of accidents so I don't think it's just the store. Even if he was clumsy, that's still way too many times. And the sign?" She shook her head. "I'm pretty sure demon instants are stronger than that."
Dipper stayed quiet and looked down, taking in everything that she had said. It did make sense but it seemed almost too much bad luck. "Mabel, what if he did that to come off as normal?"
"His head injury wouldn't have been as dramatic," she responded, voice full of hope. Dipper felt a pit in his stomach and sweat started to bead down his forehead.
"I messed up," he muttered softly, guilt dripping from his voice. "If he's human, then he probably got a concussion from the hit. I let him pass out again." He felt his sister embrace him tightly.
"He'll be okay," she reassured him. "Just stay positive."
After a few moments of holding each other, she let him go and sat next to him.
"You should try to be friends with him," she suggested. "It kind of looks like he needs one."
They stopped by the hospital to see if Bill was checked in. While, yes, he was there, he also wasn't allowed any visitors at that time. Dipper started to wonder if the class would continue, feeling the guilt in his stomach spread. Once back at the shack, they told Stan and Ford the event of the day. While Stan didn't care about the former demon's pain, Ford's reaction was unreadable. They spent Sunday with friends that Mabel wasn't able to see yet. Once Pacifica came over though, Dipper was kicked out of the room.
He decided to take this time to explore the forest like he did when he was younger and tried to find the meadow that he was in for class. It was about a two-hour hike to find the open space from the Shack but that didn't stop the smile from growing on Dipper's face once he found the beautiful area.
Sitting down on the grass in the middle of the meadow, he took a good look around and relaxed. This area reminded him of class, although he was sure he's been here when he was younger. There was a splash from a little ways away from Dipper, causing him to stand to see if someone else was here. He walked to where he remembered the pond being and stopped quickly once he saw a familiar blond placing with one of the strange ducks.
'Wasn't he supposed to be in the hospital?' Dipper thought to himself. Taking a quiet breath in, he took a step forward. Bill looked up from the sound of footsteps and froze when he saw Dipper. He was sitting on his knees in black pants and a black top, looking more casual than he did in class.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, fear laced in his voice. Dipper kneeled down on the other side of the pond, staring at the blond.
"Why are you here?" the brunette asked back. "I thought you were in the hospital." Confusion crossed over Bill's features.
"I was released," he answered, almost automatically. He shook his head quickly. "H-how did you know that?" he started to stand up, suddenly not wanting to visit the ducks anymore. Dipper bit his lip and stood up as well.
"I was at the store when you got hurt happened," Dipper explained honestly. "Your Andrew friend didn't do shit."
"He doesn't need to," Bill barked, defensively. "Now answer my question."
"I don't have one," shrugging, Dipper crossed his arms while looking around. Andrew wasn't there. "But now that I see you, I would like some answers."
"Of course you do," the blond rolled his eyes and started to walk away. Dipper followed him and grabbed Bill's elbow like he did at school.
"Please," he asked, holding Bill's arm close to his chest. "I won't keep bugging you if you just please answer my questions." He watched as the taller male closed his honey eyes and sigh heavily. Bill looked back at Dipper, the anxiety easy to read on his face. "I won't hurt you," he promised.
After a few moments, Bill nodded and turned to Dipper a bit. Releasing his elbow, the brunette started to walk to the middle of the field. The other man followed silently, crossing his arms over his chest protectively. They settled at a large tree so they could both sit comfortably.
"So," Dipper started, "You're back." Bill nodded slowly. "Care to explain how?"
"After I realized I got tricked, I made a chance to a God to come back another place and time and in a new form," Bill confessed. "But because of all the bad things that I have done, each demon can use the chant three times. I don't like to admit this but that was the fourth time I used the chant. I was sent to the God of Life instead of the God I wanted to go to. They reviewed everything I have ever done in my millions of years as an all-powerful demon and decided that I needed to get punished. Obviously, hell isn't going to affect me. So they did the next best thing. I was given one final form; human. It was all because of your family. The last creatures I've tried taking over. Now I'm going to be human forever and die as a human. I'm no longer immortal."
Throughout Bill's explanation, Dipper watched as Bill slumped sadly against the tree. Dipper sighed, hardly feeling sorry about the situation.
"You know," he began. "You have a very negative outlook on human life. If you can get over that, I'm sure you'll have a fine life. If you want people to remember you, leave something behind before you die."
"I'm not done," he objected. "I'm not capable of lying and I have the worst luck with everything. I'm sure you saw that. That was actually not as bad as most things I experience weekly. This forest is the only place I'm safe."
"I never have seen anything bad happen at school," Dipper lightly argued. "So you probably have some more safe zones." Bill shook his head and looked back at the brunette.
"I just don't haven't had bad luck in the class with you yet," he murmured. "I've fallen off the choir stage too many times to count."
Dipper sighed softly before speaking. "Do your students help?" A small smile crept on Bill's mouth at the mention of his students.
"They're the reason I'm still working," he admitted. "Technically, Andrew is the reason I'm doing anything but the students are the reason why I do it willingly."
This intrigued Dipper. "What is Andrew to you?"
"An annoying leech," Bill sneered a bit. "I tried attempting suicide once and they sent him and he won't leave me alone. I'm not allowed to take my own life. I can't tell you how many times I was so close to death with being sick but I still manage to live. If I do anything to try to take my own life, he is required to stop me. Otherwise, he just sits back and watches my misfortune every day."
The new information shocked Dipper a bit. "Where is he?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "Probably nearby, just waiting for me to do something."
Dipper thought about that for a moment before asking, "How long have you been human?"
"They put me here as an 18-year-old," Bill explained, letting his face relax. "So almost 10 years. Technically I would have been 17 when you were 12 if I was originally human." Something crossed over Bill's features that Dipper couldn't read. It was quiet between the two before the blond looked down. "I'm sorry," he uttered.
Weight felt like it was lifted with those words. "I'm assuming you have human emotions now?" Watching the former-demon nod, Dipper reached for Bill's hand and rubbed it comfortingly. "Thank you. But I think you should also apologize to everyone else." Bill's hand started to shake a bit under his hand.
"They're going to kill me," he whispered softly. "I can't see them."
"You see me," Dipper noted, observing the fear coming from the blond. "I'm not going to kill you."
"You wanted to." Dipper was barely able to hear Bill's words but sighed nonetheless. Guilt rumbled in his stomach, thinking back to holding Bill's unconscious body at the store.
"I wouldn't," he admitted. Bill looked at Dipper again but didn't respond. "Can we at least be friends? You could use one considering your 'guardian angel' sucks."
This brought a small amused smile to Bill's lips. "How can you be friends with someone who tried killing you?"
"Time," Dipper commented, shrugging. "Time heals. No matter how much bad shit happens, time can heal."
They started to chat back and forth about where Dipper had been for all this time. There were still some questions he needed answered, but decided that he had asked enough for one day. The conversation continued to shift from topic to topic until the sun started to set. It was surprisingly easy for Dipper to talk with Bill. Although he doesn't like to talk about where he's been since he was human, he knew in time Bill might open up. Dipper stood once the stars were visible and helped Bill up.
"I'm so hungry," Bill muttered to himself, holding his stomach.
"You should go eat something," Dipper suggested. "I have to get back to the Shack before they question where I am."
Bill nodded and started to walk towards the opposite direction Dipper came in. He looked back at the brunette once he was just a few feet away. "See you tomorrow?" he asked, voice warm.
Dipper smiled and nodded. "See you in class."