Mabel woke up to the sound of the vacuum being used quite loudly. The wall was hit with something big and heavy and then the sound of something exploding. She rubbed her eyes and sat down, now smelling the smoke that was starting to enter through the space underneath the door.
"Grunkle Stan, what's happening down there?" Mabel called, getting up and opening the door
She looked out and watched as Dipper and Ford panic as they opened the windows and Stan try to keep the smoke away from the ceiling and not activate the smoke detectors. She closed the door once more and turned back to her bed. It was probably just some minor thing that they can take care of. She laid back down on her safe haven and closed her eyes.
"Mabel, sweetheart, are you up yet?" Stan yelled from downstairs, "I need some help cleaning this up. Well these up."
Mabel sighed and opened her eyes. She walked down the stairs in her pajamas, not even caring anymore if anyone else saw her in them or in the horrible state her hair was in. College tended to teach that to her. It was a very useful lesson to her.
"Something wrong, Grunkle Stan?" Mabel asked, yawning and rubbing her eyes as she got to the kitchen
"Yes. Can you go take care of the vacuum in the gift shop while I take care of this?" Stan asked
Mabel stopped rubbing her eyes and waited as her vision focused on the blond man standing in front of her, looking at the older man sheepishly. Stan was pointing at the guilty looking guy.
"Let me guess, you're the new employee?" Mabel asked, putting her hands on her hips
The guy nodded then looked at her. His expression turned from being this puppy trying to look as innocent as he could to a happy one, with the wide grin on his face and all.
"Mabel!" He exclaimed
"How do you know my name?" Mabel's eyes went wide, "I... I mean, how did you know that I was Mabel?"
"It's me," he paused, closed his eyes then opened them back again, showing his yellow eyes and long black pupils
He placed his index finger over his lips which still held the same mischievous grin.
"I'm sorry, I really don't remember you." Mabel responded, playing along the guy's plan, "So when did we have a vacuum Grunkle Stan?"
"I didn't even know we had them until this guy over here started using it." Stan accused
"Don't be so hard on him, Grunkle Stan. I bet that vacuum was Stan Vac." Mabel gave him a small smile
"Well if he'd been using that then that is probably supposed to happen." Stan put his thinking look on, "You're off the hook for now, kid. You're lucky my great nephew was here to save you. Now go clean your own mess up."
The guy nodded and exited the kitchen, rushing off to the gift shop. Mabel gave Stan another small smile.
"Do you promise you won't get this one running away?" Stan asked, sitting on a chair and sipping from his 'Number 1.5 Grunkle' mug
"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel's eyes widened
"What? It keeps costing me higher to find someone." Stan explained
"Fine, fine. I promise I won't make this one run away and quit." Mabel vowed, nodded, and left the room
She went over to the gift shop and found the guy sweeping over what remained of the vacuum. He looked over at her and gave her a sly smile.
"Where did you go yesterday?" Mabel asked, not knowing how to react
"Question is, where did you go? I was here the whole day." The guy responded
"Bill, quit playing games with me. I'm not in the mood." Mabel plainly stated, "Why did you decide to switch hosts? And why now?"
"Oh I didn't switch hosts." Bill answered then snapped his fingers
He turned to his triangular form then snapped his fingers once more, turning back to the human with the yellow longsleeved shirt, black pants, gray shoes and a gold beanie.
"Why are you even wearing longsleeves in summer?" Mabel raised a brow at his fashion choice
"Says the girl who wore sweaters for an entire summer." Bill replied, "And how do you even take the heat? I feel like I'm being cooked in here."
Mabel shrugged then gave him a smug grin, "You've gotta learn from the master. Anyway, this is your body? Your real body? Not that 'physical form' you had when I was twelve?"
Bill nodded, looking proud.
"Okay yeah but what's with the eye patch?" Mabel asked, pointing at the black inverted triangle covering his right eye
"Are you serious? I should be the one asking you about how you're dealing with two eyes. I mean, don't you get double visions? Two eyes are stupid since you only need one." Bill crossed his arms
Mabel furrowed her brows then walked over to him before removing the eye patch, albeit having a little bit of difficulty because of the good foot he had in advance to her height. She placed it in his pant pocket and looked up at him.
"See? That's better." She said, smiling a bit, "But we need to talk."
"About?" Bill questioned
"Dipper." She mumbled, "And us."
"Why do we need to talk about Pine Tree?" Bill scoffed, "All I know is that he will try everything to take you away again."
"He promised he won't." Mabel assured him, "And, well, we actually talked about it and we decided that we'd go to dinner and, you know, talk about it like civilized adults."
Bill looked at her in disbelief, waiting for her to continue and tell him that she was just joking and that, in some world, it was April Fools and she was celebrating the holiday with them. But the longer he stared at her, the more he realized that she was telling the truth.
"Mabel you have got to be kidding me." Bill plainly stated
"Don't worry, Bill. It's not only going to be the three of us. It's going to be a double date. You, me, and Dipper, and Pacifica." Mabel explained, "It'll be fun."
"Can I rearrange the functions of every hole on the waiter's face if he tries to talk to you?" Bill asked
"Bill!" Mabel's eyes went wide
Oh, right. Bill was a dream demon who wanted nothing but inflict chaos and weirdness in the world. She almost forgot that little part about him.
"What? At least I'm not doing it on your brother." He muttered
"Again, Bill. It's just a double date." Mabel forced up a smile, "I mean, we've been on a date before a thousand times, how hard can this be?"
Mabel was wrong. Mabel was very much wrong with her decision. It turned out that only she and Pacifica were having a great time. The moment Bill took her out, in his fancy gold vest, black longsleeves, and black dress pants, was the start of the downfall. Mabel saw that her brother was dressed casually. Just casually despite the fact that he was going to a five star restaurant with Pacifica Northwest nonetheless. She had argued with him almost a thousand times that night to wear something more formal, knowing that all three of them would, but he decided that it was the best time to be stubborn and not listen to her. He picked Pacifica up from the mansion and just a few moments after Bill arrived, Dipper called her.
"You were right." He said to her through the phone, "Is old triangle in a suit too or are we playing ths game fairly?"
"He looks formal." Mabel answered, "I told you so, Dippingsauce."
"Yeah, yeah, and Pacifica's going to be dressing me for a while so you two go ahead to the restaurant and wait for us there." Dipper responded, "And could you give the phone to Bill?"
Mabel nodded then followed her brother's request. The moment the demon had the pink phone on his ear, he hard the deafening yell of the string of threats thrown at him.
"You listen here you little-." Bill gave the phone back to Mabel who in turn out it back on her ear and was shocked at the colorful words her brother was spitting out
"Okay, so much for a good start." Mabel said, turning the call off
"I'm going to pretend that call didn't happen if you would." Bill offered
"Couldn't have said it better." Mabel agreed before they started walking off to the place they were supposed to meet at
Pacifica had offered the couple one of their many cars to use for the date but Bill and Mabel politely declined. It was not very unusual for Pacifica to try and offer them such things especially after she and Mabel's brother started dating.
"The Pacifica girl doesn't seem so bad, huh?" Bill had asked her the first time Pacifica came over and met him, "I thought she was your 'mortal enemy'?"
"I don't tell you everything." Mabel laughed
"So how was college?" Bill asked her, making sure all of his attention was on her
"It was fine, I guess." Mabel responded meekly
"That's... that's it?" Bill questioned, "You were gone for, what, five years? And that's everything you have to say?"
"Well, what do you want to hear?" Mabel looked up at him
"I want to hear about everything. From you moving in to your first murder there." Bill answered
"First murder?" Mabel raised a brow
"Oh wait, I forgot you meat sacks don't see that as 'normal'." Bill chuckled a bit, "But, Shooting Star, just tell me anything."
"College was... sort of boring, to be honest." Mabel obliged, "It was nothing like we talked about before. You do remember that, right?"
"I'm omniscient. Of course I do." Bill stated
"It was only fun because Dipper was there with me. I wouldn't have finished school if I didn't have anyone with me." Mabel smiled a bit, "I met some guys who were like you,"
"There are demons there? So what kind of killing technique do they like the best? Are they as powerful as me? Tell me they're not stronger than me." Bill interrupted
"They're not demons, Bill." Mabel laughed, "They're just humans who, well, had the same qualities as you. Smart, cunning, funny, and if I should add, handsome."
"Hah, you think I'm handsome?" Bill cracked a grin, "Mabel, that's gross!"
"What? You are, dumdum!" Mabel pointed out
"That's disgusting! How do you even find these flesh puppets attractive?" He laughed, "Seriously? Me? Handsome? Never. Powerful, maybe, but not physically attractive."
"Alright, I'll keep calling you cute until you admit that you're handsome." Mabel ran her hand across his jawline, "And I won't get tired of it," she grinned evilly, "cutie."
"You did not just call me cute, Mabel Pines!" Bill did not know if he would laugh or get angry
He was somewhere in between. It was funny seeing Mabel tease him like that. He had never been very confident of his looks besides his triangular form. That was why he kept the form, he trusted that form and only that form to not bear an ugly physical form. On the other hand, it was sort of enraging him that he was being called cute. Never in any timeline should Bill Cipher be dubbed as cute. It just does not match up.
"I just did." Mabel laughed
Their banter was short lived as they arrived at the restaurant. It would be embarrassing if they would laugh really loud and make everyone turn their heads over to them but who cared anyway? They could make a scandal for all they cared but then again, this was Gravity Falls, where snotty rich people lived. And they happened to be in the same place as where they were going. Great. Bill started grumbling words of unappreciation as he was expected to sit down properly next to Mabel. The other couple had not even arrived yet he was already in a bad mood.
"Hey, stop being grumpy, Mister Grumpy Pants." Mabel smiled at him, "Everything's going to be alright."
Bill sighed and smiled a bit, "If you say so."
How bad can the double date be?