Chapter 9: Working?

A/N: I hope you enjoy the chapter! Thanks to all of my lovely readers for following, favoriting, and reviewing!

Bill awoke the following morning in his cage, curled up on his side on the floor, the sunlight shining through the basement window. Going off of what he'd seen yesterday, that meant that it was roughly eight o'clock. Had he truly slept for twelve hours?! Bill blinked groggily and sat up, instantly pleased when he noted a distinct lack of pain in his ribs. He looked down at his left arm, noting that the previously thick, long, deep gash was well past the scabbing stage and was now only a slightly still irritated red mark on his skin, fresh skin already closed over the opening and all reminders of blood easily rubbed away. Bill lifted his sweater and loose white shirt, observing the yellow tone of the bruises on his torso that years of observing humans told him should still be a deep purple color. The throb was a distant and faint pain when he touched the skin.

Pleased with his current state, Bill stood, looking around the cage. His drawings were still there, only slightly scattered by his movements in the night, Mabel's twelve crayons all still in their box and in neat order. When he'd first received them he hadn't been at all surprised to find that there was no particular order to the colorful cylinders inside, so the first thing he'd done with them was reorganize them by their color before sticking them in the box. A quick check confirmed that they were still all in the neat order that he'd left them in yesterday, the yellow crayon humorously used down quite a bit more than the others, but that was to be expected.

Bill grabbed his drawings and re-stacked them into a single neat pile, placing them in the corner of the cage and setting the box of crayons down on top of them. He next picked up his empty water bottle and sandwich bag from yesterday, stuffing the bag into the empty bottle. He was about to put it in his pocket to be thrown away at a later time when he noticed a trash can near the entrance of the room, roughly ten feet away from his cage.

He looked down at the stuffed bottle in his hand, up at the trash can, and back down at the bottle again.

'Could I?' He wondered. Surely he couldn't, but the urge to try was overpowering. Besides, how would he ever know of he could if he never tried? He was still good at math, but this human body was so new to him, and he was hardly used to moving around in this form. 'Worst case scenario, I miss and have to embarrassingly pick it up later when someone comes to get me, or someone else gets it for me.' The embarrassment was actually a rather strong deterrent, but not as strong as the burning curiosity that Bill Cipher was naturally prone to.

Tossing it up and catching it a few times to get a good sense of the weight, Bill stood and walked to the edge of his cage nearest the trash can. He tossed it a couple more times to ensure he had a good feel for it, watching as it spun top-over-bottom before landing back in his hand each time. He held it steady, aiming, lining the bottle up with his left eye, rearing back his left arm a bit before letting it fly.

Within a moment, there was a satisfying "swoosh" sound as the bottle flew, and not even a second later there was a sound of rustling plastic and a "clang" as the bottle hit its mark, bouncing lightly off the wall and straight into the small trash can.

Bill blinked a few times, startled, before letting out a whoop, fist-bumping the air as he'd seen so many times before. He honestly didn't know if it was pure luck, instinct, mathematical calculations, or his magic kicking in, but any which way, he was ecstatic that he'd made the basket.

"Nice shot."

All happiness fled from Bill in the span of a lightning strike and he jerked so quickly around and back that his head spun and his back slammed against the bars behind him with a loud clatter. He had turned so quickly that he could just distinguish the sight of Ford wincing at his reaction before regaining his composure.

"Relax Bill, I'm not here to hurt you…. At the moment…." Ford said to the heavily panting and rigid form before him. He stepped forward, Bill sinking back further into the bars of his cage in an attempt to stay as far away from him as possible. Ford walked over to the cage door and pulled the key out of his pocket.

He eyed Bill. "Why so tense Cipher? You weren't this bad last night," Ford commented, appearing nonchalant but secretly eying him intently from behind the rim of his glasses.

It took Bill a moment to realize he'd been asked a question, and since he wasn't entirely sure that it was rhetorical he thought he'd best respond.

"You…. Startled me," he said, forcing himself to try and relax a little, but not being very successful. He didn't want to say he was scared, but that's exactly what he was…. He didn't even want to think about how long Ford had been standing there for! Was this what it was like for people, discovering he'd been watching them intently for months on end?

Ford eyed him for a moment longer before unlocking the cage and opening the door wide, stepping aside and gesturing for Bill to exit. Bill hesitantly stepped forward and past Ford, ducking his head a little to hide the fact that he was carefully watching Ford's every move, looking for any sign of malice.

Ford purposefully kept his expression neutral, noting that in his presence, when Dipper and Mabel weren't around, Bill was much more like his darker and more distrustful self. He was likely always like this on the inside, watching intently and paranoid, only putting on a good show for the kids, Mabel in particular. Anger flashed across Ford's face for a fraction of a second as he thought about Bill Cipher tricking his young and innocent Great Niece.

Bill instantly winced and jerked away, immediately picking up on the brief anger that crossed Ford's eyes because he'd been studying his expression so intently. Bill picked up his pace in his approach to the stairs, hoping to end this "alone time" with Ford as quickly as possible. He was greatly relieved when Ford didn't reach out and pull him back, or punish him for trying to walk off and avoid his wrath.

Bill slowed at the top of the stairs to ensure that Ford could still see him, only continuing into the hallway once Ford was at least half way up the stairs. Bill waited in the hallway for Ford to catch up to him and let him lead the way to the kitchen, following a few paces behind him. Ford stopped at the pantry and opened a cabinet.

"Mabel rather, enthusiastically, told me that not feeding you wasn't an option," Ford said as he slammed the wooden cabinet door closed, Bill trying his hardest not to jump at the loud startling noise. "I'd like to remind you that if you ever disobey orders or break any of the rules, not eating will be one of the lesser punishments I use on you." Bill nodded morosely as he struggled to catch the granola bar that was thrown his way, barely managing to catch it after fumbling with it for a few moments.

Bill pocketed the bar and followed Ford back out of the kitchen and to the front shop. Mabel was manning the cash register, looking completely bored as only a small handful of customers perused the shop, a couple of people leaving empty-handed.

"Come again soon!" Mabel called out to them in an attempt to reel them back in, but they ignored her and proceeded out the door. She sighed heavily and leaned on her hands.

Dipper was counting merchandise on the shelves, taking notes on a clip board and keeping track of every purchase made and how it affected the numbers, re-stocking the shelves whenever necessary.

Stanley was there too, just having finished a tour, a group of site-seers coming from behind him and wandering the gift shop.

"Stanley," Ford said, approaching his twin brother, Bill following closely behind, uncomfortable with all of the strangers wandering around nearby.

"What's on your mind?" Stan asked, glancing at Bill before looking back to his brother.

"I figure that as long as Bill is unfortunately here, he can help you man the shop during the day. Maybe just have him stick near the kids, try to keep him from touching too much." Stan nodded.

"True, true. As long as he's here, he might as well try to earn his keep." Stan fully faced Bill now. "Go help Mabel man the register for now." Bill nodded absentmindedly, carefully glancing at Ford before approaching Mabel, leaving the two elder men to talk.

"Hey Bill," Mabel said with a complete lack of her usual luster and enthusiasm.

"Bored I see," Bill responded.

Mabel laughed a little. "You still talk funny."

"You mean because my voice is high?" Mabel shook her head.

"Nah, that's normal for a kid. What's weird is the way you talk. You say 'splendid' and 'I see' and other crazy old-people stuff. Like a British guy, almost!"

Bill frowned. "Oh…. I can try to-"

"No!" Mabel said suddenly. "No, no, I didn't mean it like that! It's cute, even if it's weird, and it definitely screams 'Bill'. Like how my sweaters scream 'Mabel'," she said, gesturing to her own neon green article of clothing, "or how that annoying clicky-thing my brother does with his pen when he's thinking says 'Dipper'." She gestured to Pine Tree, who was indeed clicking his pen at a rapid pace, lost in thought as he re-counted a shelve of Stan bobble-heads.

Bill nodded. "I…. Think I understand…. Maybe….Just a tad bit." Mabel giggled.

"Hey guys," approached a somewhat new yet certainly familiar voice. Bill turned and saw none other than the gerbilesque handyman Soos nearing them. "Oh my gosh, is this him?" Soos asked, his mouth opening wide and eyes going large in what was clearly a "so cute" face. "Wow, he's like, totes adorable! You weren't kidding Mabel, I could just stuff him full of cotton and keep him like a stuffed animal!" At this point, Bill looked horrified.

Mabel grabbed Bill by the arm. "Well, you can't have him Soos! He's mine!" Mabel and Soos laughed, Bill wearing an overly confused and somewhat terrified expression on his face. Dipper huffed in the background and got back to work.

A customer walked up with an item they intended to purchase. Mabel paused the conversation and rung the item up.

"That'll be five dollars and eighty-two cents please!" Mabel said. The tourist-guy handed her six dollars, Bill watching quietly and shyly from the background. Mabel put it in the cash register and handed him back two quarters. "Thanks for your business!" She said a bit too loudly as the customer exited the gift shop.

"You know Shooting Star," Bill pitched in, "that wasn't the proper amount of change you handed him back. You just lost thirty-two cents in revenue." Mabel laughed again.

"Like, I understand the words coming out of your mouth, but I also don't," Mabel said, and Bill could swear she looked almost cross-eyed for a moment.

"It's no use," Dipper said from his spot near a shelf. "She doesn't care, and as soon as summer starts Mabel throws all of her book smarts out the window. Even during the school year, she barely pays enough attention to pass her core classes," Dipper said. "That's why Grunkle Stan has me doing the more important math-related stuff, like counting the merchandise and calculating how much of each item we need to order to re-stock the shelves with later on."

Bill nodded. "I see." Bill didn't feel like being too helpful at the moment, so he didn't mention to Dipper that he was still amazing enough mentally to be able to count every item on a shelf in a single glance. The Axolotl had been very thorough with the human body: It was advanced enough to keep up with most of his usual higher-functioning thoughts, but without magic he was limited to observing only that which he could directly see through his own two eyes, and the chemicals! The chemicals this body produced and subsequent emotions were somewhat unbearable! In his own body, emotions other than rage had been so dull it was usually like they weren't even there…. The happiness was almost entirely or wholly faked.

Bill looked away from Dipper and back to Question Mark, who was still staring at him with wide sparkling eyes, leaning in far too closely and invading his personal space. Bill shifted uncomfortably away and Soos finally understood his cue, straightening and looking away.

"Well, I guess I better get back to work," Soos said. "It's been nice talking to you little dude," Soos said, ruffling his hair thoroughly before going outside. Bill frowned and began to pat his hair down, trying to give it some form of neatness.

"Haha, that's not going to work," Mabel said honestly. "It's okay though, your messy hair is adorable too."

"It was rather straight the first day I came here…." Bill said, still frowning slightly, not noticing that it came off as a pout that had Mabel simply gushing.

"That's okay. It'll probably flatten a bit after being washed. I'll make sure you get the chance to take a shower tonight."

Dipper groaned. "Does that mean he'll be using our shower tonight?"

"Yup!" Mabel responded cheerfully.

"Ugh, fine." The look on Dipper's face was completely serious as he pointed his pen in Bill's direction. "Don't touch my shampoo."

Bill smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it, Pine Tree."

The next hour or so went by rather uneventfully, with most customers walking out empty-handed. Bill hummed as he munched on his breakfast bar.

"Is it always this boring?" Bill asked.

"Pretty much. Wendy tends to make it more fun though, and it's always better when more customers stop by and buy things," Mabel said.

Bill hummed again in thought.

"Say, Shooting Star, is it alright to lie to the customers?" Bill hadn't noticed Stan walking up behind them.

"Of course it is!" Stan said, making Bill jump. "S'long as it doesn't hurt anyone and the customers buy more and not less, knock yourself out!" A sly grin spread across Bill's face.

"Oh no," Dipper said. "Grunkle Stan, what did you do?"

"Don't worry Pine Tree," Bill assured, "like he said, as long as I don't hurt anyone…. Now, watch a master at work." Bill chose an easy target to be his first victim…. Ehem, customer, he meant customer…. A woman who looked to be about thirty, the perfect age of female to respond enthusiastically to his current form. Now for the approach….

Bill picked up a price tag from in front of a rather pricey object, the tag reading "$80" on it, and switched it with one reading "$20" on a nearby shelf; a shelf that was near his target, and that just so happened to have teady bears on it. Next he non-conspicuously knocked one of the stuffed bears down, making it land near his target's feet.

"Excuse me Miss!" He said, picking it up. "You drop-ed this!" He said, giving himself a bit of a childish accent.

"Oh," the woman said, "I didn't…." She looked down at Bill, who was wearing the biggest, brightest smile he could manage, holding the stuffed animal out to her. She found it extremely difficult to say no. "Thank you," she said slowly instead.

"It's an adorable bear!" Bill said, posing a bit with his hands behind his back and one foot touching only its toes on the floor. He loosened his pants a little with out the woman noticing to make the over-sized clothes stand out a bit more. "I wish my daddy would get me one! He doesn't like to buy me things though," he said, growing quieter near the end.

"Oh?" The woman asked, taking in for the first time his over-sized clothing and, God, did the child not even have shoes? "W-why doesn't he buy you things?"

"He doesn't like me very much," Bill said quietly. "He thinks it's my fault mommy died…."

Dipper could swear his mouth hit the floor.

The woman's eyes teared up a bit. She clutched the bear more tightly.

"Would…. Would you like it if I bought you one?" She asked timidly. Her heart instantly swelled at the bright teary-eyed smile she received in response.

"Would you, really?!" He asked. She glanced at the price tag on the shelf of teady bears…. '$80?! What a rip off!'…. But one look at the expectant, hopeful and downright breathtaking smile on the child before her's face had her convinced.

Stan lightly shoved Mabel to the side as the woman approached the cash register, the stuffed bear in one hand and Bill's hand in the other. "I'd like to buy this bear please!" She said, letting go of Bill's hand and pulling out four twenty dollar bills.

Stan accepted the money, the woman handed Bill the bear, and Bill smiled brightly as the woman waved back at him from the door. As soon as she was out he scoffed and tossed the bear back on its shelf, switching the price tag back to where it belonged.

Stan laughed, but Dipper and Mabel both looked far less than pleased.

"That was great!" Stan said, clapping Bill on the shoulder.

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel began, but was cut short by more of Stan's laughter.

"If you do that once an hour, you'll be rich by sundown!" Stan said. Bill resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"I wasn't really planning on running scams all day. Just feeling a bit bored," Bill said. "Besides, that was such an easy one, I could really do so much better."

"Well don't!" Mabel objected loudly, looking furious. "Grunkle Stan, we're supposed to be teaching Bill the difference between right and wrong! Not encouraging him to scam people!" Stan chuckled.

"Look sweetie, there ain't nothing wrong with helping me make some extra cash, is there?" Mabel shook her head.

"No, it's not okay! It's, it's…. It's punishable!" Bill smirked, but a slightly worried look overcame him despite the grin. Surely she wasn't serious, right? Stanley had said it was fine…. And if she did punish him, what would she do? Give him time out? That could hardly be worse than being in a cage all day like he had been yesterday….

Mabel sighed. "I hate to do this," she said, and Bill had to stop himself from saying "then don't"…. "but you leave me no other choice! Put your hand on the counter, Bill." He did as was asked, still slightly smirking but obviously nervous.

"What are you-" He was cut short by a sharp "slap" sound as Mabel brought the end of a ruler down across the back of his hand. He yelped and yanked his hand back, clutching it to his chest for a moment. He opened his mouth to speak, but upon seeing the stern and hurt look on Mabel's face stopped.

'She looks like it hurt her just as much to do that to me as it did for me to be on the receiving end,' Bill thought to himself. 'How odd.' Before he could stop himself he found himself saying "alright, I deserved that." Mabel looked surprised by his words, but the tears that had been welling up in her eyes instantly began to dry.

"W-well, good then…." She said, sounding somewhat unsure of herself. "Is your hand okay?" She asked. She'd had an extra mean teacher do that to her once when she was in seventh grade; Bill was considerably younger than that, and she hoped it didn't leave any lasting damage.

"Perfectly fine, Shooting Star," he said, letting her know that there were no hard feelings.

"Well, good," she repeated and then turned to Stanley. "And you!" She said, waving her ruler at him. "Don't tell him such bad things! Okay?" She asked, looking him dead in the eye.

Stan sighed. "Okay, alright, fine. No more using Bill's con-man skills, got it," Stan said, crossing his arms and pointedly looking away, appearing to be feeling rather dejected.

Mabel nodded. "Good. Actually, great! That went better than I thought it would," she said.

"Perhaps," Bill said, "if I'm not allowed to con my living, you could let me assure you're counting the right amount of change for the customers?" Stan nodded.

"Great idea. Make sure he doesn't take anything," Stan said to Mabel.

"What use would I have with money? Where would I even spend it? Here at the gift shop? I can't exactly go anywhere," Bill rambled a little.

"Oh, that reminds me," Stan said, pulling out his wallet. "Normally I'd hate having to do this, but he did just make eighty bucks, so it's not so bad now." Stan pulled out sixty dollars and handed it to Dipper. "You, Mabel and short-stuff here," Bill frowned, "take the golf cart and drive into town. Get him a pair of shoes and clothes that actually fit him, yeah?" Dipper nodded, taking the money. "Business has been slow today, it being Sunday, so you can go on ahead and do it now. I'll manage the Shack with Soos while you're gone."

Mabel cheered. "Yay! We get to go shopping!" Dipper and Bill moaned simultaneously as they followed the over-enthusiastic Mabel out the door.