"C'mon Bill, I still have so much to show you!" Mabel shouted as she dragged the teen in a pyramid t-shirt along the sidewalks of the summer festival. Beside it was a sunglass wearing camel that made him less conspicuous, she argued.

"Mabel, his name is BEN in public. Remember that, please?" Pine Tree whined. Always the dutiful chaperone. Bill wished he could fracture the kid's hand again sometimes. He settled for seeing Mabel's tickles elicit expressions similar to pain.

No matter how many pyramid themed sweaters she had made him, the interdimensional being just couldn't stand the excess heat. Maybe he was meant to be a figure of the desert like he'd made those losers build in his image long ago. The twins made him ditch his usual getup, opting for black jeans and a white or yellow t-shirt. Shorts just made him feel… indecent. Maybe his pants were the match to Shooting Star's sweaters. He had to say; he missed his hat, tie, and cane. Although Mabel didn't mind him putting them on when they met in the forest. Or taking them off. He'd grown fond of the things a long, black tie could do. Maybe someday she'd let him use the cane more creatively?

When he went to the Pines' as Ben he felt like something less proper, less powerful- but he couldn't arose the suspicions of Sixer. Not when the guy had his eyes on the pulse of the town day in and day out. The guy was smart. He'd spent a lot of time buttering him up to get in his good graces before, but he couldn't play the same move twice. When he visited the shack, he never sought Sixer out. That guy was always in the basement anyway, inventing soul sucking machines that made Bill's plans look like child's play. Fez gave him suspicious looks and asked him if he knew anything about pug smuggling once or twice. Bill knew Star had always been his favorite. It almost made him forget that fucked up switcheroo when Fez would go on about all the cute stupid stuff she did as a kid. ALMOST. All he had to do was share a little knowledge on the town's business ventures (having an all seeing eye was never NOT useful) and he was in like Flynn. Pats on the back, noogies on the head, the whole nine yards. He'd never had a family before. He could see why Star tried so hard to keep it together. Sometimes intimacy gave him the creeps; he admired Fez's backhanded way about it.

"Ooh! Cotton candy! Cotton candy!" Mabel smiled, "You've got to try it!"

Dipper, the only one prepared with money, walked up to the stall. "Can we have three, please?"

The girl with long, wavy blonde hair turned slowly, her uniform hat hiding her eyes. "Two fifty."

Dipper tilted his head at the familiar tone of her voice. He was trying to look under her hat. "Pacifica?" He tried to be quiet about it because he knew of Mabel's past feelings. He'd also experienced Northwest pride firsthand. "Pacifica, is that you?"

"Yeah, dork," She lifted her hat and waved a hand through her hair, as if she still had money. "It's me, in the flesh. Have to do something to pay the bills when your family's out of a fortune and living in a shack in the suburbs. I'm just embracing the mud flap history and becoming a carney." Dipper was impressed by her lack of shame.

"NO way! Is that Llama?!" Bill shouted with surprise as he leaned onto the stand with his forearms, looking her up and down.

"Excuse me?" Her lip curled as she recoiled.

"Still got that snooty attitude, even in red and white stripes." He gave a slanted smile.

Her eyes grew wide as Dipper and Mabel exchanged a worried glance. She knew. There was no way she didn't know.

"Pacifica…" Dipper pleaded.

Her eyes remained fearful as she looked to him, "No. There's only one time I wore anything even remotely llama, and I remember everyone that was there that night. How could you be hanging out with this- this thing? YOU!" Her expression became angry as she turned to the yellow haired teen, "You cost me everything. You cost my family the world!"

"Right back at ya, toots. Except for me, it's more like the universe. Does that make me the winner here?" He grinned. "Well, if your family ever wants to pledge fealty again, maybe I can arrange…"

"Zip it!" Mabel whispered curtly as she saw the once proud Northwest begin to tremble.

Bill struggled to open his mouth, as if some invisible thread had sown it shut. Pacifica's watery eyes blinked a few times in disbelief before she leaned forward. She smiled in recognition as she spoke silkily, "Oh, I see, you're Mabel's pet now. And here I don't even have a pony. I have an old work horse named Maude. You want to be my little horsey too, Bill?"

He snatched her up by the collar and gave her a look that conveyed all it needed without words. Her eyes were saucers once more.

"Unzip it, unzip it!" Mabel flustered, "I'm sorry- I didn't know what I was saying- I didn't mean to…"

Bill dropped the girl's collar and walked sullenly into the crowd without a word to his Shooting Star. Mabel began the chase when she was halted by her brother's hand on her shoulder. "He needs some space. He'll come back to you, he has to."

"You two better tell me what the hell is going on," Pacifica snapped as her home-manicured nails brushed the dust from her shirt.

/-\

So, this was his life now. He wasn't a demon, he wasn't a human; he wasn't even a Bill a hundred percent of the time. He looked up from the cracks on the sidewalk to observe the sheep he'd once turned into a throne. They never spoke of that day, but he knew they still had nightmares. It was a party you could never forget. He gave a heavy sigh and sat down on the curb. What would they do if he put on a triangle mask and went around mocking their pathetic existence? He couldn't even transform into his old form anymore. He had tried, but he could only do it if Mabel wanted him to. The lack of independence was making his newly found skin crawl. It made him feel like he was back under the thumb of his old dimension. He had to constantly remind himself, Shooting Star wasn't like all that. She wasn't selfish. Whenever she did command him, it wasn't on purpose. She'd made a point of that. Before becoming whatever-it-is he was now, he didn't have to eat to survive. He was a being of pure energy. He didn't need a damn thing. Now he needed her and the desperate necessity of it was driving him up a wall. Literally and metaphorically, it was like he couldn't control himself anymore. Wasn't there any way to get his old body back? He'd still be the same person, right?

A man tripped over his outstretched leg and he couldn't help but laugh at the outcry. Oh no. He recognized that stupid trench coat. Ford's gaze locked with his as Bill combed his hair over his patch. "What are you doing with your leg out, boy? You could trip somebody." Sixer scolded after examining his face for a moment.

"Seems I just did," Bill stood up.

"That's not a typical response to that problem…" Ford calculated.

"It is where I come from."

"What's your full name?" The scientist squinted, "Are your parents here?" He looked around.

"Never had any," Bill struggled not to smirk.

"Hey!" Fez came jogging up to clasp Sixer's shoulder, "Looks like you've finally met Ben! Ben, it seems old Uncle Ford here only comes out for dinner and festivals these days."

"You… know this boy?" Ford looked to his twin.

"Oh yeah, he helps out with business, if you know what I mean." Stan gave the boy a wink.

Ford appeared to relax, "Seems like the type."

"Is, uh, Mabel with you?" Fez leaned forward, obviously worried about the girl.

"Mabel?" Ford questioned.

"Yeah, these two are thick as thieves," Stan joked, unable to comfortably describe it other ways.

Ford frowned at the new information.

"Mabel and," Bill took a breath before saying the stupid name, "Dipper are over that way. By the cotton candy chick. They had to do some catching up."

"All right," Ford looked the boy up and down. That's right Sixer, my pupils are normal in this state. Take a good, hard look. I've got nothing to give me away. Now if I could only go back to-

Fez wrapped a strong arm around the teen's neck. "Well you don't have to give them any room, c'mon, let's go have some family fun."

Two words that Bill would never put together.