Yes I know I disappeared for fucking ages
Yes I am very sorry
No, this chapter is not good enough to serve as an apology

Chapter Fourteen

Dipper finished writing the initial draft of his book a month later. The final few words came with a steady exhalation of breath, a sense of warm relief filling him as he typed out the last letters onto the word document. Editing could wait for another day- all he wished to do was sit and bask in the hazy fulfillment for a little longer. He resolved to call up Mabel to announce his achievement; he hadn't talked to her in a while, and he felt that she would be pleased to hear from him.

"Hey Mabel, you there?" Mabel's face flashed into view on the monitor of Dipper's computer as he opened up Skype and called her. Her hair had changed once again, and was now pastel pink, tied up into a short ponytail, strands of it falling loose across her face.

"Hey Dipdop!" Her grin was infectious, and Dipper found himself smiling too, thoughts of relief and satisfaction flying through his head as a result of the knowledge that his book, which he had been working on for two years by that point, was finally fully written.

"Guess what's finally complete." Dipper prompted his twin, swinging his legs under the desk, feeling energised from both fulfillment, and from the many cups of coffee he had drunk to fuel the last frantic spree of writing he had made to finish the draft.

"Holy shit, you finished writing it?" Mabel leant forwards in her chair, her hands gripping the edge of her desk. She let out a sound that was part squeal, part laugh as Dipper nodded enthusiastically. "I'm so proud of you!" She paused, the legs of her chair thudding back and hitting the wooden floor of her room. "Wait, you didn't kill off the main character, did you?"

"Haha, nope, definitely didn't go through with that or anything…" Dipper's voice trailed off sheepishly, and he reached up to rub at the back of his neck as Mabel narrowed her eyes at him.

"I changed my mind, I'm not proud of you. How could you do this to me." Mabel looked genuinely offended, and Dipper shrugged.

"I'm guessing saying it was necessary to the plot isn't a valid excuse?"

"Nope. Not at all." Mabel shook her head. "I can't believe you. I'm going to have to hang up on you. I can't believe you'd do that to your characters." Before Dipper could stop her, Mabel had swept down and ended the call. A few moments later, and Dipper found himself presented with a message of 'MURDERER :(' from his sister, causing him to roll his eyes and laugh quietly to himself.

Standing up from his chair and stretching with a wide yawn, Dipper grabbed his bag and headed out of the door to the Mystery Shack to visit Bill's apartment, sending the blonde a text to notify him that he would be coming. The brunet shoved his hands into his pockets to keep them warm, smiling to himself as he walked through the leaves that scattered the forest floor, his shoes crunching them as he stepped through them, the feeling of fulfillment lingering with him all the way to Bill's door. He raised his hand to knock, but the door swung open before he could reach it, Bill collapsing onto him and dragging him into the apartment, throwing his arms around the brunet's neck and pressing a quick kiss to his lips in greeting. Dipper attempted to move in order to reciprocate the hug, the sudden contact originally catching him by surprise, however the moment he shifted his position, he found himself with Bill's foot colliding with his shin and the blonde's voice hissing in his ear.

"Character murderer." Bill stepped away from him, frowning, prompting a sheepish-looking shrug from Dipper.

"I guess Mabel told you?" The brunet questioned, and Bill nodded, still looking comically angry.

"She warned me of your atrocities." Swiveling on his heel, the blonde fell backwards and collapsed back against Dipper, throwing a hand dramatically over his eyes as he was caught. "I don't think I can ever trust you again after this." Raising an eyebrow, Dipper loosened his grip on Bill and let him fall to the ground, earning a startled shout from the Youtuber. Dipper smiled slightly and watched as Bill used him as a support as he attempted to haul himself back to his feet. "You're a dick." he huffed indignantly as he found his footing again.

"You're too dramatic." Dipper's rebuttal prompted a smirk from Bill.

"You love it though."

"That's debatable." Bill clapped a hand against his chest over his heart and backed up with an exaggerated gasp

"How could you offend me like this?"

"I guess I'm just not a nice person?" Dipper suggested, shrugging. Bill raised his eyebrows skeptically.

"You couldn't hurt someone if you tried." He spoke teasingly, and Dipper huffed indignantly.

"I've been in fights before." He scowled at Bill as the blonde flopped down into an armchair, propping his feet up on the coffee table.

"I'll believe that one when I see it." Bill glanced over at him with lidded eyes, expression edging on smugness.

"Fight me then." The threat was issued half-heartedly, and Bill responded as such, barely moving where he lounged in the armchair.

"Nah." The Youtuber's voice was lazy, And he shifted to look across at Dipper with a smirk. "I'd rather kiss you."

"You going to do something about that then?" The brunet prompted, and Bill swung himself out of the chair, walking over to Dipper and leaning up on the tips of his toes, pressing his lips to the writer's own. The whole thing was slow and lazy; barely any movement between the two of them, Bill's fingers tangled loosely in Dipper's hair, Dipper's hands balanced on Bill's waist. They stood like that for a while, before Bill moved away.

"Happy, Pine Tree?" He grinned widely. "Anyway, I meant to ask- were you planning on doing anything to celebrate your accomplishments as a character murderer? We could probably invest in something nicer than takeaway pizza if you felt like it."

"I had something in mind, but I wasn't sure if you'd be okay with it." Dipper responded. "It'd involve going out somewhere, but," the brunet caught the unsure undertone that overcame Bill's grin, and quickly continued. "Don't worry, it wouldn't be anywhere that people could see us. I know a spot on the cliffs that looks over the entire town- I wanted you to come up there with me." Dipper clutched onto the bag slung over his shoulder, waiting for Bill's response.

"Okay, I guess I could deal with that." The uneasiness seemed to flood from the blonde's expression once again. "But if anyone spots us, I'm finding a snake and letting it feast on your eyes." Dipper rolled his eyes at Bill's statement.

"Could you not at least find something more pleasant than a snake to do it?"

Bill met up with Dipper at the edge of the forest just as night had begun to fall. The fur-lined collar of his coat was pulled up around his neck, hair ruffled slightly by the breeze, eyelids shimmering with golden eyeshadow, lined heavily with eyeliner. Dipper handed him a plastic bag full of food once he had approached, the blonde opening it up to peer inside as soon as he received it.

"That's a lot of popcorn," He regarded the contents of the bag with raised eyebrows. "Planning on blocking up the waterfall with it or something?"

"Well, I was hoping to eat it, but it seems that you might have other ideas." Dipper started to walk into the forest, leading Bill through the trees, engaging the Youtuber in quiet conversation as they followed the well-worn path into the forest, the ground growing muddy and sloping upwards as they headed up towards the cliffs. The sun had fully set by the time they reached the top, the sky turned inky black, scattered by pinprick stars and whisps of clouds, the moon casting a pale silvery light onto the rooftops below them.

Dipper set about constructing a campfire first, nudging the stones that littered the ground into a circle before dropping in kindling and striking a match, tending the flames while Bill flopped down onto the ground and began to pull food out of the bags, spreading cartons and packets across the grass, scrutinizing the contents of each using the light from his phone screen.

The campfire set up, Dipper settled down next to Bill, the blonde leaning against him and staring out over the treetops, a moment of silence falling upon them, before Bill spoke indignantly.

"Move the fuck over, you're blocking the sandwiches."

Once they had finished eating, Bill flopped down against the grass, blonde hair spreading out like a halo around his head, kicking his legs over the edge of the cliff, feet hanging out into the open air. Dipper mirrored him, tilting his head back to look up at the sky as he did so. Away from streetlights, the stars were fully visible above them both, a stretch of silver pinpricks broken up by thin whisps of cloud edged in moonlight, spiralling endless above them. The two of them lay in silence, the only sound being the rush of the waterfall that burst free of the cliff a little while away from them, a muffled splash of water and spray, and the light crackle of the campfire, bathing everything in orange light.

"The stars are so weird if you think about it," Dipper tilted his head to look at Bill as the man spoke and raised his hand to trace patterns between the constellations. "We all view them as being so romantic, but they're just burning balls of gas slowly setting fire to their own lifeforce millions of miles away." The blonde mused, looking up towards the sky intently. "Most of them are already dead, but they're still going to outlive all of us." He sat up and edged closer to the drop of the cliff, letting his legs swing further over the precipice, leaning right out over the gap.

"Maybe save the existentialism for after 1 am?" Dipper suggested good naturedly, pulling himself back into a sitting position before casting a cautionary glance in Bill's direction. "Maybe you shouldn't sit so close to the edge- you could fall off."

"Would you miss me if I did fall off?" Despite his question, Bill did seem to pay heed to Dipper's warning, shuffling back a little.

"Maybe," Dipper shrugged, flashing Bill a sly grin. "Only a little though."

"I'm hurt." The offended tone to the blonde's voice was over-exaggerated, showing that he hadn't taken the statement personally. "Taxidermy my corpse when I die would you?"

"I'll do that then sell you on Ebay." Dipper chuckled.

"If you died, I'd probably mind control everyone in this town to walk off the cliffs." Bill propped his chin up on his hands as he leaned forwards again and rested his elbows on his knees. "Y'know, just as a bit of stress relief."

"Well, I guess I'd better not die any time soon then." Taking the statement as a joke, the brunet smiled. "How would you manage the mind control?"

"I have my ways." Bill shrugged.

"Let me guess: got bored at 2am, went into the deep internet and came out the other side with an extensive knowledge of ritual sacrifice?" Dipper was speaking from experience.

"Yeah, sounds about right."

They sat and talked for a while longer, the campfire slowly dying down into glowing embers beside them, before Bill shuddered, clapping his hands together as if to warm them.

"Shit it's getting cold out here." The youtuber's breath clouded up from his mouth as he spoke, spiralling up into the air, and Dipper nodded in agreement.

"Want to head back home? It is pretty late." Dipper suggested, the noise of approval that Bill shot in his direction prompting him to stand up and stamp out the campfire embers, packing up the empty packets of food into the plastic bag. They left the clifftop hand in hand, stumbling back through the trees in the dark, parting ways with a kiss goodbye once they reached the Mystery Shack, Bill skipping away with a wave and a wide grin flashing towards Dipper.

The brunet was grateful for the warmth when he stepped back into the Mystery Shack, dropping the bags in the hallway and shrugging off his coat, heading into the office room to check his laptop. The bright light that the screen cast towards him caused him to squint as he adjusted his glasses and logged into his emails, a confused noise escaping him as his eyes flickered over an email from an address that was unfamiliar to him, scanning over the message that it contained, focused on the words.

Dipper Pines,

My name is Cecelia Sutherland; I am a representative from the Dalton Institute for Natural Sciences. Your work in Gravity Falls has been brought to the attention of the Research Teams in our department of Scientific Anomalies, and we would like to present you with an opportunity.

We have been searching for a person to take up a two year contract with us as part of our research team, and we would like to give you the chance to take on that role. Your research into the scientific anomalies of Gravity Falls has shown to us that you have an interest in the subject, and we believe that you would make a valuable edition to the team.

Taking the role would require you to move from your current place of residence to a site closer to the Institute, situated in Wyoming. All accommodation costs would be covered for you by the institute. You would work with us for two years, before being able to return to your current way of life if you so wish.

Please note that we do not make this offer lightly- the institute is one of prestige, and it is rare that we would consider contacting someone like this. If you are interested, please read through the attached documents for more details, and respond to us as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Cecelia Sutherland
Dalton Institute for Natural Sciences

Dipper read over the email a second time, then a third, with a dazed expression. Clicking on the documents, he looked through those too, hands shaking as he scrolled down the page, taking in the information they presented to him. He sat back in the chair and thought, running possibilities through his head, before he leaned forwards again, hands flying over the keys, the small tapping noise each one made sounding loudly in his ears.

He barely considered what Bill would say in response as he typed out his response.

Cecelia Sutherland

Thankyou very much for considering me for the job- It means a lot to me that you would view my research as something of interest. I would be delighted to accept your offer.

Yours sincerely,

Dipper Pines

The haze of happiness and sense of accomplishment only slipped away in the morning when he came to the realization that he would have to tell Bill he was leaving.

In case you couldn't tell, the final chapter is not going to be all plain sailing