Accessorizing

Dipper really didn't want to get up in the morning. He absolutely didn't want to get up at all. He's fallen asleep with Bill before, but this was heaven compared to that. Now he was actually laying in his arms, face pressed to his skin, inhaling his scent, and he felt so warm and safe with him.

But the morning light coming through the window a little before seven o'clock fell across his eyelids, and he groaned and flicked them open, blinking. The first thing he was aware of was the pleasant tingle of Bill's skin against his, and he smiled happily and gently kissed the other's neck. Then he looked up at his face, only to see that he was still sleeping. That was odd. Did Bill even need to sleep?

Then Dipper realized that he only had a couple hours of sleep and groaned again, burying his face against the other and closing his eyes. But he could still hear birds chirping, insects beginning to drone. Sighing, he freed an arm from the covers to wave toward the window, and the curtains moved to block out the light. He considered putting a muffling spell up too, but didn't, putting his arm beneath the covers and resting it over Bill.

He reflected on their first time, and a giggle bubbled up in his throat, accompanied by a light tinting of his cheeks. That had been something. Intense, enjoyable, a bit painful... But overall, very fun. He would love to do it again. Sharing that kind of intimacy with the demon seemed to cement how close their relationship was.

Listening to the other's heartbeat, Dipper let himself drift off to sleep again. Yet it seemed that someone was knocking on the door almost immediately. "Hey, Dipper? You sleeping in?"

Dipper glanced at the door to make sure it was closed, yawned, and said, "Yeah, Grunkle Stan. My first Saturday, I want to sleep in. I'll be out... eventually." His voice slurred as he spoke, he was so tired.

"Well okay. It's nine, just so you know. I'm heading into town for some groceries. Don't burn the Shack down."

Dipper chuckled. "I won't. Have fun."

Stan left, and Dipper snuggled against Bill again. He looked at his face, but his eyes were still closed. Curious, Dipper leaned closer, listening to his breathing. It was pretty slow, even for someone who was asleep. And his muscles were more relaxed than usual, almost as if he was unconscious.

"Are you there?" Dipper asked, and got no response. He opened his mind to check for Bill's presence, but couldn't even find that. Ah. Then he wasn't in the body. He must be in the Mindscape. No longer concerned, Dipper let himself fall asleep yet again.

Next time he opened his eyes, he felt considerably more well-rested. The sunlight coming in through the curtains was fairly bright. And now as he shifted, he felt a responding pressure from the arms around him, and sensed Bill's comforting thoughts. Looking up, he saw that his golden eyes were open, gazing down at him. The demon was smiling, and he pressed a kiss to Dipper's lips.

"Good morning, love," he said.

Dipper's chest felt warm and fuzzy. Love. He laughed and kissed him back. "Good morning to you too. Did you have a good sleep?"

"My body did. I was doing other things in the Mindscape for the past several hours. Did you rest well?"

Dipper smiled and snuggled with him. "Perfectly."

"I'm glad to hear that." Bill cuddled back, but was soon moving to get up. "Well, let's get going!"

"Wait, where?" Dipper asked, sitting up and watching him tug his clothes on.

"Well geeze, I need clothes, I am not wearing this every day." Bill tugged on the tank top. "Your clothes probably won't fit me, so I'm buying my own. Luckily I have a bank account. And a card." With a flourish of the hand, he produced a shiny debit card, which he pocketed. "Don't ask me how I got that. It's a long story."

"So you want clothes, I get it. Anything else?" Dipper rolled out of bed, gathering up his old clothes and throwing them into a basket. Then he went to the dresser to get clean ones.

"Hmm..." Bill examined himself in a mirror he had produced from nowhere. He tugged at his hair, and felt his jaw. "I'm gonna get some eyeliner, and some hair products... actually, I think I'm gonna get this cut and styled. I don't like this look." He brushed some hair over his right eye. "Ooh, yeah. I like the look of that. I need to have it cut for that though..."

"Maybe you can dye it blonde," Dipper joked.

"That might look good! Dye this part, leave the rest black... Yeah." Bill pushed his hair back and checked out his teeth. "Ugh. Okay, add whitening toothpaste to the list..."

"You can use mine. But we will get you a toothbrush, a hairbrush and comb, stuff like that..."

"What else..." Bill got rid of the mirror and turned to Dipper, clapping his hands together. "I know! I'll get my ears pierced!"

"Wow, really?"

"I love earrings! Some gold pieces... Yeah. Triangles, I'm thinking."

"Of course." Dipper walked over to him once dressed and kissed his cheek. "You'll look good no matter what."

"Yes I will," Bill said proudly. "Let's go to the mall."

"Okay, hold on." Dipper grabbed his wallet and keys, then headed for the bathroom to brush his teeth. Bill waited patiently, checking himself out in the mirror. When Dipper was done, Bill took the brush, rinsed it off, and poured out some toothpaste for himself.

"Gross," Dipper commented.

"Oh please," Bill scoffed. "I've already had your germs in my mouth. It's just bacteria." He began vigorously scrubbing at his teeth.

"Let me guess, Akil has yellow teeth?" Dipper asked.

"Yes, unfortunately. Disgusting. I like the color yellow as much as the next guy, but on teeth? Ew." Bill spit out the lather and brushed some more, until his gums were bleeding. Deciding that was good enough for now, he rinsed his mouth out and put the brush away.

He kept licking the blood from his teeth as they headed downstairs. Stan was still off running errands, so they didn't have to explain Bill's presence to him, at least. Once in the car, Bill stretched out, propping his feet up on the dashboard as he buckled in. Dipper considered telling him to put his feet down, but decided against it, starting the car.

As he drove, Bill gently stroked his hair, playing with the curls. "You probably should have brushed this," he mused. "You look so unkempt."

"That's fairly normal for me." Dipper self-consciously tried to fix his hair though. Bill began fixing it for him, combing his nails through it and getting it to look decent. Then he pulled down the sun visor to adjust his own hair. Luckily, it was fairly straight if very thick, so he had an easier job of it. Still, he was messing with it all the way to the mall. As Dipper parked, he sat up and flipped the visor shut. They got out and headed in.

"Clothes!" Bill announced, hurrying for the Men's Warehouse.

"Really?" Dipper complained as he followed him in. He watched him examine rows of collared shirts.

"I personally like to look fancy," Bill said. "Do you like this pastel yellow? I like it."

"Get whatever you want."

Bill picked one up, checking the size. While he was doing that, Dipper went to pick up an accessory for him. He brought it over for approval.

"Here, it needs a black bow tie," he said.

Bill squealed and grabbed it. "Yes, perfect, thank you! Oh man, I need to find a good blazer... for winter. Until then, some of these shirts should be fine."

"How about something with short sleeves?" Dipper asked.

"Hmm... Yeah, there are nice short-sleeved shirts, aren't there? We'll look for those too. For now, pants! Ah, these will do!"

Dipper just waited patiently as Bill made his selections, tried them on, and finally bought what he wanted. He also got a nice pair of shiny black loafers. After that, they went to find Bill some shirts with short sleeves, most of which were button down. But he tried them on for Dipper, who had to admit, they looked good on him. They got him jean shorts as well, since the weather just wasn't right for pants right now. But they made sure it was high-quality material.

When Bill was satisfied with the amount of clothes, he went to get a haircut. He went with a quite faddish style; hair parted on the left and brushed over his right eye, the hair on the left framing the left side of his face, and everything in the back cut quite short. But like everything else, it looked good on him. He even paid to have his hair dyed blonde in the front, which took a while, since they first had to bleach it so the blonde would be visible.

But finally he was done, and as they walked out of the salon, Bill took Dipper's hand. Dipper couldn't help but grin at how much more natural it felt now. As they were walking to a store that would hopefully sell a suitable eyeliner, Dipper heard a familiar voice call out to him.

"Dipper? Is that you?" He turned to see Pacifica hurrying toward him with two of her friends in tow. She grinned in recognition. "It is you! Wow, what a coincidence!" She stopped and tilted her head curiously as she saw him holding Bill's hand. "Who's that?"

"Ah. Well, um..." Dipper looked at Bill for help.

The demon gave Pacifica a charming smile, letting go of Dipper's hand so he could bow politely. "William," he said. "William C. Pher. But... you can call me Bill."

"Bill..." Pacifica's brows furrowed.

"Is there a problem?" Bill asked.

"Oh, sorry, it's just... I knew another Bill a long time ago, and he was... not that nice."

"Ah. Well I'm not exactly nice either. Haha."

"No, he was a literal demon."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

Dipper considered whether or not he wanted to tell Pacifica the truth. On the one hand, the last time she met Bill wasn't exactly... pleasant. But on the other hand, she was a good friend of his and he didn't want to lie to her. She was clever, she would figure out the truth eventually, and once she did, she would likely be mad at him for lying to her. So he decided to just tell her the truth now. He leaned close to her. "Hey, uh... Can you keep a secret? This is, um..." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "The same Bill."

"What?!" Pacifica jumped back, almost knocking her friends over. "This is Bill Cipher?!"

"Yeah. But don't worry, he won't hurt you! We're kinda... business partners."

Bill snorted. "That's one way to put it."

"We work together, I can't tell you on what, but... Just trust me, he's not trying to destroy the town or anything."

Pacifica looked at him unsurely. "After what he's done, I'm not sure I trust him."

"I don't blame you. But you trust me, right?" Dipper gave her such a kind smile that she relented.

"Okay. If you trust him, I... guess I'll tolerate him. At least he looks normal now." Pacifica looked Bill over. "Where did you get that body? I know you have to be possessing someone."

"It belonged to this Egyptian guy but he gave up his soul and I took this meat suit for myself. But I didn't steal it, if that's what you're wondering. This was agreed to."

Pacifica nodded. "Okay... Weird, but fine. It's very nice. Very handsome."

"Thank you."

She looked at Dipper. "So... are you two like... dating?"

Dipper shrugged, shuffling the bags he was carrying a bit. "Kinda? It's complicated."

"Soul-bonded is an accurate term," Bill said. "Demonic relationship stuff. But he basically belongs to me and in return I'm very attached to him, and yeah, there are some sappy emotions of caring and affection in there somewhere..."

"You mean love?" Dipper teased.

Bill snorted and gently pushed his face away. "Sure. Love. We do like each other a lot."

"Whatever it is, at least you're happy," Pacifica said. "I can't really judge, I mean... I've had some pretty weird crushes."

"Your current one is a bit of a weirdo," Dipper agreed.

She blushed and punched his shoulder. "Shut up!"

"Shooting Star is delightful, I don't blame you," Bill said.

Pacifica turned to her friends, but not fast enough to hide how red her cheeks were getting. "I need to get going. I'll talk to you guys later. Congrats on the body, Bill, I guess..."

"Thank you, Llama," Bill replied.

She sighed at the nickname and left with her friends, who looked mildly concerned about the interaction they had just witnessed, and would likely be asking questions later.

Dipper looked at Bill, raising an eyebrow. "Soul-bonded?"

"Yes, you pledged your life and soul to me. I accepted it, and now it's bound to me. For the rest of your life. That's why it was so easy for me to grow attached to you, to fall for you. We already share so much."

"Oh. Interesting." Dipper thought about that. "So, if this had never happened... If I never had to make that deal with you, do you think we could still have grown to care about each other like this?"

"Perhaps. I'm sure I would have found another reason to be around you. You've always intrigued me. One way or another, I would have wanted you on my side. And I would have gotten it. I'm a master of persuasion."

"The brainwashing probably helps."

"It really does." Bill laughed and ruffled his hair. "Now let's go find that eyeliner."

"Oh, right. Here, this store has a lot of make-up, Mabel used to come here all the time." He led him to it. Bill seemed pleased with the selection, and took some time examining various brands, talking to one of the associates, and testing the quality by scraping small amounts onto his fingers. When he finally chose one and purchased it, he immediately found a mirror to apply it.

Dipper watched, curious to see what sort of design he was doing. When Bill asked him to, he helpfully held his hair out of the way so he could line his right eye. Finally, he finished and stepped back, Dipper letting the hair fall back down.

"Perfect. What do you think?" Bill turned to him, and Dipper was struck by just how intense his eyes looked now. They were outlined with a thick black that easily drew attention to them, and Dipper recognized the patterns he had drawn immediately. Bill had transformed his eyes into Eyes of Horus.

"It looks amazing." Dipper admired the flawless black lines, almost wanting to touch them, but not wanting to smudge the marks. "It makes you look like... I don't know, an Egyptian god or something."

"That is the desired effect." Bill capped the pencil and tossed it into a bag. "Now my face is interesting. This is a face that people will admire and fear."

"I don't think anyone's gonna fear you. Yeah you have a great fashion sense and on-point make-up, but... you really don't look scary. You just look like a fabulous twenty-something year old."

"True, but our victims will be looking at me in a much different light." Bill chuckled darkly, and Dipper had to agree with him. He probably would look intimidating to someone they were about to kill.

"I think that's all we needed from here," Dipper said after a few moments of aimless wandering.

"Toiletries," Bill pointed out. "So I won't have to use your toothbrush. Oh, and I'm gonna get my ears pierced, remember?"

"...Right. Okay, let's go do that." Dipper slid his hand into Bill's again, shoulder brushing the other's as they walked. He felt very normal right now, going shopping in the mall with someone he loved. He kinda liked it.