'I act like I don't fucking care.'

Bill Cipher watches as a bunch of white and blue glitchy rectangles circles and floated around his body. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath as the world turned silent before landing outside of his dreamer's door seconds later.

The blonde turns around and looks at the door, the blue pine tree was no longer glowing which meant that Dipper was awake. Bill smiles to himself and walks down the hallway, making his way to the Demon Lord's room.

He was pondering. Pondering deep about every weird tingly emotion he just felt in that dream-like sequence. He was confused as to why he was assigned to Pinetree and why he felt as if he had to give up everything for the brunette.

"Hey Bill!", a cheery voice exclaims. The blonde recognized the voice right away, he turns and gestures a small wave. "How was your first day on the job?"

"It was.. unexpectedly nice.", he replies. "There are many words in the world to describe that single moment I just witnessed but 'unexpectedly nice' is what I'll say."

"That's great to hear! I'm glad you changed your opinion on all of this!"

"Yeah, yeah.. I have a question 'Oviwat.", Bill says, the female stops and gives a smile.

"What's up?"

"You were a Dream Demon once, I assume. I want to know why you assigned me to one of my enemies."

"We didn't assign you to your dreamer, the machine did. Remember?", she says as she sarcastically uses a finger and points to her brain, something anime girls do a lot. "Look, we input your thoughts and answers and I guess the machine went all 'I'll just assign you to this guy since you spoke about him'."

"Oh god, it's rigged. This is literally the perfect plot for a fanfic.", the blonde mumbles.

"Honey, this ain't no fanfiction! This is reality-ish.", Tracer exclaims.

"Reality is an illusion. The universe is a hologram.", Bill mumbles, quoting his triangle-self.

She rolls her eyes and summons her clipboard and a pen, checking off a box as next to Bill's name. "Ahaha.. Is that all you have to ask?"

"No. I - uh - want to know why I want to protect Pinetree when I attempted to murder him and his home.", Bill says.

"It is your job to protect your dreamer and to keep them happy at all costs.", Tracer says, her eyes then dart the ground and she kind of looked sad. The blonde didn't think it was possible for someone so cheerful like her to be sad. "I once had a dreamer, I couldn't help them no matter what I did. She was fragile like glass, I did everything to make her happy because her smile was all I wanted to see. Hell, I even looked through her profile just to find out her likes and dislikes then used my magic to make everything come true. I'd do anything for her and I mean anything. This one night when I entered her dream, she was standing in a long flowy white dress. Angel wings sprout from her back and she began to fly, I ran up to her and reached out for her. Tears fell down her cheeks and she planted a kiss on my forehead, thanked me for everything and said farewell."

"..."

"It took forever for me to get over her. I sat in front of her now unused and broken door and cried for hours, sometimes I would just sit and stare lifelessly.", Tracer continues, trying to hold back tears. "I was scared of getting another Dreamer, thinking the same would happen to them. The lord realized and even though it didn't look like it, he cared and told me that I could work as his assistant. He said that he didn't want to see me sad and that he wanted me to be happy. My fear of losing another Dreamer.. I couldn't bare to see it happen ever again. I accepted the lord's offer and here I am."

"I'm sorry for your loss, I guess. But what does that have to do with my question?", Bill asks, sounding quite impatient.

Tracer rolls her eyes and smiles. "Nevermind then. You'll find out, you're smart enough."

The female summons a portal and disappears, the blonde stares blankly as his brain processes the many words that came out of her mouth. He sighs and floats, exploring the Dream Demon home dimension world thing.

Bill's head is up, he hears a sound, turns around as total shock fills his body. oh no it's you again i can never forget those eyes eyes eyes eyes eyes cause baby tonight the creepers tryna steal all of our stuff again

uh - i mean

Bill's jet-black pupils glance up, admiring the interior design of the ceiling. It was marble and tinted with small details, which from a certain perspective, looked like children's drawings. It was probably designed like that on purpose since the whole idea of Dream Demons originated from children fantasies. Now, everyone from a teenager to adults receive a Dream Demon some point in their life.

The blonde recalls the whole galactic space dimension from his memory, thinking of how all his companions were doing in that realm. Even though he wouldn't admit it, he misses all of them and would like to visit them once more. Unfortunately, you needed to have this ID pass to get into the Nightmare Realm.

Luckily, Bill could always create a fake ID and break in. He was the ruler after all, the Nightmare Realm's king. He was bored out of his mind and needed something to kill time, he snaps his fingers and summons an ID card with all the details and jazz. He opens a gateway and backflips into the portal.

The brunette topples out of bed. Even though his body hit the wooden floor, he got up with a small smile on his face. He didn't know what it was but his insides felt all funny and tangled up.

The male begins to pace back and forth.

He was confused. He somehow made friends with his worst enemy who ALSO held him close and gave him a fuzzy warm feeling in his guts. Dipper had many questions and demanded to have them answered.

Why was the infamous Bill Cipher in his dream? An answer could be that the Bill in his dream was someone he created in his head because of the lack of attention he received. But the brunette didn't have any sort of attention for the past few years so he would have created a coping mechanism anytime he wanted to.

'Maybe Grunkle Ford would have the answer..?", Dipper ponders. He walks and reaches for the door, gently opening it. He steps out and walks down the hall trying to not wake anyone else since it was early in the morning.

At this time, the only person who would be up at this time would be Ford. Occasionally Mabel but only if she was with Candy and Grenda pulling an all-nighter.

Which means they would be up as well. But as if Mabel and her friends would help Dipper with his 'problem', they never really cared either way.

The brunette's footsteps creak and echo in the hall, he makes his way to the vending machine. He pushes the four buttons, steam comes out from the machine as it opens. Dipper steps in and closes it, he walks down the stairs. His steps creak and echo and it was starting to irritate the brunette.

"Hey.. Grunkle Ford?", Dipper calls out as he makes it to the bottom of the lab. He walks towards the yellow and blue sparks coming from behind the wall.

The two-toned electric colours stopped flashing and the whirring sound dies down. Dipper peeks around the corner and beams a weak smile. Grunkle Ford looks up with a genuine smile and waves as he puts down a fire machine.

"Hey Dipper, I didn't see you at all yesterday.", Ford begins. "Where were you?"

The brunette sighs. "I was exploring. Doing my own little thing."

Ford nods, he believed the exploring part but he knew that his nephew knew almost everything about Gravity Falls. There isn't much left to explore. "Okay, if you say so."

"Grunkle Ford? I - uh - I have a question. Not exactly a question but - uh - something to say.", Dipper says, kind of flustered just thinking about the topic.

The elder smiles, it reminded him of when Dipper was a teenager. So small and curious about every small thing, he would burst with questions and he had a fun time answering.

Now, there was no connection or bonding between the two ever since the twins started high school. Ford has noticed the drastic change in Mabel and how she wasn't so sweet anymore. Dipper, on the other hand, distanced himself from everyone and wouldn't dare talk to anyone.

Ford was going to take advantage of this small moment and take it as a bonding moment.

"Yeah? Ask away Dipper."

"Okay.. Uh.. Do you ever have this random specific person appear in your dreams?", the brunette asks.

Ford furrows his eyebrows and tries to think back to the last time he had a vivid dream. "I don't remember anything at the moment. Ya know, I'm old and rusty. Asides, nothing could enter my head either way.", the elder replies, pointing to his head. Dipper laughs, recalling the fact that he had installed a metal shield to prevent any demons from entering his mind. "Could you describe what this person does?"

"O-oh okay. Sure! In my dream, he asked me what I wanted and I said some things.. This figure made it come true! It's amazing and I was wondering if you've experienced something like this.", Dipper says. "He wouldn't tell me exactly what his job was and said I was smart enough to figure it out on my own. I was thinking that you could maybe help me?"

"Of course I can help you!", Ford exclaims. "We just need some more information on this guy in your dream. Are you sure that he's not some random person your brain made up?"

Dipper's eyes dart the ground. "Yes. I know that he isn't someone I made up, I already established that to be false." The brunette knew exactly who the person was, he just couldn't tell anyone.

"Hmm.. There's nothing I can do for now Dipper but here-", Ford hands the shorter boy a hard-cover book with a whole ton of pages in it. The younger examined the object, taking note of how thick the pages felt. "You could try looking through this book, it has almost all of these dream entering creatures you could ever name! Gives you all the detail and information, it even tells you how to summon one."

"W-wow.. I'm amazed Grunkle Ford!", the brunette exclaims with a cheery smile. "Thank you so much for allowing me to borrow this. You're the best."

Ford smiles, a genuine smile. He's been waiting for years to have his nephew show any sort of affection towards him. Hearing the words come out of his mouth was one way, the elder was happy. "Don't sweat it Dipper. If this guy appears in your dream tonight, you know exactly who to go to."

"Okay, thank you Grunkle Ford.", Dipper says, he waves goodbye and walks back up the stairs. The elder smiles to himself before going back to work on his project.

The brunette closes the vending machine door and walks through the door, not paying attention to where he was going. His gaze was fixed on the book he was given, he was flipping through the pages and skimming eery few sentences.

"Angel Guardian..?", the brunette mumbles under his breath. "These heaven-based figures are given to those with the purest heart. They will appear in your dreams only once and introduce themselves as your guardian who watches your every move. They will try and get you to prevent from hurting yourself and making bad decisions as if they were the tiny angel on the left."

Dipper shakes his head, Bill was definitely not an Angel Guardian. As if he'd be sent to Heaven after all the life-scaring actions he did. Bill would be more of the devil on his right, telling him to make all the wrong and dreadful choices. He flips through the how to summon and information content until the next chapter appeared.

"Devil Guardians.. No, that's literally the opposite of an Angel Guardian.", Dipper sighs and skips another ten pages. He continues to skim the text until one chapter which shimmered in gold font caught his eye.

"Dream De-"

"GOOD MORNING DIPPER!", Mabel practically screeches, using her fingers to fling the male's forehead as she sister-snatches the book - or whatever it was - out of her twin's grasp. "What's this boy-toy you've got here?"

"Give it back Mabel, I'm serious this time. I need it.", Dipper hisses as the female grins. She enjoyed seeing her brother upset, it meant that she could piss him off even more.

"Pshh- What's so good about this big ol' dumb book anyway?", the 'older by five minutes'' sister asks, she begins to look through the pages. "Wow Dip-dot, these mythical creatures again? You must have a secret fetish for these things."

"Shut up and give it back!", Dipper yells. "Grunkle Ford gave it to me to read!"

"Oh really?", the brunette grins devilishly as she holds the book in both her arms. "Well it's mine now!"

"STOP BEING SO DAMN SELFISH MABEL!"

"Why? I like being selfish, it's fun!", she exclaims a bit too cheerfully. "Asides, it's early in the morning. You shouldn't be yelling, you'll wake up Grunkle Stan and anger him."

"You get on my nerves Mabel. I can't believe I have to deal with a selfish dumbass like you.", Dipper mumbles. Out of every insult he called her, he truly meant that one.

Hearing the insult triggers the female, she drops the heavy book as creates a 'tHuMp' and echoes in the empty room. She cracks her knuckles and gives a deadly glare.

"What the fuck did you just call me?"

"I called you a selfish dumbass.", Dipper repeats, adjusting his favourite pine tree cap. "Why are you taking this so seriously? I honestly thought you didn't care."

"I don't care at all! But after all these years of you suffering, I've decided to continue it.", Mabel snickers, she lunges her body towards the male and her hands were gripped on his neck. "Call me that again. I. Dare. You."

"M-Mabel..! I-i-"

"Ahahaha~! This brings back memories of school. You must've hated all the bullying Dipper. I bet you didn't expect your own sister to choke you.", she hisses, each word tinted with venom. "I bet you regret calling me a 'selfish dumbass', huh?"

Mabel's grip on Dipper's neck was getting tighter and tighter, he could feel her pink coated nails digging into his skin. It was getting harder to breathe and the brunette couldn't do anything but stutter and suffocate.

Pain isn't hilarious when you're the one being beaten.

Blobs of tears began to form in his eyes and he tried to blink them back but his sadness was visible to Mabel. His vision starts to blur and his twin's grin was all he could see. She simply smiles as her nails dig in deeper, she began to snicker with each second that passed.

"MABEL!", a deep and gruff voice shouts which was followed by other soft mumbles. The brunette recognized the voice and released her grip as shock filled her body. Dipper takes the chance to immediately shoves his twin off her as he gasps for air and wipes his tears.

"Y-you could've fucking killed me..", Dipper spat, still trying to catch his breath. His eyes flicker in the dim room as he struggled to get on his feet. "You're a monster Mabel Pines. You care about no one but yourself. You're psychotic."

The brunette grabs the book back and runs in the opposing direction, leaving his sister and her friends alone.

"Was that Dipper?", Candy muses as she adjusts her glasses.

Mabel rolls her eyes. "Nevermind him."

"We were worried when you took longer than what you said! We decided to check on you when we heard a bunch of shouts coming from downstairs.", Grenda explains, Candy nods in agreement. Mabel shrugs and gets onto her feet, she fixes her hair band and smiles.

"Oh it's nothing important.", she says with a smile as she waves her hand back and forth, as if strangling her own brother was nothing. "Let's go back upstairs and talk while we wait for Grunkle Stan to make us breakfast!"

The other two nod and follow the brunette upstairs. They were all kids at heart who were stuck in a young adult's body. That or they didn't mature at all.

Dipper is running.

Running. Running. Running.

He doesn't know where he's running to but it doesn't matter. He just needed to get away from all his life problems and his sister.

For now, Dipper Pines is running into the depths of the forest with the book in his hands. He collapses near a tree trunk and sinks into his knees as he hugs the book close.

His face was burning and his eyes were dry from tears. He hated every aspect of Mabel, he means it right now but probably not later. He was the kind of person who'd forgive but never forget.

He exhales and tries to focus on his main idea before he was rudely flicked in the forehead. He reopens the book, trying to find the page he last left off from.

For some reason, the book pages began to flip by themselves as it floats in the air. The brunette watches in fear as the sheets fall out and circle him. The direction and movement was rapid and he couldn't see anything but the sheets in his personal bubble. The real world drains colour and transforms into a dull black and white.

A bunch of sheets slowly fall to the ground the way feathers would as a few remaining pages made a loop-de-loop and began to mold a figure in front of Dipper's eyes. He stares as the paper outline fades and transforms into an actual person.

"WHAT A WAY TO MAKE AN ENTRANCE! Did you miss me Pinetree?!", Bill explains, stepping and breaking of the paper shell. He floats and boops the brunette on the forehead. "Admit it! You did miss me!"

Dipper crosses his arms across his chest as his cheeks flush pink and he sighs. "I'm not going to lie but you scared me Bill. I was also in the middle of reading that book Grunkle Ford gave me."

"I'm obviously more important!", Bill pouts, Dipper uses his fingers to playfully flick the blonde away (because invasion of personal space) causing the taller male to laugh.

"How are you here? I thought you'd only be able to appear in my dreams?", Dipper asks as he gets onto his feet.

Bill laughs, it wasn't a sinister one but a more calm and joyous laugh. The blonde twirls his cane around as golden glitter splatters from the seams, it creates a bubble large enough for the two of them to see. An image swirls and forms, showing Dipper's current state.

Unconscious.

"Wh-Whaa..?", Dipper takes a few moments to process the picture. The image swirls and fades, the bubble bursts as butterflies fly out. "I swear.. I was running a few paragraphs ago..!"

"Yeah, I want to know why you're knocked out cold too.", Bill mumbles. His eyes glance over to the brunette's neck, his eyes widen and glow a crimson red. "Pinetree, who the fuck hurt you?"

Blood red meets hazelnut eyes. Dipper quickly glances down at the dead grass. "Mabel did."

Bill's hands reach out and Dipper squirms back, afraid of what the demon may do. "A-are you going to hurt me?"

Bill shakes his head and smiles. Within that movement, his eyes flashes back to normal. "No. I won't hurt you anymore.", he says and looks up may with hands near the brunette's neck. "May I..?"

Dipper nods hesitantly. Bill gently cups the brunette's chin in his hands, he tilts it as he checks his neck. He examines the scratches in his neck and knew that they were nail marks. The blonde leans in and Dipper could feel the male's breath on his skin, shivers were sent up his spine as his cheeks flush pink. Bill proceeds to plant soft kisses on his neck, Dipper is in shock and couldn't move. He sits there in silence as he allows the blonde to continue whatever he was doing.

"Did your mother ever tell you that kisses heal everything?", Bill asks as he pulls away, looking up to meet Dipper's eyes. Dipper nods slowly but was too flustered to say anything.

Bill laughs. "You're cute when you're flustered.", he compliments, examining the brunette's neck once more as he smiles. He gets out of Dipper's personal bubble and stretches. "There, your neck is as good as new."

The brunette touches his neck, he no longer felt the marks imprinted on his skin. "Th-thank you Bill. Y-you - uh - you didn't have to heal me."

"Don't sweat it Pinetree, I'm just doing my job.", Bill replies, avoiding eye contact. "Mabel sure has changed throughout the years.. I never expected her to do 'that' to you."

"Fall Out Boy kind of lied when they 'seasons change but people don't'..", Dipper sighs, smiling at his own small band reference 'cause as if anyone reading this listens to FOB. "I never expected you, out of all people, to assist me."

"Why so? I'm just your very own Dream Demon."

"Dream Demon?"

"Yeah, Dream Demon- oh I gave away what I was 'reborn' as, didn't I?", Bill sighs and shrugs. "Sorry for ruining your fun Pinetree but yeah, I'm your own Dream Demon."

"Don't apologize Bill, I - uh - I was about to read about your kind in this book Grunkle Ford gave me.", Dipper explains, trying to find the book as he realizes that it was ripped to shreds because of the demon's dramatic entrance.

"Oh, so that means I don't have to explain anything?", the blonde guesses as his statement was followed by a small chuckle, Dipper tilts his head and nods.

Bill runs a hand through his hair and bends down, plucking one of the black and white flowers. As he tore it away from its stem, the plant began to regain its colour and you could tell what type of flower it was. The flower was an english daisy, Bill smiles and places the flower in Dipper's hair, right above where his ear was.

"H-huh? Wh-what's this for?", Dipper asks, Bill beams a smile and gets back onto his feet. He holds a hand out and the brunette reaches out for it, their hands intertwine as Bill helps the shorter onto his feet.

"Think of it as a gift.", Bill starts off, he pauses to think of what to say next. "I.. I want to protect you Pinetree."

"Wh-where did that come from?"

"I-I DON'T KNOW! But deep down here-", the blonde points to his where his heart is. "-it tells me that I have to protect you from everything no matter what."

Dipper smiles, a genuine smile. Bill notices as his heart does this flip and he felt it flip, it was a weird feeling.

"Thank you Bill, I appreciate it. I didn't think you would care.", Dipper admits. "You're really pulling an overprotective boyfriend move, aren't you?"

"D-don't thank me, blame these cursed human emotions. And I do care, I may be a demon but I have a heart too..", Bill mumbles. "Hey, you'd probably like an overprotective boyfriend. Eh Pinetree?"

The brunette's face flushes red (for the hundredth time this chapter) and he shakes his head rapidly, obviously denying the statement. Bill mentally notes how cute he was (once again) and smiles.

"Sh-shut up.."

"They say your actions speak louder than your words but what does your heart say Pinetree?"

"My heart can't talk."

"Okay now you're just messing with me. AND THAT'S MY JOB!"

Dipper laughs and is a tomato-red mess. Bill examines their surroundings and notice how the dream world was fading. With his super-ultra-sharp-demon-hearing™, he could faintly hear his (beloved) Pinetree's voice being called. He recognized the voice.

"Looks like our time is up Pinetree. I hear sixer calling for you.", Bill sighs as he releases his grip from the brunette's hand. Dipper forgot how their hands were in each other's hold for the time being, he looks up to the blonde as his eyes sparkle. "Don't look at me with those ocean eyes, we'll see each other tonight."

'O-ocean eyes? My eyes aren't even blue..', Dipper ponders, he shrugs and goes along with it.

"Okay. I-I'll see you tonight Bill."

Bill bows, he looks up and grins as he begins to float up, being taken away by a white beam. "I'll see you tonight Pinetree."

"I'll see you too.", the brunette breathes out, he closes his eyes and allows the darkness to consume him whole. Then there was nothing but silence, Dipper heard his name being called in the distance. It started soft and started to get gradually louder as he regained consciousness.

"G-Grunkle Ford..?", the brunette mumbles as his eyes adjust to wherever he was. He slowly brings himself in an upright position, examining the area. He was in the hallway with his Grunkles sitting next to him.

"Oh kid, you're finally awake! When I woke up, I found you lying here and assumed you were dead. I panicked and went to get my brother to get a better look at your state.", Stan explains.

"It's a good thing you're awake Dipper.", Ford says as he gets up. "We were worried about you, what happened?"

Dipper was about to explain, he then felt his neck. His eyes widen as he realized that the marks were actually gone, his hand sweeps by his ear as he removes the english daisy from behind his ear. He looks up at the two elders and smiles.

"It's nothing."