When they finally arrived at the motel, Dipper went in alone, not really needing to bring to much attention on the weird pair and not needing Bill to make things worse. The young man greeted politely the lady behind the desk, smiling when he found out it was the one he helped with her gnome infestation maybe a summer or two back.
She seemed happy to see him, asking how come he needed a room, curious. He made up a story about some problem at the shack, even if it wasn't that far from the truth, saying it was nothing really bad or to worry about. He was feeling a little guilty to be lying to the old lady, but he didn't want to explain everything to someone who wouldn't understand half the story anyway.
She was apparently really grateful for his help because she suggested to repay him back by lending him a room for cheaper and that it would be even a little cheaper if he could help with a gnome who still wouldn't leave her alone. Of course, Dipper accepted, paying and taking the room key with him, happy to have at least somewhere to sleep for the couple days to come at a lower price.
He would have had asked for a two beds room but thought it would add more question and he wasn't feeling like going over it all over again. Also, he wouldn't lie, he did enjoy sleeping in the same bed as Bill the couples of times it happened in the pasts weeks.
"So?" asked the demon with a smile, looking at the key in Dipper's hand. "Got one for cheap since I helped the owner with gnomes in one of the two last summers" he explained with a smile, before sighing a little. "Got it for even lower if I helped with one who wouldn't leave her alone" added the younger one, Bill chuckled, not really surprised that Dipper accepted to help. He would for sure have done it even without the lower price.
Dipper then placed the key in his bag, following the lady instruction for where the little creature normally was hiding around the motel. He wasn't really surprised when they found Jeff, the small creature recognising him immediately. "YOU!" he exclaimed, pointing accusingly towards Dipper "I won't let you take away one of my queens again". The only real reaction he had was the demon laughing at his face, needing to keep balance by grabbing Dipper's shoulder.
Dipper wouldn't say the old lady was ugly, no, she was pretty for her age, but he was still surprised Jeff choose her for their queen. She didn't really have many decades before her if the Pines was being polite. "Can you just leave her alone?" asked an exasperated Dipper, even if he knew the answer. "I just want to go to sleep and right now is not the right time to try and get on my nerve either" commented Dipper, starting to walk towards the gnome. He was going to drag him away if it what he needed to do.
"Then I will just come back with all the other gnomes to stop you for good!" respond the gnome, making Dipper scoff, not really wanting to have to deal with such a pain in the ass again. Once was enough.
Then they both suddenly felt a chill going up their spine, feeling some bad energy coming from not so far away. Dipper then turned to Bill, seeing him walk closer to Jeff. "I give you two choices" he said, his eye glowing strongly in the dark, not yet turned red. "One, you just walk away and learn how to befriend someone before making her your queen" he said as he was raising one finger, "Or two, I will personally make sure you won't be a problem to anyone in the future, definitively".
Even the young Pines shuddered at the way Bill finished it, his crazed smile not helping him feel less scared. Where was all this anger coming from? The demon seemed pretty amused not even two minutes ago, why was he so mad all of a sudden?
Jeff didn't want to see if that demon the boy seemed to have befriended would act on his word, starting to run for his life. He would find another way to get to his queen without bringing back the Pines boy and his new guard dog.
Dipper didn't speak, only looking at Bill's back, not sure if he was still mad as he was looking into the forest. He jumped a little when the demon suddenly turned to him, one of his usual grin plastered on his face. "So, now we can go to sleep?" he asked. Taken aback, Dipper took a couple of seconds before finally answering "Y-yeah... he shouldn't be bothering her for some time".
They then walked back to the motel, still in silence. Dipper couldn't find why he got mad, remembering the event, up until he remembers what Jeff was saying before. Was Bill getting angry because the gnome was threatening to harm him? He glanced toward the demon from the corner of his eyes, not sure why he was that surprised. Maybe because the demon never really showed he wanted to protect him, or well other than this morning maybe, but Bill was in danger just as much as he was, so maybe it wasn't that.
"Bill" he finally started, hesitating a little, before passing a hand on his neck, going for something else, too shy to ask if his hypothesis was right. "Thanks for helping me, Jeff can be a real pain when he finds himself a new queen to claim" he finally said. Yeah, this would be safer.
Bill hummed, before laughing a little. "It really was nothing Pine Tree, he literally had no chance against me and I wanted to go back to the room and relax". Dipper simply nodded, not seeing why he would get so mad if he just wanted to get back to the motel. Well, he guesses it was still Bill he was thinking about, could be that for all he knew.
When they finally got to the room, Dipper pushed Bill towards the bathroom, telling him he needed to shower or at least clean his injuries. "I won't let you out unless you take care of your injuries, I don't care if you are stronger or whatever, do it". The demon went in, half because he wanted to listen to him for once, but also because he thought it would be a good idea not to dirty all his clothes from the blood and dirt still stuck on him. He then took a shower, taking care of cleaning the cuts, before going back to Dipper, only wearing his pants this time, dropping the dress shirt on the chair near the small table.
"Happy now?" He asked, still drying his hair, but not missing the blush blooming on Dipper's face when he saw him without a shirt on. Wouldn't be the first time, since he was naked when they met back, but it never happened since. "Like what you see~" he asked, winking at the young man, knowing that for once he could see it because he wasn't wearing the eye patch.
The younger Pines simply looked away, blushing more when he saw he was seen, opting for going to bed and not responding. He knew very well Bill would always find a way to tease him. Also, not to help, while Bill was showering he had the time to remember what happened and he was yet again a little mad at Ford. He knew he was doing it with his best interest in mind and to keep him safe, but Dipper just couldn't accept to give up what had passionate him for the past seven years of his life. But with his anger came a sort of sadness, coming from the fact that Ford wouldn't try to hear him out on any of it, especially after finding out about his tattoo.
Bill understood quickly it wasn't really time for joking, pouting a little at the situation, before joining the younger man in the bed, laying on his side and looking at Dipper. "I can sens you're angry" he said, trying to get to the subject slowly "Want to talk about it?". "No" answered Dipper, which was at least clear on what he wanted to do. Bill then simply nod, trying to find a way to cheer him up a little, even though at night he couldn't do much and they had enough adventure for the day.
Maybe he could bring him the day after to do some things the younger one liked? But that wouldn't necessarily be connected to supernatural research. He was trying to find something when he heard the boy call him again, gaining his full attention, looking at the young Pines facing him now.
"Why did you... got mad earlier?" asked Dipper, clearly unsure as to if he should or could ask. Bill didn't answer at first, which made the young man think he shouldn't have asked in the first place. He was going to apologized before the demon beat him to talk "I don't really know, it just happened" answered Bill, sounding more serious for once.
Dipper watches as Bill's eyes were going sideway, clearly thinking about how to put it. That or if he should tell him, but he couldn't tell for sure what the dream demon was thinking. But he seemed okay to talk with it, so it was most likely the former.
"I guess it because he was threatening you" suggested the demon, looking back at him. Something had just snapped in him when he heard the small nuisance say he would try to hurt Dipper, after that his anger played the rest. "Yeah, I didn't want him to hurt you, so I felt like I needed to deal with it". He continued, thinking aloud both for himself and Dipper. He was still not sure where that feeling came from or why it pissed him off that much. Emotions were so confusing.
He was snapped out of his thought when he heard Dipper chuckles a little as if amused the demon couldn't tell himself why he did it. But overall, he was looking really happy about this new information and seeing him in such a greater mood made Bill smile too. "I see, well I will see not to get in too much trouble so the whole population of Gravity Falls won't fear to approach me just so you won't attack them" he joked, knowing very well he couldn't get in that much trouble anyway.
The mood was yet again lighter, the both of them talking, creeping a little closer to one another in the small bed of the room. Dipper had fallen asleep halfway through a story he was telling about him and Mabel, leaving Bill to the silence of the room, only broken by the breathing of the human.
The demon hesitated before slowly placing an arm around the younger one, hugging him closer to him, feeling not long after an arm looping around him too. He was calmly looking at the sleeping figure, thinking back at his idea to take the younger one on a date, or he guesses it would be a date by humans standards. Dipper really deserved a day off anything dangerous or too stressful after that mess of a day. Yeah, he would go with that.
He then simply closed his eyes, hugging the young Pines close to him protectively, not even knowing where all this protectiveness was coming from, but he could roll with it.
Dipper was waking up as the rays of sunshine were creeping up slowly on his face through the window, closing them quickly at first. Then he went for moving so they wouldn't shine in his eyes anymore, but was surprised when he felt he couldn't move. He opened one eye slowly, squinting and trying to see what was keeping him from rolling on himself, only to realised Bill was keeping him really close to himself, Dipper's back pulled flushed to the demon's torso, his arm protectively around him. He could feel the calm breath of the demon against his neck, making him shiver a little.
He took some minutes to calm himself, stuck between being a little flushed, overly happy and a little confused as to how they finished this close in their sleep. Once his emotions were put in place, or at least calmed down, he turned the best he could in the arms before calling Bill's name, his hand shaking gently the warm body behind him.
The dream demon seemed to slowly be able to get back to himself, looking back at the younger one, offering him a toothy grin. "Slept well my little Pine Tree?~" he asked sleepily, still not letting go of the human in his arm. It normally should, since he made sure nothing would come and bother Dipper's dream, letting him have a good time after all the negativity of the day. It wasn't that hard, even if the subconscious of the human wouldn't stop trying to get back to that.
"Yeah, I did" he answer, waiting for the demon to let go of him, but it never came. "Can you let go of me now? I don't think we should stay all day in bed" he said, even if a little voice in him was telling him he wouldn't mind if they were to stay like this all day, but he ignored it, not wanting to think about this.
Bill seemed to pout at him a little, but really briefly, before letting go of the young man, Dipper now able to sit up and go for his morning routine, even though he couldn't do much of it since he only had what was in his bag, which wasn't anything for staying the night elsewhere. The demon got up to put his shirt one, rolling up the sleeve. It wasn't the best he could look in his high opinion, since Mabel hadn't brought him much the day before, but at least they were clean for the most part. He would go with that, not wanting to wast power on trying to change it for something better.
Once Dipper got out of the bathroom, Bill directly went for what he thought the day before, telling him he was bringing him on a date. This seemed to surprise the young man, not sure if Bill was really meaning a date or if it was just the first word he could remember to describe it. None the least, he was really excited about the idea.
The demon was guiding him outside the room, locking it behind them since Dipper choice to not take his bag with him and having his stuff being stole wasn't on his to-do list for the day.
"Where are we going?" finally asked the human, turning a curious glance towards Bill. "Let get something to eat at the Greasy's Diner, I'm sure you must be hungry, after we could do stuff in town, your pick this time" he offered him, winking at Dipper even if he couldn't tell from the eye patch hiding his eye, though he could guess it. "I'm all in for a good breakfast" smiled Dipper, walking along to the diner that wasn't far away.
At least this time the Pines family didn't seem to be here too. Dipper knew they were more likely to eat at the shack, less likely to be in the mood for it anyway. He immediately had to stop thinking about it, preferring not to spoil the mood again.
"So~" started the demon after giving their order to Lazy Susan "Where do you want to go today?" he then asked once he looked back at the human. Dipper didn't really know what to do in town, he was more often than not running toward supernatural stuff, but his sore and bruised body wouldn't agree with him on that.
"Well, we could go and see a movie at the theatre" he suggested, knowing very well the theatre had some horror movies for the coming summerween. Plus, it was in the morning, so it would most likely be calm. The idea seemed to please Bill as he hummed in approval, grinning. "That sound fun, must be different from watching movies on your computer" commented Bill. He doesn't really remember watching movies at a theatre, mostly just play a little more back in the days, but it sounded interesting.
So it what they went for after their breakfast. Watching horror movies in the morning didn't have the same effect, but they were also not really the best one, pretty cheesy and predictable, but they were enjoying it none the least. Lowly snickering in their corner, commenting on it, knowing very well they wouldn't disturb the handful of other viewer seated far from them.
Bill even managed to convince Dipper to hide as the employe was cleaning and putting up the next movie, therefore only paying for the first one. They were able to watch four movies and a half when they had to run away when one of the employees found them still in here since the first movie.
They finally stopped a couple streets away, trying to catch their breath as they were laughing, Bill smiling at how happy Dipper seemed to be right now. Yeah, it was definitively better when Dipper was this happy. "That manager was really mad that we stayed this long" commented Dipper between two laughter, slowly calming down. "But it was worth it!" said Bill with a large grin "And it was fun" added Dipper.
They started to walk again, not sure if the man was still trying to go after them, it was still better not to have Deputy Durland and Bulbs called on them. "Want to stay on the summerween mood?" asked Dipper with a smile when an idea came to his mind, Bill doing a dramatic gesture to tell him to keep going on his idea. "Let find some costume, or well, just try on some funny one" suggested Dipper, finding the idea funny. "Well, that sounds fun" admitted the demon, soon after feeling Dipper catching his hand to drag him toward some shop who might have what they wanted.
So they went for that, trying on multiple disguises. Often picking up something for the other. Bill even managed to convince Dipper to try on a feminine costume, only on the condition that Bill would do the same. Of course, When Dipper got out he was the most embarrassed about his costume. On the other side, Bill was totally rocking the costume, clearly not bothered by it and finding the younger man embarrassment funny. "But you look cute in it" He commented to give him some encouragement, even if it only made him blush harder.
At some point they had tried mostly everything they found interesting and got out without getting anything, going for a walk in town. At some point they found an anxious looking Mabel on her phone, carry one of Dipper's duffel bag. "Shooting Star!" called Bill, only to get elbowed in the rib by Dipper as he was shushing him. They could see Mabel suddenly looking even more anxious, looking around her quickly.
"Mabel!" Dipper called to make her see them, reassured when her expression softens and that she didn't recognise the voice of Bill. She made sure no car was coming before crossing the road to join them, immediately taking Dipper in her arm. "Why didn't you respond to your phone? I was worried sick when you got out" she said, not letting go of her brother. Dipper took her in his arm, patting her back. "My phone died in the morning and I don't have a charger, sorry for worrying you".
She finally let go, smiling reassured now that she knew her brother was fine. "What with the bag?" asked Bill. "Um? Oh! I thought you might not want to get back to the shack and brought you some clothes, I also found Guillaume's clothes" she said, her tone clearly hinting at something, giving the bag to Bill. Dipper simply laughed at the insinuation, knowing arguing wouldn't go far.
"Anyway, where did you went after that?" she asked, pulling them both toward a new café in town so they could sit while talking. "Got us a motel room, I won't get back to the shack until Ford accepts to listen to me, though I doubt he's going to now that he knows about my tattoo". Mabel gave him a sorry smile, she really wanted to help, but she also knew how Grunkles Ford was about anything touching that triangle demon. "Sorry for letting you take the fall alone" she finally said, even if Dipper was the one who stopped her from doing so. "It okay, It would be better if at least one of use can still talk with him".
At the café they ordered something to eat, once they took seats Mabel changed the subject, seeing how Dipper didn't really want to talk about it. Instead, they went to explain how Dipper managed to get them a room, leaving out of the story the single bed they shared, and why it was even cheaper. It then went on random conversations until late in the evening, Mabel knowing she should get back home and try to put some sense into Their uncle's head.
But she grabbed Dipper's shirt before they could get too close to the room, asking if she could speak with him. "Sure, B- Guillaume you can take the bag in for me?" he asked, nearly slipping too as Bill did earlier, throwing the bag and the key at the demon when he gave him a thumbs up.
Mabel waited until the other man was in, looking a little more serious now. "Dipper... do you think Bill could be back?" she asked, unsure if she heard the voice correctly earlier. "Why would he be back?" asked Dipper, tensing a little at the idea that maybe she found them out. Mabel noticed, but blamed it on the idea of Bill being back, before continuing "I think I've heard someone calling me Shooting Star earlier on the street before you called for me" she explained "He's the only one that ever used that nickname for me" she adds as a proof. Of course he was, since anyone even thinking about nicknaming her that would get an anxious Mabel asking them not to call her that, she even got angry one time.
Dipper was feeling really guilty for lying to her about all of this, especially with how anxious she looked earlier at the idea of Bill, or at least her souvenir of the demon, being back. He gently went for a gentle squeeze of the shoulder, offering a small smile "Don't worry, he won't come back, I can promise that and if he had, we would have known way before that".
His sister seemed not sure at first, before letting out a relieved sigh, smiling back at him, even if it was small. "You're right Dip-dop, we would know". They said goodnight before splitting way. Dipper didn't like the feeling of guilt he had, but he wouldn't have to lie for too long, once Bill was powerful enough they would send him back and it would be like nothing happened and he wouldn't have to keep lying.
But somehow... even that idea wasn't making him feel better. It was actually making him feel worse.