Will was too close to Dipper. Mabel was nowhere in sight. Dipper was too close to Will. He should walk away. He should let his heart beat like it used to, not this sporadic pace that left him nearly breathless with a excited feeling he couldn't quite figure out. Will was going on about how he was terrible, yada yada yada. Dipper didn't care, he was too close. Too close to come back from the brink of touching Will, without the withdrawal symptoms of sitting in his frozen room for days on end, eating nothing and thinking too hard about what could have been. He had to take the plunge. The icy cold, foolish, plunge.

"I. Don't. Care," Dipper announced sadly to Will and pulled at his cotton shirt collar. Will didn't budge, his marvelous eyes lifted to the pristine ceiling.

"No, you don't understand. I need to leave this place. You need to leave this shop." Will tried to reason with him, still not seeing Dipper, his cheeks a shade of crimson Dipper felt he had never quite seen before.

Dipper said nothing but quick breaths, not really paying attention. It was lost on him who Will was and what he had done. He tugged on Will's collar again, harder this time. Will's head moved slightly, his head tilting down before jerking back up.

"Mason!" Will shouted, but it didn't register. "Mason, listen to me. I'm a demon. A demon just told you he loves you and the only thing you can do is try and kiss him! Red flags, Pine Tree!" Nothing was really making sense anymore. They were all words, and words usually meant something, but today was special. The sounds were nonsense. Dipper tugged harder. Will's face came down this time, but he pulled back up quicker than before. Will's lips moved with an alarming tensity, but Dipper couldn't hear what he was saying. Dipper didn't really want to. Will gave him the harshest glance, a warning that Dipper paid no heed. For better or for worse, he assumed he'd find out. Assumptions are usually the death of us all, especially the foolhardy bachelors.

Dipper tugged again, barely at all, and Will bent down voluntarily.

"Mmm..." Dipper moaned softly as Will kissed him, his cheeks flushed ruby. Will curled his nimble hands around Dipper's small back and smiled, kissing him on the lips again. Dipper was over the moon, strung out like a stoner. Their kiss was deep and sweet, just the kind of kiss you expect from your first kiss, the kind that tends to shatter the happiness of doing anything other than kissing. They were lying on the floor of a back room in the small shop that Will worked, a rather large room for the purposes it seemed to be used for. It had a set of plastic folding chair and a table with a deck of cards on it in one corner, next to that another exit. The floor was this nice hard wood that looked like cherry. Dipper wanted to stop time here and never leave, but luckily Mabel had already made that mistake. Dipper's mind couldn't process anything but Will, Will, Will. Mabel was still gone, somehow unnoticed.

"Pine Tree, we should stop this. You shoul-oooh" Will stopped suddenly as Dipper kissed him. His hands crawled up and down Dipper's miniature back and neck, uninhibited by morals. Dipper pulled away, and Will whimpered. "Get back to your sister. We have some talking to do, too, before this can keep going."

"Humph. I don't want to, I want to stay here," Dipper answered sulkily.

"Why am I, Bill freaking Cipher, the voice of reason?" Will's rhetorical question was met with a stunned silence, the air in the room becoming stony. Dipper's eyes bored holes in Will's face, which was altogether too close now. Suddenly the room felt stuffy, clastrophobic, and much too hot.

"Who are you?" He asked, his voice filled with a cold sort of fear.

"I am Bill Cipher. I told you we have things to talk about," Bill said just as coldly, his eyes flashing bright red.

Dipper took a deep breath, buying himself time to think. He would've closed his eyes, but he didn't quite feel safe anymore. His mind filled with the frozen terror that had permeated his voice before, but he forced himself to think calmly.

"Okay, Will- uh... no, Cipher, let's talk," Dipper heard himself say, as if he was outside of his body, in the Mindscape all over again. "Tell me what's going on."

Bill took a disturbingly deep breath. "So, really, it all started when you guys actually defeated me and such. There was the whole Weirdmaggedon deal that I made, but you and your meatbags got me. And then, well, right before I was about to perish, I made a split second decision. Not very smart, but I'm forever thankful I did. I summoned the power of the Axolotl. It took me back, centuries in time, and I've been doing what I think is what's called community service, for your dimension. It's actually been a bit of a blast, but there was a special time I asked the Axolotl for, which is now. I wanted... well, I wanted to make it up to you. I haven't lied about anything other than having amnesia, I swear! And I needed to do at least another centuries worth of work. So... that's why I'm here," Bill said all of this very fast, his cheeks redder than ever and his eyes on the ground. If Dipper was admitting anything to himself at the time, which he wasn't, he would've thought that Bill was actually very adorable at this particular moment.

"You didn't lie about anything? Not a word?" Dipper asked instead, looking fairly panicked, his heart beating all too fast for reasons other than fear of being decimated.

"Not a word, I pro-mise." Bill navigated around the word like he was unfamilair with it, which wouldn't be too surprising.

"Oh my-"

"Who the Hell is messin' with Dipper?!" A very familiar voice shouted from behind the thankfully closed door. Bill stood up like he had been shocked and gestured to the chairs which they both quickly moved to.

"Stan, nobody's messing with me! Me and uh... Will are just talking!" Dipper called out to the disembodied voice. Bill shot Dipper a thankful glance as Stan opened the door to find them peacefully sitting at a table, nothing seeming amiss.

"But Mabel said that she heard... Whatever," Stan stopped, shook his head and walked out. Dipper let out a breath.

"Where is Mabel?" Dipper asked the air around him, not really expecting an answer. Bill had his eyes closed and was muttering under his breath.

"She's... at Greasy's," Bill answered him, opening his eyes. "Don't worry." Bill rested his hand on Dipper's shoulder, smiling oddly.

"I don't trust you," Dipper hissed through narrow eyes, resembling a snake. He shook the man's comforting hand off, and Bill's eyes glowed red.

"Why's that, Pine Tree?" Bill asked softly, his silky voice quiet yet somehow thunderous. Dipper froze, his breath quick.

"Because... you're Bill Cipher, dream demon, the thing I should fear, angry isosceles triangle, dorito monster, and so on. I should be so scared right now. I shouldn't trust you enough to tell you how little I trust you. I shouldn't love you so much. That's what scares me, and that's why I don't trust you," Dipper explained, his espresso brown eyes not meeting Bill's, thus he stared at the floor as if it could help him out of this one. It couldn't.

Even at this confession of love for Bill, he stared at Dipper like he was the only thing that could truly disgust Bill. It was horrifying and at the same time somehow utterly charming. Bill's eyes still shone crimson, the color of blood, and were unflinching in their scanning of Dipper's frightened face, which looked especially small in the grandeur of Bill Cipher himself.

"Trust me," Bill said, his words seeming magical. "Croyez-moi, Pine Tree!" He cried out these words like they were his gospel, like it would truly cause him pain if Dipper didn't comply. Dipper didn't want to trust Bill. He didn't want to confide things in him, but who else did he have? There was Ford, Mabel, and Stan, sure, but they didn't understand anything. They didn't get love or faith or trust. Dipper felt a great heaving within himself, a split between the parts of him that trusted Bill and the parts that didn't.

"I don't want to, Bill. I really don't. But I do! It's like..." Dipper's voice trailed off and his hands were left motioning in the air, all alone. "I don't understand," he whimpered solemnly, his eyes closing to fend off tears of frustration. Bill stood suddenly, shaking his head. He laughed a dry laugh, something meant for funeral pyres of your worst enemy rather than lovers' secret rendezvous. Dipper looked up at him, startled, his earthy eyes filled with clear, salty drops. "What is it?" He asked, his voice weak.

"Do you think I trust you?" Bill asked him, his voice solid.

"Uhhh..." Dipper looked at him oddly. "I guess I've never thought about it before."

"Well, what do you think?"

"Yes?"

"I do. I trust you with every little part of me I've got."

"Why?"

"Because you are the essence of what I would never want to be, but what I need. You are supplementary to me, someone I need to feel whole on the inside. It's strange, and in your world, highly pedophillic, but I can wait for a year or two. I just... I need you like humans need water." As Bill said this, his eyes faded from crimson to a more orangey, autumn sunset color. In the context of the moment, it seemed almost sad, but not quite right.

Dipper smiled at him softly. For some reason, maybe some kind of spell or maybe it just felt right, Dipper knew this was genuine. "Okay, Bill. I can believe that, even if it means the end of me. I guess I trust you about some things more than others." His eyes seemed to warm after he said this, like snow melting in late spring after a much too long winter. Bill smiled too, his eyes turning completely back to their original stunning, rich gold.

"These are the moments I live for now," Bill said simply, still grinning like an idiot. It wasn't even his creepy, I'm-a-serial-killer grin. It was just happy.

"I want to spend more time with you, but I've got to go make sure Mabel isn't doing anything too Mabel-y," Dipper explained, his smile fading into a content sadness. He stood up and so did Bill, who quickly walked over, bent down, brushed aside the boy's unsightly bangs, and kissed Dipper's birthmark. Dipper blushed madly, his mouth hanging open in twin surprise.

"One more question, can I still crash with your family at the Mystery Shack? I've got nowhere to stay..." Bill seemed almost embarrassed about this fact, and knowing him he had forgotten humans used currency.

"Sure, but we'll have a bit of explaining to do. Is that okay?" Bill nodded, then hugged Dipper.

"Thank you so much," Bill murmured into Dipper's head and sighed, releasing him.

"I'm glad to help you, Bill, you can come by after 6:00 sometime," Dipper told him, then walked out of the little back room, out of the shop, and off to find Mabel. He'd check Greasy's first, but there was good chance she was no longer there. As he walked, he laughed at himself. "I really never thought I'd be saying those words," he announced to no one in particular.

Dipper walked and walked for hour upon sweltering hour, finally finding Mabel closer to where he started than he would've liked. She was at Skull Fracture, the local hard-core biker joint, talking to some of the men there. It was pretty run down place, with cracked bricks and peeling posters of naked women and men hanging on the walls. There was a karaoke machine in one corner with a small stage for the unfortunate singer to stand on. The place was mostly lit by flickering neon beer advertisements and a few semi-broken floor lamps. It would've scared Dipper more if there hadn't been a beacon of hope in the middle of the place, singing happily along to Disco Girl and giving out free hugs.

"Well, yeah! You've just gotta use your sweet moves on those sweet ladies and you'll get 'em in no time! You go girl!" Mabel cheered as Tats walked away from her, swaggering confidently (or drunkenly, it was hard to tell) to go tell the person of his dreams that they were, indeed, of his dreams. The group of other men around her cheered too, chanting Tats name as he walked out of the building.

"Mabel! Thank goodness I've finally found you! It's almost time to come home for dinner. We were out all day, can you believe that?" Dipper walked up next to her, talking.

"Oh, hey Dip! How'd your date go?" She asked, eliciting a blush out of her twin.

"It wasn't a date! We just had to talk." Dipper felt horrible lying to her, but it was the only legal sounding thing he could say. Even Mabel (probably) wouldn't actually be a fan of his new paramour.

"For hours on end, sure. Just keep telling yourself that."

"It's true!"

Mabel just rolled her eyes, announced to her fans she had to go now, and left with Dipper. They all booed her on the way out, but she didn't really seem to care. She flipped her hair on the way out, silencing everyone. The way she held herself and the power she seemed to hold was like witnessing the actions of a goddess.

They got back to the Mystery Shack just in time for supper without either of the Stans seeming to have noted their absence. It was weird, but Dipper was silently thankful. It would've been a mess to explain, especially with Bill coming back later. They ate dinner mostly in silence, nobody really seeming to want to say anything. Dipper knew he should tell them that 'Will' was coming back and staying with them more, but he just couldn't seem to muster up the energy to speak, much less explain anything before he had to. They finished dinner quickly, and it wasn't quite six pm yet, so Dipper decided to sit down and read a classic he had been meaning to start, A Holiday Song by Charlie Rooster. He read for about an hour, completely engrossed in the story of how Touchy learned the true meaning of why the policeman had given his child an anatomically correct doll. It was a little boring for Dipper, but he supposed that was part of the fun of classics. Ford was sitting in living room with him, reading the very same book on quantum mechanics that he was when Dipper had first woken up from his injury. Ford looked much more focused now, and he was smiling, which was always a good sign when he was reading. It meant he had found a mistake he would write a letter to the author about.

The doorbell rang a little later and Dipper shot up from his seat, drawing a surprised glance from Ford. He didn't stop to talk about why exactly the chime was this important, or why he had been so very excited to answer the door, something he was naturally reluctant to do, he just ran to the door. Once he got there, he flung open the door with more enthusiasm than Mabel at their birthday parties. A handsome figure, Bill, stood behind the door, looking rather surprised at the show that Dipper had performed.

"Aww, Pine Tree, I'm honoured. You're usually not very excited for guests," Bill whispered in his ear, smirking. Dipper glared at him.

"Hey, everyone, look who's back!" Dipper shouted at the top of his lungs, in Bill's ear. Bill cringed.

"Will? Oh, what a huge, unexpected surprise!" Mabel said as she walked in, grinning.

"Oh, Will. I guess I kind of expected you back sometime soon," Ford said, pushing at his glasses calmly.

"Yeah, it's pretty unsurprising!" Stanly shouted from the kitchen. Dipper let out a silent breath, and tried to calm down. His familys' eyes were all glassy, staring at nothing in particular. It clicked.

"Bill, what did you do?" Dipper asked, his voice soft.

"I didn't do anything, I mean this is one of my powers but I would never..." Dipper glared at Bill. "Okay, fine, I may have made them all a little more oblivious because you seemed worried about me coming back and I wanted to help ease the transition." Bill grinned at him with barely contained laughter, which would've been undoubtedly maniacal. "Come on, PT! It'll only last an hour or two!" Bill was giggling now. Dipper's mind worked at a furious rate, trying to decide what they could do in a little over an hour. Get Bill completely caught up on social norms that he needed to know? That would take too long. Get Bill settled into the Mystery Shack? Probably. Make out with him? Yes, but really, Dipper's mind? Then it was decided. They'd do what Bill probabaly was thinking when he did this. Make Bill slightly less of a mess and get him set up in the Mystery Shack.

"Okay Bill. Okay, slow breaths. Let's get you into the attic." Dipper said, almost hyperventilating. Almost.

"Okay!" Bill nodded happily.

They walked up to the attic, a room one door down from Mabel's and Dipper's. It was a pretty bare room, made solely of wood planks and a small chest that sat in the left hand corner. Bill looked around oddly, as if he had never been in this room before, which surprised Dipper a little bit, as Bill tended to know more than most.

"What kind of room do you want? I'm sure Mabel can whip you up anything you want, and we have a lot of random junk around here anyway."

"I want... a lot of yellow and gold and black and cobalt blue and triangles!" For some reason, Dipper wasn't at all surprised by this answer.

"Okay, do you know where Ford would keep that kind of thing?" Dipper asked him, and Bill nodded.

"I'll go get it, you stay weird." And then Bill just wandered off, and Dipper was left to 'stay weird.' Dipper sat down near the door to Bill's room, resting his back against the wall. Only now was he realizing just how much pain he was in. His torso felt like it was on fire, which was probably a really bad sign. With all the terror, euphoria, and panic that had happened throughout the day, and more that was sure to come in the advancing summer, Dipper hadn't been willing to feel all the anguish this wound had actually been causing him. He groaned slightly in pain, thinking about how much he would love it if this was just not something that had happened. Then again, if this hadn't happened, he assumed much of his life would be different. Perhaps Bill would've been gone forever, out of sight, out of mind. Forever. Dipper shook his head. He didn't want to think about that. It was going to a wild summer, he knew already. Mayhaps even crazier than their first summer, but that would be shooting pretty high. He'd settle on second most exciting. It was a good goal.

"Pine Tree! I'm back! Did you miss me? Admit it, you missed me!" Bill showed up behind him with several armloads of stuff floating behind him, like leaves on the wind.

"I missed you," Dipper said, standing with minor trouble. But Bill noticed, anyway.

"Oh, right. You hurt yourself. I'm just gonna fix that up for you." He waved his hands and whispered something magical-sounding under his breath. Then he walked over to Dipper. "Don't freak out, okay." He said to Dipper, and it would've been a question, if it were asked by anyone other than Bill Cipher. He lifted up Dipper's shirt, revealing the thick web of scars that were still an angry red. Dipper blushed.

"Uh, Bill, I thought we were waiting?" Bill didn't respond, just took a very deep, very dramatic breath, and kissed Dipper's injury. Dipper felt himself weighed down a little bit more than usual. Bill let go of his shirt, covering the scars once again. "What was that for?" Dipper asked him, once again getting no response out of his lover. Then, all of a sudden, Dipper felt a flowing warmth run through him, from the points where Bill had kissed him all the way to the tips of his fingers and on and on. He swooned a little, feeling strangely faint.

"The after effects only last a little while," He heard Bill say, his vision blurring. "I'll get to work on this room. Just sit for now," Bill added, guiding Dipper to the ground.

Dipper watched for what felt like hours. Bill layed out a shining, golden rug, in the shape of a triangle in the middle of the floor. It matched the color of his hair. He dragged in an old, off white mattress. It had minimal water stains on it, turning the eggshell more of a pale yellow, which was slightly sickening to look at. He put a small black blanket on it, something he probably wouldn't need in the middle of summer heat and humidity, but maybe he got cold easily. Dipper watched as Bill teleported a desk inside the room, along with stacks and stack of books, the number somewhere near one hundred. Bill had been talking to him this whole time, chattering away about spells or humans or other interesting things, but Dipper couldn't seem to recall much of what he had actually said. The room almost seemed to turn around him, like one of those spinning restaurants at the top of skyscrapers. He watched in a daze as Bill sat down next to him, draping his long arm over Dipper's small shoulders and pulling him into a tight, somewhat suffocating hug. They sat like that for a bit, Bill seeming to want to wait in silence for the boy to recover. Dipper found himself dancing closer and closer to the sweet void of deep sleep, and he found himself wanting to fall into that void. He rested his head against Bill's warm chest until he could barely think straight, and so he surrendered.