AN: Alright, here's another chapter. The story's going off on an adventurous streak for a bit. However, because of this, I can add such goodies to a chapter as tongue piercings, hotel rooms, and naked Billy! And of course, plenty of romance in between ;-) Enjoy.

Thud.

Mandy found herself sprawled in the middle of what appeared to be a lounge. Strange, hideous beings akin to the ones in the bar were roaming aimlessly about. Some of them were dressed in deep purple silks and suave suits. None of them paid any attention to Mandy. Peering angrily at her surroundings, she stood up and began to search for an employee, or someone who looked professional enough to tell her how to rent a room. Mandy frowned. She had all of her coins left, but they probably weren't enough for a night at the hotel.

First thing's first, she thought. Look for Billy.

Mandy scanned her surroundings mechanically. She didn't get her hopes up. He probably wasn't-

There.

She sprinted over to a dark, cobwebby corner. The sign nailed haphazardly to the wall read, "M. Gorla, soothsayer." Mandy ignored it and looked beneath it.

"Mandy?" Billy said, a smile forming dopily on his face. He tried to walk towards his friend, but tripped and fell flat on his face. He got up again slowly and looked at her, still smiling blankly, his eyes slightly out of focus.

Mandy walked over to him until he was close enough to give her a weak, warm hug. He held her for a few moments before Mandy forced herself to move away. "Yes, Billy, I'm here. Get over it. What have they done to you?"

"He has been drugged and chained here," a thickly accented voice answered. Out of the shadows stepped a woman that could only have been M. Gorla, soothsayer, and she was grinning widely at Mandy.

Each and every one of her teeth tapered to a sharp point.

"Hold it right there," Mandy said suspiciously. "Something's not right. Billy doesn't need dope. How did you find this young man?"

Gorla rolled her eyes to the ceiling and clicked something against her teeth. Mandy looked a bit closer- the creature had several tongue piercings. When she looked back at Mandy, several other piercings- all earrings, thank goodness- glinted in the hotel's low lighting. "He was delivered to me by my brother, Arlog, the bartender."

"Oh," Mandy said. "I thought there was a resemblance."

The soothsayer's grin widened. "You know him?"

"I killed him," Mandy said coldly.

"Ah." Gorla frowned for a moment, but her grin was back in no time. "How very sad for Arlog. Killed by a pretty adolescent human girl."

"If you're trying to flatter me," Mandy replied, leveling the scythe at Gorla's half-exposed bosom, "you're wasting your time."

"Is love a waste of time?" replied Gorla innocently, clicking one of her barbells against her teeth.

"Yes," Mandy replied assuredly. On the inside, however, she wasn't half as certain. Billy was slouched in the corner, absolutely out-of-it, and Mandy felt some measure of concern for him. "You're terrible at changing subjects, by the way."

"Who's changing the subject? We were discussing my brother- recently deceased, it seems- and my love for him." Gorla's grin increased to the point where it made her look insane.

"I don't care," Mandy said bluntly.

"Is my brother a sore subject for you, little girl?" asked Gorla in a whiny, caustic voice. She pinched Mandy's cheek. "Did that big bad meanie try to take advantage of you?"

Mandy reached out and slapped Gorla across the face.

The soothsayer continued to grin. "Forgive my brother and I. When it comes to matters of the flesh, we're simply insatiable."

Mandy felt cold. "What's Billy doing here?" she said quietly. The amount of sheer venom she could put into her voice, quiet as it was, was incredible.

Gorla stopped grinning. Her eyes continued to glow madly. "Watch your tone, you little bitch."

"Watch your head, you old bag."

Shhhhing!

-GABM-

Mandy strode into her rented room. Billy trailed behind her, looking slightly upset but very out of focus. "Mandy, I don' ge' it what're we doin'," he mumbled, before collapsing onto the bed.

Mandy sat next to him. She hesitated. He probably wouldn't remember any of this when he woke up tomorrow. Slowly, gingerly, she removed his hat and ran her fingers through his orange hair. Filthy. He was filthy.

"Ew," she mumbled. Then, aloud- "What have you been through, Billy?"

Billy remained silent. Mandy turned, to see if he'd fallen asleep- he wasn't asleep, but was staring at the ceiling blankly. Unusual.

Mandy had no idea what to do. She had a good idea of what had happened, and the offending party had already been punished, but how was she to deal with the aftermath? She had no idea how to comfort.

She only knew how to hurt.

She took Billy's hand and clasped it in her own- that, she remembered, had calmed her down significantly... yesterday. Was it only yesterday? "Get up," she said to him, more sharply than she needed to.

Billy obeyed silently. Mandy gave a shuddering sigh. She decided she hated him like this. He was certainly not annoying; no, quite the opposite.

But Billy was her friend. This just wasn't Billy.

"Quit your moping," she said to him. "Say something stupid."

"Inner tubes're real disgusting," Billy said faintly.

"That's better... I guess," Mandy said, sounding apathetic.

Mandy pulled Grim's bloody robe off. "Billy," she said, "I need rest and require you to be silent."

No reply.

She glared into the waiting bedspread.

-GABM-

Falling asleep had been easy enough. Staying asleep was much more difficult, because while Mandy stayed in one luxuriously warm bed, Billy was in the other luxuriously warm bed, shouting his stupid head off.

Mandy opened one scowling, bloodshot eye. She threw the covers off and walked over to Billy's bedside. He was fast asleep, and looking dreadfully worried about something.

"Hey, Billy," Mandy said, shaking him awake. "Shut it. I need some rest."

Billy snapped awake immediately and sat up. He still looked troubled, but- to Mandy's relief- his eyes were in focus and he didn't look any dumber than he usually was. "Mandy!" he cried energetically. He leapt from his bed and tackled her. She fell to the floor with a disgusted oof! "Boy, I'm so happy you're here! I haven't seen you in ages and aaaaaages, and there was this ugly lady with metal in her tongue who-"

"Shut up about her," Mandy said coldly. "I killed her."

"You did? Neat! I just had myself a scary nightmare, I mean, it was fine when I started out 'cause I was eating Peruvian tar cakes, but then the clowns came and..." Billy shuddered and held on to Mandy, surprising her. "Can I sleep with you?" he blurted out suddenly.

"No," Mandy replied flatly.

"C'mon Mandy! I won't touch you or nothin', I swears it. And if I start goin' all nightmare-face again, you can wake me up RIGHT AWAY! -Faster than a teething ninja! Wa-chow-a!" Billy squinted his eyes and struck his best ninja pose. A moment later, he relaxed, giving his best puppy-dog impression to Mandy. "Pleeeease? Huh, huh, huh?"

"I said 'no'," Mandy replied, her voice raising slightly.

Mandy drew back her fist and punched Billy's nose off. A new one promptly grew back in its place. Billy tweaked it and giggled. "Yer lotsa fun, Mandy."

Mandy ignored his comment. Sure, she was glad to have him back, but that didn't make him any less annoying. Or any less stupid. "Get back to bed, nincompoop."

"Deeheehee," Billy laughed. "'Poop.'" He stepped towards his bed, but stopped abruptly. "Uh, Mandy?"

"What?" she snapped.

"My bed sheets are kinda... wet." Billy flushed and scratched the back of his neck. "As in, 'I-had-a-real-bad-dream-just-now' wet."

"Fffine!" Mandy spat. "I give up. You're impossible to cope with. Billy- take a short shower. Then you can sleep in my bed, I guess."

"Yahooo!" Billy whooped and tried to throw his hat up into the air. Since he wasn't wearing it, he ended up ripping out a chunk of his hair and throwing that up into the air instead, and then howling in pain.

He felt a cool, slender hand cover his mouth. "Quiet," Mandy said sharply. She let go of him- his eyes were watering, but he was smiling at her.

Mandy turned away so she couldn't see him. "Go take that shower. Oh- and don't put your clothes back on. They're probably soaked with Billypee, too." She folded her arms and waited for his footsteps to tell her he'd gone.

Mandy started to blush light pink.

-GABM-

"Come out, Billy," Mandy said, exasperated.

"But I'm naked!" Billy shouted in response, his voice muffled behind the oaken door. "There's not even a fig leaf this time neither, nuh-uh!"

Since when does Billy care about this sort of thing? Mandy thought angrily.

"Come on," she growled to the door. "I'll be far more humiliated from this than you'll ever be in your entire life, so quit being a baby and get out of there."

"I'm no baby!" Billy cried, flinging open the door.

Mandy got a glimpse more of him than she would have liked. "No," she replied sardonically, "you're certainly not."

-GABM-

Mandy clung to the far edge of the bed, trying to keep herself as far away from naked Billy as possible. Billy hummed a happy tune, wide awake from his hot shower.

"Quit that," Mandy said, death ringing in her voice. "It's getting on my nerves."

"I can't helps it! Being naked makes me all contenteded inside like the time I ate strawburries filled with Pop Rocks! Then my nose blew up. Deeheeheeheehee!"

Mandy gave a feral growl. "Remember what happened the last time you upset me, Billy?"

"Uh, you apologized?" Billy replied perkily. Mandy gave him a sharp glance. He was grinning sweetly at her. Mandy felt her heart soften the tiniest bit, and tried to harden it again- he didn't intend it as a comeback at all. He was just being honest.

"That's over with," Mandy replied finally, looking away.

"Oh. Butcha still mean it, right?" Billy blurted.

"I... do," Mandy said. The strange feeling inside her now didn't come very often- although she recognized it immediately. Hesitation. She was on unsure ground. Lying to oneself was pathetic, but being so abnormally fond of someone was equally as pathetic- and here was Billy, the root cause of everything, watching her as she struggled to find a solution. "I..." Mandy left her words to dangle in the air.

Come on. You're smarter than this.

Mandy gave a small shrug. I have feelings for him, she thought, and I'll leave it at that.

Billy had stopped humming. Mandy closed her eyes and fell into an exhausted slumber.

-GABM-

When she awoke, it was slowly and calmly, and completely relaxing. She didn't feel as if she were about to fall off the bed anymore, and she was deliciously warm. Mandy nestled deeper into the covers, not wanting to become completely conscious, trying to delay fully awakening for as long as she could.

"Hey-a! Yer wakin' up!"

Mandy groaned. Her eyes snapped open. "Why the f-"

"SHH. You can go back to sleep. I was just making an in-tell-ell-i-ell-tent-ell-i-gent statement." Billy gave his famous chortle and hugged her.

Wait a minute, Mandy thought, shocked.

She sprung out of bed as fast as she could, glaring horribly at him. Billy was looking saddened and confused by her sudden disappearance from his arms. "You," she said to him coldly, "have no right to touch me. Am I clear?"

Billy hid his face beneath the covers. "I'm sorry, Mandy." To Mandy's surprise, he really did sound sorry. Actually, he sounded miserable about what he'd done, and more than a little lost. Mandy winced. He really didn't need to beat himself up over it.

She reached out and cautiously patted the top of his blanket-clad head. "There, there," she said reluctantly. "Quit your whining."

"Does this mean you forgive me?" Billy exclaimed eagerly.

"No," snapped Mandy. "Here, wear Grim's robe to hide that hideous orange pubic hair. No, Billy, don't give me that look. I think it's fair to say we're both embarrassed enough about this to never speak of it again."

Billy gave a sheepish salute. Mandy handed him the robe and shielded her eyes; she'd seen Billy naked more times than she'd like to count.

"Okee-dokee! Let's go home," Billy blathered, reaching for the scythe.

"Don't you dare," Mandy warned him.

Shhhing! A wide, distinctly idiot-looking portal opened up, and Billy laughed and dove into it. Mandy pinched the area between her eyes. Joy, she thought, I guess I have to go after him again. She stepped into the portal behind her friend, growling in frustration.

Not like there was anything better to do at home. Mandy scowled as she hurtled through time and space. What would her life be like if she simply never returned? Billy and her could find a place in the Underworld, she supposed, and the trouble they could get into would be far more interesting than the stupid little adventures of the regular world. As long as Mandy was there, no one would give them any real trouble. Maybe-

"Ouch! Hey Maa-a-andy!"

Mandy had been spit out into a dark, monstrous city. Luckily enough, the portal had led her to exactly the same place as Billy- exactly. She was thrown into him, knocking him over, and they rolled ridiculously down a hill, a jumble of arms and legs that seemed to be chuckling foolishly. Once at the bottom, Mandy got up as quickly as possible.

Billy didn't. "Lookit me, Mandy! I'm making a wet-cement angel!" Squish, squish.

Mandy winced. "Get up, Billy. We have to get home."

"Nahhh," Billy replied blithely. "We don't gots to. We can stay here as long as we want! Fo-eva!"

"You'll be staying there forever whether you like it or not, Billy, if you don't get up."

"Aw, fine."

Billy detached himself from the sticky sidewalk and tried to brush the cement off of his robe. He wound up getting a whole lot of hardening grey cement on his fingers. When that failed and his fingers became coated with cement, he tried licking them off- to no avail. The substance didn't quite slide down his throat. Billy hurriedly tried to chew it- maybe then it would go down- and he felt the little grains crunch between his teeth. "Pleh! This stuff tastes like broiled emu!"

Mandy watched him. "Okay," she said, "I've had enough of your stupidness for now."

Mandy took the scythe from Billy and leveled it at his fortified robe. A bubbly, soapy blast shot out and melted away the cement from his back, his sleeves, and even his mouth. "Thbbanfgbanbks," Billy gurgled.

"Don't mention it."