"Dipper!" My eyes shot open and I practically fell out of bed, the sound of someone yelling my name from downstairs scaring me out of my sleep, "Wake up sleepy head, I'm making breakfast!" It was Mabel. I groaned and put my hand over my eyes, the sunlight coming through the window at just the right angle to blind me. That's when I felt something strange, my senses slowly beginning to wake up, as well. There was…someone in my bed? I pulled my arm away just enough so that I could see and glanced over, my eyes meeting with the now familiar gold and yellow ones of my guest. "Good morning Pine Tree," He smiled, propping up on his elbow and looking down at me, "Sleep well?" I'd completely forgotten he was in bed with me. "Uh…yeah," I sat up and stretched, my cheeks tinting pink as I turned away from him. The room grew silent aside from the sounds of our breathing, slow and rhythmic in the otherwise still room. My mind began to race, replaying the memory of last night like a movie scene. Did he really kiss me? Bill Cipher, the demon who had terrorized my family for an entire summer and who tried to destroy the entire town? No, not just the town, but the world. What the hell was he doing? What the hell was I doing? How could I just let myself get so close to him?
The annoyed huff from behind me reminded me that I wasn't alone with my thoughts; I didn't have that luxury anymore. I turned to look at him, gold and yellow eyes staring back at me in frustration. He was scowling, a look on his face that told me he had something he wanted to say. However, right as he opened his mouth to say whatever it was, he stopped, eyes darting over to the door. "Looks like Shooting Star's getting restless."
"What do you—?" I jumped slightly, the knock that came at the door interrupting the quiet room and taking me by surprise; I hadn't even heard anyone coming up the stairs. "Hey Dipper, you awake in there?" I threw off the covers and jumped out of bed, deciding that it was better to answer her before she tried just walking in. "Yeah, I'll be down in a minute!" I called back, walking over to the mirror and straightening out my clothes to make myself look more presentable. I caught a glimpse of Bill in the mirror, and for a second I could have sworn he looked…hurt? Sad? I turned around, but by the time my eyes met with his, the look was gone; maybe I'd just imagined it?
"You uh…gonna come down for breakfast?" He didn't actually respond at first, just…stared at me. I simply stood there and stared back, both waiting for a response and trying to figure out what he was thinking. As easy as it was for him to read my thoughts, it was pretty much impossible for me to do the same. It was clear that something was on his mind, but no matter how hard I tried to I just couldn't figure him out like he could me. "Ford's home," He finally spoke up again after what felt like an eternity of uncomfortable silence, "So I'll probably go out for a bit." And there it was: that same reluctant, worried feeling that I'd had the day before. It washed over me like a wave, an intense sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I found that it was suddenly very hard to look at him. Right as I was about to avert my eyes I noticed that his grew wide, clearly surprised as he stood up and began walking over to me. "Hey," He put his hand under my chin, turning my head so that I was forced to look at him again, a small and understanding smile playing on his lips, "I'll be back. Don't worry." I couldn't help as I let out a shaky and relieved breath, the feeling slowly beginning to dissipate. Something about the way he said those words calmed me down and made me believe him, but…why did I feel like this? Why did I feel so attached to him? I didn't want to think about the answer, so with that we exited the room and made our way downstairs.
"There you are," Mabel greeted us happily at the bottom of the steps, that same mischievous grin making its way onto her face as her eyes wandered over to my guest, "Good morning you two. Are you gonna be joining us for breakfast, Bill?" He smiled and shook his head, "Sadly no, I actually have plans this morning. But thank you for the offer." He then turned to me, his smile sweet as he leaned in to whisper into my ear, "I'll be back soon, okay? Don't miss me too much." He gave me a soft kiss behind the ear, my face going red as I hadn't expected him to show affection right in front of my sister. Or in front of anyone, for that matter. By the look on her face I could tell that she was trying to hold back a delighted squeal; I managed to flash her a quick glare, despite my embarrassment. "See ya later, Mabel." Bill smirked and waved before heading out the front door, and as soon as he was gone she burst out into laughter. "Oh my god you guys are so cute!" I shoved her half-heartedly as I made my way into the kitchen, the sweet smell of chocolate and syrup wafting through the kitchen, "Sh-shut up…"
She followed me in, stepping back over to the stove as I went and sat down at the table. From the looks of it she was making pancakes, the table nicely set with four sets of plates, cups, and silverware, along with two bottles of maple syrup and a pitcher of orange juice. The light from the morning sun was pouring in through the windows, showering the room in bright yellow, and the sound of birds chirping could be heard faintly from outside. Looked like it was going to be another beautiful day. The room was quiet aside from Mabel's soft humming and the occasional scraping of kitchen utensils, and it seemed that the entire shack just had an overall calming atmosphere to it. "So," Mabel suddenly spoke up, not bothering to look back at me as she continued with her cooking, "I take it Ford doesn't know?" Her question caught me off guard, and I had to admit that I didn't quite understand what she was referring to. "About what?"
"About Bill." I froze. My brain seemed to completely shut down as I stared at her, eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open, "W-what…what do you mean?" Was she saying what I thought she was saying? "Oh come on Dipper," She turned around, a knowing look in her eyes as she smiled at me, "Did you really think I didn't know?" I gulped, my eyes trailing down as I began to stare blankly at the empty plate in front of me, "…how?" She laughed, and out of the corner of my eye I could see her shaking her head, "Really? I know you've had a thing for him for years now, and then out of nowhere comes this blonde haired, golden eyed, super attractive guy that just so happens to coincidentally be named Bill? Two plus two equals four, bro bro." My head snapped back up as I looked over at her, my voice laced with both shock and confusion, "Wait, what do you mean you've known I had a thing for him?" She walked over and took up the seat next to mine, that signature grin on her face the entire time, "How do I put this? You uhm…you talk a lot in your sleep." What? What did she mean by…? And then it clicked.
"Oh…OH." My face went beat red, and I immediately felt the need to look everywhere in the room but at her. "Yeah, didn't you ever wonder why I wanted to change rooms?" I had to admit, I did find it kind of strange that she was the one who asked Grunkle Stan if we could have separate rooms. But I mean, I completely agreed with her that we were getting too old to share, and I was going to mention it to him anyways, so I never really thought to ask her about it. "For a while I thought that it was probably just nightmares, after all that'd happened. But eventually I realized what was actually going on."
"Shit Mabel, I-I'm sorry, I didn't—" I stuttered out, clearly flustered by the new information that was being dropped on me, but she quickly cut me off, "No don't worry about it, seriously. As soon as I put it together I immediately talked to Grunkle Stan, so you didn't cause too much trauma." She laughed and nudged me playfully with her elbow, obviously enjoying messing with me, but I was absolutely mortified. She'd known this whole time about my thing for Bill, and not only that, but she knew that it was him right from the beginning. "Wait," A question suddenly popped into my mind, "If you knew it was Bill why didn't you say anything sooner, like when you two first met?" She chuckled, tilting her head to the side and giving me a look as if I were crazy, "Are you serious? Once I realized it was him, I wasn't gonna mess around with that. Who knows what he would have done if he knew I'd figured him out? So I just played along with it. Besides, I kind of just immediately assumed you two were, you know." She grinned and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, that playful tone in her voice that only managed to make my face heat up even more. I crossed my arms and turned away from her, huffing in both frustration and embarrassment. My twin sister, my own flesh and blood, knew that it was Bill the whole time and still took his side to gang up on me; I couldn't believe this. Well, I guess I could. It was Mabel after all.
"Hey, good morning you two!" I jumped, my body immediately going rigid at the sound of Ford's voice entering the kitchen. Mabel gave me a quick wink before jumping up and heading back over to the stove, "Good morning Grunkle Ford! I'm making us chocolate chip pancakes! Go sit, they should be ready any minute." He smiled and nodded before walking over to the table and taking up the seat next to mine, "How are you this morning Dipper?" I smiled back at him, but even to me it felt strained and nervous. Why the hell was I so on edge around him all of the sudden? The other day I would have jumped at the opportunity to tell him what was going on, but now it was like I was just really worried he was going to find out. I guess…maybe I didn't want him to. "Dipper, you alright?" The sound of my name being said once again dragged me out of my thoughts, and it wasn't until then that I realized I'd zoned out. "Oh, sorry Ford. Yeah I'm fine, just tired. Haven't really been getting much sleep the past few nights, you know?" He nodded, his attention thankfully turning to Mabel as she came over to set some pancakes down in front of us. I poured myself some juice, the sweet smell of chocolate wafting up and making me realize just how thirsty I was. We both thanked Mabel for the food, and she urged us to go ahead and eat while she continued to make more.
It was silent again after that, aside from the same soft sounds from before, now accompanied by silverware against plates and the occasional gulp of juice. "So," Ford suddenly spoke up between mouthfuls of pancake, "I hear that your boyfriend's been staying with us. When do I get to meet him?" I nearly spit out the orange juice I'd just so happened to take a drink of, instead settling on forcing it down and nearly chocking to death in the process. What the hell was I supposed to say? How was I going to respond to that? Of course Ford was going to want to meet him, so how was I supposed to tell him he couldn't? What excuse could I possibly come up with? These questions and many others were suddenly clouding my mind, making it nearly impossible for me to think straight and come up with a solution. Luck, however, was definitely on my side, because right then Stan decided to make his appearance as he waltzed in through the doorway. "What's cookin' Mabel?" He strolled up, peering over her shoulder in curiosity before coming to sit next to Ford. He caught him up in a conversation, which was enough to seemingly make him forget his question, thank god. I knew that this was something I was going to have to deal with eventually, but now was just not the time for it.
After making sure that there were enough pancakes for all of us, Mabel eventually came to sit, as well. We all fell into the regular daily chatter, each enjoying our delicious breakfast, and all of my nerves and thoughts finally seeming to settle into a comfortable sense of complacency. Ford tried several more times to bring up Bill, but if Mabel wasn't distracting him then it seemed that Stan took it upon himself, instead. I had to admit, I was getting very lucky with this whole thing; Mabel of course knew, but Stan was helping me as well, even if he didn't realize what he was doing. As we helped clean up the dishes and everything afterwards, it seemed as though I could finally rest easy. For the moment, at least. Stan and Ford were heading out into town, and Mabel was going to pick up Candy from the airport, so it looked like I was finally going to have the house to myself for a little while. Actually to myself. I walked back up to my room, hearing the front door close and the sound of cars starting outside shortly after. What was I going to do now that I was actually alone? I didn't really know, to be honest. I simply stood in the middle of the room and stared off into space for what felt like forever, my mind seeming to shut down and go numb after all of the stress and anxiety it was being put through. Maybe that's what I needed: to just relax.