"Pine Tree" Dipper turned his head and raised a brow at the triangle floating down the hall after him "Can we talk?"
Dipper stopped, turning to face the other and leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest
"Whats up?"
"What's up?" he asked incredulously "What's up?" he threw his hands up in exasperation "Don't you play dumb with me, Dipper Pines!"
Dipper flinched back slightly when Bill was suddenly human and the demons glare was directly meeting his gaze, but he was determined not to back down. All he did in response was raise an eyebrow at the demon
"What are you talking about?"
Bill's eyes flashed red and he shoved Dipper against the wall, a hand balled up in his shirt holding him against the surface, the other hitting the wall beside his head, earning a surprised noise from the teenager. They glared defiantly at one another, and Dipper was the first to look away
"I know you" Bill hissed "And I know that promise you made to Stanford didn't mean anything" his grip on Dipper's shirt tightened "Don't you dare go into the forest after that- that- that thing!"
Dipper pushed on his shoulders in an attempt to get the demon to back off, but his attempt failed, and he was left with his hands on the demons shoulders, still glaring burningly at him
"You aren't the boss of me, Bill! Somebody needs to find out what that thing is-!"
"That doesn't mean it should be you! And that doesnt mean you should go alone!" he snarled back
Neither noticed Pacifica step into the hallway, her gaze falling upon them, eyes widening in shock before she turned and bolted back into the room and closed the door. Dipper scoffed and turned his head away for a moment
"I can't let it get to Grunkle Stan! Or Mabel! Or Pacifica! Or-" he faltered and met Bill's gaze "Or you" he used Bill's surprise to his advantage and harshly shoved the demon, whom stumbled back, allowing Dipper to tear himself free and start off down the hall once again.
"I can take care of myself, Pine Tree! You don't always have to be the hero!"
"You don't even know what this thing is, Bill-"
"Neither do you!" he cried, eyes flashing a brilliant red once more
"I'm not taking that risk! Not with you, or Mabel, or anybody!" he hissed back "This is what I'm good at-"
"You're good at what you know!" he was grabbed once more, this time Bill's hands were holding Dipper's wrists "You know everything in the Journals. This thing isn't in the Journals, Dipper, and that makes this a very dangerous situation. After all I've done for you, and how close we've become, do you really think I'm just going to let you march off to what might be your death!?"
"And it might not be my death!" Dipper argued
"I'm not letting you take that risk, Dipper!" he snapped back
Pacifica peeked out the door once more for a moment before turning to Mabel
"So, are those two..?" she trailed off and raised a brow
"Doing the horizontal monster mash?" Mabel finished with a grin, shrugging her shoulders and peeking out the door
"Yeah" Pacifica agreed "Are they?"
"Probably" she nodded. Her grin widened when Bill shook Dipper back and forth before shoving him into the wall, which prompted Dipper to shove him back "I lied, I'm going to say yes"
Pacifica wrinkled her nose
"Jeeze, you can almost feel the sexual and romantic tension between them" she huffed and glanced down at Mabel, whom was on her knees below Pacifica, still peeking out the door and watching the boys "They need to talk"
"Hey!" Mabel yelled, drawing the attention of the two boys "You two should kiss and make-up! It's not good to fight with your boyfriend!"
With that she grabbed Pacifica and whisked her back into the room, closing the door as Dipper let out a frustrated screech of her name.
"Any luck?" Stanford asked as the group met up in front of the Shack
Mabel shook her head
"I spoke with Toby and Bud but they said they hadn't seen anything"
"Neither have Bud, Toot Toot, Shandra or Manly Dan" Dipper sighed, shooting a glare at the triangle on his shoulder
"Same verdict on Wendy, her brothers, and my parents" Pacifica admitted
"And Lazy Susan didn't know anything either" Stan kicked the ground and huffed out a groan "Alright. We tried enough for today, anyways. We're already running later than we said we would, so let's open the shack and forget this nonsense until tonight"
Everyone let out mumbles of agreement and the ground wandered into the Shack, Pacifica stationing herself behind the counter, and Mabel readying herself to take a group of tourists on a tour through the Shack. Stan ruffled her hair as he passed
"I'll switch out with you around 4, okay sweetie? That's when Dipper can switch with Pacifica"
"Sound's good, Grunkle Stan" Pacifica agreed, leaning on the counter with a sigh
Stan flicked the 'Closed' sign to 'Open' and offered what he hoped was a comforting smile before he made his way into the living room and took a seat in his recliner. His gaze flicked to the Journals by his chair and with an aggravated groan he reached over and grabbed one, decided to look through it once more
It was an hour later when Dipper wandered into the room, Bill following closely behind. The teenager sat on the rug in front of his Grunkle and grabbed a journal, barely making it in two pages before Stan looked up at him
"Did you already try the blacklight?"
"Uh" he thought for a second "Yeah. I know there's nothing in Journal 3, I scoured that when I was a kid. As far as I know theres nothing of relevance to our situation in the other journals either"
"Can I borrow your blacklight?" He asked "I'll double check, just in case one of us overlooked a tiny detail somewhere"
"Yeah, sure" he nodded his head and stood, smacking Bill in the face with the open Journal as he passed, chuckling when he heard the demon cursing after him.
Ten minutes and a fall down the stairs later, Stanford had the blacklight and was looking through the Journal in his lap, eyes taking in every small detail, absorbing information that he hoped would eventually be of use.
"Okay Dip, your turn" Pacifica interrupted the study session a few hours later, stretching her arms above her head and letting out a satisfied sigh when her back cracked
"Alright" he got to his feet and Pacifica took his spot on the floor
"Cipher, can you take my tour shift please?" Stanford asked "I think I'm onto something"
Bill didn't say a word, but stood and followed Dipper into the giftshop, taking the fez from Mabel when she passed him. Dipper wandered behind the counter and, seeing no tourists that wanted to be shown around, Bill took a seat on it, facing the teenager.
"Whats wrong with you?" He asked, raising a brow
"Just... Thinking about this stupid werewolf thing" he admitted after a pause, looking up to meet Bill's gaze. The demon was silent, as if waiting for Dipper to continue, and the brunette sighed "I'm going into the woods, Bill. But if you aren't going to let me go alone, then will you come with me?"
Bill visibly brightened
"Well, that's more like it, Pine Tree" he chirped "But I don't know, you were awfully mean to me the other day" Dipper sighed heavily and Bill held out a hand "I'll go with you if you make me that really good but really expensive Mac and Cheese for dinner" blue flames engulfed his hand
Dipper raised a brow
"Really? A Deal?" when Bill only shrugged Dipper sighed "fine" he nodded, taking the demons hand and shaking it, shivering as blue fire spread up his arm
Bill smirked and hopped off the counter, heading toward the group of tourists that had just entered, winking at Dipper before he left
"We're in business, Pine Tree" he purred before hurrying off
Dipper swallowed, suddenly fearing what he had just agreed to.