Chapter Fifteen

Dipper rolled onto his side, then after a few moments, willed himself to open his eyes. It was dark, although he could tell by the decent amount of light coming through his window that it wasn't all that late yet. Dipper sat up, rubbing his eyes. What time was it? He reached towards his nightstand and grabbed his phone. The backlight was a bit harsh on his eyes when he turned it on, but that only bothered him for a few seconds. 6:18 pm. So at least he hadn't slept the entire day away.

...Wait.

He couldn't recall falling asleep that day, much less in his own bed. And where was...? Dipper's eyes widened, and relief crashed into him harder than a tidal wave. He got out of bed, not bothering to mess with his tousled hair or putting on his glasses. He pocketed his phone, then made his way downstairs, where he could hear voices. He stepped into the living room and Mabel immediately greeted him from her place on the couch, grinning from ear to ear. "Hey, broseph! I was just explaining to Soos and Melody our whole 'we have a demon in our house that wanted to murder us ten years ago but now kinda really likes us' situation," she said cheerfully. Seriously, Dipper was beginning to think Mabel could make anything sound fun or happy.

He nodded, looking over at Soos and his girlfriend. "And uh..." He rubbed the back of his neck, a somewhat embarrassed look on his face. "How's that going over?"

Soos just shrugged, glancing between the brunette and Bill, who sat on the couch beside Mabel. "Dude, I think I'm less surprised you started dating a triangle with anger issues, and more surprised you actually got over your huge crush on Wendy," he admitted, looking like he really wasn't fazed by the situation at all. Bill snorted at the description Soos had referred to him with, but otherwise stayed silent. Dipper felt the tips of his ears start to burn and he threw his arms up in the air.

"Seriously, am I ever going to live that down?" he asked with a loud huff, lowering his hands and pinching the bridge of his nose. "I dated like... seven people before Bill. None of them being Wendy," he pointed out, leaning back against the wall.

Mabel scoffed, her eyes narrowed and twinkling mischievously. "I mean, the first few were red heads, bro-bro." She tapped her chin, deep in thought by the look of her. "And... Seven? It was three last time you were in Gravity Falls."

Dipper attempted to keep a straight face, but it was difficult while he was being stared at by so many people. He felt he may just crack beneath their gazes. At least, until Bill realized this and jumped to his rescue.

"Ohhh, I get it." He laughed. "I was right on the money with experimentation then, eh Pine Tree?" he questioned, crossing a leg over the other and leaning his head onto his hand.

Or not. Dipper supposed getting 'rescued' in this situation was beyond him when it came to the blonde. His face flushed entirely and his shoulders went rigid. "Since when was that any of your business?!" he exclaimed defensively. Bill's smirk spread wide across his face and it seemed the two were about to begin yet another one of their petty arguments. That, of course, never ceased to entertain Mabel, who looked on jubilantly.

But Melody appeared less than giddy over all this, and possibly even a bit confused. "Uhh...? Is anyone actually even worried about the demon in our house, or is this pretty much normal for you guys?" she asked, raising a hand up a bit to gain the attention of the other people in the room.

Soos shrugged, smiling in his usual aloof manner. But Mabel seemed to have a real answer. Or at least, somewhat of a real answer. "Basically. We're not really surprised about anything anymore." She giggled, a hand over her mouth. "It''s a wonder you still react to it, actually."

Melody still didn't seem very happy about the whole thing. "Soos, if he really is the triangle guy you told me about, th-"

Bill interrupted with a wave of his free hand. "The one and only," he chirped with eyes that seemed to stare right into her. His presence and his strangely intense gaze were things the others had grown accustomed to. But the things most considered endearing, Melody seemed to find somewhat unnerving.

She chose to ignore his outburst and continue. "Then I don't think I'm comfortable with him being here..." She rubbed one of her arms, glancing away from the demon's eyes, which stared blankly at her, almost as if in annoyance. "Dipper, you can do whatever you want and all, but this seems a bit extreme, don't you think?"

Dipper opened his mouth to respond, but he was speechless. Before right then people had reacted pretty well to Bill's new form. Even Ford's reaction had been a fraction as angry as Dipper had thought it would've been. Of course, realistically, he shouldn't have come to expect such things. Most people would have agreed with Melody. At least, most normal people.

It just happened that about ninety percent of Dipper's friends and family weren't really normal people.

"Well, we could always find a place of our own, kid," Bill pointed out in his usual nonchalant manner, not quite taking in the seriousness of what he'd said. Or maybe he had, and simply didn't care. It was difficult to tell with Bill. Mabel squealed and Dipper remained silent, staring at him with wide eyes. A few seconds ticked by way too slowly, and he stammered for a response. Bill just blinked his yellow eyes, which Dipper noticed right then had gray rims around them from his last black out. "It wouldn't really be all that hard. Gold, remember?" the blonde went on with a shrug, pointing at the eye hidden beneath his bangs.

Dipper didn't have the heart to choke out whatever inarticulate, stuttering response came to mind. He just had to nod his head and hope that got the point across. And it seemed to do so just fine. Bill scoffed at him, turning his head to look at Melody again. "I'll be out in two weeks. Until then, I'll stay out of your sight," he said with a grin, glancing at Dipper. "Maybe it'll even be sooner, I don't know. I'm making assumptions on the whole 'moving' thing, since I have no prior knowledge on the subject and Pine Tree can't seem to untangle his tongue at the moment."

At that, Mabel snorted with laughter, raising her brow at her brother. Dipper simply glared, but after a few moments, he brought himself to look at Melody and Soos instead. "On second thought, Bill can go on his own," he said crossly, folding his arms over his chest. He was being facetious, of course. He couldn't really leave Bill on his own to run rampant through the town, nor would he, for the sake of his own peace of mind. There were always a couple vacant houses in town, and Dipper was far from worried about not being able to find a good one in the amount of time Bill had promised. His real worry was that the blonde simply couldn't function as a human being without him. Hell, he barely knew how to navigate the grocery store.

Bill made a dissatisfied sound from his place on the couch, utterly offended. "Hey!" he exclaimed, watching Dipper turn to go back towards the stairs. He practically jumped up to follow after the brunette. "You can't do that!" he called, unable to see the huge, smug grin on Dipper's face.

"Sure I can," Dipper cooed, feeling rather proud of the fact that he could get to Bill just as easily as Bill got to him.

Bill grumbled to himself, collapsing on the couch Dipper had helped him push against the wall. As of right then, moving was the most tedious and boring thing he'd done as a human. By far.

He could hardly imagine taxes.

Well, Bill technically wasn't a registered citizen, so he wouldn't actually have to worry about it. Hell, he practically didn't exist. His name wasn't in any of the world's databases - besides maybe whatever research Ford had recorded of him in a personal computer. He had no identification, no legal rights. Did laws even really apply to a person without a background? The blonde gave that a moment to sink in.

In thinking about it, he probably should've been worried.

Regardless, he didn't let it bother him too much. He just leaned back on the couch and tried to get comfortable where he sat. Besides, it wasn't like Stan wouldn't make him a fake ID if it ever became necessary. So who cared? He was more worried about being exhausted from moving everything and bored of listening to Dipper get annoyed with him all day. Though in retrospect, he should've predicted his boyfriend would react badly to constant inuendos and obnoxious singing the entire afternoon. But he had to liven things up somehow. He'd been in danger of becoming brain dead from all the monotonous busy work he'd been subjected to.

Dipper emerged from the other room, staring down at a yellow pad of paper through the frames of his glasses, concentrated. He was chewing on the end of a blue ink pen, a habit he'd long given up on getting rid of. He sat down beside Bill, propping his feet up on the armrest and leaning his back on the blonde's shoulder. "Guess we're finished," he said, sounding just as beat as his boyfriend was. He pulled the pen from his mouth and pressed it against the paper, scrawling down a sentence or two. Bill hummed at that, craning his neck to see what was being written, but as soon as Dipper noticed he lifted a hand up to push the demon's face away. "Nope," was all he responded to him with, lowering his arm once again to go back to what he'd been doing. Bill chuckled at Dipper's insistence on secrecy, shifting to coil his arms around the other and pull him closer.

He buried his nose into Dipper's hair, smiling softly. It wasn't often he ever got to be so openly loving towards the brunette, considering the fact that he preferred such things to be private most of the time and Ford hadn't given them any space for privacy since he'd gotten back. So this was.. nice. "How far along is the book, nerd?" Bill questioned without any of his typical cynicism, closing his eyes and enjoying the feeling of warmth between the two of them.

Dipper brought his legs closer to his body, sitting the paper against them as he wrote. "About halfway. Maybe a bit longer," he replied, fidgeting a little to get comfortable. He didn't bother reacting to being called a nerd. He was pretty well used to it, and it was admittedly kind of cute the way Bill only acted this way when the two were on their own anyway. So he simply let it slide. "Not counting all the editing and additional bits I'll probably put in if it needs something more." There was a short moment of silence before he gave a shrug. "I'm just kinda rolling with what I'm given."

Bill laughed quietly at that, pressing his forehead against the brunette's shoulder. "Oh yeesh. Should I be worried?" he asked jokingly, smirking to himself.

Dipper raised a brow at that, letting his head roll to the side and rest against Bill's. He'd never say it aloud, but he'd always quite enjoyed it when Bill tossed away his pride for two seconds to act like they were actually a goddamn couple. Doing nice or affectionate things without any motive to 'move things to the bedroom' so to speak. "It's not like I'm going to kill you off or anything," he mused, raising his free hand to run through light blonde hair gently. Bill chuckled at his remark, and there seemed to be no sarcasm within it. Dipper let his eyes fall closed. He hadn't been this relaxed in a while, and being with the demon on days he wasn't feeling particularly annoying was always nice. It seemed to always serves as a bit of a reminder just how much the two of them actually liked each other when they weren't going to war over unimportant things. Dipper sighed quietly to himself. How on earth had he managed to fall so far for someone like Bill?

God, he'd never be able to comprehend that.

Although, he was strangely content with it.

"This is weird," he finally said, clicking the pen in his hand a few times before sitting it down on his notepad. Dipper of course had no complaints about any of this, but it all just seemed so out of place, despite his comfort. His other hand lowered to his side.

Bill lifted his head, brows furrowed in interest, though he seemed puzzled as well. "Weird?" he questioned, eyes full of curiosity.

Dipper hummed. "Weird." He looked down at his own writing for a moment, then back up. "Haven't you noticed how there's always something going wrong?" he asked, though he felt that could have been worded a bit more eloquently.

There was a short moment of silence before the blonde scoffed. "That's kind of a normal day for us, kid," he retorted, smiling like he found Dipper's revelation amusing. But he supposed he knew that wasn't what the brunette had meant entirely.

Dipper shook his head, seemingly a little irritated. "No- I mean.." He stopped and thought about it before going on and making a fool of himself. "The nightmares, the panic attacks, the threats, all of it. They're always happening."

Bill frowned. "Yeah. And?"

Dipper gave an exasperated sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "But they haven't been," he went on, letting his head fall back onto Bill.

"Isn't that a cause for celebration?" the demon asked. He didn't feel like addressing what he was painfully aware his boyfriend was getting at.

Dipper exhaled, his frustration evident. "It hasn't been happening since your last episode," he finally hissed out, forcing the conversation into a corner in which things had to be revealed.

Bill groaned loudly, annoyed. "Kid, am I not allowed to have secrets anymore?" He was obviously avoiding the question, but he didn't care much. Dipper's expectations of his integrity were unrealistic, and he had to know that.

Of course he did.

He simply didn't care. "No," the brunette said matter-of-factly. "We made a deal, and I shouldn't have to constantly remind you of it."

Muttering to himself, Bill unwound his arms from around Dipper, which was a little disappointing, but the brunette didn't show it. He closed his notebook and pushed the pen over his ear so he didn't lose it, pushing himself to the other side of the couch. He twisted himself around to face Bill, an expectant expression on his face. The simper he wore was obnoxiously cute, and the blonde had to bite his tongue to keep from pointing that out. He was being interrogated, after all. "Look, she offered me a deal and I didn't take it. It really was that simple," he admitted with a soft huff, shrugging his shoulders. He purposely left out the fact that he'd nearly taken her offer. Dipper didn't need to know that. It was a mistake he'd not make again, so he didn't feel the need to worry about it.

"I can't really imagine why she's stopped bothering us lately. Maybe it's to lull us into a false sense of security. But regardless of her reasoning, she's running low on time," Bill continued, his voice a bit less pitched than it usually was. He supposed that was because he actually felt like he could be at peace for more than twenty seconds. It was pleasant, despite the fact that Dipper was looking at him with genuine worry. "We just need to fight her off a little bit longer. Once the Nightmare Realm collapses entirely, then she's done for and we can stop being so on edge all the time," Bill said, smiling in a strangely sympathetic manner.

Dipper tipped his head to the side in thought. "Yeah..." he responded blankly, too deep in his own mind to contribute much more to the conversation. He shook his head, then brought his gaze back upwards. Bill seemed so confident and sure of things, but his still fading eye color went against his word. The gray rings around cattish yellow irises seemed less than reassuring. Their glow had all but faded, and they'd long ceased to be so gorgeously bright in the dark. It didn't feel to Dipper that those eyes belonged to Bill anymore, which in itself was unfortunate. They were far from ordinary, of course. How many people walked around with naturally starry eyes in the first place?

No one but Bill.

That was actually somewhat saddening to think about. If he even survived the gradual loss of his abilities, he'd continue to live with eyes drained completely of color. It seemed like a small sacrifice in the long run, but...

It didn't feel like one.

Bill scoffed, a sideways grin on his face. "Take a deep breath, Pine Tree," he soothed, hearing all the brunette's fears being voiced aloud in his head. Dipper did as he was told, looking down at his hands, which clutched his notepad a bit harder than he'd realized prior. He eased his grip up some, swallowing the desire to ask if Bill was only acting level headed to keep Dipper from losing himself. The blonde sighed at all of the anxiousness practically radiating off of his boyfriend, pushing himself forward to lean close to Dipper. The two were just about nose to nose when he stopped. "Listen," Bill drawled in as comforting a manner he could manage, his tone low. He tilted his head to the side and pressed his lips against Dipper's, eyes fluttering shut. The brunette seemed to ease into the kiss without complaint, unwinding enough to tear his hands away from his notepad and wrap them around Bill's shoulders.

When the demon broke away, Dipper seemed at least quite a bit calmer than he'd been. Bill's expression was content, and that was enough right then. There was plenty of time for worry, but little for this. The blonde laughed softly, absorbed in the light blush he'd painted on Dipper's face.

"I'm gonna be alright."