Dance Magic Dance

Dipper became very invested in his new vigilante mission over the weekend. Tracking down the scum of the Earth and killing them was very satisfying. He even made a journal for the purpose of keeping track of who he has eliminated.

It made his weekend fly by, and soon it was Monday again. Bill had routines planned for magic shows, and proudly donned a bright yellow tailcoat, along with a black top hat and bow tie, which was highly reminiscent of his demon form. That was probably on purpose.

Dipper had to admit, he looked great in it, though. He ran his hands along the sleek fabric over Bill's shoulders as he leaned up to kiss him and wish him luck, promising that he would stop by to see the shows whenever he could.

"Do I look like a magician?" Bill asked, giving a small twirl. The glittery gold cape he was wearing flared out around him as he did. Dipper couldn't help but wonder where he even got that thing.

"Heh, Bill..." Dipper pressed a kiss to his cheek. "With that fierce eyeliner, you look like a sorcerer."

"Good." Bill pulled away from him. "I'm gonna go get things set up. Good luck with the next tour."

"Thanks."

Bill went down the hall, and Dipper headed for the gift shop. He greeted Melody, who was talking to Soos while waiting for the Shack to open. She waved him over.

"Dipper, check it out!" She put her hands on her round belly. "She's kicking!"

Dipper usually had zero interest in feeling it whenever a pregnant woman announced that her baby was kicking. But he liked Melody, so he was curious. He walked over, hand hovering hesitantly over her stomach.

"Go ahead, right here." She took his hand and pulled it down onto the bump.

He swallowed, pressing a little more firmly as he stood still, waiting expectantly. Then there was a small impact against his palm, and he looked up to see Melody beaming.

"Did you feel that?"

"Yeah, I did," he replied, lifting his hand so Soos could feel. "She's gonna be a handful."

"Oh, I know... I hope we can keep up with her."

"She won't be walking for a while," Dipper reminded them. "By then, you'll probably be used to running around."

They laughed, and Dipper checked his watch before going over to flip the sign to Open. The first tour started in ten minutes, but there was no one outside yet. Wondering if the novelty has worn off already, he returned to the counter. He didn't blame people for not wanting to come out here, really. It was pretty cold today. And it was probably gonna start raining too.

However, a few people came in at the last minute, and he went to welcome them. They looked around and then asked him about the magic show.

"Well, the first show is at nine. But in the meantime, I could take you guys on a tour."

"Does that cost extra?" one asked.

"Um..." Dipper had to do some math. "You can pay for both a tour and a show together, and it's cheaper than doing it separately... or you can just pay for the show and wait for it I guess. Just the magic show is $15 plus tax, and then if you want the tour before it'll be $30. A tour alone is $20. So you save five dollars."

"Well, we're already here I guess," one of the other guests said, and dug out their wallet.

Dipper directed them to Melody, who took their debit cards and got tickets for them. Soos went ahead and left for his daily chores as Dipper led the tourists out.

They were politely interested in everything he showed them, but he could tell they were looking forward to seeing "Mr. Cipher's Magical Mysteries" (the name made Dipper roll his eyes hard but it got people's attention).

He was glad to drop the group off back inside, only to find that more visitors had shown up while he was out, all buying tickets to see the show.

"Damn, Bill already has enough of an ego problem," Dipper muttered to Melody, who giggled. "When he sees how many people want to see him, he's gonna get a god complex."

"Pretty sure he already has one," she replied.

"This is gonna exacerbate it." Dipper sighed, and then addressed the visitors. "All right, everyone who wants to see Mr. Cipher? Follow me." He led them outside and around to the entrance to the large exhibit room, and began checking people's tickets as he let them in. He smiled as he heard his partner enthusiastically greet them. This was Bill's element, really. The demon loved being the center of attention.

Once everyone was inside and seated, Dipper glanced in to watch. It wouldn't be time to start for a few minutes, so Bill was simply pacing in front of the curtain he had hung between two poles, set up in front of the stairs that led to the rest of the house. He wanted a stage, which Dipper promised they'd install once they got some more money. For now, the curtain worked to hide things until they were needed.

"Pine Tree, are you gonna stay and watch?" Bill asked as he fiddled with the snow white gloves he was wearing.

Dipper shrugged. "If there's no one out front, then yeah, I can stay."

"No one except people coming to see me," Bill replied.

At that moment, Dipper had to turn around to check someone's ticket before letting them in, to the awe of the audience, who clapped. Dipper shared an amused thought with Bill. People are so easily entertained.

I know, right? the demon agreed. Oh, nine o'clock. Show time.

Bill dramatically spread his arms and said, "Welcome to Mr. Cipher's Magical Mysteries! Thank you for attending my very first show here at the Mystery Shack! I hope you are looking to be amazed, because I am here to amaze you!" Wringing his hands, he separated them, his cane materializing beneath his fingers. He grasped it and gave it a swing. "Let's start the show off with something simple! Something fun for the kids, shall we?" He removed his hat as a table rolled out from behind the curtain. He first showed everyone the inside of the hat, then set it on the table, brim up.

Dipper knew what he was going to do already, able to hear Bill's thoughts through their link, but he continued to watch anyway. He didn't have anything better to do, and he wanted to support the other.

Bill tapped the hat with the curved end of his cane, said some nonsense words, and stepped back. A bunny popped its head up over the brim of the hat, nose twitching. Children cheered and cooed, and the older guests clapped politely. Couldn't go wrong with the classics.

The bunny hopped out of the hat and stood on the table, and Bill reached into the hat with his hand. He groped around for a while, pushing his entire arm in up to the shoulder, which caused some gasping. Everyone could clearly see under the table, yet the rest of his arm was nowhere to be seen.

Pocket dimensions, nice, Dipper thought.

Bill straightened up, removing his arm, now grasping the neck of a snake. A very long snake. A snake so long that he actually started backing up, pulling a few feet of reptile out of the hat before the end of the tail finally emerged. Once it was free, he draped the snake around his shoulders like a fashion accessory and posed, grinning as people took photos. There was cheering from the adults now.

Dipper could hear several wondering how Bill had done that. He could already tell this was going to be a great source of income. And Bill seemed to be having fun with it as well.

He left as Bill was transforming the snake into a glittery rope, going back around the Shack to check on the gift shop. There was no one except a few stragglers to the show, which he caught and checked for tickets before directing them on where to go. But no one else seemed to be waiting for a tour right now.

"Bill's pretty popular already," Melody commented, phone out. "I'm reading about what he's doing by someone who's live tweeting pictures Oh here's a good comment. #HotAndTalented and a bunch of x's and o's. Here's one who replied with a kissy face emoticon. Dipper, you better go let them know your man is taken."

"I don't care, let them dream. Even if someone tried to flirt, he'd turn them down. I don't need to worry about it." Dipper leaned against the counter, crossing his arms.

Melody prodded his cheek. "I know how jealous you get," she sang.

"Damn it, I know." Dipper uncrossed his arms. "Okay I'm gonna go catch the rest of the show."

"He's not gonna leave you for some random tourist, calm down," she called after him as he headed back for the door.

He entered the show room as Bill was doing a card trick of some sort while a young kid held another card excitedly. He shuffled them for much longer than necessary and gave them a few showy flips, before saying, "Is this your card?" and pulling one out seemingly at random.

The kid checked the card they were holding, then squealed and bounced up and down, nodding. Bill grinned and said, "Go ahead and sit down, thank you. No, you can keep that."

Dipper walked closer to watch as the kid ran to sit down. Bill noticed him, giving him a wink before continuing with his act. It was all fairly standard for a magic show, everything could probably be explained as tricks despite how Dipper knew Bill was doing it for real, but it was enjoyable to watch anyway.

And then they got to the end, when Bill called Dipper over for the grand finale. As soon as Dipper was close enough, the demon took his hand and spun him around, and for a few seconds, the two waltzed together, laughing and twirling. Then Dipper looked down to see that their feet had left the ground and they were dancing in the air. He looked up and met Bill's eyes, grinning as he took the lead, adding his own magic to help keep them levitating. As he turned the other around in a circle, his gold magic swirled softly around them, and a moment later, Bill allowed his magic to become visible as well, blue joining the gold.

Their audience was captivated, and several phones and cameras were up taking pictures and recording, but they didn't mind. Right now, they only had eyes for each other.

Eventually, they stopped, and Bill let go of Dipper's hand as the human stepped backward, still a few inches off the ground. Dipper bowed politely, and Bill curtsied, their feet finally returning to the floor.

As the crowd went wild with applause, Bill tugged the other over for a kiss. "We need to dance together more often," he murmured to him.

Dipper chuckled and rested his forehead against Bill's. "Yeah, we do," he agreed.