Chapter Text
“10!”
Dipper smiled widely as he counted down to the upcoming New Year with his best friends: Mabel, Soos, Wendy, and the new addition to the group, Bill. Sure, the two may have had conflicts when Dipper was younger, but they decided to put their rivalry behind them and start again; as good friends. They were all waiting for the fireworks display excitedly at the roof of the Mystery Shack, where the view of the sky was wide and clear.
“9!”
Mabel took the opportunity to hug her older twin and get all sappy. “I can’t believe another year passed by so quickly! I can’t wait to make more memories with you, bro-bro!”
Dipper, careful not to spill the drink he was holding, hugged her back and couldn’t resist getting mushy, either.
“8!”
“I’m just happy that even as we grow older every time, we never really drift away from each other, you know?” he replied, pulling away and scratching the back of his neck with his free hand awkwardly. Mabel giggled and gave him a playful punch on his arm.
“7!”
Dipper almost lost his balance and nearly spilled his drink in the process. He shot his sister a look, but it was a fond one. His lips curled into a smirk, and tried punching her back harder, but failed. Mabel laughed at his wimpiness, catching their friends’ attention.
“Aww, look at the two being all affectionate,” Wendy pointed out, adoring how the twins still care so much about each other after all these years. Soos nodded, and Bill just shrugged. It wasn’t new to him how the two acted, but the fact that they never get tired of worrying about each other fascinated him.
“6!”
Bill hasn’t really grasped the full concept of love, and why humans either have so much or so little of it. He was a dream demon, and as powerful and all-knowing as he is, he just doesn’t understand. He watched as the siblings separated and Dipper excused himself to go get some more pop.
“5!”
Bill kept his eyes on Dipper, focused on the lad’s actions. He always seemed to be intrigued with whatever his little Pine Tree did, no matter how ridiculous it got. Right now, he was more amused because Dipper seemed to space out and managed to pour too much soda in his cup, flooding the table, and spilling some of the liquid on himself. Bill snickered and made his way over to him to help clean the mess up.
“4!”
“Hey!” Bill shouted as he finally reached the table, patting the brunet’s back a little too harshly. Dipper, for the second time in a row, staggered a bit, but kept his balance anyway. He didn’t respond, and just kept making a mess on the table. This made the demon scratch his head and wonder if the human in front of him was malfunctioning or something.
“3!”
Dipper stopped when he noticed that the bottle was already half empty. He put it down gently and slowly brought his hand up to his chest, gripping his shirt tightly. Bill noticed him breathing heavily and with difficulty. With every passing moment, Dipper was becoming more and more pale, and Bill decided to speak up.
“Pine Tree? What’s wrong?” he asked, confused.
“2!”
“It… hurts…” Dipper managed to whisper, feeling his chest grow tighter and tighter, the pain becoming more and more unbearable, until his body finally failed him. He felt himself grow heavy, and he screamed in pain before his head hit the table and knocked everything on it to the floor. Bill, in a state of panic and distress, caught him in his arms before he fell to the ground.
“1- oh my God Dipper!”
Fireworks finally exploded in the distance, the colourful streaks of light illuminating the dark night sky. It was a shame; it was such a marvelous sight, and Dipper had been waiting for a year to celebrate with all of his old best friends. Bill stared at the seemingly lifeless boy in front of him, and felt his heart ache at the sight. He saw that the boy’s head was bleeding, which caused him to worry even more.
“Bill! Thank God you caught him!” Mabel wailed, taking her brother from Bill’s arms. Soos arrived with an emergency kit and started to examine Dipper’s head. Wendy took a look as well, and Mabel was grateful when Soos said it was nothing serious and that he could treat the wound. Wendy offered to carry Dipper inside, and Mabel agreed. As they were all heading back, Bill was determined to find out what was wrong, not caring about the noise raging on outside.
“Hey, Shooting Star?” Bill said softly, not wanting to stress out the already sobbing girl any more. He tapped her shoulder lightly and she turned to face him, sniffling. “What happened to Pine Tree? Is he going to be okay?”
The two stopped walking when they reached the living room, and let Wendy and Soos go ahead to Dipper’s room to take care of him. Mabel tried her hardest to smile and tell him that he’s going to be fine, but all that came out were choked sobs and muffled words. Bill sighed and pulled her in for a hug, rubbing her back soothingly.
“Come on, let’s sit down.”
Bill led Mabel to the couch and comforted her. He made her look at him, and he wiped her tears away.
“I’m sure Dipper will be okay. He’s a strong guy, you know?” he assured her. The brunette pulled away and hesitated for a moment, and whispered something Bill couldn’t understand.
“If only you knew.”
The demon just respired, ignoring what Mabel had just said, and embraced her once more, trying his best to get the heavy feeling off their chests.
-----
2 hours later, after Dipper was finally treated, everyone said their greetings and goodbyes; all except for Bill.
“Don’t you have to be somewhere?” Mabel questioned, completely exhausted from crying. The weary blonde cocked an eyebrow at her, and she just shrugged. “Not to be rude or anything, sorry.”
“Forget about it. Do you mind if I sleep with Dipper tonight? I don’t want him to fall from his bed or something.”
Mabel snorted loudly.
“Sure you can,” she replied, her words laced with enough sarcasm to make the demon curious. Moments pass, and Bill made a face at her. Mabel smirked, knowing that he just read her mind, and was most definitely not amused with what she was thinking.
“I assure you, I do not ‘have the hots’ for your brother,” Bill quoted.
“Whatever,” Mabel said while yawning, dismissing him. “Good morning, and happy new year.”
“Morning,” Bill grumbled. He slowly walked over to Dipper’s room and opened the door quietly. It creaked the slightest bit, and Bill made a mental note to punch himself in the gut when he wakes the sleeping boy up. Thankfully, he didn’t, and he stealthily made his way to the bed. He saw the poor brunet’s bandaged head and pale, steady figure, and Bill wasn’t sure about what he was feeling.
What the hell was this emotion? He felt his heart constrict at the view in front of him, and he felt tears sting at the corner of his eyes. Seeing how Dipper had difficulty breathing, he couldn’t help but feel bad for him.
He wanted to take care of him. Luckily, Dipper’s bed was big enough to accumulate the two of them, and so Bill, ever so carefully, sat and lied down gingerly next to him, keen with his actions so he doesn’t cause too much noise and disturb the lad’s slumber. The brunet let out a light snore, and Bill chuckled, admiring the sleeping boy.
“I never cared this much before,” Bill whispered gently into the boy’s ear. He was completely aware that Dipper was asleep and most likely wouldn’t hear him, but he hoped that he will, anyway.
“What a way to welcome the New Year, huh?” he continued, yawning. “I didn’t expect that you’d go ahead and leave us all hanging like that, though.”
He was slightly taken aback when the lad moved his head a little and turned to his side, facing him. Dipper stretched his arms and was able to hold on to the blonde’s coat, trying his hardest to snuggle closer to him. Bill smiled fondly and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close and carefully stroking his bandaged head.
“You like being held, huh? How cute.”
Dipper exhaled sharply, as if he wanted to reply. Bill shook his head at the human, and decided to focus on what they were currently doing.
Cuddling, was it? He wasn’t entirely sure of the term, but he once overheard Pine Tree mention that he wanted to ‘cuddle’ with someone. Bill smiled at the thought of how Dipper was such a descriptive speaker, relishing the memory of him saying something like, pulling her close to me and feeling her warmth as we lay in silence, and such.
.
.
.
The demon’s eyes widened. Her?
Was he being weird? Are two men cuddling not normal? Should he even be this near to a man? What happens when Dipper wakes up? Is he going to freak out? What harsh things would he be saying if he did? Is he going to be mad? Should he be mad at himself for invading other’s personal space? Why was his stomach bothering him at a time like this? What was wrong with him? What the hell was he feeling? Why does Pine Tree still like the redhead, even though he knows that he’s absolutely got no chance with her? Why was he bothered with Dipper’s preference? Why was his head hurting?
As if reading Bill’s mind, Dipper let out a quiet groan and buried his face in the demon’s chest. The tired blonde sighed deeply and found himself smiling at the boy.
“Sorry,” Bill whispered, just as if Pine Tree would hear.
Another interesting thought popped up from Bill’s mind, from the memory of seeing the twins earlier. He decided to leave it, and just ask Dipper about it in the morning, or for when he wakes up.
“It's going to have to wait. Goodnight, Pine Tree, happy new year,” he murmured, before shutting his eyes and letting darkness take over, soon slipping into a dreamless sleep.