The One He Protected///Gravity Falls Fanfic///TW in desc.

Understanding Oddness

Sitting outside of his grunkle's lab was nerve-wracking as it could be.

It just got even more awkward, somehow, with Bill there.

The demon leaned on the wall behind him, staring ahead. Dipper eventually cleared his throat. "Uh... so..." He said, trying, and failing, to dissipate the discomfort.

Bill nodded, looking up and seeming to agree with or understand what I was attempting to say. "You really trust me? That I won't do something bad?" He asked.

Dipper was silent for a moment, contemplating his next words. Eventually, he said, "Yes." Bill seemed a bit shocked by that. "Why?"

"Mabel trusts you, and she usually can see the best in people. Honestly, I think she's right on this one." The boy said.

Bill smiled a bit, his eye lighting up a bit, which he managed to return.

Dipper cleared his throat again, looking ahead of him. "Can I ask why you care so much about Ida? She's a great kid, yea, but I think it's just... well, knowing you and what you've done, why was it her? What was it about her that made you... care?"

Bill felt the tension rising. He, too, looked ahead. The demon closed his eye, as if thinking that he could block it out. But, he truly couldn't. When he first saw her, there was just something so familiar to him. The hard shell that truly just needed love. The dazzling creativity and thirst for knowledge. The energy and true joy she managed to show. It all reminded him of...

He hugged his knees to his chest, burying his face in his arms.

Dipper quickly realized something, turning to the demon. "You had kids, didn't you?" He whispered, hardly able to breathe. Bill looked up and nodded. "Three wonderful boys..." He responded. His voice was weak. Reminiscent.

Dipper sat down, completely taken aback. "What were they like?" He asked, his gentle green eyes wide with shock. Bill looked up, his eye squinted as he attempted to remember anything. It was all so repressed and painful to think about. He could hardly even bring up his children's names.

"M-my oldest. He was a bit of a hard one to get to. Hardly came out of his room, and wasn't always nice to his brothers. My wife was always hard on him, but we loved him so, so much..." He whispered.

"Wife?" Dipper asked, trying to not be alarmed. Bill leaned back, nodding. "She was... amazing. I can't even say how much I adored her."

He rubbed his arms, trying to control his emotions. "My middle one, I found him on the streets. Just scooped him up and brought him home. Wise beyond his years, so helpful and fun to be around."

Bill managed a weak laugh, not wanting to start crying. "My youngest... my little one... complete sweetheart... clingy and loving, just wanting to make people happy." Any semblance of control over his emotions was shattered as tears began to fall down his face. "I miss them so, so much... I- I-... Holy Axolotl, what have I done?" He choked out a sob, burying his face in his hands.

Dipper was... startled, to say the least.

Seeing Bill Cipher cry was never something he expected to see. It was unreal and terrifying.

"Mason, I want them back. I-I do anything to get them back!" The demon cried. He looked up at the boy, as if he would, somehow, have an answer.

Dipper had none. He didn't even know what to say, much less give him a solution to the pain Bill was going through. Had always been going through.

Silently, he did all he really could do. He reached over and hugged the demon. It was strange to him. While he was running from Bill in the halls of his castle with his sister, he never thought he'd be embracing him.

Yet, here they were.

Wasn't that funny?