Misguided Adventures and Magical Attachments (Completed)

Chapter 19

"B-bill . . ." Dipper's consciousness faded slowly back into reality, their shared dream still fresh in his memory. "Mmm . . . Bill . . ." The boy drowsily opened his eyes, smiling down at the blond form on the floor. Morning light poured over him, making his hair shine golden, beautiful despite the wild style that came from a full night's sleep. Or a half night's sleep. They went to bed really  late. "G'morning, Bill."

The triangle slipped back into his vessel, opening its eyes and smiling for Dipper. "Morning." His body felt rested despite having gone to bed so late. He sniffed the air. "Mmm! Food!" The demon stood up and slipped on the eyepatch he usually wore.

Dipper got ready as well, donning his hat to cover up his own messy mane instead of combing it. He trotted over to the door once he was ready enough, not sparing a glance at what he knew was Mabel's empty bed. The air did indeed smell like breakfast, though with surprisingly less burn in the mixture. It was probably for a special occasion, seeing as . . . As . . . Ford's here now.

Dipper wanted to slap himself in the face for forgetting. He would have to come up with a plan to make sure Mabel and — actually, if anything, he would protect Bill, if not the world. He would just have to play it cool for the moment. "Are you feeling good?" he asked as he opened the door to head to the kitchen.

"Tip-top shape as ever!" Bill grinned, showing off his gleaming set of teeth. "Anyways, I'll need my own clothes so we're going gold digging! A while ago, before your existence, I had people bury their gold in various spots around this town. I can use that as money to buy whatever I might think to need!" He passed the boy, drawn by the scent of food.

"Oh, everything makes sense now," Dipper said amusedly, hopping down the steps after him. "I'm guessing you want some really nice stuff. And the dream was great. You're always full of surprises."

Bill hummed agreement and turned around suddenly to flick Dipper's pink nose. It caught the tween off guard and nearly startled him off the steps. "Surprise! Surprise!" he cracked up and hurried the rest of the way to the kitchen. Dipper stumbled after him, clearly flustered.

The former triangle didn't actually care if he was going to get into another argument once Ford saw him. All he wanted to do was eat human food a prove himself to be a "good guy". The old man was right to not trust him, but still. His act needed to be flawless.

It wasn't Ford at the table, though, nor was it Stan. It was Mabel. She sat in the booth seat that the twins usually ate at when they were having meals together, fully dressed in her usual garb, though covered in what looked to be food-colored flour. Waddles was chomping down sloppily on a rainbow pancake, ignoring the males as they walked in.

The girl looked up at them, expression still bearing a sort of distance that brought back recent struggles to the front of Dipper's mind. "Oh . . . It's you two. H-how did your dream meeting thing go?" She seemed to be in a strained mood but acted more friendly than her brother had expected.

"Good," Bill said simply and sat down a reasonable distance away from her. The demon smiled as he looked over at the food. "Time to taste some human nourishment!" He was obviously excited about eating. "Hey, Pine Tree!" Bill picked up a fork. "Remember this? I stabbed your arm with it back when you were my puppet!"

Dipper laughed nervously. "Y-yeah . . . I remember that." He looked over to the counter, where two equally colorful plates were waiting, warm and topped with sizzling bacon and substitute butter. "Did you make breakfast for us?"

Mabel nodded. "Well, those are for Grunkle Stan and Ford, but they didn't come to eat this morning for some wacky reason. They'll be cold if no one eats them, so I guess . . . you and Bill could have them."