Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"That dam demon!" Mabel hissed as she plopped down on the bed. Dipper sat next to her and pulled her legs onto his lap. He removed her shoes and high socks. The female twin relaxed slightly as her brother began to massage her feet.

“If I have to chase his ass down one more time- ugh! I am too tired to think of a proper punishment.”

“Relax, Sister Of Mine, we did well. William is chained up in the basement where he belongs.”

Dipper was exhausted as well, but he did not wish to reveal that to his sister. While Mabel tracked Will down by foot, he was doing spellwork in the mansion. He had to juggle several different enchantments as he had to locate the demon, bind his powers, and keep in contact with his twin mentally all at once. It would not have been so difficult if Will had not been magically counteracting his every move the entire time. Luckily Mabel found him and was able to land a blow. That opened up an opportunity for Dipper to finish the job and Mabel managed to drag him back.

“That was far too close.” Mabel muttered; she seemed to already be falling asleep.

Dipper hummed in agreement. They had worked far too hard to enslave that demon to let him escape, but keeping him contained was difficult. If the demon managed to slip away within the next few days, Dipper doubted he would be able to successfully do the enchantments again. His magic was drained and needed a few days to recover. They needed to figure out a new way to keep the demon under control, something more long term…..

Chapter Text

Every breath he took seemed ragged. Mabel must have broken one of his ribs in his last punishment, which made it hurt to breathe. He wished he could slip away from this body and away from the pain that seemed to come from everywhere. In this moment he wanted nothing more than to return to his true form and rest in the dreamscape while this body healed itself. But the twins had made his own body a prison; he was trapped in human thanks to several binds and curses. Even though it still repaired itself, he still had to sit through every agonizing second.

He could practically hear his brother telling him “I told you so.” Will loved Bill and deep down he knew Bill felt the same. Despite the fact that they had the same amount of power, the pair could not be more different. Bill . Bill liked to be cruel and manipulative and liked taking things over. Meanwhile, Will liked to help people and make new friends. Bill always said he needed to toughen up or he would regret it. As Will looked down at his shackles, he realized perhaps the other dream demon was right.

Will flinched as he heard the basement door open. His heart started to pick up pace as he could only dread whatever was to come next. He could not handle anymore torture. He thought Mabel had tired herself out already for the night. Yet to his surprise it was the male twin that came in. That was odd, normally only Mabel came down to the basement. Which was when she either wanted to ‘play’ or punish him, both were just different forms of tourture. Dipper on the other hand Will only saw when he was upstairs serving him or helping him with magic studies. Otherwise he seemed to avoid him as much as possible.

"Master?" He asked, his head tilted in confusion.

Dipper walked up to him and bent down in front of Will. Will tried not to flinch away from him and avoided eye contact. He prayed to ciphers everywhere that whatever was about to happen to him would be over quickly.

A glass of water and a small white pill was placed in front of him.

"Take it." Dipper ordered.

"What?"

Suddenly Dipper forcefully grabbed Will's chin and yanked Will up. He was only a few inches close to his Master's face before the shackles refused to let him go any farther. It hurt his shoulders and wrists, but he knew better than to say anything. Instead he looked into the icy blue eyes ahead of him.

"For the pain." Dipper stated before he let go and Will fell back onto the ground. The magician was gone before Will had a chance to ask more questions.

Despite his confusion, he did not want to risk getting punished for being obedient. He took the small pill in his mouth and washed it down with water.

It was only a short while later did he start to feel the effects. The pain had numbed almost completely, but it left him feeling slow and foggy. While the sensation was definitely strange, it was far from unpleasant. He knew his worries and anxieties were still there, but it was as if a wall between him and them. His fears were not bothering him in the moment. For the first time in a long while, he seemed content. It was not long before he shifted into unconsciousness.
……..
By the next morning his wounds had all healed and he was good as new. Well, as good as a demon could be when he was enslaved to a pair of wicked twins. Still, it was nice that he did not have to sit in pain all night.

The question was why did Dipper Gleeful bring him something to help him. While the male seemed a lot less aggressive than Mabel, Dipper was far from kind. He was clever and only did something if it would benefit him and his sister. Why was the boy being kind to him? What was his game plan?

He pondered that while he finished his morning chores and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the twins. While he was new to all this cleaning stuff, he had always had an interest in cooking. Cooking had all the magic of alchemy, but could bring joy in a way gold never could. Besides, the twins always seemed in a slightly better mood when he cooked their favorites. He hummed slightly as he cooked; sweet crepes with strawberries and cream cheese for Mabel and simple eggs and toast for Dipper.

He finished cooking and brought breakfast to the dining room. Despite the fact that the dining table was rather long, the twins always sat on one side next to each other instead of on opposite ends. He placed their plates in front of them when he thought he caught sight of Dipper smiling at him. He stared at a moment and there was in fact a smile on his lips. Dipper seemed to look at him with an almost fond expression. It warmed his heart a bit, but once Dipper caught him staring the smile slipped away.

“You may be excused.” Dipper said bluntly.

WIll quickly rushed out of the room; not too fast as he did not want to seem like he was running away. Dipper smiled at him, a smile. It had been months since someone had looked at him like that. After being enslaved, the smallest gesture meant the world. Perhaps this meant- No. Dipper Gleeful was a wicked human. He literally tricked Will into being a slave, he bound Will’s powers multiple times, and he let his sister torture the demon. A few random moments of kindness was not gonna change that.

Will returned to the kitchen. He glanced at the clock and realized he was slightly ahead of his chores. That meant he had a bit of free time left to do what he wished. He could not exactly leave the mansion, considering he lost those rights after his last escape attempt. Perhaps he could finish his night chores now and be able to retire early after he served the twins dinner. Unless of course Mabel wanted to ‘play.’ Baking was always an option.

Will decided that he wanted to make muffins. Athleast that would get his mind off the mess his existence had become. He hummed as he mixed the ingredients and even decided to add some fresh blueberries from the enchanted garden in the mansion grounds.

He made that decision because he thought blueberry muffins would be tasty and absolutely not because he knew that blueberries were Dipper Gleeful’s favorites. The thought of the smile from breakfast certainly did not linger in his mind as he stirred the batter. While the muffins were baking, he surely did not dwell on how grateful he was that he got to get a good night sleep thanks to that pill. Once the muffins were done he chose to brew Dipper’s favorite tea because they would go good with the blueberries and definitely not because if he made the tea he might as well bring some to DIpper. He slowly brought a platter of tea and muffins up to the study and he absolutely certainly surely definitely was not so affection starved that he was desperate for even a chance of having Dipper look at him like that again.

He took a deep breath and knocked on the study door.