Chapter Text
Bill’s wounds heal over the next few days. He gets better, in more ways than one. He no longer moves through the days on autopilot. Melody tries to make him take the next few days off, but he refuses, saying that he needs a distraction. She grumbles about it but lets him. Melody, understandably, watches him like a hawk. She fusses over his every move. He acts like he doesn’t like it, but he really doesn’t mind.
She deserves it after what he made her see. She never should’ve had to see that.
He sits at the dining table in the morning, after replacing his bandages.
Bill stares at the calendar on the wall in front of him. One day.
“You remember what I said, right?” Melody speaks from the stove.
He glances over at her, raising an eyebrow.
“ No making a scene. ”
Bill smirks. “You should know me by now.”
She huffs, rolling her eyes fondly.
Now, he isn’t going to purposefully make a scene. But, If Sixer starts it, then he has an excuse, right?
-
Ford breathes a sigh from the passenger seat of his brother's car. Looking out at the scenery of Oregon. At a point in his life, he never thought he’d be able to see Earth’s beauty ever again. He truly thought he would be stuck dimension hopping, in the loop of fighting Bill Cipher for the rest of his life. His only goal in the portal was to kill Bill Cipher. Ford guesses he never really did think of what came after.
But, for once in his life, he got lucky. Stanley, his brother who he had assumed he would stay estranged from, as his own ego got in the way of building that relationship back with him. Stanley had spent those 30 years trying to bring him back. That was his goal, and Ford doesn’t think Stan ever thought about what came after either.
As, of course, they immediately got back into old habits with one another. Being stubborn, spiteful, and resentful to one another.
Ford never stops thinking about that if Weirdmageddon never happened that they might have never mended their relationship. Can’t bring himself to give Bill the credit for it. But of course. Bill was dead. Was supposed to be dead.
He’s a scientist. Ford likes to believe that he could predict matters like this. Because Stanley got his memories back. So, logically, that meant Bill Cipher could’ve lived. But, for once, Ford didn’t think about this. Hell, he was busy with the fear of Stanley losing those memories all over again. Every time he caught Stan looking at him with that unfamiliar look, it struck fear through him. That he could be at fault for causing his brother such distress. That his own brother could look at him and not recognize him.
Fortunately, they moved past that. Stanley, of course, still has his moments. It comes with the effects of the memory gun. So then, they finally got to live out their childhood dreams. Sailing through the Atlantic. The great thing about the Atlantic is that it is famously known for its biggest anomaly: The Bermuda Triangle. Yes, he knows. He must have an odd unconscious obsession with triangles. Anyways, Bermuda is full of anomalous creatures. So, they got to live their dream, and Ford still gets to be a bit of a nerd.
It makes him smile now, thinking of all the adventures they had sailing. Sure, they may have almost gotten thrown overboard several times, but that's unimportant. Stanley flirted with a siren, which is hilarious, and saved him from a Kraken one stormy night. He’ll surely be bragging about that for the rest of their lives.
But. Let’s bring them back to the present. Or, well, let us go back a few weeks. To one night in the Stan O’ War II.
Ford sits on the deck, watching the stars that night. When Stanley rushes up to him.
“Hey, Six. Soos wants to call us, keep us updated on the shack. You wanna join me?” He holds the phone in his left hand.
He blinks over at him. “Uh, I suppose. There can’t be much going on though, right? It’s not summer quite yet.”
Stan shrugs. “I dunno. He sounded a bit frantic on the phone last time. Must be something, but knowing him, a gnome probably just got stuck in the garage again.”
“Will they be calling now?”
Stan looks back to his phone, reading messages. “Oh! Uh yeah, hold on a sec.”
The phone starts ringing, and he picks up. Putting it on speaker so Ford can hear as well.
“Hey, Soos! You holding down the fort? You better be, I made you the owner for a reason.”
Ford rolls his eyes at the remark.
“Uh, yeah Mr Pines. Sorry but Melody is here with me this time. She.. has some news?”
“Soos, we’re telling them this together .”
“Right!”
While they have this exchange, Ford and Stan look at each other, both a tad confused and worried. Stan pauses.
“Did you get her pregnant?”
Ford looks at him astonished. “Stanley!”
“Oh no, Mr. Pines. It's not that… It. Melody, can you say it?”
They hear a sigh from the other line, being Melody.
“There’s no good way to explain this to you two. Uhm… Bill Cipher has bee-” Ford’s eyes shoot up at that name. “-n working here at the shack for a while, he’s human and-”
“What.” Ford states. He can hear his breathing pick up. “No, no. You must be confused. Bill Cipher is dead. We made sure of that. I did several rituals and spells to confirm that his existence was null.”
Another sigh on the line. “I don’t quite know how to explain this to you Dr. Pines, but Bill is here. And we hav-”
Ford grabs the phone from Stan’s hands. “I will believe it when I see it. We will be seeing you very soon. As soon as possible.” And he hangs up on her.
He stands from his chair and starts pacing. “There is no way this is true. Bill is dead . He has been dead for three years . Moses, you punched him.” Ford turns to him, gesturing furiously. “You killed him!”
Stanley puts his hand on Ford’s shoulder, sighing deeply. “Six, you gotta calm down.” At the even more furious look, he continues. “Do not get me wrong. I am not happy with this, but this is not a good way to start. This is what he would want, right?”
Ford takes a breath. “You… you are right. Moses, I shouldn’t have hung up so abruptly. That was rude, wasn’t it? You know I’m not good with these ‘social cues’, as the twins say.”
Stanley chuckles. “Yeah, it was. But, trust me, they understand why you did it.”
He sighs in relief.
“We do need to steer back to Oregon now.”
“I know, Six. But how ‘bout I do that, and you get some sleep?”
“...Fine.”
-
And back to the present. You understand now, yes?
Another sigh.
Stanley elbows him. “Ford, it’ll be okay. I’ll rock his shit again and all will be good when the kids come for summer.” He chuckles, still that nervous energy within him.
“I’m just…” He sighs. “Not ready to see that face again. Even when human.”
“Well, if he’s human. That means no powers, right?”
Ford blinks. He supposes Stan is right, if Bill is fully human, he would have zero capacity for his old powers.
He still can’t believe he couldn’t predict this, it makes so much sense that he would end up living. Maybe he wouldn’t expect him to be here in Gravity Falls again, but still.
“We’re about 3 minutes away.” He knows this, as they entered town just a small bit ago.
He looks at the town's buildings. It looks so different than it did 3 years ago. Gravity Falls had to do some serious rebuilding, as a lot of homes, shops, and peoples places of work were destroyed in the chaos of Weirdmageddon. In fact, there are still rifts that he has to clean up from time to time as a result.
They pull into the driveway.
-
Bill spots the familiar car pull in.
Watches them exit the vehicle. His entire body has a visceral reaction to seeing Ford for the first time in hundreds of years, the triangle in him giggles in glee. He doesn’t realize he does it out loud until Melody gives him a look . It has an echo to it as well.
Ford looks good nowadays. He’s always grown into his age well, but wow . Even the anger in Ford’s eyes makes him exhilarated. Bill’s tail swirls around mindlessly. He’s always loved a challenge.
Melody elbows him. “Stop with that look.”
Bill snaps out of his trance, for only a second. “What look?” Still looking at him.
He barely hears a sigh through the fog, and a mumble. “..I should’ve expected this.”
The two twins finally enter.
His smirk stays fully on his face.