Dipper waited impatiently by his car as Mabel and Bill were given clean clothes by the hospital and wheelchaired out. Mabel was chatting amiably with the caretaker pushing her while the one pushing Bill looked frazzled and happy to be rid of him.
As they reached the curb, Mabel took her caretaker’s hand contently, a giggle bubbled out of her as she smiled at the man and Dipper couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Yeah, she was fine if she was flirting.
Bill stood up as well, shifting uncomfortably in his shoes as he seemed clearly uncomfortable in them, and Dipper was mildly surprised that he was only about a half an inch taller than Dipper. He was so used to looking up at a floating triangle that was one of the biggest sources of trouble for him that he didn’t consider that Bill would look so much like a person.
Of course, looking in his eyes made Dipper want to quickly look away because they were really in the depth of evil and it really freaked him out.
“Right,” Dipper sighed while opening the passenger door and ushering Mabel into her seat.
Bill looked at him expectantly when he closed the door behind Mabel.
“What?”
“You’re not going to open my door, Pine Tree?”
“What?!” Dipper asked, more incredulously.
“You opened her door!” Bill protested, crossing his arms over his chest.
Dipper ran a hand over his face, knowing darn well that he was going to have to deal with this for God knows how long. So he decided to eat this one and opened the door for Bill as well.Bill smiled largely at Dipper before sliding into the car and Dipper closed the door on him before going around the car and getting into the front seat.
“Buckle up, Bill,” Mabel ordered in almost a motherly tone as she turned around to look at him.
Dipper glanced at his expression in the rearview mirror and noticed his mildly annoyed face, but he kept his mouth in a thin line. Apparently he was determined not to look like an idiot in front of them nor was he going to be too abrasive. He honestly looked like he couldn’t decide how to react and it was just festering inside of him.
Feeling a brief bout of pity, because Bill did bring Mabel back afterall and said he wanted to learn to be human, Dipper fairly dramatically buckled his seatbelt.
A few moments later, Bill reluctantly did the same before wiggling and tugging at the seatbelt.
Deciding that since Bill was just going to act like a two year old, Dipper started the car and pulled away from the curb, heading back for the Mystery Shack. He and Mabel kept sharing glances between each other and back into the rearview mirror to keep an eye on Bill.
“Soooo…” Mabel started slowly, “How long are you going to be staying with us?”
“Until I get bored or Pine Tree dies,” Bill replied absently, as if mentioning the weather or his plans for the weekend. “What is this stupid little thing supposed to do any-“ He yanked on the seatbelt hard and scowled as it jerked to a stop not three inches away from his chest. “It won’t move anymore!”
“Yeah,” Dipper replied, “It’s supposed to do that at sudden stops and movement.”
“That way, if we crash, it’ll catch us!” Mabel added cheerfully.
“Well, undo it!” Bill spat and Dipper tried really, really hard not to laugh at the usually terrifying demon’s panic over a stuck seatbelt.
“Bill, calm down.” Mabel coached. “And stop touching it.”
Bill put his hands up in defense and the seatbelt snapped back against his chest. His fingers flexed, itching to test the seatbelt again but he didn’t for a long moment. Then he hesitently pulled the seatbelt foreward, becoming giddy when the seatbelt passed the three inch point.
“Fixed it!” He called, letting it snap back against his chest again.
Dipper rolled his eyes and shook his head, instead focusing on driving as Mabel gave an uncomfortable cough that was obviously an attempt to cover up a quiet laugh. Dipper had absolutely no idea how they were going to deal with this.
Observing the human race since the beginning of time and Bill was proud for figuring out a seatbelt.
“So, I was thinking that Bill can help advertise for the Shack,” Dipper decided to start slowly as they drove through the woods on a well worn road. He glared into the rearview mirror, “No creepy stuff though. No screaming heads or ripping teeth out of things or anything like that!”
“I know, I know,” Bill assured in exhasperation. “Humans are sensitive.”
Dipper snorted but said nothing, instead pulling up to the house and turning off the car. “Home sweet home,” He breathed.
“I’m starving and exhausted,” Mabel whined before giving Dipper her best pout. “Make me Mac and Cheese?”
“Yeah, yeah. Then you’re going to bed, though.” Dipper ordered with a wag of his finger, still SO thankful that he had his sister safe and alive.
She gave a mock salute and climbed out of the car and skipped towards the house. Dipper sighed contently and glanced again into the rearview mirror and frowned at Bill. He should be thankful, Bill had promised him Mabel’s hea