Ao3 Version

It was
about three weeks the ”Somna Incident”, and Dipper and Bill still hadn’t had a
real talk about it. It was hard for Dipper not to get frustrated with the
current situation, since it constantly seemed like he and Bill avoided talking
about things they definitely should be talking about. But on the other hand,
the event had also had a clear effect on Bill, making Dipper hesitant to push
for a talk, out of fear of pushing Bill too hard.

It was
evening, right around the time they were closing up the shop. Dipper was going
through inventory while Bill and Mabel were cleaning up the shop.

“So, who’s
handling patrol tonight?” Mabel suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

“Um, I
think it’s my turn,” Dipper answered.

“I was sure
it was Bill,” Mabel argued.

“No, me and
Porcupine traded shifts so I could watch a show tonight,” Bill interjected just
as he was sweeping up the last bit of dust.

Dipper
blushed slightly; it had been a while since Bill last used his nickname

“You might
as well record it in case an emergency happens,” Mabel pointed out. “Anyway, I
brought it up because I thought I could take care of patrol tonight.”

“Why?”
Dipper asked.

“When was
the last time the two of you had a date night?” Mabel shot back. “No, scratch
that; when did you two last have an open conversation?”

“Oh, come
on, Boss, it’s not like we’re ignoring each other,” Bill said defensively.

Mabel gave
him a strict stare in return, slowly moving her gaze to Dipper.

“I’m taking
tonight’s patrol,” she said. “And if you two haven’t had at least one
heart-to-heart by the time I’m back, I’ll lock you both inside the closet until
you do.”

And that
was the final word.

Later, when
it was time to start patrolling, Mabel left, hoping that her words had reached
them, and that today of all days wouldn’t be particularly crime filled.

She
transformed and got going, but barely five minutes had passed before she heard
commotion a little further into the city.

“Please let
it be a false alarm,” Mabel sighed as she flew closer to investigate.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Dipper was
sitting with Bill on the couch, an uncomfortable silence spreading between
them.

“So…”
Dipper began, scratching the back of his neck.

“What was
it even that Mabel wanted us to talk about?” Bill asked.

Dipper’s
mouth opened slightly in shock.

“Haven’t
you noticed?” he asked.

“You gotta
be more specific,” Bill said nonchalantly.

“This,” Dipper emphasized by gesturing
between them. “Us. “

“Again,
you’re not making any sense,” Bill was beginning to sound frustrated himself.
“How am I supposed to know what you’re talking, if you won’t say it?”

Dipper shut
his mouth and looked away. He was scared to bring it up, for various reasons,
not just out of fear of pushing Bill too hard, but he was also afraid of what
Bill would say.

Luckily,
their conversation was interrupted by Dipper’s phone ringing.

“Hello?”
Dipper said after picking up the phone.

“I need Pine
Tree and The Illuminator on Central Street ASAP,” Mabel’s voice responded.
“We’ve got a villain on our hands.”

“We’ll have
to finish this conversation when we get back,” Dipper remarked while turning
off his phone.

“Or we
could just not have it,” Bill mumbled before transforming.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The two
heroes settled out, soon discovering where Mabel was. Even without the street
name, it wouldn’t have been difficult to find her, due to the sound of battle.

They
arrived to find the street in ruins, but from the looks of it, not because of
the fight; the buildings, asphalt, sidewalk, even lampposts, all looked like
something from a post-apocalyptic movie; the buildings’ brickwork were shoddy,
several bricks missing, with the ones still there looking old and covered in
dust, the asphalt looked grey and was filled with holes and cracks, as were the
sidewalk, and the lampposts were rusted and deteriorated to the point that they
weren’t even functional anymore.

Mabel was
facing off against a villain, with about a twenty meters distance between them.
The villain was wearing a suit that covered his entire body except his hands;
his costume was black and white, sectioned off with jagged lines.

There
wasn’t much time for talk, as the villain immediately lunged at Mabel. She
reacted by sending out a shot before flying over him. The villain slid under
the shot before he rose to his feet, and the three heroes circled him, trying
to prevent his escape.

“What’s his
powers?” Dipper called out, keeping an eye on the villain who was standing still
at the moment, just observing the heroes.

“Don’t get
touched by his hands,” Mabel warned, but before she had the chance to
elaborate, the villain lunged again, this time at Bill.

“Look out!”
Dipper shouted, rushing in to try and defend Bill. He grabbed the villain by
the wrists to prevent him from touching anything. The villain responded by
kicking Dipper square in the chest, making him let go. Then Dipper heard the
sound of something tearing, followed by a hand smacking him on the back,
sending him to the floor.

It took a
couple of seconds for Dipper to regain his composure, but that was all it took
for the villain to escape. He had expected Mabel or Bill to chase after him,
but they looked panicked at Dipper.

Mabel ran
over to Dipper and ripped upper part of his costume off, just in time for
Dipper to see the material disintegrate on the street.

“Are you
okay?” Mabel asked worriedly, checking Dipper’s back for any signs of something
wrong.

“I’m… fine,
I think?” Dipper responded, still confused by seeing part of his costume
disintegrate like that. “His powers… they make things rapidly age?”

“I assume
it’d work on people too,” Mabel explained. “That’s why I didn’t want any of you
to get touched by him.”

“You were
ready to act there,” Bill complimented Mabel. “If you hadn’t ripped the
affected part off, Pine Tree’s entire costume would’ve been gone with the
wind.”

“Thanks,”
Mabel sighed. “But now I have to fix Pine Tree’s costume.”

“Actually,
I can probably fix it,” Bill added.

“Can you
sew?” Dipper asked.

“No, but
one of my powers is kinda like… clothes repairing? It’s hard to explain, but
it’s the main reason why I never had to worry much about clothes when I was
broke.”

“Can you do
it right now?”

“It… takes
some time,” Bill admitted.

“Alright,
Pine Tree, you go back home,” Mabel ordered. “Bill and I will search for the
villain.”

Dipper felt
a small pang of anger and hurt at being told that. He understood he wouldn’t be
much good in a fight with his suit ripped, especially if the villain only
needed to touch him to take him out, but it was still frustrating.

“Fine,”
Dipper sighed, accepting his sister’s orders, and left. Once home, he took off
his suit before transforming back and decided to retire early.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The next
morning when Dipper awoke, he was already in a bad mood. He could feel it would
be one of those days where nothing turns out right.

After
getting out of bed, the first thing he saw was his suit, mended by Bill’s
powers no doubt. Dipper knew he should be happy about that, but now him
returning home the other night felt like a waste of time; if mending his
costume could have been done that quickly, he should’ve been out there with his
team!

He went
into the kitchen, finding nothing there but dirty plates, and a single plate of
scrambled eggs and toast with jam. Dipper ate the contents of the plate before
heading down to the flower shop, finding no joy in the cold food.

When he got
downstairs, he saw that Mabel was there, behind the cash registry as always.
She smiled and waved at him when she saw him.

“Were you
going to wake up, or were you fine with me sleeping all day?” Dipper grumbled
at her.

“It’s not
even noon yet, Dip-dop,” Mabel giggled. “Besides, I thought if you were
oversleeping, you probably needed it.”

Dipper only
responded with a small grunt.

Just then,
the door was slammed open, causing Dipper to visibly wince at the sudden, loud
sound.

“Delivery
done!” Bill exclaimed as he barged through the door, throwing a stack of money
next to the cash register. “I see you’re up and running, Porcupine. Did you see
that I repaired your costume?”

Dipper
glared at Bill and let out another grunt before going into the backroom.

“I think
Dipper’s feeling grumpy today,” Mabel concluded.

“I agree,”
Bill nodded. “The question is, will my company make it better or worse?”

“You ever
thought he was maybe grumpy because you still haven’t talked about what
happened with Somna?” Mabel asked.

“I… guess
that’s… possible?” Bill mumbled. “… I’ll try.” He sighed and went into the
backroom.

Dipper was
busy growing flowers to refill their stocks when he noticed Bill stepping in.

“Hey
Porcu-“ Bill was interrupted when he fell over a pot on the floor, falling hard
on his stomach.

Dipper
couldn’t help it; he burst out laughing.

“Thanks
Bill,” Dipper giggled while Bill picked himself up. “I needed a laugh today.”

“I was
gonna talk to you about that,” Bill responded, carefully putting the pot out of
the way so he didn’t trip over it again. “Is anything wrong?”

Dipper
shrugged. “Just having a bad day, I guess. There’s not really anything to talk
about.”

“You sure?”
Bill stepped closer to Dipper. “Because I can-“

“Yes, I’m sure!” Dipper snarled, taking a
step away from Bill. “Just…” he looked away and let out a sigh. “I just need to
be alone…”

“Alright…”
Bill had a look of surprise on his face; he couldn’t recall Dipper having ever
snapped at him like that. He was worried, but he didn’t want to start a fight
over Dipper wanting some time alone. So Bill left the room without another
word.

Once Bill
was gone, Dipper began shaking. He gripped one of the nearby tables and started
breathing heavily. It didn’t make sense for him to get so angry at Bill over
nothing. After all, Bill had just tried to be helpful, but for some reason,
Dipper had felt a wave of anger when Bill expressed concern.

Dipper felt
a flash of fear; could this be the work of Venus? She hadn’t appeared since the
affair with Pentagram, but if she had returned, it would make sense for her to
target them.

He tried
his best to calm himself before leaving his work room. Another rush of anger
hit him when he spotted Mabel and Bill.

“Dipper?”
Mabel looked at him with worried eyes that felt like they were burning him.

Dipper knew
what he should do; tell the other two
about his suspicions and how he was feeling. But something nagged in the back
of his mind and was coming to the forefront; if he told them, they would either
not believe him, or they would keep him there at home, while they headed off to look for clues. Just
like yesterday. Almost like they didn’t need him around, or didn’t want him
around.

“I-I’m just
not feeling too good today,” Dipper stuttered, massaging his forehead. “I’m
going to bed and resting for a while.”

“Sure,”
Mabel replied. “You want me or Bill to get you something-“

“No!”
Dipper shouted before forcing himself to calm down. “… I just need to rest in
my room… alone.”

Dipper
hurried up to his room without looking back at the undoubtedly worried faces of
Bill and Mabel. Once inside, he transformed, wore his newly repaired costume,
and jumped out the window to search for Venus.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It took a
couple of hours, but business had finally calmed down enough for Bill and Mabel
to talk about what had happened with Dipper.

“Before you
ask,” Bill started, having recently returned from the day’s deliveries. “I
didn’t have a real heart-to-heart with Dipper. He snapped at me when I tried to
ask what was wrong.”

“I actually
don’t blame you,” Mabel responded, the worry evident in her tone and
expression. “Something’s clearly wrong with him…”

“If we
don’t have any more deliveries, I’ll make him something to drink, just in case
he is sick, and see if I talk to him.
If not, you’re probably gonna have to try something, Boss.”

Bill set
out to do what he said he would; he made a cup of tea and carried it to
Dipper’s room. He knocked on the door, but didn’t get a response. He knocked
again, and when he once again didn’t receive a reply, he went inside, only to find
that Dipper wasn’t there.

Placing the
tea down, Bill tried the bathroom, thinking maybe Dipper had felt sick, but he
wasn’t there either.

Finally,
Bill tried calling Dipper on his cellphone, only to hear his ringtone and
finding his phone in his room.

Bill
hurried back down to the store as fast as he could, thoughts about what could
have happened to Dipper invading his mind.

“Dipper’s
gone!” Bill shouted as soon as he stepped foot in the flower shop.

“What do
you mean?” Mabel asked.

“He’s not upstairs,
and he doesn’t have his phone!” Bill explained. “Oh god, I shouldn’t have gone
out on those deliveries! I knew something was wrong and I didn’t do anything!”

“Bill, calm
down,” Mabel told him. “We… we don’t know for sure if something bad happened to
Dipper.”

“Then why
would he leave without his phone? Why would he leave without telling us?!”

Mabel was
quiet, silently conceding that Bill had a point.

“We need to
close up shop early, transform, then go out and find him!”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

As soon as
they were out, Bill and Mabel split up, hoping to find Dipper quicker that way.
Bill was surveying his part of the city, hoping to at least find a clue.

After
nearly an hour of searching, Bill finally heard something. It was faint at
first, but the sound grew louder; it came from his old home, from before he
moved in with Dipper and Mabel. As Bill stood in front of the building, he
could clearly hear what the sound was; it was unmistakably Dipper’s voice, or
rather Pine Tree’s, calling for help.

Bill rushed inside, not even caring to think
there could be a trap. He followed the shouts to his old living room, finding
Dipper in his ‘form there, tied to a chair, with the only illumination in the
room being the lit fire place.

“Illuminator!” Dipper shouted, his eyes
lighting up with joy. “Quick! Get me free before he comes back!”

“Who?” Bill asked while he began to untie
Dipper, not wanting to risk accidently burning him by burning the ropes.

“That villain we fought last night,” Dipper
explained. “His name is Corruption, and he’s more dangerous than we thought;
his powers don’t just rapidly age things he touched!”

“What else do they do?” Bill asked after having
finally freed Dipper.

“They…” Dipper turned his gaze away before
meeting Bill’s eyes with a cruel smile on his face. “… corrupt people, of
course~”

Bill barely had time to react before he
realized that not only were the ropes still attached to Dipper, they weren’t
even ropes! They were vines growing out of his wrists! Before he could register
what was going on, Dipper used the vines to tie up Bill in the chair; his vines
moving much faster and with way more ease than normal.

“Pine Tree, what’s going on?” Bill asked in
surprise.

“I just told you,” Dipper groaned and rolled
his eyes.

“You’re being controlled,” Bill implored,
trying to reach his boyfriend. “You have to break free! You’re not like this.”

“If what I’m doing is wrong, why does it feel
so good?” Dipper questioned with a small laugh at the end. “Feels really good in fact~ I actually beat
you!”

“How did you even do this?!” Bill asked,
nodding towards the vines keeping him tied to the chair. “Since when could you
do that?”

“I got the idea a little while back,” Dipper
said with a bright smile. “I realized that I could use my own blood and body as
the water and ground to grow my plants. Upside, I can control these plants much
easier than others, since they’re a part of me. Downside, I can’t grow plants
much bigger than these vines.”

“I guess that’s good,” Bill gave him a crooked
smile in return.

“Stop that!” Dipper roared,
tightening the vines around Bill. “Every time you smile, I feel sick! I despise you to my very core!” He
put his face so close to Bill’s that their noses nearly touched. “If you’re
gonna do anything, use those flames of yours to free yourself; let me feel that
burn.”

“I am not going to hurt you, Pine Tree,” Bill
said sincerely.

“Urgh!” Dipper made a sound of
disgust and recoiled slightly from. “You are the worst!” He then calmed down,
his eyes lighting up as if he got an idea. “… But if you’re not gonna do
anything to stop me…”

Dipper approached Bill again, this time sitting
down in his lap, and grinding his body into Bill’s crotch.

“What are you doing?!” Bill asked, a look of
distress on his face, which only seemed to please Dipper more. This was very
bad.

“What’s wrong, Cipher?” Dipper gave him a fake
pout. “I thought you liked me…” the pout was replaced with an angry sneer. “But
I guess you really are so disgusted by me that you can’t even stand the idea of
having sex with me, even though I’m supposed to be your boyfriend.”

“That’s got nothing to do with it!” Bill
protested. “This isn’t you; you’re under Corruption’s control-“

“Don’t blame this on him!” Dipper laughed. “You
were like this before I was corrupted.”

“… I just can’t stop thinking about the Somna
incident,” Bill confessed, hoping that somehow his honest feelings would get
through to Dipper. “Every time I think about what I did… I feel like I’m gonna
throw up-“

“Wow, you really find me that disgusting,”
Dipper let out an unhinged laugh.

“No!” Bill insisted. “Listen to me; I hate that
that was technically our first time. I love you so much, but I’m so disgusted
with myself, because I still enjoyed it.”

“Stop -” Dipper growled and leaned far enough
in that his and Bill’s noses were touching. “- saying that.”

Bill took his chance; he theorized that the
corruption must have somehow reversed the chemical responses in Dipper’s brain.
If that was true, maybe a strong enough response could return the chemicals to
normal. So Bill leaned forward and kissed Dipper with all his might. The sudden
lean-in even caused the chair to tip over, and Bill landed on top of Dipper.

Dipper let out a small squeak and pushed Bill
off of him, standing up and trying to get some distance, while still being
close enough to keep Bill tied to the chair.

“I love you so much, Pine Tree,” Bill said as
sincerely as he could. “I wanna spend the rest of my life with you!”

“Shut up!” Dipper shouted, visibly shuddering.

“You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever
seen!” Bill continued. “Every day I spend with you, feels like some kind of
divine blessing I don’t deserve!”

“What’s wrong with you!?” Dipper screeched,
shutting his eyes and moving his arms to cover his ears with his hands. In
doing so, the vines loosened around Bill, allowing him to escape.

Bill hurried to his legs and ran over to Dipper,
using his arms to trap Dipper against the wall; the fireplace provided the
perfect lighting for Bill’s plan.

“G-get
away!” Dipper screeched, trying to kick Bill away. “You think this is going to
make me like you again?”

“Shh…” Bill hushed and leaned in closer to
Dipper.

“Y-you…!” Dipper was gasping, and his face was
turning pale.

“Just keep focusing on me,” Bill tried to
reassure him, but in truth he was starting to doubt if this was working. Maybe
he would be better off knocking Dipper unconscious and try to locate the
villain behind this.

But then Dipper’s gasps turned into whines, and
his pale face got flushed with color.

“Bill?” Dipper managed to say before he fainted
in Bill’s arms, probably exhausted from all the shifting emotions.

Bill picked Dipper up in his arms, right as
Dipper’s transformation wore off, and carried him back home. He hoped Mabel
would be able to take on Corruption this time; Bill needed to be there for
Dipper when he woke up.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

As Mabel scoured the city, it didn’t take long
for her to find the villain; he was sitting in the middle of the same destroyed
street from yesterday.

In her excitement, Mabel forgot to shoot Bill a
message that she had found a villain, and instead flew in to confront him.

“Ah, it’s you,” the villain said calmly. Mabel
was confused; last time he had attacked her on sight.

“What are you doing here?” Mabel asked
carefully, inching closer to the villain.

“Waiting for you,” he responded. “Pine Tree
said you would arrive. You and that other hero; Illuminator. I assume since
you’re here alone, the two of you split up?”

“You know where Pine Tree is?!” Mabel
exclaimed.

“Probably taking care of Illuminator as we
speak,” he grinned and rose to his feet; his hands began to glow with a dark
energy.

Mabel didn’t have time to ponder what the
villain meant, as he lunged for her. Mabel narrowly avoided his hands by
bending backwards, raising one of her legs both to regain balance and to kick
him in the stomach.

While the villain was stunned from her kick,
Mabel took to the skies to put some distance between them. It wasn’t an ideal
solution since now neither of them could touch the other. Well, Mabel could
technically use one of her shots to hit him, but would that be enough to knock
him unconscious?

“Any minute now…” the villain grinned as he
stared at Mabel, not doing anything else.

This standstill continued for several minutes
until his smile faltered.

“W-where is he?” the villain sounded perplexed.
“This doesn’t make any sense…”

“What did you do?” Mabel finally demanded.

“I- I corrupted Pine Tree,” the villain said.
“That’s what I do! That’s what my powers do! What else am I supposed to do with
them!?”

Mabel was taken aback by the villain’s
outburst. It almost sounded like something that had been held back for a long
time.

“Of course Meliors like you become heroes!” he
shouted. “You can fly, for fucks sakes! But what about those with powers like
me!?! I could have never been anything else…”

“It, um, sounds like you’re dealing with a
lot,” Mabel said awkwardly, slowly descending and hoping this wasn’t some
clever mind trick to have her lower her guards. “If you wanna talk about it-“

“Fuck you,” he snarled. “You win, okay? You win
this time. I don’t know what the hell happened to me and Pine Tree’s plan, but
I’ve had enough of this.”

Mabel was pretty stunned. This was pretty
similar to when Venus had given up, only she had done so because she had been
betrayed by Pentagram. This guy was quitting for seemingly no reason.

“You aren’t really a villain, are you?” Mabel
asked. “I mean, you’re fine with doing collateral damage, clearly, but… you
don’t really want to fight me.”

He paused for a moment. He closed his eyes
before he spoke again. “Imagine growing up, knowing you’re a Melior, hearing
tales of superheroes, only to learn that your powers can never be used for
good.”

A moment of silence spread out between the two.

“That’s not true,” Mabel insisted, finally
breaking the silence. “All powers can be used for good, including yours! You
just-“

He held up a hand to signal for Mabel to stop,
and she did. “I… appreciate the thought… It means a lot, more than you probably
think… But I’m still a villain. Are you going to apprehend me?”

Mabel looked at him for a moment; this man she
had thought a villain, who now just looked so sad and defeated, and she didn’t
even know why.

“No,” Mabel said and shook her head. She half
expected the guy to attack her again, but instead, he turned around and began
to walk away. Mabel let him.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Back home at the apartment, Bill placed Dipper
on the bed. Bill transformed back to his civilian self, and waited by the bedside
for Dipper to wake up. It didn’t take long before Dipper started to stir, and finally
opened his eyes.

He awoke with a startled expression, and took a
couple of deep breaths, before he noticed Bill.

“O-one… one sec,” Dipper gasped before he sat
up in bed and detransformed.

“Do you remember what happened?” Bill asked,
readjusting his position so that he was sitting next to Dipper.

“I… I knew something was wrong with me,” Dipper
explained. “I wasn’t feeling like myself. I took out to look for Venus, since I
suspected she had something to do with it.”

“Me and Mabel had the same idea,” Bill added
before he let Dipper continue.

“Yeah… so, I encountered Corruption. He knew
what he had done to me, and he told me. I should’ve had been angry, but instead
I felt… happy. So happy… A-and Corruption was happy too, because he had someone
on his side. He wanted to corrupt you and Mabel too, and in my state, I felt so
excited at the idea. We began to plan, based on every conceivable outcome; if
you and Mabel both showed up to rescue me, I had to play it off like I hadn’t
changed, lead you to Corruption, and then… betray you. If both you and Mabel
showed up to fight him, he would pretend to escape and lead you to me, which we
hoped would throw you off enough to let us take advantage off.”

Dipper paused for a moment, like he was trying
to collect his thoughts.

“Ideally, we wanted you and Mabel to split up,
letting us both tackle you one at the time. I was supposed to knock the one who
showed up to save me unconscious and tie you up, then join Corruption in
fighting the other, but… when you showed up, I couldn’t help myself,” Dipper
swallowed audibly. “It felt so good to toy with you, make you feel bad, ashamed…”
Dipper was shaking and hid his face in his hands. “I can’t believe I did that
to you…”

“Dipper…” Bill gave him a sympathetic look before
pulling him into his arms, tenderly stroking his back trying to comfort him. “It
wasn’t you.”

“Yes, it was!” Dipper insisted. “That’s what
makes it so scary. I don’t blame you if you don’t-“

“Wait,” Bill placed a finger over Dipper’s
mouth. “I know what you’re gonna say; I still want to be with you. I still love
you, Dipper.”

Dipper looked at him helplessly before averting
his gaze. “How?”

“Well,” Bill thought for a moment how he could
best explain it. “You still love me, even after everything I did while under
Pentagram’s control.”

“That’s different. You were under mind control,
I wasn’t.”

“No, it was exactly the same thing. Someone
manipulated our emotions to act in a way we wouldn’t otherwise act.” Bill
leaned in closer to Dipper. “For the longest time, I couldn’t understand why
you still wanted to be with me, but I get it now.”

Bill gave Dipper a quick peck on the lips.

“Don’t blame yourself for this,” Bill said. “Nobody
else does.”

“… Thank you, Bill,” Dipper responded,
embracing Bill as he did so.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Soon after, Mabel returned as well. Bill and
Dipper told her what they knew about Corruption, and Mabel relayed what she had
been told.

None of them were sure, but they had a feeling
they would encounter Corruption again.