Not On The Wheel (Bill Cipher x Reader)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Feigned Camaraderie

"I thought you made it a point to watch from afar," Bill continued, twirling his cane. He floated over to the demon, nudging him slightly. "Afterall, we all know what happened that one time you got too close."

"Yes yes," he sighed, not bothering to hide his annoyance when it came to that topic. "I'm aware." A tail flicked behind him, pointed with an ever-glowing flame. It rose with his irritability, and Bill noticed. But the triangle loved teasing the other demon. It was one of the few things he could do to mess with the demon without running the risk of quick and utter annihilation.

"Are you really? Because what I just saw was a demon mingling with some pathetic fleshbags as if that wasn't the same thing that got him in trouble with his dimension's council!"

"I was simply passing by in the area!" Inigo retorted, his multiple eyes squinting at the triangle. "I was in no way trying to be friendly."

"I'd say you got pretty chummy with those Pines kids. Specifically Flame."

Inigo froze.

Does... does he know about Y/n?

He couldn't; he only just found out. It would be another punch in the gut if Bill had learned that his child was still alive before he did.

Afterall, he chided himself, eying the cheeky triangle from his peripheral vision, he did just refer to them all as 'Pines.'

"You mean Y/n?" He asked, playing dumb.

"Y/n; Flame— it's all the same."

"How do you know the child?"

"So glad you asked, Inigo!" Bill cheered. He snapped his fingers, and a picture frame fell into his outstretched arms, cane abandoned to float beside him. He flashed the frame to Inigo.

The little frame was a deep red mahogany, adorned with things Bill was known to find appealing: deer teeth, swiney muscle strands, tendons stretched taught from the corners— all things rather tame for a being spawning from chaos and nightmares. But what was inside the frame puzzled the taller demon greatly: it was a picture of Y/n and Bill.

The girl was leaning against a large tree, it's foliage creating dancing shadows on the mop of black hair. She didn't seem to realize that there was a— a picture...? Could it even be called that?— being taken; her eyes were closed and a small smile pulled at her lips. Bill sat atop her head, much smaller than he appeared now.

It was a "photo" from the times were Bill would visit Flame within her dreams— before she just happened to find and freak out about Sixer's journal entry about him. But Bill decided that Inigo didn't need to know those details. Why would he care in the first place?

When Inigo went to reach for the frame, Bill quickly took it away, snapping it back out of existence. It was quite odd to say the least, but the man brushed it off with a quick nod. He was too preoccupied in seeing his daughter actually appear content to notice the almost sinister air Bill had around himself in that "photo."

"She's a little friend of mine," Bill continued his lie, his eye squinting into a smile.

"A friend?" Now that was interesting. "And here you are criticizing me on my interest in humans?"

"Please, it is nothing like that mess you got yourself into a few years back," Bill retorted. "You still owe me that favor, yeah?"

"Yes," Inigo muttered, an uncharacteristic growl leaving his lips. "I'm well aware."

It was an extremely touchy subject: the death of his mortal wife and the supposed death of his somewhat mortal child. Inigo's initial escapades within the human realm hadn't really been recognized, and even if they were, it was assumed that he was messing with the mortals. It wasn't a foreign concept for demons to get bored within their realms and go have fun messing around with humans. But none had ever gone as far as settling down and having a child.