Orders

1

"Bill, help Makona get ready for school, please."

Bill glowered at his partner from his position at the kitchen table, despite the fact that the man was facing away from him and towards the counter, a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and a pen in the other. He was signing something or other for Hazel, likely a permission slip for a field trip.

"Y'know, Pine Tree," he sighed dramatically as he stood up, "in my glory days, I had people begging at my feet, on their knees just to request things of me. I was giving the orders, and people would die before they dared attempt to give me one."

"Well, now you have kids," Dipper muttered snarkily, not looking up. "So, now you get to get your son ready for school. And he's not wearing the yellow shoes."

Bill rolled his eyes. "They're stylish."

"If you say so. He's still not wearing them."

Bill tsked, moving to stand behind his partner and grip his hips. One hand slid under the hem of his shirt, tracing lightly against suddenly-tightening stomach muscles. Bill leaned in close to Dipper's ear just in time to hear the man's breath catch.

"Just so you know," he whispered, a grin tugging at his lips, "I could still get you begging on your knees for me."

He held on long enough to feel Dipper shiver before he was moving away with a laugh.

-----

"Bill, you can get the laundry started alright on your own, can't you? I kinda have to," Dipper gestured vaguely at his computer screen, where the makings of his third novel in-progress was pulled up, "yeah."

Bill stared at him, at this insolent meatsack who was getting more demanding with the closer he got to his book's deadline. Didn't he realize that Bill also had work to be doing? Children to scare, deals to make.

When the demon didn't respond, Dipper paused his typing long enough to twist around in his desk chair and give Bill a small smile. "Please?" he added, a bit too late.

The fact that it was an order disguised as a request was enough to make Bill's blood boil, but it was difficult to refuse the dumb human when he looked at him with wide brown eyes hidden behind thin black frames. It was always the damn glasses.

Bill sighed, leaving the room without a word and setting off for the laundryroom.

Soon. Soon, he'd have justice.

-----

"Bill!"

Hazel and Makona immediately cringed at the tone of their other father's voice, but Bill remained as unwavering as the flames coating one of his hands. When it became obvious that he wasn't going to stop just because Pine Tree was nagging him, the kids continued to stare on in wonder as they always did when the more demonic half of their parents showed them "magic tricks."

Bill warped the flames into shapes- a pine tree and then a shooting star. He worked through the symbols on his summoning wheel, watching his children's eyes light up even more with each one.

"Bill, stop. Not in the house; you'll catch something on fire. I'm not sure how to explain that to the insurance company. Again."

Bill ground his teeth, the point of one canine catching hard enough on his tongue to draw blood. The flames extinguished when he closed his fist, and Hazel and Makona chorused, "Awww."

Bill got up off the floor, and when he spun around to meet Pine Tree, his expression morphed into one more reflective of his annoyance. His lip curled back in a half-snarl, but Dipper just stared on, unimpressed.