The Dream that Scarred

Sick Cipher

"You... You actually trust me?"

I nodded my head in answer to his question. Once again, I fell asleep in his arms as we began to snuggle up to each other. He pulled the duvet up over us as we began to lie back, I opened my eyes refusing to go to sleep just yet. I looked up at the ceiling forgetting that I was back at the shack and not in the mindscape. There were no stars on the ceiling but just bare wooden planks. I started to drift off to sleep failing to fight the sleepy sensation that was taking over me. As Bill wrapped his arms around me I started to drift off into a world of my own...

"AH..CHOO..."

"OH MY FUC-" was all I could scream as I fell, well, jumped out of bed but I was cut off by a comment from Bill.

"No Pinetree, profanity doesn't suit yo- ahchoo"

'Does Bill have a cold?' was all I could think when he looked at me clearly going in a mood.

"No PINETREE, I do NOT have a common HUMAN cold!"

"First Cipher, you clearly do. Second, you have an adorable sneeze even though the first one was terrifying. Third of a-"

Bill entered a small sneezing fit, sniffling after each individual sneeze, after he stopped I continued but giggling as I watched him. "Third of all, we're both still covered in blood Bill" He entered a thinking face probably trying to decode how he achieved his ''not human cold''. I watched him as he changed from thinking to realisation as he looked at his blood covered arms, inspecting the red substance as it dried before his very eyes. I took him by the hand intertwining our fingers as I led him to the bathroom where we got washed up. Sleepiness clearly taking over his body as he was becoming limp, I sat him next to the sink. Picking up a towel, I progressed in cleaning him up wiping the blood from his arms. We were both speechless as I continued. I sat next to him and removed his shirt as some of the blood soaked through to his back when I hugged him. I threw it in the washing basket earning a perfect score as it went in properly first time. I turned my attention back to him as he gave me a slight smirk. I laughed a little as I leaned over him in order to help him get cleaned.

In a few short seconds I was pushed back against the floor making no sounds to see Bill smiling gently. He leaned in and started to kiss my cheek repetitively and then moved so that we locked lips. Bill then attempted to deepen the kiss by putting his hand through my hair while licking the bottom of my lip trying to ask for entrance for more. Even though we've never had the chance to do this and function more like an actual couple when alone, I had to push him back. I didn't want to push him away and he knew that I didn't but he didn't understand why I stopped him.

"Pinetree what's wrong? I'm not overstepping it am I-choo" He began sniffling while looking startled. I guess he forgot he had a cold.

"That's what's wrong. You have a cold and I don't want to catch it as well or else we'll both be feeling sorry for ourselves" We began to sit up again and I hooked the damp, blood stained towel over the bath. I left him on the floor as I quickly grabbed us a change of clothes. I handed him a pair of leggings and his thick yellow jumper with a print of his eye on the front.

"I'm not wearing these trouser things, these are things that girls wear. Heck, these are what Will wears. I refuse to be caught dead wearing these, why can't I wear pyjama shorts like you?"

"Because Bill these are my only pair of pyjama shorts and it feels unnatural to not wear them to bed. No one will see you, it's just for the night. Also who's Will?"

"An alternate universe version of my self, he's super emotional. I kind of see him as a younger brother though so maybe we can go see him at some point, I've not seen him in about a year"

"Sounds cool but right now you need to overcome your cold. Isn't Strange your brother?"

"Not to me anymore and besides Will is more of a younger twin brother if you catch my drift"

"Like Mabel and I?"

Bill began to yawn while finishing the conversation "Yaaaaahhhhhhh, just.. like.... that."

 He resumed sneezing and started expressing a tired face. His eyelids looked like they were becoming heavy and his head began nodding downwards. He sneezed while yawning and he scared himself. I began laughing but as he directed his line of sight to mine I stopped. A moody Bill is a whining Bill. I guess since he's sick, I'll have to take care of him... Nah, I can barely look after myself never mind another person. "Bill, maybe you should go to sleep, I'll check up on you soon okay."

He nodded his head in agreement, he tried to walk back to the bed but collapsed to the floor with one hand clinging to the sink to try and hold himself up. I ran to his aid and tried to help him up, he began crying and I've not seen him like this since he feared me. It was heart breaking. I knew he would be okay as it was just a normal bug interrupting his system but he was so helpless. I picked him up bridal style and took him back to bed. I placed him down and lay next to him. Making sure he was warm, I grabbed my journal and began reading, though I don't have a requirement to sleep anymore, sitting in bed for the night has become a habit that I don't feel comfortable breaking. And with that, I brought Bill into my hold with one hand as he snuggled up to my chest. I looked down at his shaking body as his nose continued to sniffle with a single tear rolling down his soft pale cheek. I gave him a quick kiss on the forehead to remind him that I was still there while wiping the tear from him with a gentle swipe of my thumb, and I began to stroke his hair as he lay with his eyes closed falling into a faux sleep.