"Oh, hey, dude! We were wondering when you were going to get back," Soos greeted as Dipper entered the gift shop.
"Hey, Soos," Dipper greeted.
Wendy still wasn't there yet. She was probably going to be a bit late, as always. Stan must've been getting ready to guide tours for the day, as he wasn't in the room, and Mabel had just walked into the room with Waddles following.
"How was breakfast with your new friend?" Mabel asked, smiling as she did.Dipper cringed a bit of the thought of Bill being his 'friend', but replied, "It was okay."
"Hey, why'd you take the journal with you? You barely want anyone to even know that thing exists," Soos noticed, pointing towards the book in his hand.
"Oh, uh," Dipper stuttered, trying to find an excuse but just decided to tell the truth, "The guy I met up with said he'd help me with deciphering some of the codes in there. He seems to know a lot about that kind of stuff. He apparently studied it a lot."
Mabel gave her brother a concerned look before asking, "Dipper, did you find that guy last night and asked him to help you with that? Was it because of what we said last night?"
"No, well, kind of... I met him before all of that happened last night, but I ran into him last night and he offered to help me. I didn't see the harm in it, so I told him I would let him help me," Dipper half lied.
Soos and Mabel gave him a surprised look. Normally, Dipper only wanted help from people who he knew and trusted very well. It was out of character for him to accept help from someone he barely knew. Though, Dipper had been extremely upset about last night, which they suspected must have driven him to do that.Mabel shook the thought out of her head, and decided to forget about Dipper's new friend.
The three then started to get to work. Wendy showed up a few minutes after they started to work, and lucky for her, Stan hadn't showed up yet, so she didn't get in trouble for being late.The day seemed to fly by for Dipper. He mostly stayed in the gift shop, hanging out with Wendy who was working at the cashier as usual. People fled in and out of the shop, Stan occasionally coming in to take a break from guiding tours.
As the last of the tourists left the shack, Wendy informed Dipper that she was going to leave earlier to go hang out with her friends. Dipper said it was fine and as she left, he headed upstairs to the attic. When he opened the door, he nearly screamed as he saw someone on his bed.
"Oh, hello, Pine Tree! I was wondering when you'd get here."
Bill was lying on his bed, which made Dipper angry that it had to be his bed. Dipper was confused when he saw that the dream demon was holding a Rubik's Cube. Bill's attention was taken away from Dipper and back to the Rubik's Cube.
"What are you doing here? And how long have you been here?" Dipper exclaimed, slamming the door behind him, terrified that Mabel would come in.
Bill shrugged, and replied, "Relax, kid. I've only been here for couple of minutes. Got bored of waiting for you in the Mindscape, so, I decided to hang out in here."
Dipper sighed and shook his head. He walked over and sat down at the end of the bed. He watched as Bill muttered to himself, trying to figure out the Rubik's Cube. Dipper wanted to laugh to see an incredibly smart demon attempting to solve a puzzle.
"What do you want?" Dipper asked.
"Well, you're done with work, right?" Bill murmured, still looking at the Rubik's Cube, but acknowledged Dipper's nod in reply. "You said that we'd meet up again after you were done working."
"Oh, right," Dipper muttered.
He watched Bill continue to struggle with the cube before asking, "Do you need help with that?"
Bill's head shot up and he glared at Dipper, very sternly saying, "No."
"Are you sure? I could do that in just a few seconds," Dipper insisted.
Bill hissed at him and Dipper couldn't help but explode into laughter. Bill frowned and put the Rubik's Cube on the bed stand.
"So, what were you doing before you came here?"
"Drifting around in the Mindscape."
"What happens to your body when you're in the Mindscape?"
"Same thing that happens to you humans when you dream."
"So, you were asleep then? Where were you in sleeping?"
"The woods," Bill paused for a moment and then raised an eyebrow at Dipper. "You're full of questions today, aren't you Pine Tree?"
Dipper shrugged and replied, "I'm just curious... You don't have a place to sleep?"
"I thought the woods was an okay place to sleep," Bill answered, sounding carefree as always.
Dipper shook his head and began to speak again, "It really isn't. There are animals that would you eat you alive out there... And monsters... And what about your hygiene? That's not really a clean way to live."
"I didn't think hygiene was a huge problem," Bill said, and then nodded over to a pile of dirty clothes that belonged to Dipper. "Seems like you don't seem to care much about it, either."
Dipper snorted, "Okay, I'm not the greatest example of a clean human, but I'm not going to put up with you smelling like your a wild animal and I'm pretty sure other people wouldn't want to be around you either."
"Then where am I supposed to stay?" Bill asked, his tone almost challenging.
Dipper opened his mouth to speak, but then looked away to think. There wasn't anywhere in tone that Bill could really stay. He could stay with someone, but Dipper didn't like the thought of that.
"Hey!" Bill exclaimed, snapped his fingers and he suddenly appeared in front of Dipper, getting in his face. "What if I stayed with you?"
"I don't know," Dipper muttered, and pushed Bill back a bit. "We don't have a lot of space in the shack for a guest. I don't know how Mabel or Stan would feel about it... And even if I was able to convince Stan he probably make you pay rent or something like that, and you don't have a job to get any money..."
"What if I worked at the Mystery Shack and in return I'd get to stay here?" Bill suggested, actually sounding excited about the idea.
"Well," Dipper murmured. "That could actually work... Since Stan doesn't really like to pay his employees... and we could use an extra hand. B-but could you actually handle a job?
""Of course I can, Pine Tree!" Bill exclaimed, grinning.
"You do know that involves interacting with other humans?"
"I can handle it, kid. Trust me."
I can't trust you, Dipper thought, earning a aggrivated look from Bill. He forgot the demon could read his mind.
Dipper sighed. There was no convincing Bill that he shouldn't try to get a job at the shack. He stood up, but then came nose to nose with the demon. Dipper frowned, but Bill smiled, and pushed him away. He walked over and opened the door, Bill following. Dipper was surprised to see Mabel and Wendy outside the door.
"Dipper, there you are! We were looking for you," Wendy exclaimed, but then looked at Bill, confused. "Who's this?"
"Oh, uh," Dipper muttered, "This is the guy I had breakfast with this morning... Bil-Wi-William."
Bill looked at Dipper and frowned at his attempt to lie quickly about his name, but then looked at the others smiled and exclaimed, "I prefer to go by Bill, though. Nice to meet you!"
Mabel smiled at the blonde's enthusiasm and greeted him, "Hi there! I'm Dipper's sister, Mabel! And this is one of our friends, Wendy!"
"Dipper's told me about you two," Bill lied, still having that charming smirk on his face.
The demon was about to go on, but Dipper interrupted, "We were actually about to go talk to Grunkle Stan, so..."
"What for?" Wendy asked.
"We're going to try to convince Stan to let Bill work here-"
The redhead then interrupted him, "Dipper, you know Stan doesn't want to have new employees because he has to pay them."
"I'm not going to work for pay," Bill then explained. "I need a place to stay, so I thought if he lets me stay here, I'll work for him."
Wendy looked the two surprised, and said, "That actually might work."
"Sweet! We're going to have a new roommate!" Mabel exclaimed, sounding overwhelmed with excitement.
"Mabel, calm down! Stan hasn't cleared it with us yet," Dipper told her.
She stopped being excited for a moment before turning around to start running downstairs, yelling, "Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Stan!"
"Oh great," Dipper muttered and then chased after her.
Wendy and Bill exchanged worried looks before following the others.