Your car eased to a stop as you approached your old summer home. As you halted in the cracked cement driveway, you peered out the driver side window to look the rundown old thing up and down. You hadn't visited this house in years.
The house, now being extremely underused by you or your family, had mostly become a 'burden' as your parents would call it, and you had been assigned to come out here to Gravity Falls, Oregon, and sell it.
You opened the car door and stepped out gingerly, looking around still. Your surroundings brought on some childhood memories that made you yearn to be a kid again. You were now in your early twenties and on your own for the most part.
You shut the car door behind you, and walked up to the front door of the house, pulling the key out of your purse in the process.
Upon unlocking and opening the door, stale air washed out over you. You wrinkled your nose slightly at the smell, but proceeded inside, propping the door open to let in some fresh air.
You stopped inside the doorway and took in the quaint living quarters. To your right there was a large, but lacking family room, and to your left was a small flight of stairs which led into a dining room and a small kitchen.
More memories flooded in, uninvited, and made you sigh somewhat sadly.
Here and there were small belongings that your family would leave behind to come back to the next summer. A table here, a sofa there. A bookcase full of old books was settled straight across from you, in a corner, against a wall. You walked over and scanned the titles. You smiled, realizing that a good portion of them were yours; scattered books from some of the series' that you had read through.
You stepped away from the bookcase and walked around a table and a small, worn sectional that were in the middle of the room to make your way to a door on the far end of the family room. You turned the doorknob and pushed the door inwards, only to have another wave of old air come over you, this time making you cough lightly.
You peered inside. This had always been your parents' room when you had stayed here over the summer. The king sized bed sat against the far wall, blankets folded neatly at the foot of the matress. The only other things in the room were your mother's old vanity and a bedside table. You backed out of the room and made your way upstairs.
*Time skip*
After checking all of the other rooms, and assessing what you would need to take with you, you walked back out the front door, and to your car again, opening one of the back doors. You grabbed an armful of the folded cardboard boxes and a roll of packing tape that you had brought with you and, shutting the door again, headed back inside.
You travelled from room to room, sorting and piling various belongings into boxes, sealing them and piling them next to the front door when you were done with them. In no time there was a small pile of boxes near the front door, each box ready to be taken outside and loaded into your back seat and trunk. You just hoped it would all fit...
There was one room you had yet to visit. The small room that was located on the third floor at the end of the hall. Your old room. The room where the most memories would lie. Memories of summers long past and friendships long forgotten. Your childhood rested in that room and, truth be told, you genuinely didn't want to remember some of it.
Most of the memories resting peacefully in that room among the bed and the books and the toys, were of a select few people. Two goofy kids you used to know named Dipper and Mabel Pines, and their mortal enemy; Bill Cipher.
A few summers before you had gotten the chance to meet the Pines twins, you had run into the floating, yellow, equilateral and for years, had called him a good friend. A trusted friend.
Though he was a dream demon, as he had confided, he was surprisingly friendly towards you. For one summer, the only one able to see him was you. That is, until he had you help him with a project. A project to 'help him understand humans better' as he had put it. What was this project? To help him acquire a human body.
Being merely ten at the time, you didn't fully understand his motives or what he planned to do to get this body of his. He had told you that sacrifices would have to be made, that some freedom would have to be given up, and wanting to help your good friend, you smiled at him and happily shook the flaming hand he had extended.
You two had then entered the dreamscape, where he could work his magic, and you had witnessed him whip up his own human body; slim features, blonde and brown hair, and golden, catlike eyes. His clothing always consisted of a white formal shirt with a golden yellow knitted vest with brick patterns over top. Accompanying this, he wore black formal pants, black formal shoes, a small, thin top hat, and an eyepatch, which covered the eye he could see into the mindscape with. He had made his body just about your age.
After that, everyone could see that he was constantly with you. You introduced him to your parents, saying you had met him at the park down the road. He would visit you every day, always making sure to hide the fact that he was a supernatural being from your parents and anyone else who would come around.
For three summers, he never told you the details of the deal you had made to help him create his body. What he finally did tell you though, was that when you had helped him with his body, you had been the one to make the sacrifices. You had been the one to lose part of your freedom. He had laced himself into you. He had cheated.
But of course, you still didn't care very much. He hadn't done harm to you, and he hadn't changed you in any way that you could tell, so you went along with it, always silently wondering.
The summer that you met the Pines was the year after he had told you these details. You were fourteen and they were twelve. You instantly became attached to them, being drawn to Mabel's bright personality, and Dipper's attraction to adventure and the supernatural.
It was almost a third of the way through that summer that they started encountering Bill.
They would always try to warn you about him, not knowing that he, Bill Cipher, was still one of your closest friends.
In the next few years, you came and went with Dipper and Mabel, always leaving with your family around the same time they would depart from the sleepy little town.
Also, in those summers, you were becoming interested in a certain someone you had been so close to for six years now. You two had become closer and closer as you got older. He was better to you than almost anyone. He helped you through times of trouble, and comforted you if you needed a friend. Your feelings for him must not have shown through bright enough though, because no matter what, your relationship stayed at a painful standstill, no matter how close you were to him, or how close he was to you. It hurt, and you couldn't deny it.
Now, walking up the stairs, you almost dreaded the thought of these memories.
Your feet led you to the old door, and gingerly, you placed your fingertips on the brass knob. With hesitation, you fully grasped the doorknob and turned it. The door swung inwards and you stepped inside, reluctant to really have a good look at anything.
Scanning the old bedroom, you observed that everything was coated in a visibly thick layer of dust. You sighed quietly and for the first time since walking in, took a good look at everything, again, assessing the items that you would need to pack.
The look of the room, was one of happiness, yet the feel was one of a lingering sadness. Though a lot of the memories that flooded back to you almost gave you a feeling of regret, the sadness that you felt in this familiar room was not your own.
The happy look of the room came from the large window on the far wall, illuminating the sunshine yellow paint job that had been there ever since you could remember. A shelf next to the window held several dolls and plush toys that you would leave during the school year, to come back to the following year.
Your bed, which had a fluffy, white pillow at the headboard and a fairly worn, multicolored patchwork quilt over the top, sat almost nonchalantly, meekly waiting to be used again.
Against the wall near the door, there stood a large wooden dresser with an equally large mirror. Lined up in front of the mirror were several trinkets and accessories that you had long forgotten about. Thin necklaces and dangly earrings sat among the many artifacts you had once used on a daily basis, but merely had no good use for anymore. Small picture frames stood upright on either corner of the dresser, the one to the left of you showing a picture of your family seven years ago. Your mother, your father, your younger brother, and you, all standing on an overlook somewhere up the mountain from there. You looked at your sixteen year old self smiling for the camera, and softly smiled back.
The picture on the right side of the dresser beamed up at you with the faces of thirteen year old Dipper and Mabel , and a fifteen year old you, with an arm around each of their shoulders. You grinned at seeing the smiling faces of your old friends.
You gingerly picked up the picture frame to study it closer, getting surprised when another small piece of paper fluttered down from behind the frame in your hand. The small paper floated down, only to slip behind the dresser and down to the floor. Curious, you set the frame that was in your hand down and leaned over the dresser, sticking your arm behind it to fish for the lost scrap.
Finding that you couldn't reach whatever it was that had fallen behind the dresser, you stood up straight and went around to the side to attempt to push the dresser away from the wall. Inch by inch you pushed it and eventually there was a space wide enough for your arm to snake behind it and snatch the mysterious paper between your fingers.
Feeling triumphant, you stood back up and examined the small paper, only to be surprised by what it turned out to be.
The paper you held in your hand was another picture. The only one of it's kind. The picture was of you and Bill, side by side, in front of a beautiful array of flowers. The picture was taken on a truly picture perfect day, near sunset. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue, appearing as a sapphire would, fading out to the lightest pink on the horizon. Beautiful pink and orange clouds were blotted here and there across the sky. Purple tinted mountains loomed in the distance.
The highlight of the photograph though, was you and Bill, standing there, so close together. His arm was around your shoulders and he was smirking at the camera. Your face was flustered as you looked not towards the camera, but towards him with a sheepish smile on your face.
You stared at the picture for a minute, mouth open the slightest bit, remembering this day. You were seventeen, and he had taken you to a special garden a little ways out of town. You two had walked around, admiring the beautiful scenery and having conversations about various things along the way.
At one point, you had come to a forested area. The path narrowed to the point where you had to walk single file.
Just before you went in, he had taken your hand, and upon spotting your blushing face, he had stated that it was simply so you two wouldn't get separated.
You remembered feeling your heart drop to your stomach as he said this. It had been fluttering so high before he said these words, only to drop low afterwards.
The walk through the forested area had been brisk, and you had reached the other side in no time. You walked back out into the sunlight, which was now fading to twilight. That was when you had stopped to take the picture you now held in your hand six years later.
You were still staring at the picture, deep in your thoughts, your lips now pressed together into a thin line. You shook your head to clear it and looked back at the picture in your hand. You sighed and put it in your pocket.
You had been zoned out for almost half an hour before you brought yourself back to present times. You assessed that it was time to get moving again and hurried down the stairs for another box.
You piled the trinkets from the top of the dresser in the bottom of the box, and carefully placed the two framed photographs on top. You closed and sealed the box and placed it by the door, running down to get more boxes. You came back up with an armful and started unloading the dresser drawers.
You found some old diaries, clothes, stuffed animals, jewelry, and various pieces of paper and sorted them out and into their own boxes. With only a couple of drawers left to go, you figured you would try to move on to a different part of the room, and take a break from the dresser for a bit.
You headed over to the shelves of dolls and plush toys and began packing them. Within minutes that task was done and you had another three boxes to pile near the door. You took the sheets and the quilt off of your bed and folded them neatly, placing them in their own box. The pillow you just tossed onto the pile of boxes. You looked around, finding nothing else to pack up but the rest of the things inside the dresser.
At this point you travelled back over to the dresser and began packing the contents of the remaining drawers. You had begun absentmindedly packing the boxes that were in front of you. Your mind was swarmed with thoughts of childhood and friends that you had left behind. Dipper and Mabel and Bill... Mostly Bill, if you were to be completely honest with yourself.
You silently wondered where he was and what he was doing, how he was doing, and if, in six years, he had found someone new to follow around. Just the thought made you sad. You had enjoyed spending time with him, and didn't like the fact that you could easily be replaced.
You thought back to the picture that you had placed in your pocket and sighed at the memories that it brought on once more. Even as your hands worked at sorting things and packing the boxes laying on the floor in front of you, You imagined them sitting still on your lap. You imagined that once upon a time, had your family not stopped coming here over the summer, you might have been able to express your feelings to Bill. Ever so slowly, his warm hand would take the ones you imagined laying on your lap. He would lift your chin with a finger to have you look at him. He would be wearing his signature smirk, but this time, the look in his eye would be sincere, warm, and loving. You would look back into that eye, the one he never covered with his eyepatch, and he would lean forward, and you would lean in too, ever so slightly, leaning in to his lips...
You were suddenly brought out of your lovely thoughts by a crunching sensation, almost like a brittle, dry leaf, between your fingers, as you reached into the final drawer. You got up from a sitting position, to sit on your knees and peer into the drawer. What you saw there surprised you.
Sitting lightly atop a white satin cloth, was a red velvet rose, gone fragile and dry with time, and a small note with your name written on it in cursive. You gently took the rose out of the bottom of the drawer to set it on top of the dresser as you picked up the note.
Opening it, you read:
(Y/N),
You've been gone for a long time now, and I know by now that you're probably not coming back any time soon, if at all.
I felt the need to write you a note though, maybe to finalize something that I should have years ago, but could never find the words for.
(Y/N), I've been thinking, and I believe I've figured out the reason I followed you around for years, ever since you were ten. I've always loved being around you, your smile, your laugh. Your personality. These drew me to you, and since you stopped coming around four years ago, I haven't been able to find someone like you.
I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I love you. I always have, and always will. I would have come to see you already to tell you this in person, but seeing as I can't leave Gravity Falls, I guess this note will have to do...
I've needed to get this off my chest for years since you left, and I guess now I finally am.
So, whether you read this or not, at least I can tell myself that I've said it.
I love you, (Y/N).
I'll leave this here in the room we used to spend time together in, along with this rose, just in case you (n)ever come back.
With eternal love,
Bill Cipher
You stared at the paper you held in your hand, rereading it's bittersweet words over and over again. Tears flowed down your cheeks one by one, slipping away unnoticed down your neck or falling onto the page you held in your slightly trembling hands. You sat, staring at the words he had left you, never looking away. This note had been here for two years... You had been away for six.
You clutched the precious note to your chest and continued silently weeping. The words rang through your head like sweet music that was intertwined into a bad memory. I love you, (Y/N)...
Eventually, your tears went away and were replaced by yearning. You wanted him there with you at that moment. You gathered up courage and strength to utter just one word.
"Bill..."
You breathed, barely audible to even your own ears.
You hung your head slightly, a sad sigh escaping your lips. The note was still clutched to your chest.
For a split second, a light illuminated the bedroom, before extinguishing itself as fast as it had come. Several wide eyed seconds went by before you heard a voice. A voice you had been longing to hear.
"(Y/N)..?" he said quietly, as if he didn't trust his eye to be showing him what he was seeing.
You sat there on the floor for a few more intense seconds before turning around to face him. You looked up at his almost bewildered face, waiting for one of you to break the silence that had settled on the room.
In one swift move he fell to his knees in front of you, wrapping is arms around you, breaking the stillness. You dropped the note you had been clutching to the ground and laced your arms under his and around him returning his embrace. You buried your face in his shoulder and let tears run freely again. One of his hands gently smoothed down the back of your hair as you sat there, soaking his sleeve with your ever flowing tears.
Eventually, when your tears had run out, he pulled back, looking you in the eyes. Your hands came back from around his back to fold neatly in your lap, and you hesitantly broke eye contact, looking down slightly.
Ever so slowly, he took your hands in one of his warm ones, and lifted your chin with a finger, and you met his gaze again. A hint of a smirk played on his lips, but mostly his gaze, his expression, was sincere, warm, and loving. He leaned towards you, never breaking eye contact, an you leaned in too, ever so slightly, closing your eyes, waiting for his lips.
Slowly, the sensation came, his lips were warm on yours and he pulled you close. The embrace you shared with him right at that moment was unlike anything you had experienced before. His warmth melted in with yours as your bodies were pulled closer together. His lips moved slowly and sweetly on yours, and you returned the kiss, your face heating up slowly.
Eventually the sensation was ended by him pulling his mouth away from yours. He looked into your eyes and smiled sweetly, saying the words you had longed to hear for so long.
"I love you, (Y/N). And that will never change,"
Your heart fluttered and you hugged him tightly again, uttering what you had never gathered the courage to say to him before.
"I love you too, Bill," you whispered to him, never wanting to release that embrace. He wrapped his arms around you tightly, and never let you stray from his heart again.