Bill's POV

The rest of that day, I spent faking my life and awkwardly getting around his parents till it came to dinner time. I decided to leave Pine Tree alone this time during dinner since tomorrow I'd get my head back in the game.

I had slept in my own room that night, but for a while, before I had fallen asleep, I spent over an hour recollecting the events of that day and studying them. What's wrong with you? I had asked myself. Finally, after all that pondering, I managed to close my eyes and drift off into my dreams...

*********

I woke up the next morning, about ten in the morning, and stretched feeling refreshed and brand new. Today I had to go talk to Arrow.

I was getting tired of running around with Pine Tree, I wanted to spend some time with the love of my life. My heart still managed to yearn for her after all these years. I spiffied myself up and brushed out my hair. I needed to talk again. I needed to see her again.

Of course, she'd be a little displeased after seeing that...incident...between me and Pine Tree. I was still mildly disgusted about that.

I strolled out of my room, smiling brightly. Arrow was still home, I could feel it, and all I did was have to walk up to her house and beckon her out. I felt more upbeat today, maybe because I didn't have to babysit Pine Tree so much this day.

I reached the front door and went to turn the knob when a hand gripped tightly onto my arm. I rolled my eye, expecting Pine Tree and turned around, scoffing. "Oh, Pine Tree, don't act so desper-" I broke off when I saw Shooting Star. I jerked my arm away from her immediately when I realized I was mistaken. "Oh, it's you."

Shooting Star narrowed her eyes. "Where you headed off to?"

I exhaled softly. "Does it matter?"

"Yes? Because you're not going with Dipper." Her gaze hardened.

"I don't need to spend every living and breathing second with him!" I exclaimed.

"Where are you going?" She repeated more sternly.

"I'm going to talk to Eleanor." I explained angrily.

An angry frown formed on her face. "Why?"

"I just need to talk, yeesh-"

She stamped a foot forward threateningly. "If you hurt my brother in any way, I swear-"

"My gosh, kid. Settle down. I'm just going to talk." I did my best to control my anger.

"You know I don't trust you." She spat.

"Pine Tree!!!" I called out into the house, making Shooting Star jump.

After a few moments, his bedroom door opened and he stepped out, yawning and his hair rumpled. He only had on his pajama shorts, his hair - he hadn't bothered to wash out - stuck in clumps. "What is it, Bill...?" He asked exasperated.

I smirked. "Your sister is being incredibly rude." I complained. "I go to get out of the house for a bit and she gets on my back about hurting you and stuff." I walked around Shooting Star and took Pine Tree's hand.

He was still tired, so he didn't react like he would have if he was fully awake. He let out a long and annoyed sigh. "Mabel...just leave him alone..." He yawned again.

Shooting Star did her best to ignore that. "Why are you so tired bro bro?" She asked.

"Trouble sleeping - don't try to change the topic." He said in a low tone.

Ok... So I may have snuck into his dreams last night which did result in restless sleeping.

Shooting Star crossed her arms and looked away. "I'm just trying to protect you."

"Well... You just have to trust him." He told her sleepily.

"I am his boyfriend." I added quickly and Shooting Star shot me a disapproving glance.

"He said he is going to go talk to Eleanor." She informed Pine Tree.

His eyes opened up a little wider at the mention of that. "He's...what?"

An ever so small smile began to develop on her face. "You heard me."

Pine Tree and I exchanged look, I wanted to break the stare, but Pine Tree held it, a questioning look in his eyes. Immediately, I started hating Shooting Star even more. Pine Tree wasn't going to guilt trip me now.

"You are...?" He asked slowly, distrustingly.

I swallowed, tightening my grip reflexively on his hand. "I...I'm just going to talk to her about yesterday,
Dipper."

He narrowed his eyes at me, his senses still not sharp since sleep still clung to him. "Bill-"

"Maybe you should go with him?" Shooting Star suggested and I tensed up. "I mean, if you're just going to talk, it won't matter."

Pine Tree at first blinked before a small smirk played with his lips. "Yeah. I'd like that."

I growled low in my throat. I thought I was going to be Pine Treeless today, guess not. I'll get to mess with him today instead, just like I told myself yesterday... I sighed, annoyed. "Fine. I don't think Eleanor appreciates us kissing though..." I breathed and held onto Pine Tree, one hand across his chest, and his eyes widened, signaling he was finally waking up.

I smirked. "You know...passionately..."

Shooting Star put her hands up. "Ok! Ok! I get it, you sicko!" She crossed her arms, a faint flush on her face. "Now get out of here and go see her. Dipper'll be fine. Eleanor will be fine. Just...go..." She sighed angrily and patted him on the shoulder before she left.

I smiled down at him and ruffled his already tousled hair. "I'll cut you some slack on your acting - you're tired. Now come on."

Pine Tree inhaled sharply. "What?! No, I have to get dress-"

"Forget that." I said carelessly. "Let's go." I took his wrist and yanked him out of the house as we began our trek to her house.

Pine Tree yawned and rubbed his eyes with his other hand. "Ugh, Bill, slow down... I didn't get to sleep well last night."

I almost started laughing, remembering what his dreams were about. It has been pretty tough to sneak into his dreams since I wasn't in Gravity Falls, but that was my profession. His dreams were whacked up and they intermingled with real life occurrences. "Well, not my problem, Pine Tree. You wanted to come along with me, like an idiot."

"I'm not even wearing shoes..." He breathed and yawned again.

"I'm not carrying you." I spat and rolled my eye.

"Ugh, ok..." He grumbled and rubbed his eyes again.

After a lot of walking and a lot of Pine Tree complaining, we made it to her house.

"Get your acting game on." I commanded him and fixed my bow tie. "Do I need to remind you we are dating and we are madly in love?"

He yawned once again. "Madly in love? I don't-"

I ignored whatever else he was going to say and walked up and knocked on the front door.

The door swung open, revealing Arrow's mom. "Oh, hi, Bill." She said confused. "You here to see Eleanor?"

I nodded. "Yeeup."

She sighed annoyed and turned over her shoulder. "Ella! Someone's here to see you!"

After a few moments, Arrow came up to the door and looked out, her eyes widening. "I'll be right back, mom." She stepped out and closed the door in her mom's face. She then whipped around. "Bill?! What do you want?!" She suddenly choked on her words when she saw Pine Tree. "D-Dipper?"

Pine Tree looked up, his face flushed. He was still shirtless with just his pajama shorts and bare feet. He looked like he hadn't slept in months, with his hair jacked up and even some bruises on his body from when I dug my nails into him at the beach. "Hey..."

"What happened to you?"
She exclaimed.

I stepped in front of her, blocking her view of Pine Tree, smirking. "Rough night in bed, honey."

Her face flushed red and she raised her hand to slap me, but I snatched her wrist in mid air, halting her. "You-you-!"

"'You' what?" I asked and chuckled. "He's my boyfriend, what do you expect?"

She lowered her gaze and I could feel the burning stare of a sleep deprived Pine Tree shooting through me. "You don't share that type of stuff with me." She growled. Arrow shook her head, furious. "Why are you hear?! Huh?!"

"Well, I wanted to talk to you," I admitted, "but he simply couldn't keep his hands off of me-" I gestured to Pine Tree standing behind me, "-so I brought him along."

Arrow, however, wasn't amused. "What do you really want, huh? To show off your new boyfriend. I honestly don't even believe it." Her sour gaze flicked over to Pine Tree and she looked away quickly.

"Oh, you don't believe us either?!" I exclaimed angrily. "What about that beach incident?"

Arrow's shoulders stiffened up.

"Yeah, Mabel told us about that. You found us making out." I felt a chuckle forming inside of me as I recollected that highly disturbing moment. I leaned over by her and she grimaced. "How would you rate the session from one to ten-"

She jerked away, horrified. "A ZERO!"

"Hey!" Pine Tree called offended, but then blushed and looked away quickly.

I smirked again. "Aw, don't offend him." I said pitifully and pulled Pine Tree up by me, lightly kissing his forehead, making him blush more. I could sense the anger on him every moment I made him blush.

Arrow looked away. "Kay, show's over. What do you need to talk about."

I sighed and slung my arm around Pine Tree. "Well, I wanted to talk about yesterday." I examined my finger nails. "Mabel told us she sent you to come find us."

Pine Tree tried to pull away from my arm, but I held him still.

"Why did you do it?" I asked seriously. "Why not just stay out of it?"

Arrow looked down at her shoes angrily. "Because I care for Dipper's safety. That's why."

I narrowed my eye. "He's safe with me."

"Mabel told me some things you had done. They're not good, Bill. He's not safe." Arrow crossed her arms.

I felt my heart tearing. She doesn't trust me. Not even a little. I can't let this plan fail. I can't let it fail! "Well, he is. I don't care what you think. If you hate us being together than just stay out of it."

Arrow shook her head in a disappointed manner and stepped up to Pine Tree whose eyes grew larger as she came close. "Dipper, is something wrong?! You have to tell me if-"

Pine Tree suddenly grew angry and shoved her backwards, making her stumble and crash into the door.

Her eyes were as big as plates, betrayal and shock splattered across her face. "D-Dipper... Why...why did you-"

"No. Shut up. Stop interfering, Eleanor." He turned away and I saw his eyes shining with not-yet-shed tears. He did that to keep her away from me, to keep her safe. He was willing to sacrifice himself for his friends and family.

Tears began to form into her eyes. "What did I ever do to you?! I'm trying to PROTECT you, you IDIOT!" Her hands clenched into fists and she stood herself up. She snapped her head to me. "You ruined him, Bill!" She squeezed her eyes shut tightly. "GET OUT OF HERE!"

I wanted to grab her and hug her and comfort her for hours. But she hated me. Hated me. I loved her so much that I was willing to do anything...but it wasn't working.

She threw open the door and slammed it behind her.

Out of all the people I had to have kissed it could have been Arrow, but no, it had to be Pine Tree. Of all people!!! I swallowed back the heart ache. It'd just take a lot longer than I thought. Ruining Pine Tree while winning Arrow was near by impossible, but I wasn't giving up.

Not yet.

I pulled Pine Tree to me, holding him close. I felt like my whole entire body was going to fall apart. She hates me, hates me.... Hates me. I wanted to cry. Demons don't cry. No. I wasn't going to cry.

I didn't realize that I was hugging tightly onto Pine Tree, holding in the tears. My hands were gripping tightly onto him as if I was going to squeeze the life out of him.

"B-Bill let me go!" He called out.

My eye opened up and I pulled away, embarrassed. "I...s-sorry... I-" I broke off, feeling shattered inside. I swallowed. "Let's go back."

I led him away from her house and we began walking back. She hates me. I repeated to myself. "Dipper..." I exhaled, feeling like my life and soul and been drained out of me. I didn't feel like being sassy or showy.

He looked over at me, his emotions mixed up. "What is it...?"

"Thank you for doing that. That was nice of you." I didn't even know what I was saying anymore.

"I'm protecting them." He spat. "From you."

I felt horrible sorrow swamping over me. No, you can't give up yet...not- I closed my eye and next thing I knew it, I was on my knees with my face in my hands, crying. Crying. I was bawling like there was no end. I finally allowed myself to cry and let out all of that crushing horrible loneliness and pain that I had been keeping bottled up.

"Bill? Bill?!" Pine Tree sounded frantic. "Bill?!" He started shaking my shoulders, but I couldn't stand up. I pulled Pine Tree down and wrapped my arms around him, crying on his shoulder.

"I-I-I can't take it!" I sobbed, curling my fingers into his skin, gripping onto his shoulder blades. "I lived without her for two years - I can't go another second!"

Pine Tree was first shocked before he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me back. "Bill, I-"

"No. Quiet. D-don't talk." I tried to stop the tears, but it was infinite. "Br-bring me home." I begged him.

Pine Tree was still surprised, but he stood me and up raised my chin. "Bill. Get a hold of yourself."

I wiped the tears away, feeling ashamed I just broke down in front of him. "I-I need her!"

Pine Tree's gaze, for the first time, had care in them when he looked at me. "I'll-I'll help you." He stammered.

I looked up at him, baffled. This time he held my gaze like he actually saw me: a human. "What? R-really?"

He nodded. "I may hate it, I may despise it. But, you obviously love her."

I hugged onto him again, smiling. "Thank you."

Pine Tree didn't respond, but I felt his body slacken. But what I couldn't see was his face which was full of pain as he realized he was diving deeper into his fake act that he wasn't pulling off to lie to his whole family.

For me.