I'll Try Anything Once

Its Worth a Shot

"I thought I'd find you up here, Pine Tree."

Dipper pulled his face from his knees where he had been resting his chin for the last twenty minutes and craned his body to peer behind him. Leaning leisurely against the slant of the roof was Bill. Dipper hadn't expected him to come up here. The welcome back party that was underway for him and Mabel was still going strong, both inside and outside of the Mystery Shack. Bill had seemed to have been delighting in watching the way people interacted with each other in such a scenario when Dipper slipped away from the party to sit up on the roof.

Dipper turned back to gazing out towards the forest, a slight frown now lurking in the corners of his mouth. Bill had also seemed to enjoy the attention directed at him by some of the more flirtatious guests.

"Hello, Bill," Dipper said curtly.

"Jeez, don't sound so happy to see me." Dipper heard the soft click of Bill's dress shoes on creaking wood move closer. "Clockin' out early at your own party?"

Dipper still wasn't looking at him. "I don't really like dancing at parties, and I pretty much got to see everyone and Mabel's busy so..."

"So you thought you'd come up here and sulk about your two left feet." Bill ribbed.

"Hey!" Dipper protested, whipping his gaze around to meet Bill's, "I just don't like dancing in front of other people! I do not have two left feet."

"Really?" A look flashed in Bill's eye that Dipper wasn't sure he liked. "Then prove it!"

"Prove it? Wha-"

"Dance with me!" Bill challenged, suddenly beside him and bending close to his face. Dipper, taken aback by both the demand and the unexpected close proximity, struggled to form a response and managed to only sputter and stutter stupidly as his face began to rapidly heat up. And while he was twenty years old and well out of puberty, Dipper could feel an uncomfortable amount of nervous sweat begin to collect at his brow and down his back.

"Yeesh, kid, are you just an awkward human or a busted boiler?" Bill snickered and reached for Dipper's hand, pulling him unceremoniously up.

Dipper, managing not to trip over his own feet, regained his composure and snatched his hand back. "W-why would I do that? I just said I don't like dancing in front of other people!"

"Who said anything about in front of other people?" Without missing a beat, Bill wrapped an arm around Dipper's thighs and tossed him over his shoulder. Ignoring the other man's protests (and rather enjoying the punches and slaps being delivered to his back), Bill nimbly reached for the boombox that Dipper always kept near the folding chair and grabbed it.

"You might wanna stop flailing for a minute there, kid, unless you wanna eat shit," Bill warned as he stepped to the edge of the rooftop.

Puzzled into silence at his words, Dipper suddenly felt his stomach lurch and heard a not entirely masculine yelp burst from his mouth. He was looking at the ground from who knew how many feet up in the air and they were moving.