Human - Gravity Falls [Revised]

Chapter 8

      Some time later, Dipper slowly opened his eyes, squinting at the intense light coming into the room. He looked around vaguely at the empty room. He let himself be absorbed in the rare quiet for a few minutes before heading downstairs, not bothering to pick up his hat that had fallen off as he slept. Really it was Wendy's hat, which he had kept all these years. He yawned and took out the phone from his pocket. "3:00?!" he exclaimed, stopping in the middle of the stairs. Man, I slept like a baby! Literally this time!
       Suddenly, he was aware of a lack of noise coming from the room below. Bill poked his head through the doorway and looked up at him. "Oh, uh, hey! You're awake!" he said in a tone that confused Dipper. If anything, he expected Bill to be upset in some way, but he seemed nervous and trying to act normal than anything else... He couldn't accurately put it into words.
Frantic whispering came from the other room, continuing as Bill spoke. "Say, uh, Pine Tree, you wanna go out for a hike today? I wanted to see some of the crazy things in that journal if yours!" he said nervously.
"Um, what's going on exactly?" Dipper said, rubbing his eyes and walking into the kitchen to see Stan, Ford, and Soos sitting at the table with some papers and glitter. He was sleepy, but he wasn't an idiot. Everyone was obviously hiding SOMETHING.
"Please Dipper? I really want to go outside today!" Bill pleaded. Dipper finally (albeit begrudgingly) agreed, grabbing a bagel and his navy jacket from the coat rack as they walked out the door. I suppose I owe him this, even though he still kissed me in front of my sister, he thought stubbornly to himself.
The drive to their destination, Gravity Falls Lake, was silent and extremely awkward. Dipper still felt sorry for snapping earlier that morning and being childish, but he didn't know the best way to apologize. Every minute he grew more and more anxious just to get it out until his knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel. Luckily Bill was too distracted by the experience if riding in a car to care to notice.
Bill had his face pressed against the window half the time, watching the world speed by, and the other half was spent investigating every inch of the car from his seat. Sure, he had ridden in a car before, but only once, and at the time he was too focused on his plan to get Journal 3 away from Pine Tree. Those sure were some good times, though! Except when they sorta defeated him.
At last, they arrived. There were a few people swimming and fishing, but other than that it was pretty quiet. Dipper parked carefully, seeing how he was still relatively new at driving, only nearly crashing into a parked car... And a tree... After that, they began their walk along the hiking trail. They didn't get more than 20 feet into the tree line before Dipper decided it was now or never if he was going to apologize. "Look, Bill, I-- I'm sorry I was a little touchy last night, I guess I can get, a little crazy sometimes, ya know?" h added in a light tone, rubbing the back of his head and staring at the ground as he walked.
Bill jumped, his heart racing. He was extremely surprised at the gesture and, not knowing how to react, he punched Pine Tree affectionately and said, "Eh-don't worry about it, pal!" He desperately wanted to say 'shouldn't I be the one apologizing?' but he couldn't get the words out. They just turned to mush in his mouth.
Suddenly, Bill spotted a worn sign for a waterfall, which Pine Tree didn't seem to notice. He took his hand and lead him down the slightly overgrown, untrodden path. "Hey, come with me!" said Bill. He reluctantly followed and chuckled, "Why down here?"
      "Oh, you'll see!" said Bill, a wide grin across his face. He ran a little ahead to make sure he saw the destination first. However, the sound of immense rushing water wasn't doing him any favors.
"Wait up, man!" Dipper called, unable to hold back a smile of his own. Geez, it's like he could run forever! He thought, watching his strange friend run out if sight. He slowed to a stop, bending over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath. A few minutes later, Bill returned, attempting and failing to hide his massive grin. Dipper looked up at him from his position and smiled as well, panting nonetheless.
"Come on, Pine Tree! We're almost there!!" he said, taking Dipper's hand and dragging him along. Reluctantly, he began a slow jog. Where are we even going? He wondered. As they walked along, the sound of rushing water was becoming exponentially louder. There must be a river nearby. Why is he excited about a river? Oh right, he's Bill. But, wait a second, if this is a river, it's pretty damn powerful... He jumped for a second at the though of 'oh no, he's gonna push me in the rapids! This is where I die!' However, within five seconds they burst out of the trees, and his fears were put to rest.
They stood before the splendor of a huge, roaring waterfall, glittering in the light of the mid-afternoon. Dipper craned his neck to look above them at the very top of it, high above their heads. The water weaved and flowed together gracefully, ever changing.
"Wow, and I thought the run would be the most breathtaking part of the hike," said Dipper quietly to himself, inaudible next to the falls. He looked down at Bill, who was standing next to it at its base. The wind from the waterfall was flowing through his golden hair. The mist swirled around him, glittering delicately. Dipper's heart was sent aflutter at the sight of him. Without warning, he turned his head to look at Dipper out of the corner of his eye, almost in slow motion. Dipper was caught off guard and his shoulders jumped. He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and took a sudden interest in the trees.
"Hey, I think there's a cave back here!" Bill yelled, pointing to the waterfall. He was pulled back to reality for a moment, rushing to the water. "Really?" said Dipper, then it suddenly dawned on him. "Oh yeah! Mabel, Soos and I came here once when we were running from a mechanical lake monster!" He laughed at the memory.
"Race you in!" Bill shouted playfully, having already taken off his coat and his shirt. He even went as far as taking his pants off! Dipper found his heart beating a mile a minute, his face turning bright red at the sudden amount of exposed skin on his tattooed and lean but muscular body. He snapped back to reality and followed his lead so as not to be left behind, taking off his jacket, shoes, and shirt, refusing to take off his shorts, and ran toward the falls to see Bill already jumping through the wall of water. To Dipper's surprise, the water parted, not even getting a single drop on him! He ran after the demon, getting completely soaked in the process.
After about a half hour of spelunking in the dim light of the cave, they were disappointed to find that it was simply a single-chambered, albeit enormous cavern, with a pool in its center where water from outside was allowed to flow in. It also had a raised ledge on one side, just as Dipper remembered. However, the Gobblewonker was cleared out ages ago to use as part of the Shack-Robot.
"What's next on the agenda, Pine Tree?" Bill asked. He replied that it depended how long they wanted to stay. Soos said they needed about five hours to set up, and he agreed to meet Candy and Grendo in town before sunset, so he suggested leaving within the next hour. "Hey, let's take a dip!" Bill said, cackling at his own joke. Ignoring the pun, Pine Tree agreed. Getting a fair head start first, he ran and jumped into the pool of water, creating a huge splash. He popped up to the surface gracefully, the water appearing to dance around him. The sight sent Bill's heart aflutter.
"Damn, this water is freezing!" Dipper gasped as soon as he emerged from the depths (the water was surprisingly deep, maybe 8 feet at its deepest point, he guessed). He hugged himself, shivered violently, and tread water all at the same time. Bill snapped out if it and ran toward the water, himself.
SMACK. Bill had just landed a perfect belly flop onto the water. "Ooooo that's gotta hurt," said Dipper, flinching at the sound, almost unable to look at his poor friend. Bill slowly emerged to the surface, a grin twisted with pain on his face. "Pain is hilarious," he said hoarsely before sinking back into the water. After about thirty seconds of him not resurfacing, a thought occurred to Dipper: does he even know how to swim?!
He took in a huge breath before diving down. In the chill of the water, he couldn't will his eyes to open, not like he would've been able to see anything in the dim light, anyway. As he dove down, he felt around frantically for anything other than rock. Finally, his hand smacked into something warm and soft. He felt for Bill's arms and took hold of his torso, desperately swimming to the surface using his free arm. The second they broke the surface, Dipper dragged the inter-dimensional demon to shore and laid him on his back. He wasn't breathing. "Ok Dipper, you've been a lifeguard before, just do what you had to do then!" he told himself. Then he remembered the last time he performed CPR was on a merman, and it was technically reverse CPR. "Ah, whatever!" he grunted, taking in a huge gulp of air before their mouthes came into contact. Before he could even get the air into Bill's lungs, he felt a tongue slip into his mouth. A hand was placed on the back of his head, another around his back, pulling him off balance. His eyes flew open as he fell on this man to see he was more alive than ever.
      Dipper forced himself out of the sudden make-out session and to his knees, still on top of him. "I thought you weren't breathing!" he exclaimed. Bill smiled playfully as he said, "So you decided to kiss me while I was unconscious?" Dipper's heart sank in embarrassment. He flung himself off of Bill and leaped to his feet in one fluid motion. "I thought you were gonna die! I was about to perform CPR!" he said desperately, throwing his arms in the air.
      "Yeesh kid, relax! I'm not that stupid! I'm just messin' with ya!" he said lightly, "What's the big woop? It was just a kiss." Dipper took a deep breath, preventing himself from strangling Bill.
      Without thinking, he blurted out, "The big woop? I've been having extremely conflicted feelings toward you and that just now is only making me more confused!" Realizing what he just said, his hands flew over his mouth, all muscles stiffening. He turned around and tried to pretend Bill couldn't see him. I cannot believe I just said that... This can't be happening!
An overwhelming mix of emotions washed over Bill in that moment. He knew Pine Tree had feelings toward him, but the fact that he realized it himself put the man into shock. He didn't even have a full grasp of these human emotions yet! All he knew was that he wanted to hug Pine Tree, badly, and before he knew what he was doing, he hugged his Pines from behind.
      Dipper's shoulders jumped as he felt the sudden warmth of Bill's embrace. W-what is he doing?! He thought, I mean, he obviously likes me, that I knew beforehand, but how am I supposed to react now?! "Just don't think about it," Bill whispered in Dipper's ear, which sent shivers throughout his entire body, starting in his toes and working it's way up through to the hairs on his head. Although, now he was seriously beginning to think that Bill had the power to read minds. Putting that aside for now, Dipper realized that the longer the hug lasted, (somehow) the the less awkward it felt, until he was no longer content with a simple back hug. He loosened Bill's grip for a moment to face him and give him a proper embrace. He wrapped his own arms around the devilishly handsome man's slender form, burying his face in his neck. This person was exactly what Dipper needed... And he felt the same way about him that Dipper felt toward Bill (which is always a plus). There could be no denying it now, he thought to himself, I'm in love with Bill Cipher.
      "Does this mean we finally feel the same way about each other?" Bill asked expectantly, loosening his embrace to look his love in the eye. He wanted to hear it from Pine Tree, himself. Unable to speak and wearing the most adorable expression of embarrassment and shyness, he simply nodded. Bill couldn't keep hidden his genuine smile, which stretched from ear to ear. He had always loved being close to Pine Tree: watching him, assessing his weaknesses, possessing him, whatever. But now, actually being close to his heart heart would be a huge bonus; it something of Dipper's that he couldn't acquire by force! The teen rested his head on Bill's chest, close to his uncontrollably-beating human heart. Bill rested his head on Dipper's, running his fingers through his damp, chestnut hair. They let each other be enveloped in each other's warmth and simply enjoy the moment together.