My Nonsensical Desire (Billdip AU)

1|| One

Piercing chilled night air digs at Bill's legs as he crouches outside his back door, his oversized shirt almost a dress on his skinny body. He places a bowl of water on the ground as the stray cat lifts its tail in approval, rubbing its furry body against Bill's bare leg as a sign of gratitude, before happily licking the water away.

"Poor kitty, must be famished." Bill concludes, motioning to an empty can, that had previously been filled with tuna. He scratches the stray's ears and it purrs. Bill laughs lightly and smiles. He's grateful for the company. Even if it's only a dirt stained gray cat.

It's still better company than his friend from school, who is too caught up in herself to notice how Bill is slowly deteriorating into a passionless drone.

He picks up the cat and cradles it in his arms. It doesn't try to get away. Bill thinks maybe it's because it's starving for company too. The cat's purring grows louder and Bill's heart warms at the affection. This is the first time in a while either of them have felt visible.

-

"The Hunger Games is not a classic, Grant!" Mr. Ramirez booms from the stage of Bill's school's auditorium.

Grant, a freckled redhead boy, looks down at the ground shyly, and mumbles a soft, "sorry."

Mr. Ramirez sighs at his theater class, "When I say I want you guys to think of classics, I mean books that were published in like, the eighteen hundreds," He finishes then rubs his temples. "We can't, as much as I'd like to, perform The Hunger Games for our winter play. I know at least one of you can think of a classic. Remember one theme of the book needs to be adventure."

A petit dark skinned girl rolls her eyes and raises her hand. "Yes, Vivian," Mr. Ramirez calls on her.

"Let's perform The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." Her suggestion comes out as more of a demand and her teacher smiles in relief.

"Finally somebody knows what a classic is!" He praises loudly before writing her idea on his small dry erase board with wheels.

Vivian's seemingly obnoxious friend Gideon calls out to the teacher through cupped hands, from beside her,"Let's do Treasure Island."

Mr. Ramirez whistles with his fingers, "Now we're getting somewhere." He writes the submission down. "Come on one more suggestion and we'll vote," He urges.

Bill thinks it over. He has something he's always wanted to perform. He decides, begrudgingly, to suck it up and spit it out. "What about Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?" Just like that Bill's words are out in the open. Ready for anyone to criticize, and no matter how much he desires, he can't take them back. The words go unacknowledged. One second passes. Why did he say it? Two seconds, maybe no one heard him. Three, why is everyone staring at him?

"He speaks!" A random kids screeches from the front of the auditorium, before melodramatically flinging himself out of his seat and falling face first onto the ground.

"Finally participating I see, Cipher," Mr. Ramirez jokes from the stage. Bill stares at his sweaty hands, that are clasped together neatly on his lap. He gives a light nod, his messy blonde hair falling into his peripheral vision. The teacher turns to the board and writes Bill's proposal.

Bill hears snickering from behind him. He looks over his shoulder on instinct and meager curiosity. Gideon is pointing at Bill and whispering something in Vivian's ear, causing her to cup her hands over her mouth to conceal her laughter. She playfully swats Gideon's arm and scolds him in a low whisper,"That's mean."

Bill looks back towards the stage. He knows they're laughing about him.

"Alright kids who's ready to vote?" The teacher grins.

The class cheers excitedly and Bill rubs his clammy hands on his jeans. "Who wants to do Tom Sawyer?" About twenty of the fifty kids in the class raise their hands. Mr. Ramirez counts all the hands in the air. "Who wants Treasure Island?"

Gideon is the only one to raise his hand. "You all suck," he states before slouching back in his chair.

His teacher chuckles, "What about, Alice in Wonderland?" All the remaining students, including Bill, raise their hands. From the looks of it, their votes outnumber all the previous.

Bill's chest surges with pride. His suggestion actually won. Mr. Ramirez finishes counting the hands and smiles at Bill. "The winner is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." The class seems fairly content with the outcome, excluding Gideon, who groans.

"What is your problem?" Vivian asks. Gideon just covers his face with his hands and fake sobs.

The dismissal bell rings and Gideon immediately drops his act and springs up out of his chair.

"Bye, kids," Mr. Ramirez dismisses. Gideon grabs his bag, looking at Vivian, "Race you to your car," he challenges before running off.

"Oh, you're on." Vivian laughs, grabbing her bag and running after Gideon.

Bill stands up and takes his backpack from the ground. It's hot out today so he's not particularly thrilled about his walk home. He exists the room and walks down the noisy hall to his locker, which is conveniently located not far from the auditorium.

Bill deposits his notebooks from his bag into his locker. He sighs in content. His idea won in theater class and he doesn't have any homework. He doesn't know if it can get much better than that.

All the kids are crowding the exit and Bill tries his best to squeeze through. Once he finally does, he goes over to the sidewalk and heads home.

A sleek black car drives past him at a moderate speed. Bill follows it with his eyes. The driver is Mabel Pines. Bill can't help but admire her at times. Although he's sure everyone has admired her one time or another. People idolize her. She's almost like a celebrity among the students of the school. Bill has never personally spoken to her, never even considered it a possibility. It'd be a miracle if he could even manage get close enough to her where he'd have a chance of her simply acknowledging his existence. Not many people have the pleasure of labeling her as their friend. She seems to Bill as very closed off. Too good, some would say.

Bill's sort of on the look out for friends, obviously Mabel could never be one of them. Talking to her by himself completely overrides his capabilities at the moment.

Following Mabel is a pastel pink mustang. Driven by the one and only Pacifica Northwest. Her boyfriend, Dipper Pines in the passenger seat. Pacific is somehow checking her reflection in a compact mirror and driving at the same time. Bill respects the pure talent but also feels slightly worried being so close to the car, as he doesn't want to be run over any time soon.

Next, behind Pacifica, is Vivian. She's driving a smaller blue car, and laughing with Gideon, who's sitting in her passenger seat with his feet up on the dashboard.

The cars eventually drive out of sight and Bill turns into his neighborhood. I really need friends. He thinks to himself morosely.