Across Dimensions //Will Cipher x Fem!Reader//

7// Bowtie

You don't dream about Will for some time. You don't dream about much anything, really, probably because you flop into your bed in such exhaustion every night that your brain is too tired to even dream. You run all day, helping out in Dipper's lab, learning about the strangeness of Gravity Falls, and feeling like a real scientist. It's completely draining.

You love it.

One night, about a week after beginning your apprenticeship, you stumble into your bedroom and kick off your shoes before falling onto the bed in your clothes. You're so tired, you could just fall asleep right now.

And you do.

The next thing you know, you're in that white space again. Except this time, it's not completely featureless. You can see faint lines, like thin pencil strokes on a sketchpad, stretching into the distance. You look down to see something of a floor beneath your feet, though it's still a very light grey. A pretty shade, you decide.

"Yasmin?"

Your head jerks up in surprise. Will is standing in front of you, his hands stuffed in his pockets and his unnatural eyes looking worried.

"O-oh, sorry to startle you," he says. "I. . . didn't expect you to come back here."

"I don't know what 'here' is," you say. "Except that you're here, I guess."

Your eyes find the bowtie fastened to his lapel. There's something about it. . . something you should know. . . but it alludes your grasp.

"Are you dreaming again?"

This time, the knowledge comes easier, and you blink a few times as it hits you. "Yeah. . . yeah, I am! How did you know? And why are you in my dreams, anyway?"

"I'm. . . not exactly in your dreams," he says. "You're kind of in mine."

You stare at him in confusion, and then glance at his bowtie again.

Then it hits you.

"Bowtie!" you shout.

There's a beat of silence as Will looks at you strangely.

"Oh, u-um, I mean," you stammer, "your bowtie. It looks just like the one. . . you're the triangle, aren't you? The Will Cipher that Dipper has captive in his lab?"

Will blushes deeply, except his face turns blue instead of rosy. "I'm not a captive," he says defensively. "O-or at least I'm a willing one. It's—you wouldn't understand."

You hold up your hands. "Okay. Sorry." You obviously struck a nerve. "But. . . it is you, isn't it?"

You haven't seen the triangle since that day Dipper first showed him to you, but the glass jar has stayed at the edge of the lab, and occasionally you've seen flashes of blue in your periphery as you've turned away from it.

"Yeah. It's me," Will says. His voice is softer.

"So why are you a triangle there, and a person here? I mean, I've put together that you're not human."

He seems to flinch a little at that.

You hurry to cover up your mistake. "I—I mean, just because of the eyes, and the dreams, and this is Gravity Falls and all, so it isn't exactly out of the—"

"It's okay," he says quietly. "I'm not human. Like Dipper told you, I'm like Bill. Bill Cipher, I mean."

"The dream demon," you finish.

"Y-yeah, but I'm not evil. I mean, not the way you guys see evil. I mean—if you ask Dipper, he'll probably say he kinda trusts me. He doesn't completely, but I get it. He's told me what Bill did to your town."

Your brain is frantically trying to comprehend that one, you're dreaming, two, you're talking to someone via your dreams, and three, that someone is actually a demon that looks like a cute boy.

Finally, you manage to spit words out of your mouth. "Did you know Bill?"

Will laughs, but it's not a happy sound. Not at all. "I knew Bill," he says. His low tone suggests that he doesn't want to talk about it any further.

"O-kay," you say. You're thoroughly creeped out at this point. "So, if I'm talking to you in my dreams. . . you're not gonna, like, possess me or anything, are you?"

"I can't," Will replies. "There's a lot of things I can't do. Possession is one of them."

You take notice of the fact that he says I can't, not I won't. That's about the same time you decide you'd like to wake up from this dream now.

"I'm gonna, um, go," you say, even though you don't know exactly how to go anywhere.

Will's eyes widen. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I. . . look, my situation is really complicated, and I don't really want to talk about it, but I won't hurt you. Not here in your dreams. I-I promise."

You look into his eyes, with their solid blue color and slitted pupils. Somehow, they look sincere.

"And, to be honest," he continues when you don't say anything, "it's. . . it's lonely here. If you can travel to me in your dreams every once in a while, a-and talk to me, I'd—I'd really appreciate it." He finishes his sentence in a whisper.

The last of your defenses wash away. Of course. He just wants someone to talk to.

"Of course," you say. "I'd love to come back. Although. . . I don't know how I came in the first place."

"Me neither," Will admits. "But if it's happened twice, I'm sure it'll happen again, right?"

You're not sure about that, but you smile anyway. "Yeah."

The scene around you flickers to black and then back again, and you jump. "What was that?"

Will frowns. "Your REM cycle must be ending."

"Already?" It doesn't feel like you've been here very long at all.

"They're really short sometimes," Will says. "Yasmin—promise me you'll be back? If not in your dreams, maybe come visit me in Dipper's lab?"

You blink. He sounds so pleading. "Y-yeah, I promise."

He flickers again.

When your vision clears, and you can see him again, he's smiling.

You realize this is the first time you've seen him smile. It's a better look on him than the confused stare thing. It highlights the freckles up on his cheeks and makes them look like sprinkles of stardust.

"Thanks," you hear him say, but it sounds watery. Your vision blurs.

You try to say "No problem," but that's when everything goes black.