The Witch in the Woods (Bill Cipher x reader)

Chapter 4

    You decide to spend the rest of the day making some new potions and new remedies since you are starting to run low on stock, and of course Bill has to follow you because of how short the chain is. You hear him grumble under his breath while you drag him into your alchemy room with you, seeing as you didn’t really have a choice and neither did he.
    “Do you have to drag me everywhere?” Bill complains the moment you step into the room which causes you to softly sigh. “I’m sorry Bill but unless you can grant me some way to make the chain longer then you have to come with me. I can bring you a chair if you’re tired?” His face scrunches into that of a scowl and he shakes his head. You give him a simple shrug in return then go over to the table of vials and measuring beakers. 
    The next hour or so consists of the most antagonizing time you’ve spent with Bill as he attempts to do anything and everything to ruin your work. He tries to exchange ingredients while you aren’t looking, almost mixes in the wrong ingredient into another beaker, and you barely catch him when he tries to pour one potion into another which, you knew, would have caused a large enough explosion to destroy the entire room.
    You could tell Bill is doing this just to try and annoy you from his disappointed looks every time you stopped him or told him not to do something, but you keep your cool the entire time. You aren’t one to get bothered easily and Bill seems rather discombobulated by the time you finish making new healing potions. You put the potions away in a cupboard filled with others. You sigh in relief once you’re done.
    However, your job isn’t done yet because you still need to make more burn cream as well as make more remedies you are running low on. Realizing this, you heave another sigh and drag Bill over to your herb table so you can get started. You can tell that he is extremely bothered by this so you take an ingredient out from under the table and force it into Bill’s hands. He takes it then looks at you confused. “If you’re going to just stand around then you might as well help me.”
    What is supposed to be an hour or two of work is only about half an hour with Bill’s help. How you managed to convince him to help you, you honestly don’t know. You suppose he is so bored that he begrudgingly agreed to help just to do something instead of stand around. The work, while simple as always, is tedious and boring. You are extremely aware of this fact, thanks to Bill.
“This is so boring.”
“I’m aware Bill but it’s something I have to do.”
“Do you do this every day?”
“When it’s necessary, yes.”
“This is taking forever. Are we done yet?”
“Almost. Just a few minutes longer.”
“You said that a few minutes ago.”
“And it will be a few minutes more.”
    To say you are frustrated would be an understatement. However, whenever you focus on mixing with your pestle, you can see Bill smirking out of the corner of your eye. You have a very strong feeling that he is only acting like this to annoy you, again, so you hide all your frustration and instead mainly focus on your work. However, as you work, you run through the deal you made with him in your head and you realize something. “Hey (Y/N), what if I-” You cut him off quickly. “Bill, be quiet.” Your voice comes out a bit more authoritative.
    Suddenly, Bill stops talking. You glance over to him and his lips are completely shut, but he doesn’t look happy. He doesn’t make a peep and crosses his arms, a large frown etched onto his face. You giggle lightly and get back to work. “That’s part of the deal, right? You have to listen to what I say. I guess you should’ve thought of that a little sooner.” You continue to work in peace.
    You just finish putting everything away when there is a loud knocking on your door, rapid and slightly panicked. You yank Bill over to you, to get to the door quickly, and throw it open. A, mostly, normal looking man stands at your door with black hair and a blue eye. A cyclops, clearly, except his eye is red and looks extremely irritated. He looks to be in slight pain as well. 
    You usher him inside and sit him down on your couch, grabbing a flashlight from a cupboard in your kitchen. You glance over at Bill who had angrily been following you around silently. You sigh and think for another few seconds, unsure if the idea you come up with will work. “Stay here in the kitchen until I come to get you.” Again, you use the authoritative tone you had earlier then take a few steps away. The chain, as it is always seemingly gone when it’s slack, doesn’t appear. You take a few more steps and feel no tug from it at all. You grin at Bill then leave the kitchen with the flashlight in hand.
    You stand in front of the cyclops and kneel down so you are at eye level. “So what’s your name and what happened?” You bring the flashlight to his eye and his pupil dilates to a small pinprick as you analyze it. “Um, my name is Adam and I t-think I got dirt in my eye…” You can tell from a glance that it isn’t pink eye which is good. A film of liquid covered his eye as well which makes sense, if what he says is true, since his eye would be attempting to wash out the dirt with liquid.
    You turn off the flashlight and pull away from him with a small smile. “Well, that’s an easy fix. Nothing looks scratched or damaged so all I would suggest is washing your eye out with water and that should remove anything that got caught in it. Even dirt particles can irritate your eye and make it more serious than it needs to be.” You pride yourself on your medical knowledge, despite how simplistic it may be, and usher Adam to your bathroom so he can wash out his eye in your sink. You would take him to the kitchen, but Bill is still in there being pouty.
    Adam leaves about 10 minutes later. His eye was still a bit red but you know that it will probably tone down after a while since it’s no longer being irritated. Once you are sure Adam is a distance away, you head back to the kitchen. Bill is sitting on the floor, arms crossed, and still looking very pouty, like a child that didn’t get their favorite candy from the store. You gently smile to try and lighten the mood.
    “Are you having fun down there Bill?” You offer your hand to him but he refuses it and gets up on his own. You already assumed he would, given that he has refused your help multiple times already. He ignores your question and asks one of his own which surprises you for a moment. “What exactly was that cyclops doing here?” He didn’t sound very fond of him.
    “For the same reason you showed up in my garden and the same reason we visited Olross to check on his wing. I help people and the creatures around this forest. That’s what I’m known for.” A quick glance around the kitchen reveals the fact that Jack’s bowl is still full of charcoal. This shouldn’t be worrying except for the fact that Jack almost always eats his charcoal completely everyday, unless he’s sick, and it’s already late in the afternoon. Now that you think about it, you haven’t seen Jack since Bill woke up. Now you’re worried.
    “What do they give you for it?” You are brought out of your thoughts by Bill’s next question and you look back to him with a slightly bewildered look. “Huh?” He looks slightly annoyed. “I said what do they give you for it? Something valuable, a favor, something you want, what?” You blink a bit then sigh. Of course Bill expects you to take some kind of payment for your help. He is a demon, it’s how he works. “I don’t get anything Bill and I don’t ask for anything either. I just do it because I want to, and I hope that maybe my kindness will be repaid in some way.”
    “That’s stupid.” Bill stated it so flatly and plainly, as if it’s a fact rather than an opinion, and this makes your blood boil. This is your life’s work he’s trying to insult which is a big mistake on his part. However, before you can say anything to defend yourself, he keeps going. “I mean, I don’t see why you should just do it for free when you can get something out of it. Meatsacks like money, right? You could ask for that, or that cyclops could probably do something for you. You’re just wasting your time otherwise.” 
    You snapped. “Sorry to break it to you Cipher, but not everyone is a selfish, egocentric, chaos-creating, poor excuse for a dream demon.” Every word is spat with more venom than the last and Bill looks surprised for half a second, but keeps a stoic expression. “I don’t go around looking for the next poor sap to trick into a deal or wanting to destroy an entire dimension because I’m bored.”
    In your rage, you grab the collar of the shirt you lent Bill and twist your wrist once to wrap the fabric around your fist before you yank him down towards you, gritting your teeth with a mostly plain expression. The force of your pull shocks him and he ends up on his knees in front of you, making you just the slightest bit taller despite his lanky legs. “In fact, I’m not the one who attempted to destroy an entire dimension and failed because of a bunch of kids along with their uncles. You treat everyone like they don’t deserve to be the dirt you walk on, even the other demons you consider ‘friends’.” You let go of his shirt with a rough push backwards and he falls, looking completely bewildered and at least a little pissed.
    “Bottom line, I suggest you clean up your act and your attitude before you’re forced to. I like my job, whether I get anything back for it or not. I don’t need you or anyone else telling me how to do it or saying that it’s a waste of time. If it were up to me, Bill, you would have stayed dead like you were supposed to.” With only a glower left on your face, you turn on your heel and walk out of the kitchen with a purposeful stride.
    It is rare for you to get that angry at someone, anything really, but you suppose Bill struck a nerve for you. You don’t get why he thinks he needs to annoy you or why he has such a bad attitude, but you do have an idea that it has something to do with his defeat given his reaction towards you when you said that. You feel kind of guilty, but only a very, very small amount since you think he deserved what he had coming. You just hope he at least listened to what you had said.
    You resign yourself to your bare room, shutting the door behind you gently then going and sitting down on the bed. It’s dark outside already so your room is lit only by the silver light the moon offers, which isn’t much. You feel mentally exhausted after today with Bill being constantly at your side to annoy you, purposefully of course. You sit there for a good half an hour before deciding to sleep it all off
    However, it looks like your day isn’t over yet because as you start to pull your blankets back, you hear a slight knocking on your door. You know of only one person it can be so with bated breath, you tell him to come in. He opens the door slowly and you turn around just as slowly. Your anger has already faded but you are more worried about if Bill is angry at you. He looks at you with a blank stare then closes the door behind him.. You stand your ground.