Bill continued lying to Will, saying that he was fine and he was just sleep deprived. Will wasn't completely stupid, though, so the blonde was having difficulty fooling his brother.

"Hey, let's just go and get your cupcake," Bill insisted, a pounding headache developing in the back of his skull. His vision was swirling ever so slightly, but he played it off as nothing.

Will clasped his hands together thoughtfully. "Ar-are you sure you're ok?"

Bill bared his teeth. "Yes! Now leave me alone about that!"

Will was hesitant on meeting his twin's eyes before he reluctantly consented. "F-fine, then."

Bill didn't like be worried about or being cared for. He felt that he could carry himself and keep himself straight. He didn't need assistance from anybody. They made their way down the to the store, with only a couple accidents (Will tripping over thin air like an idiot).

"Ok, the cupcakes are over in this isle!" Bill exclaimed as light-hearted as he could muster.

Will perked up and followed his blonde twin.

"What flavor do you want?" Bill asked his brother as they stood in front of the cupcake section. "They have big, singular cupcakes."

Will examined the shelves like a five-year-old and pointed to the red velvet, singular cupcake on the highest shelf. "That one," he said, smiling.

Bill smiled at his twin when Will wasn't looking and stood on his tip-toes to reach the very top shelf and slide it off. "Perfect," Bill said triumphantly. He only had this act spread out, because he didn't want Will seeing how much pain he was actually in.

Will clapped his hands and grabbed the plastic container. "Yay!"

Bill smiled fondly at his childish sibling and sighed. He was always having to watch out for Will, but who would watch over Bill? The brothers walked up to the checkout isle and straight up to the cashier with their cupcake.

"Is this all?" The cashier lady asked kindly, scanning the box.

Bill nodded and pulled out his five dollar bill, holding it out for the lady to take. He got the 25¢ change and pocketed it, taking the cupcake off the counter and handed it to Will.

Will grinned brightly. "Th-thanks, Bill!"

Bill hid his smile, remembering to put on his tough act. "Whatever. You're welcome."

Will chuckled and opened up the container and admired the cupcake. He got one finger and dragged it accords the frosting and licked it off his finger. "Th-this is good!" he exclaimed cheerfully.

Bill nodded curtly. "Good, I payed five bucks for that."

Will rolled his eyes and proceeded to lick all of the frosting off his fingers and the cupcake carefully.

"Are you going to eat the cake part," Bill asked, slightly humored.

Will looked over at the blonde, frosting covering his lips and flushed cheeks. "Y-yes?"

Bill smiled lightly and glanced away.

"Want some?" Will held out the cupcake with half the frosting licked off.

Bill recoiled away. "Ew, no, what the heck? You just had your tongue all over that."

Will giggled and looked away. "B-but we're tw-twins! So what?"

Bill cringed. "That's even worse."

Will laughed, a genuine and real laugh that you didn't hear often. "We have the same saliva," Will chuckled and his brother made mocking gagging noises.

Bill pushed away the already half eaten cupcake. "No thanks. Enjoy your cupcake, Cupcake."

Will made a face at the stupid nickname. "Wh-whatever," Will said in a mocking tone as he mimicked Bill.

Bill rolled his eyes and since Will was distracted he brought a hand to his head, pressing his fingers against his temples. The pain was increasing and pounding. He tried to ignore it, thinking it'd go away, but it stayed put stubbornly. He'd have to take some medicine or something when he returned to the Mystery Shack.

"S-something wrong w-with your head, Bill?" his twin asked with a mouthful of white frosting.

"No, just have a headache," Bill hissed and closed his eyes momentarily.

"Ok, th-then," Will said, sighing. The shy brother obviously didn't believe the other.

Bill looked away, slightly guilty for lying. Maybe he should have told Will about the incident with Dipper and Mabel, and the dream with Dipper cutting Bill open and licking his blood. But Will wouldn't have been able to handle it anyways. He would have freaked and passed out or something.

They finally made it back to the shack and reentered it unnoticed. That was, until Grunkle Stan came in.

"Where have you two been?" he asked, fixing his bow-tie and adjusting his fez.

"W-we went out f-for a cupcake," Will explained meekly.

Stan scoffed and sighed. "You can't just wander off like that," he scolded us.

"Ok, ok, sorry," Bill said exasperated. "We're going upstairs now."

Will shot his twin a dull glare at Bill's attitude towards Grunkle Stan before he dragged Will up to the attic with him. Bill shut the door behind them, not wanting to see Grunkle Stan again.

"Wh-why don't you like Gr-Grunkle Stan?" Will asked curiously as he sat criss-cross on his bed.

Bill shrugged carelessly, ignoring his headache. "I don't know, he just makes us do chores and rants on about money. He doesn't even care for us. We're just a burden for him, I'm sure of it."

Will's eyes widened with shock at his brother's dark tone. "Of c-course he cares f-for us!" he exclaimed, distraught.

Bill shook his head, unconvinced. "Sure, whatever."

Will shook his head as well, disappointed in his twin and licked off more of the white frosting. "Whatever," he echoed the blonde in an annoyed tone.

"Shut up!" Bill ordered the other boy and Will flinched backwards, scrunching up on his bed. "You're so annoying!"

Will lowered his eyes lids and nibbled on the red velvet part.

Bill marched over to his bed and flopped down on it, grumbling to himself and swearing irately under his breath. The pain in his head was almost unbearable and the blonde couldn't ignore it anymore. He curled up, hugging his knees and tucking his head in. Will watched his brother carefully with concern, but Bill had his back facing at the blue-haired boy.

Bill squeezed his eyes shut and he could hear the pounding in his head. Make it stop... God, make it stop...

"Bill, I-I don't think y-you're ok..." Will murmured quietly and he slid off of his bed, his long sweater unfolding down to his knees since he usually hiked it up. It looked like a dress on him now. The twin walked up to Bill and leaned over him, trying to catch the blonde's face.

"Will, leave me alone..." Bill hissed and tried to push Will away without looking at him.

"St-stop being s-such a stick i-in the mud," Will muttered and examined his own frosting-coated fingers.

"I can be however I want to be; now back off," Bill said hatefully.

Will, though shy and usually introversive, decided to push that away momentarily and proceed on with his attempts to lighten up his brother. "No, you c-can't because I-I'll make sure you don't." Will stepped on the edge of his brother's bed and leaned over again, but this time he swiped his finger over Bill's nose, leaving a think line of frosting behind.

Bill shot up, eyes wide and they transformed to irritation. "WILL! You stupid-"

Will leaned forward licked the frosting right off of Bill's nose.

Bill started screaming and threw Will off the bed and Will cried out, laughing but frightened. The blonde started pounding his fists onto the bed like a toddler throwing a fit. "WILL, WHAT THE HECK?!"

Will was scared, but laughter escaped his lips. "L-look who's the b-baby now!"

The blonde's face was red with embarrassment and anger as he stepped off of his bed and towered over his twin. "It's still you! Don't ever do that again!"

Will smiled for a moment before it vanished and he got to his feet. "I-I just don't l-like seeing you sad."

Bill sighed, his anger slowly dissipating. "I understand, I guess, but stop worrying. It doesn't matter."

Will lowered his head and crossed his arms. "Kay," he muttered.

Bill glared at his brother before he turned back around and returned to his bed.

"Ar-aren't you going to-to hang out w-with Wendy today?" Will questioned his twin as he hopped back onto his bed to finish his cupcake.

Bill sighed heavily. "Maybe..." Even with Will's little cupcake distraction, the aching feeling in his skull didn't vanish. He had his eyes closed for a moment, almost unable to reopen then. But when he did, the room was suddenly dark. Bill sat up in his bed, confused. "Why is it nighttime?" He looked at the window and then over to his brother's bed. "Will, did I sleep through the whole day?"

Will was turned away from him, only his long, baby-blue sweater visible, but he was mostly a shadowy silhouette.

"Will? Hello? Are you asleep or something?" Bill continued to ask questions, growing nervous.

Will sat up, licking something off of his fingers.

Bill made a face, eyes darting around. "Are you still eating that cupcake? Are you kidding me right now?"

Will turned around, a completely foreign and bizarre smile on his face. But the smile was the only thing visible. "Thanks for the cupcake, Brother."

Bill jolted backwards when "Will" opened up his eyes, revealing yellow eyes and slit pupils. "NO! WILL!"

The imposter, Dipper, laughed manically. He turned all the way around, the blue hair bleeding back to the brown color of Dipper's. The supposed frosting on his fingers was dark and crimson. It was blood. "You care for that stupid bastard, don't you?"

Bill tried to run for it, maybe even dive out the window, but he was restrained by an invisible force. "Stop it! You can't hurt him!"

Dipper laughed and stalked towards him, crawling up on Bill's bed and it made the blonde squirm and panic. "Oh, but I can hurt you!"

The boy's heart was racing at incredible speed as he was forced to let Dipper pin him down. "Pl-please! Don't! I won't ever help you! G-give it up!"

Dipper fiddled with the blue sweater for a bit before glancing up at Bill and sneering. "You're stubborn. I can take that. And it's not just me; Mabel's here as well. When I get bored she'll just come and take over and so on and so forth..." He licked his lips hungrily. "Bring us to reality and we'll reward you, we'll leave you alone."

"I already said no!" The blonde twin screamed.

Dipper's cat-like gaze flashed and he gritted his teeth. "You don't know what it's like to be a demon trapped in Hell..." Dipper reached down at the hem of the sweater, using his legs to keep Bill down, and lifted it up and over his head.

Bill cringed and averted his eyes, trying to scrambled away, but he was glued to place.

"Look!"

A magical force grabbed his chin and made his look at Dipper without the sweater. The large, gaping, bloody hole was still in his stomach as if it were a fresh wound.

"You are wounded, you don't feel pain, but you never really heal," Dipper growled, flashing his sharp canines. "How would you like that life? Not so much; now set us free."

Bill finally managed to snatch his gaze away. "No. I will say no for an eternity and forever on! No!"

Dipper started to grow impatient. "You're not safe from us! We'll constantly haunt your dreams and drag you to sleep in midday to torture you more!"

Tears welled up in the blonde's eyes. "Leave me alone!"

Dipper leaned forward. "You will never be safe! Shake my hand and set me free and you'll be left alone!"

"NEVER!"

Dipper's skin suddenly transformed from a white illumination to a red tint. "What if I just killed you? And for what, to possibly save your dying planet? What a waist of life!"

Bill struggled to get himself out from under the Dream Demon. "Y-you wouldn't kill me! You'd need me!"

Dipper hissed. "Torture it is, then."

Bill screamed when Dipper pulled out a pair of razor sharp scissors from thin air. "No, please!"

"This is what you get for not listening!" Dipper snatched the twin's wrist and raised it up, going to cut away his skin—

"BILL!"

The blonde jerked into reality, his mind doing backflips and gaze unclear. After a few moments of lying still in shock, he finally put the pieces of reality together and saw Will over him, his twin's hands holding his shoulders and a panicked look adorning the brother's face.

"Bill, oh G-God, I th-thought you were d-dead!" Will was crying up a storm.

Bill blinked a couple times and tears filled his eyes. He had died again. Maybe he wasn't dead? Maybe his body had just shut down while having the intrusive dreams. "I-I wasn't dead. I just fell asleep," he said shakily before he composed himself. "I'm fine. You're so paranoid."

"But I c-couldn't find a h-heartbeat!" Will cried and buried his face in Bill's chest.

"You weren't looking in the right places," Bill retorted, hiding his overwhelming fear. He could almost still feel Dipper on top of him, pinning him down, forcing him to be cut.

Will kept crying and Bill shoved him off. The last thing he needed was his twin worrying about him.

"I was sleeping," Bill repeated himself from earlier.

Will took a shaky breath. "Y-you keep r-randomly passing o-out," he whimpered.

"I've just been tired lately, ok? Relax." Bill looked away, and swallowed nervously. He could hear Dipper saying how he'd force the blonde to fall asleep during the day so they could torture him. He wasn't safe anywhere.

Will looked up at him with pink-rimmed eyes. "I-I.... Sorry..."

"And stop touching me like that," Bill spat with much hate, "we're brothers, you creep."

Will looked extremely hurt that Bill would say that or even think that. "Y-you're my brother. I love you."

Bill looked down upon the shy boy. "Well, stop it, then."

Will lowered his head, sniffling.

Bill turned back on his side and hugged himself while he held back tears. He needed someone to save him...