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It isn't like Dipper to leave tasks until the last minute. He's always careful to plan things beforehand, making sure that everything is done on time. But right now he just couldn't be bothered to worry about it.
Christmas day was approaching and Dipper felt agitated. He left an hour ago from his and Bill's apartment to take his gift from the engraving shop.
In retrospect, it wasn't his fault that the gift wasn't done yet. He should have received it a lit sooner actually, but things don't always work out the way you want, so Dipper was obligated to wait a couple more days for it to be finished. He couldn't find it in himself to be mad with the engraver though. Everybody makes mistakes, after all.
He was grateful that he at least came with an idea for a gift for Bill. Of course, with a little help that is.
In all honesty, Dipper has never been that good at buying gifts for others. He's been freaking out about Bill's gift since the beginning of November. That's why he called Mabel for advice.
"๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ?"
"Because I want to make sure I actually get something nice?"
"๐๐ธ๐ธ, ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ-๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐บ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ! ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ?"
Dipper had rolled his eyes at that, remembering how Mabel had stressed over Pacifica's 18th birthday for over three months. It would have been fine, or as fine as Mabel can be from planning something like that, but he had been dragged in the whole mess too. His brain still hurt from even thinking about it years later. He promptly reminded her about that.
"๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ด, ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ด. ๐๐ฐ, ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ?"
"I tried. There aren't many things that he can't get without a snap of his fingers, you know? I don't know what to do, Mabel."
And he really didn't. What can someone give their all-knowing, powerful demon boyfriend, if he could get all the material objects he wanted in an instant? He just wanted to give him something special to show him how important he was to him god dammit!
"๐'๐ฎ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ณ๐บ, ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต? ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต!"
"It's not that simple. He has a bunch of those already, don't you remember? They're all over the place too. He searched for an earring once for an hour because he couldn't find its pair. Turns out it was already in his ear."
He smiled at the memory. He always pretended to be annoyed by his messiness and forgetfulness, but it became quite endearing after a while. Strange.
"๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ, ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐'๐ฎ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ญ๐ญ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ, ๐ฐ๐ฌ? ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ช๐ง๐ต๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ."
He seemed to think about what she said for a bit. Suddenly, an idea hit him. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of this sooner!
"Mabes, you're a genius! I gotta hang up now. I know what to get him. Thanks!"
"๐๐ข๐ช๐ต! ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ-"
And that was it. Mabel tried to pry the information out of him, but Dipper dodged the question everytime. He didn't want to tell Mabel what he was gonna buy, only because he was afraid she'll tell Bill by accident.
At first she threatened to never talk to him again, and after seeing it didn't work - Dipper wasn't dumb, he always could see right through her -, she tried to negotiate, saying she will tell him what Bill will get him if he tells her what he'll get. Dipper refused, and it wasn't like Mabel would actually tell him - Bill would have her head if she did - but she was really curious as to what her brother had in mind. It took a while, but Dipper finally got his sister off his back.
Dipper snapped out of his thoughts suddenly to find himself getting closer to his home. The thing was, what snapped him out of his thoughts was someones' yelling, and it wasn't one of their neighbor's. He's pretty sure they don't know how to scream-chant in latin.
Sprinting to the front of his house, Dipper could sense a faint smell of smoke in the air, and he wasn't sure if he'd prefer it to come from the oven or his boyfriend.
Letting the door open, he quickly made his way to the kitchen to see if Bill was there. He didn't find him, but the oven was indeed running, so he shut it down, opened the window and made his way to the living room, where the demon could still be heard chanting ominously.
Said demon was found in the middle of the living room, staring down a Christmas tree that was leaning on the wall with bright blue glowing eyes. If the tree was alive and had a consciousness, he'd be sure the tree would be shaking right about now.
Honestly, the whole scene would be downright terrifying, if it weren't for the Christmas lights tangled all over his body.
Dipper couldn't help himself. He started smiling, then chuckling, only to end up covering his mouth with his hand because he was laughing so hard. The lights were even lit up from the energy Bill's body was producing for fucks sake!
Bill slowly stopped saying his incantation and turned around to see his human trying - and failing, for that matter - to hold in his laughter.
Looking around himself, he quickly realised how ridiculous this whole situation was. He tried to keep a neutral face while staring down the other, willing for him to shut up and to ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ง๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฎ๐ข๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด!
The statedown didn't work however - it stopped having an effect on Dipper years ago - and after a few more seconds, Bill was founding himself laughing too.
"Wh-... what were you-", he takes a breath of air, "-even...", Dipper couldn't even get a whole sentence out before breaking in another fit of laughter, Bill following shortly after.
Their laughter stopped after a few minutes and remained still, looking af each other, for long enough that Dipper could collect himself and ask what Bill tried to do while he was gone.
"It was supposed to be a surprise," Bill admitted sheepishly, which was quite a strange look on him, since Dipper never saw him like that very often.
"What, trying to burn the house down?" Dipper pointed a finger to the kitchen while raising an eyebrow.
Bill looked over to the kitchen, realization dawning on his face.
"Oh Dammit!"
Bill rushed to the kitchen and approached the oven. He took out whatever he tried to bake - and ended up burned and inedible - and left it on the kitchen counter, Dipper observing from a safe distance.
He didn't say anything, waiting for the demon to explain the situation, looking only slightly disturbed at the thing on the counter. You can't really blame him though. It looked like a tray of molten lava.
Apparently, Bill wanted to surprise Dipper by decorating the tree and making some gingerbread men before he returned, because he always used to do that with his family when they celebrated Christmas together.
It took a bit for Bill to get the whole story out though, with all the pauses and muttering curses about how hard it all was without his magic, and Dipper tried to keep a serious face through the explanation, but he really couldn't. It was just too sweet.
While Bill kept rambling - and cursing - on about all the stupidly complicated recipes and even worse tree ornaments who tangle themselves with everything, Dipper's smile grew bigger and bigger.
Getting tired of Bill's complaining, Dipper leaned in close and kissed him, if only to shut him up for a while. Judging by the content hum he received, it seems like it worked.
"Does that mean you're not mad about the mess?"
"Oh I am. But I appreciate you trying to make all those things for me. You still have to clean it up though."
Bill pouted - like honest to god pouted, that should not be as cute as it is - and whined out loud. He knew Dipper won't let him use magic to do it. Last time he did, Dipper ignored him for a week, and honestly how could he? How dare he!
Dipper signed and made the demon look at him again. He couldn't exactly let Bill off the hook, but he made a compromise.
"How about this. You clean the kitchen, as in, throw that thing on the counter away, and afterwards we can make some gingerbread men and decorate the tree together. Does that sound alright?"
He didn't answer, but the smile on his face told him enough.
It took a while to get everything cleaned up, but when they were done with the tree and the gingerbread men were finally done, the two decided to take a little break.
Bill, being the annoying bastard that he is, stretched over the whole couch, not letting any room for the brunet to sit down. As he looked around to sit somewhere else, Bill pulled on his arm so he would land on top of him. Dipper made an 'are you serious right now' face, but seeing as how tired he was, he simply let it slide and rested his head on the others' chest, listening to the steady rhythm of Bill's heartbeats.
"So where were you today?"
Great. Leave it to Bill to disturb any moment of peace and quiet that exists in this house.
"Outside."
"Doing what?" Bill quirked an eyebrow at him, smiling innocently.
Dipper knew he was just trying to annoy him, but damn he really didn't feel like playing this game right now. He lifted his head and gave him an unimpressed look.
Bill just kept smiling.
"Getting your Christmas present. Happy?"
"Isn't it a bit late for you to just buy a gift right now? I thought you always plan ahead." He was mocking him, he knew it, if his facial expression was anything to go by.
"First of all, I do plan ahead. It just happened that the place I let the gift at didn't finish it in time so I had to wait for it to be done."
Bill looked a bit curious now, but before he could say anything, Dipper cut him off.
"And second of all," Dipper gave him a pointed look, "at least I ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ a gift for you." He did give him a teasing smile after he said that, so Bill knew he wasn't actually mad about it.
"And I told ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ", came Bill's quick answer, "that it is not ready yet. You just have to wait a little longer."
Dipper raised an eyebrow, so Bill kept speaking.
"It's gonna be worth the wait. I promise."
It looked like Dipper wanted to argue, but decided against it and let it slide. For now. He didn't even had the chance to lay his head down before Bill spoke again.
"So what did you get me?"
Dipper groaned. He stood up and went to his jacket to take the gift. It was no use trying to get comfortable on Bill's chest again since he knew Bill would piss the hell out of him until he showed him the present, so he just cut his suffering short. The silence was nice while it lasted though.
It wasn't long before he returned, a small box clutched in his hand. He handed the gift to Bill, who eagerly, but carefully, unwrapped the packaging.
There were several moments of silence as Bill took in the sight of his present. The gift itself didn't seem that spectacular at first glance, but Bill knew not to judge a book by its cover. His hands were holding a tiny, golden necklace that had some intricate engravings on it. No one spoke for a while, but soon enough Dipper began to speak, if only to end the silence that settled over them. That silence wasn't the comfortable one. It unnerved him.
"It's a necklace! Though I'm sure you see that. Well-", Dipper stumbled over his sentence, running a hand through his hair while collecting his thoughts. Bill just stared, patiently waiting for him to elaborate.
"Mabel helped me a bit. Not that-! She didn't ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ me what to give you, but I got the idea while talking to her, so... Anyway, I put a few enchantments on it, so it can stores memories. You told me once you don't remember well important things that happen to you. That when you tried to, the memories seem hazy or mixed up - like the place they happened, or the order in which the events occured.
"I basically made this so you can look back at things you think are important."
Dipper finished his rant and was looking at Bill expectantly, his fingers fidgeting nervously. He still hasn't said anything yet, only looking straight in Dipper's eyes.
Suddenly, Bill has leaning forwards. He caught Dipper's lips with his own, softly but somehow urgent at the same time, and Dipper closed his eyes. He wasn't sure who pulled away first, but instantly missed the contact of Bill's lips on his. Damn his lungs and the fact that he actually had to breathe.
Nonetheless, he also felt relieved. When Bill was far enough for Dipper to see his face, he observed the large smile that covered it, and Dipper mirrored it.
"Thank you."
Bill's tone was so sincere, so full of warmth and love that Dipper couldn't do anything else except kiss him again. And again a second time.
They didn't say anything after that. There wasn't a need to. Bill quietly put his new necklace around his neck and laid down on the cough, Dipper following behind him and sat there in content silence once more, until eventually falling asleep on his chest.
Bill didn't get to sleep right after. He was stroking Dipper's hair with one his hands while looking at the present with the other, examining the small, intricate details it had.
He looked down once more to find his lover sleeping soundly, a small smile gracing his features. He found out how the necklace worked soon enough, the memory of the previous moment stored inside so he will be able to look back at forever. He really, really loved the present that his sapling got him.
Bill just hoped that he will love the ring he got for him just as much.