"Uh- Norah? You sure you should be working today? You look... awful," Y/n stated, trying to say it in the nicest way possible as they looked down at the blonde teenager standing beside them.

Norah shrugged, taking the receipt back that the customer had just finished signing and placing it into the register. "Have a great day!" She forced a smile on her face, waving goodbye to the customer before turning her head to face Y/n. It wasn't hard to miss the bags under her eyes as well as how messy her ponytail looked compared to how nice and neat it usually was. Norah never left her house looking like a mess. Her appearance meant a lot to her as she believed she would be taken more seriously by the public if she appeared professional and cleaned up. Right now, all Y/n could see was a teenage girl finally cracking under the stress that had been weighing her down for so long. "I'm fine, Y/n. Really. Don't worry about me."

"Don't worry about you?! How can I not! You look like you just dug yourself out of a grave! Have you been giving yourself proper rest? Have you been on a good sleep schedule?"

Norah's face seemed to fall, not taking any information in after the whole 'dug yourself out of a grave' comment. She stared blankly ahead, not focused on Y/n anymore as her thoughts seemed to be elsewhere. Then she muttered under her breath, the hand resting at her side beginning to twitch, "What if zombies and ghosts are real too..."

Y/n paused, registering what Norah had said before smacking their own head and groaning. "Oh great- we officially broke you."

Norah blinked, coming back to reality as she looked up at Y/n and frowned. "What did you think was going to happen when everything I knew, everything I believed in, turned out to all be false and my whole reality came tumbling down at the realization that I really don't know what's going on in the world!" she snapped, throwing her arms in the air.

"I-... don't know? ...No, look, I get it. This is a lot to process and I know you're probably having the hardest time wrapping your head around all of this. Trust me- I wouldn't have even gotten you involved if I didn't think it was necessary to have you a part of this... but it is necessary. Out of every citizen that resides in this town- you're the smartest person I know and if anyone can figure this mess out, I know it's going to be you. But if this is going to affect you in a bad way -physically and mentally- then you really don't have to help out anymore. Your well-being matters way more to me than making sure a demon escapes this town."

Norah sighed, shaking her head as she looked back at the counter and placed her hands on top of the cool surface. "No, it's fine. I'm fine. It may not appear like I am physically alright right now, but once I've come to terms with the fact that the world might have more to offer than I originally thought it did with creatures I could never hope to imagine ever existing outside of storybooks... I'll be fine. Honestly right now, I just need some coffee. You don't have to worry about me."

"You act like that's easy not to do. Especially seeing the state you're in right now- of course I'm going to worry!"

"But you don't have to, Y/n. Seriously, I'm okay. At least, compared to Bill I'm okay. If you should be worried about anyone's physical or mental state right now, you should be taking a look at your new roommate.."

That caused Y/n to contort their face into an expression of confusion. They moved to lean against the counter, raising a brow in Norah's direction. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? ...You have taken a look at Bill recently, haven't you? He looks absolutely drained. His pace has slowed down a bit when he walks and his posture is a bit slouched now compared to when we had first met. And either you have been giving him make-up to try on or he naturally looks like a racoon right now with those bags under his eyes. Pretty sure they're darker than mine. He looks... off. So I don't get why you're paying so much attention towards me when he clearly needs some help."

Bill had been staying with Y/n for a week now. If anything had changed with Bill's appearance or the way he was acting, Y/n believed they would've noticed. Right? They lived in the same house as him, they went to work with him— they wouldn't let him out of their sight for more than the time it takes for him to shower and get ready for the day. That was the only time they really spent apart from one another, that and the time when they were asleep and in their own separate rooms. So they had their doubts that anything was actually wrong with Bill. If something was wrong, they would've noticed. With as much time as they spent with Bill, they'd like to believe they paid enough attention to the demon to know if something was wrong with him. Norah was more than likely just being paranoid or trying to distract Y/n from worrying about her.

"Uh- Hey! Y/n!" Jerome came over towards the register, Vox traveling behind him with their hood up and hands in their pockets.

"Hey, you two. Did you finish restocking all the jellies? Need something else to do before the milkshake rush bursts in?"

"Well- we did finish restocking the jellies but that's not why we came back. See- I wanted to ask Bill some more questions about demon stuff since the store is empty at the moment and no one would be listening in on us, but when we went to go look for him... we found him passed out. And not in the back where he usually naps when we're making milkshakes! He's standing up in the last aisle of the store, leaning against one of the shelves for support and just... napping there. It's weird! I was planning on waking him up but Vox thought it'd be better if you did it. Y'know, in case he got mad."

Y/n's eyes widened slightly. They glanced over at Norah who gave them an "I told you so" look before sighing and rubbing their face in an exhausted manner. Who knew looking after a demon would be so hard?

"...Alright, yeah- I'll go wake him up and see if he's okay. You two, stay with Norah. Help her out if anyone comes into the store."

With a nod from both Vox and Jerome, Y/n was off walking towards the back of the store where the last aisle of merchandise was. Wouldn't you know it, Bill really was standing up with his head and arm on a shelf, passed out and drooling on the dusty surface. Y/n softened a bit at the sight, walking over towards Bill and taking a moment to look closely at his facial features. Norah was right, he really does have some dark bags under his eyes. How come they never noticed that before? They placed a hand on his back, rubbing circles against his shirt and watching as his muscles seemed to instantly melt at their touch. They weren't really expecting that to happen, and in result pulled their hand away quickly which only resulted in Bill's body tensing up once more and shivering at the lack of touch.

"Bill," Y/n spoke softly, trying to get the demon to awaken.

No response.

Y/n sighed, placing their hand on Bill's shoulder this time and shaking him a bit. "Bill. Bill, come on. Wake up."

When he still didn't wake up, Y/n started shaking him harder and calling his name a bit louder. That seemed to grab his attention as he shot up, eyes wide and jumping back a bit from Y/n. He looked lost and freaked out, looking around like he had no idea where he was. Y/n tried to call his name again but he didn't seem to hear them. That caused Y/n to worry a bit as they tried to reach out and grab his shoulder again in an attempt to ground him and snap him out of this state. This action only made things worse it seemed as Bill quickly took note of the —fist— hand reaching out to him. In response, he stepped back from Y/n with a low growl and narrowed eyes directed towards them. He seemed on edge, like he still had no idea what was going on and had yet to fully wake up from the dream he had been experiencing. Bill was breathing heavily, his whole body shaking as he stood defensively with his hands balled into fists at his sides, glaring at the human as though they were a threat at the moment.

Y/n stared at Bill, realizing their mistake and quickly retracting their hand from him. Instead, they held up both of their hands to show Bill that they were not going to touch him again and took a step back of their own to create more distance between the two.

The tension within the demon's body began to relax some when they did this. Bill blinked a couple times, his eyes dancing around the room before finally landing on Y/n's form and pausing. His body was frozen in place, not as tense from before while also no longer shaking. He slowly retracted the nails from his palms which caused small crescent imprints to form on his hands, flexing his fingers and wiggling them as he tried to focus and anchor himself to the present moment.

Bill... was awake. Y/n wasn't-... No, no it wasn't him. It was them, the human, standing before him. The memory had ended. That's all it had been. A memory. He was okay, he was alright here.

"...Hi," the single word slurred out a bit from Bill's lips as he proceeded to clear his throat, staring at the human curiously.

Y/n finally released their breath, realizing Bill had finally woken up fully though they kept their hands up and continued to stand at a distance just in case. "Hey there. You're definitely not the type of person that likes to be woken up from a nap, huh?"

"I... passed out?" Bill glanced around, rubbing his head. "I didn't even realize I had... Huh."

"Yeah... Like a horse, just standing up- you feeling okay, bud?"

Bill shrugged, dropping his hand to his side and swaying slightly. "I feel as great as I can be, I suppose. Weird that I just passed out like that. But, uh-... yeah, I feel okay. Just... tired? I feel a bit tired."

Y/n looked him up and down as it seemed as though Bill would fall over and collapse if they stood and talked there any longer. He really did look tired- exhausted, even. He had been receiving plenty of sleep as far as they were aware so why Bill looked so tired was beyond them. They were definitely going to look into this and figure out what was wrong with Bill, but that would have to happen later as they still had a shift to work. "How about you go and lay down in the backroom, alright? It would probably be more comfortable to nap laying down than standing up, anyway."

"I-... Y'know what, screw it. I'm too tired to fight you," he muttered as he began walking towards the back room and lazily waving his hand up in the air as he did so. "Wake me up when your shift is over!"

Y/n sighed. Yeah, they were most definitely getting to the bottom of Bill's exhaustion.

It was around 3 a.m. when Y/n had woken up and made the decision to go downstairs and get a late night snack. This wasn't an uncommon occurrence; it was pretty normal to catch them up this late in the night trying to sneak into the kitchen like they were afraid they would be caught by someone. Which is a strange concern considering Y/n had lived alone up until Bill showed up.

Speaking of the demon: as Y/n began to make their way across the living room and towards the kitchen, they noticed movement being made on the couch followed by what sounded like someone muttering under their breath. They paused, slowly approaching the figure that was being smothered by the heavy blanket on top of him. It was when their eyes landed on Bill did their whole body freeze in place, watching as he tossed and struggled beneath the blanket. Was he simply too hot from the blanket? That could be a possibility. But then came the muttering again, very soft and quiet but most definitely there. They couldn't make out the majority of what he was saying, for all they knew it could've been straight up gibberish. They would've claimed that to be the case had it not been the few words they actually were able to make out:

"No"

"Out"

"Plea-"

"-ley"

It caused the hair on their arms to stand up straight as they witnessed the scene happening before them. Was Bill... having a nightmare? Is this what's been keeping him up all night and making him look so drained when morning comes? He did mention he was a dream demon. Maybe this was normal? Or maybe this was something that was completely new to Bill and comes with having a human body and mind now?

Whatever the case, it wasn't good.

Y/n couldn't help but feel awful just watching as Bill suffered whatever nightmare was plaguing his mind. Instinct told them to reach out and just hold him, help him get past the nightmare or even go as far as to wake him up. But after seeing the reaction they got when they woke Bill up earlier at work, they were not quite ready to deal with feral Bill again. Who knows if he reacts more violently rather than defensively this time? The best solution was to just not do anything and let him get through it.

That didn't mean they were going to just stop there and not help him, though.

When morning came, they quickly went into interrogation mode as Bill drowsily looked down at his bowl of cereal and tapped his spoon against the side of the bowl.

"Nightmare? ...No, no I didn't have a nightmare. Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering... I came down at like 3 in the morning and it looked like you were struggling in your sleep... and you were muttering some stuff- so I thought maybe it was because you were experiencing a nightmare."

Bill lifted his head slowly, looking up at Y/n as they were still getting their breakfast together while they spoke to him. "...I'm sorry- you came downstairs to watch me sleep?! How often do you do that- Do I just look that good while I sleep or something?"

Y/n paused what they were doing, glancing back at Bill with a disgusted face. "Oh my gosh- No! Get your head out of the gutter, I came down here intending to sneak a bag of chips from my pantry and make it back to my room without getting caught! I wasn't coming down here just to watch you sleep! You wish you looked good enough for me to do that. But no- I literally only came over to the couch because it looked like you were experiencing a nightmare of sorts."

"Nope," Bill popped the 'p' as he folded his hands and propped his elbows up on the table. "Sorry to break it to you, but I don't experience nightmares. Dream demons are known to haunt and plague the dreams of others', sure, but we don't experience nightmares ourselves. Maybe you were just hearing the AC kicking on last night. That thing is noisy as heck, I swear sometimes I can hear whispers coming from it." He then picked his spoon up once more and began to eat again.

Y/n did not seem pleased with that answer, however. They knew what they heard... didn't they? It's possible that due to it having been so late at night that maybe their tired mind made it all up, but they really doubted that. Even if maybe they just imagined hearing him talking in his sleep, they knew for a fact Bill had been tossing and turning on the couch looking rather uncomfortable.

...Maybe that was it.

Bill had been living with Y/n for a week now, and every night Bill is always sent to the couch to lay down for the night. Was it possible that it was simply no longer comfortable for his back to lay against the couch every single night for around 8 hours at a time, more or less?

They mentally slapped themselves at the fact they haven't thought about getting Bill something better to sleep on. An air mattress would be better than the couch! But would getting an air mattress be enough? Would that help Bill sleep better at night so he wasn't constantly passing out at random during the day? They thought about it all day while at work, paying very little attention to the customers and paying more attention to their guest now that they realize they've been making Bill suffer for the past week. Sure they didn't like the demon, but that didn't mean they wanted to torture his whole sleep routine. They wouldn't wish it on their worst enemy to be stuck sleeping on a couch just so they could gain back problems and the lack of a full night's rest.

Something had to be done, and that night Y/n got straight to work to come up with a solution to their dilemma.

~~~

"Candle...? Why are you blindfolding me?" Bill muttered, having previously been channel surfing until a cloth was shoved in his face and wrapped around his eyes.

"Because I have something to show you and I want it to be a surprise!"

"...Okay... but I could've simply closed my eyes. Or kept my eyes open and still would've been surprised by the time we actually got to-... whatever it is you're trying to show me."

"No, shut up. This is like a... human tradition to do whenever surprises are presented to someone! Just trust me, okay?"

"This is stupid," Bill muttered as he was pushed off of the couch and had someone grab his hand, leading him somewhere. If he was right, they were heading in the direction of the staircase but where was the stairs- He spoke too soon, it seemed, as he instantly bit his tongue with his vision beginning to blur due to the fact his big toe had successfully smashed against the bottom step at full force. He could hear Y/n hiss beside him, yet felt no real sympathy. It's definitely not like they could have warned him or something.

"I... am so-"

"Take. The blindfold. OFF!"

"Okay! Okay, give me a second!"

The blindfold was discarded and Bill's vision was restored. His scowl did not leave his face, however. Y/n held a nervous smile on their face before starting to walk up the stairs and hoping Bill would just follow them. They were too afraid to grab his hand again while he made that face of pure hatred and disgust. Though, that expression was soon discarded the moment they walked into a room Bill had not been allowed to enter up until now.

Y/n had explained to Bill on the first day that this room was a storage room. It was where they would toss pretty much anything and everything and promise to come back later to pick it up and give it a proper home but never did end up doing that. They were too afraid of what was in there that Bill could accidentally stumble upon if he actually went snooping in there so they kept the door shut and locked. At least, it had been shut and locked up until this very moment when Y/n opened the door and walked in, beckoning Bill to follow. To Bill's surprise, the room did not look as messy as Y/n had described it to be. They originally explained that inside this room was their own mini landfill right inside their home. The floor was no longer present as it was covered by an array of random objects and trash that Y/n didn't have the time or effort to go through. This was how they explained the room had originally looked like to Bill since he was so curious about the mystery room he could not enter.

Stepping inside now, however, the demon found the inside of the mystery room to be the exact opposite of how Y/n had described it to be. The floor was definitely visible; in fact, the floor was spotless with not a single spec on it. He could eat off the floor in this room, so long as he didn't mind eating food off of the carpet. Some carpets have weird stains though that no one knows how it got there or usually there are traces of hair or dirt hiding within the carpet, but the carpet in this room looks brand new like no one had ever stepped foot on it. All those miscellaneous objects that Y/n claimed were in here were nowhere to be seen. In fact, there wasn't much of anything in here. In this room, there was a dresser with a tall mirror sitting on top of it, a small bookcase that sat beside the bay window but was bare of any books, a closet door that was opened to reveal nothing inside, and in the center of the room with the headboard up against the wall sat... a bed. A bed was in the middle of this room that was covered by a yellow comforter and had a white nightstand placed beside it with a small lamp sitting on top of it. It was bare, and yet it felt comforting to step inside and look around.

"...So?" Y/n pushed, looking at Bill with this expecting look. How long had the demon been quiet for? Apparently too long if the human was trying to push him to speak.

"I'm going to... sound dumb for a moment- I know, hard to believe. Me? Sound dumb? That's crazy-"

"Bill."

"...Right. I just-... What's all this for, exactly? Why are you showing me the 'off-limits' room?"

Y/n smiled softly, gesturing to the room with wide open arms, "Because- This is your room now! It seems like you're gonna be here for awhile until we can get rid of that barrier and I was getting sick of you hogging my living room and couch every night... So I decided to clean this room out and buy you some furniture. It's not much, but I thought it would be a nice start. I already placed all your clothes in the dresser and I wasn't sure what kind of books you like, if any, so I decided to not buy any and just let you pick those out for yourself. I had trouble trying to figure out what kind of comforter you might want but seeing as you are so fascinated with the color yellow, I thought it was just a safe bet to get a plain yellow comforter. Oh! And since you like those candles that I hate so much, I placed a couple jars in the drawer of your nightstand if you ever want to take one out and light it. You'll just have to ask me for the lighter so I know you're not burning this place to the ground."

Bill stared at them in silence before looking back at the room and taking a step further inside.

Why?

His hand reached up to grab the bowtie that was placed around his neck, messing with it slightly as he looked at all the new furniture in the room.

Why?

He didn't understand. Why were they giving this room to him? Why did they buy all of this stuff for him? What was the reason behind their kindness? They couldn't be doing this just to do it, right? No, there had to be a reason. Was it a reward of some sort? A reward for not causing much trouble these past few days? There had to be a reason. No one ever gave him something unless there was something to it. They must want something, right? Maybe there was a new deal they wanted to make with him and this was what they were offering to him in return. Nothing good ever comes out of life without some sort of price to pay.

"What's the catch?"

"The... catch?" Y/n's bright smile fell into one of confusion, making Bill's chest tighten and look away.

"Yeah. The catch. I get something as nice as this for something in return, right? So... what is it you want from me?"

The silence almost tempted the demon to lift his head and look back at them but right as he considered turning around, Y/n had let out a soft sigh and began to speak up.

"Bill, people... don't always want something in return when they want to do an act of kindness. Sometimes, people just give gifts because it makes them feel good to help others out. I was... starting to feel bad making you sleep on the couch every single night and just thought a mattress and bed might be more comfortable. Plus, I know you are struggling with sleep. You can't hide those dark bags forever, Cipher. You're tired, and even demons in human bodies need proper rest- I think... I'm not sure how that all works, exactly. ...Point is- I didn't do this because I want something from you... unless you count me wanting you to finally get a good night's rest for the first time all week."

"So... This is mine. Like- really mine?"

"Yes!"

Bill looked up. They were smiling again. He couldn't help but return the smile before looking away. His eyes landed on the bed once more before his body began to move towards it. He stared down at the yellow comforter, rubbing his hand gently across it before moving to sit down on the edge of the bed. Then he flopped onto his back, and boy- did this demon melt when he felt just how soft and comforting the mattress below him was. His back was singing praises being able to feel something so soft and welcoming against it. He made a soft noise, pleased with this feeling as he closed his eyes and curled up a bit on the bed. Y/n chuckled, causing Bill to open his eyes and remember they were still standing there at the doorway. His face flushed from embarrassment, hating that he just acted so vulnerable right in front of them and quickly sat up.

"...Thanks. It's-... I like it. A lot."

Y/n grinned, pushing themselves off the doorway and stretching. "I'm glad to hear it. I'm gonna go make dinner now and leave you to it. I'll call you down when it's ready."

Bill nodded his head, watching them turn around and close the door behind them.

When dinner was ready that night, Y/n called up a few times but got no response from their demonic roommate. Going upstairs, they entered Bill's room only to find him curled up and passed out on his bed. They couldn't help the smile that grew on their face from the sight of it, glad to see Bill sleeping so peacefully. They decided to close Bill's door and leave his plate in the microwave until he woke up. He could always eat it later. For now, Bill needed the rest.

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Chapter 11: Sunday, Sept. 18th, 2022