Author's Note: I am not very fluent in Spanish or ASL, though I'm trying my best to learn both languages. With that said: If anything is written wrong, please let me know.
There will be another Author's Note at the end of the chapter so stick around.

"Ollie, ¿puedes ayudarme a reabastecer el pasillo de dulces? ¿Por favor?"

"¡Sí! I'll be over there in a sec-"

Bill stood next to the register, raising a brow as he listened to this brief exchange between the two humans. He met them not too long ago, after Ollie had recovered from whatever sickness plagued them, both Ollie and Adrianna returned to work and the demon got the pleasure of meeting them. These two weren't as young as the three stooges that were helping him with the invisible barrier, instead they seemed much closer to Y/n's age than anything else. He wasn't actually sure what Y/n's age was, but knew the three of them were old enough that they no longer attended school and owned their own houses. The three of them seemed fairly acquainted, and Y/n helped introduce Bill to them when they first arrived back to work so the demon could create a good relationship with all of the humans who were working at the store.

Adrianna Narvaez was much easier to get along with out of the two. She was much smaller than Bill and also a bit bigger, too, but her physical traits weren't the only difference between them that Bill took note of. She was also a complete polar opposite from him when it came down to their personalities. Adrianna was so optimistic about everything and much more extroverted than most human beings that the demon had met so far. She seemed to like hugging just as much as Jerome, if not more, but luckily she asks in advance for consent rather than just straight up tackling people out of nowhere. He liked that difference between Jerome and her, appreciating the fact he was given the chance to say no to the hug and that she was okay if he didn't feel like being touched at that exact moment. He was still working on that with Y/n and didn't feel comfortable letting anyone else hang on him for the time being.

From the little amount of time he has spent with Adrianna thus far, he has learned quite a few facts. He learned that she was Puerto Rican, that her favorite color was any pastel color, liked to wear skirts and bows with the shirt varying from a t-shirt to a sweater depending on the day, and that she collected a lot of plushies. With how cuddly, soft, and gentle of a person she seems to be, Bill had given her the nickname Blanket. He believed it fit her quite well and she didn't seem to mind. In fact, she ended up giving him a nickname of her own in return when she found out he had given her a nickname: Bumblebee.

Bill hated it. With a fiery passion. But Y/n told him to play nice and accept it.

Olivia Webber was a completely different story as she was the exact opposite of Adrianna. She was not soft nor sweet as candy, but instead she looked like she would be the person to kill you in your sleep. Her skin was incredibly pale like she never saw daylight in her life and wore a lot of black eyeshadow and black lipstick. Her hair was probably the only fluffy thing about her. It was black with red stripes and was incredibly puffy. A very untamed mane that she seemed to wear quite well. Where Adrianna seemed like the person you would want to hug and hold onto, Ollie seemed like the person you would be running away from. She had this look, this incredibly icy look that made you certain she was planning your death right at that moment. Bill found her glares very unsettling. He swore she saw right passed him and knew exactly what he was. Y/n claims that that's just how Ollie looks at everyone. So according to Y/n, Ollie sees everyone as her prey. How wonderful.

Her outfit was at least much better than Broken Heart's was, though it still looked as though Cold Subject threw up on her. Whenever she came into work, she was either wearing ripped black jeans with chains or wearing a black leather skirt. She had these black boots that she always wore as well as the cuffs with spikes around her wrists. She was never seen without those two items on. For a top, it varied. Either a simple black hoodie, a sleeveless black shirt with spikes on her shoulders, or a black and red gothic corset top that she would have under a black leather jacket. The corset seemed to be something she favored wearing the most. In the end, Bill decided that Spider would be the best nickname for her. She also had a nickname for him. More like an insult than a nickname. It's not very family-friendly, either.

He had a much more difficult time getting on her good side. But he could honestly live without being friends with her.

Oh, he also learned that Ollie and Adrianna live together.

Bill frowned, glancing over at Norah who was currently standing behind the counter with a notepad and paper in hand. Y/n was currently in the cooler, going through their soda stock and seeing what drinks they would have to order for next week.

"Hey. Hey, Raindrop," Bill muttered, grabbing a pen off the counter and tossing it at Norah.

Norah looked up, slightly irritated with the demon. He seemed to grow bored quite easily and was constantly looking for either attention or entertainment, or both. "Yes? What do you need now?"

"I think my ears have stopped working. Or something's wrong with my brain. Adrianna said some stuff and I couldn't understand a word she was saying," he explained, glancing back over and watching as Ollie made her way over towards the pastel woman and began to help her restock the candy aisle.

"...Oh- Oh, you mean-... No, Bill, nothing's wrong with your ears. Adrianna speaks two different languages, both English and Spanish. I believe Spanish is her first language, actually, and occasionally she'll speak in Spanish rather than English. She's also been trying to teach Ollie how to speak Spanish as well so occasionally she'll purposefully slip into it just to test Ollie's knowledge and see what she's remembered from their lessons."

Bill made an 'o' shape with his mouth, falling silent and nodding his head. He used to know Spanish. He used to know all the languages within the multiverse. Had his brain been dumbed-down when it got trapped in this mortal body? He didn't like that idea in the slightest and tried to ignore that thought entirely.

"...Would it be alright if I ask a question of my own now?" Norah asked, moving to hug her notepad to her chest while staring up at the demon.

"Uh- Sure, ask away."

"Thank you. You seem confused by Adrianna speaking in a different language so I'm curious now, does your-... race speak only in English or are there different types of languages that you speak that are different from the ones we speak here?"

"The multiverse is filled with a variety of different languages, some languages that not even your pathetic human brains could even begin to comprehend," Bill grinned, watching as Norah clicked her pen a few times. She seemed anxious to jot down any information this demon was willing to spill about his kind and what he knows. She was just as curious as Jerome when it came to demon knowledge. "I used to be able to speak in a multitude of different languages- though now it appears my knowledge of those languages are failing due to my current predicament. ...English was not my first language though, no. It took awhile to learn the language as I knew I would need to in case of any deals I would have to make with your kind. A language I spoke in oftenly when it came to speaking with other beings like myself was a language known as Caesar Cipher. That was my core language, one I would occasionally slip into by accident as it was just so much easier to speak in fluently."

"Caesar Cipher? ...As in the Caesar code? You-... You can speak fluently in that?"

"You seem pretty shocked by this, but yeah. What about it?"

"Caesar code- That's the code where the alphabet is shifted three letters back, correct? It's a cipher- How could one possibly speak that fluently, it would just come out as gibberish! Would it not?"

Bill clicked his tongue, lifting his hand and pointing his thumb towards Adrianna who had just dropped an entire box of sweets right at that moment. "What she said sounded like gibberish to me, but to her it is a language that makes complete and utter sense. Same goes for Caesar Cipher. Though it might not make sense to you, I can hear the words as clear as day and understand what every gibberish word means. It just takes time to actually learn the language. For some it's easier to learn how to write and read it before they are capable of actually speaking the language themselves. But it's possible."

Norah's eyebrows scrunched a bit, looking down at her notepad as she seemed to be deep in thought for a moment. Bill thought this was a sign that the conversation was done so he went to leave only for Norah to speak up once again.

"Would that mean it would be possible for you to teach me how to speak fluent Caesar Cipher?"

"...You want to learn how to speak my language?"

"I already know all the languages that are spoken here on Earth. I have some spare time on my hands and would find it to be a fascinating pastime if I were to try and learn a language that is not of this world. ...Plus, I don't like the idea that Jerome now knows more than me since I haven't wasted hours on learning everything I could about the supernatural like he has. And to find that all of it is true and I know nothing of it-... To say I can speak in demon tongue before he can would definitely make me feel better and the world can be at peace once more knowing that Norah Rain is still the smartest human in Mercy, North Carolina."

Bill pondered her words, thinking it over before grinning like a mad man at the idea. "Heh. I like your spunk, kid. Knowledge is power, after all. ...Alright, yeah, I'll help you learn how to speak Caesar Cipher. First you got to learn how to read and write in it, though. It's easier to speak it later on once you know how to translate the words first. So here- give me your notepad."

Norah handed it over willingly along with her pen, standing still and waiting for Bill as he began to write on it.

"So what I'm doing is writing the alphabet as well as the three-letters-back beneath it. A cheat sheet, if you will. Get used to this and you'll be able to decipher the messages without it soon enough. We'll start off with a simple sentence that you just need to translate back to English. Nothing long, nothing hard..."

Bill tapped his chin with the pen, thinking about what the sentence would be. Glancing over at Norah, he contemplated for a moment before a small grin began to spread onto his face. It took everything in him not to burst out laughing as he wrote the sentence down and handed it back to her.

Wkhuh lv d vslghu lq brxu kdlu.

Norah raised a brow, looking down at this foreign language and seeming very confused by it.

"Well? Go on. Decipher it. Use the code at the top."

Bill leaned back, watching as the nerd got straight to work on deciphering the message. It didn't take long since she did have the code right above. It seemed like a smart idea, to practice with the code and get familiar with it so later on she could decipher the messages without it.

When Norah finished figuring out what the last letter was, she scanned over the whole sentence to read the full message that Bill had written.

She froze.

Then she dropped the notepad and made a full sprint to the back room, leaving Bill there cackling like a maniac.

Bill was definitely getting stared at by Ollie and Adrianna currently, but he couldn't care less as he found the situation absolutely hilarious. Not a minute later did Y/n stick their head out from the cooler, looking over at Bill and narrowing their eyes.

"What did you do?"

"What makes you think I did something? I can't simply laugh for my own enjoyment?"

"Oh no- You're allowed to laugh for your own enjoyment. But what you are doing is most definitely not some innocent laugh. That right there was like a villain cackle so either you did something, or you're just insane to laugh like that for no reason."

"Well of course I'm insane! If it took you this long to figure that out then maybe there's really something wrong with you."

"Bill. Just answer the question. What did you do?"

"You can't prove I did anything so I got nothing to admit to!"

"Cipher, I swear- !"

Adrianna and Ollie stood where they were, forgetting about their job at the moment to watch these two bicker back and forth.

"...Are they...?" Adrianna began whispering to Ollie, still staring at the two bickering in front of them.

"No... No, pretty sure they're still with Claire."

"Really? ...Huh." She tilted her head to the side, watching as Y/n picked up a pen from the counter and began to poke Bill's side with it to try and prod the answers out of him. "...I swear it looks like it though, doesn't it?"

"No, no, I agree with you. I'm just saying that I'm pretty sure they're still with that jerk who is more toxic than any radioactive chemical that exists," Ollie whispered, propping their elbow on Adrianna's shoulder as an armrest.

The front door to the store opened, causing Olivia to turn her head in the general direction to see who had entered. A hiss escaped from her, moving her arm so it was wrapped around Adrianna in a more protective manner.

"Habla del diablo y aparecerá..." Olivia muttered under her breath, feeling the pastel girl beside her lean into her side a bit more.

Claire Wolffee entered the store, walking with a purpose with two friends of his standing right beside him. He scanned the room before his eyes landed on Y/n who currently had her pen snatched and was now being poked with it by Bill in retaliation. His eyes narrowed, quickly stalking over towards them with his possy tagging along right behind him.

"Y/n." His voice wasn't loving nor kind, instead it sounded more demanding. It was a voice that caused both Y/n and Bill to tense up at and glance over in Claire's direction, taking in his presence and stopping their foolishness.

Bill frowned, gripping the pen tightly as he crossed his arms and glared at the meatsack before them. He almost completely forgot about his entire existence, if he was being honest. He still had trouble believing that this guy was currently dating his human roommate. The two of them didn't seem to do much stuff together like couples usually do. The only time he ever saw Claire was whenever he came into the store asking for free food from his partner. That was it. He expected that the only reason Claire was here now was for more free milkshakes from Y/n for him and probably his friends as well. Why else would he be here?

Claire glanced over at Bill, lowering his sunglasses to make direct eye contact with him. "Do you mind? I need to talk to my partner."

Bill glanced back at Y/n who just shrugged. Not wanting to get in the middle of whatever this was, Bill stepped out from behind the counter and walked a bit into the store to give them their time to talk. As he walked away, he was able to catch a bit of their conversation which caused a frown to make its way onto his face.

"Hey Claire! How have you been? Did you three want some milkshakes? I can have Adrianna and Norah make some up for you, if you want. Our milkshake bar technically isn't open yet, but I can make an exception for you if you'd like-"

"So we're just going to completely avoid the problem then, are we? Act like you didn't do anything wrong and think you can make it up with some drinks?"

"I'm-...sorry? Did I... do something wrong?"

"You tell me. How come you completely ditched me the other day when we had plans to hang out?!"

"We- Plans? ...Oh- Oh... Oh gosh, Claire, I- I'm so sorry. I-I got a bit distracted that day. I was getting ready to come hang out with you, I swear, but some... some stuff came up last minute and I completely forgot we were going to hang out. I really am sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"You think a 'sorry' is going to be enough?! You ditched me! I had plans that day and I needed you there. I wasn't able to get any of my crap done because my driver wasn't there and who's fault is that?! You didn't even text me or anything to say you were going to leave me to fend for myself! How selfish is it that you couldn't send one text?!"

"Claire, I-... I would've if I had remembered but I honestly forgot. You're right, I should've sent a text but with everything that was happening it just completely slipped my mind. I really am sorry, I know you needed me... How come you didn't text or call me, though, if you really needed me?"

"So you're going to put the blame on me then? Is that it? You're gonna turn this around and make yourself the victim?! Gosh, I swear you always do this! Trying to play the innocent card!"

"I'm not- I know I'm not innocent here! It was wrong of me to forget, I know it was. I'm just simply curious because if you had messaged me then I could've remembered and I would've explained the situation I had been in-"

"What- So you want me to apologize for not sending one message? This is what I'm talking about! Selfish! It wasn't my job to message you, it was your job to be there on time so I can get crap done! All my friends were worried about where I was and I had to tell them that my partner abandoned me like the selfish prick they are! It's always about what's going on in your life, isn't it? Never about what's going on in my life!"

Bill gritted his teeth, fists clenching at his sides. He felt overly protective at that moment. Hearing the way Y/n's voice cracked while Claire continued to yell at them in an attempt to make them feel more worse than they already did was starting to really piss Bill off. Throughout the time he has spent with Y/n, he has known them to be this confident, strong human who seemed to have their life together. Even if they didn't, they hid behind that mask of theirs really well. But all it took was to hear Claire disappointed in their recent actions and suddenly that mask is breaking and they're starting to fall. He didn't want to see them fall. He needed to help them back up.

Bill turned around, planning to walk straight back over towards Claire and give him a good punch to the face- only for his path to be blocked.

It was one of Claire's friends that walked in with him.

"Well, hello there~ You must be new in town, I don't think I've met you before. I know I would've remembered your good looks if I had," the stranger with the long, curly, strawberry-red hair said.

Bill paused, his train of thought halting for the moment as he wasn't expecting this before shaking it off. Y/n was his priority right now, he needed to get over to them. "Nice touch with the compliment, I do always love a good compliment every now and again. Would be a shame to let my good looks go to waste- but I'm actually in the middle of something right now so if you could hold off on the flirting for a sec and I'll be right back to properly flirt back with you-"

Bill tried to maneuver around the stranger when suddenly he felt something press against his chest which caused his entire body to shut down and become unresponsive. Not warm. Cold. Not safe. Possible threat. Not Y/n. Stranger. Not Y/n.

"Come now- What's the rush? Surely you're not really planning on abandoning me when I've only just started. You should feel lucky, I only ever set my eyes on the best. And my eyes could not tear themselves away from you," their voice lowered as their hand pushed up against his chest a bit more and dug their nails a bit into his shirt.

Bill didn't like this. He fell silent, staring at them with wide eyes. It'd be so easy to shove them off and get over to Y/n and Claire, but his arms refused to move. In fact, his whole body wouldn't move. He didn't understand why. Stupid, pathetic human body. He didn't want to be in this situation anymore and wanted out!

"I-..." Bill tried to get the words out, tried to force his mouth to make the sounds he needed to make to properly form coherent words but it seemed as though his voice had disappeared. Why? He didn't understand what was happening. His skin felt like it was burning, but not in a good way. Not the comforting warmth he liked receiving. He was currently on manual breathing as well, suddenly having to focus really hard on taking a breath in and letting it out so he didn't suddenly faint from the lack of oxygen in his lungs.

"Oh wow- It doesn't take much to turn you into putty, does it? Tell you what, how about I give you a tour of the town, and we can end the tour back at my place where we can have some fun... get to know each other... how does that sound?"

'No! I'm not leaving! Get your hand off of me so I can beat the crap out of your friend for yelling at my roommate!' was what Bill wanted to say. He really wanted to say this out loud, take their hand off of him and snap their wrist before going over to Claire to break his nose.

But he couldn't.

The words were stuck in his head and they wouldn't come out.

Now there were two cold hands pressed against his chest. It felt like two ice cubes were pushed up against him and it caused his entire being to shake. He didn't want to look vulnerable right now. Not in public. But he couldn't stop it. Nothing was working, his whole body was frozen and nothing he did seemed to free him from this imprisonment. He was stuck here, unable to stop the stranger from pressing up against him, chest-to-chest, with their chin resting on his shoulder and their breath hitting his ear in an uncomfortable way. Why must they be so close?

"Too stunned to talk? Should I just take your silence as a yes~?"

Bill closed his eyes, unable to move, to speak, to think. To breathe. He couldn't breathe. His chest hurt, his heart was racing and his skin was burning like he was on fire. He couldn't process anymore. His brain was shutting down on him and he couldn't stop it. Maybe fainting wasn't such a bad idea, if he fell then he was no longer standing with them pressed up against him. But then who knows what they planned to do with him if he went unconscious. He tried to remember how to breathe but he couldn't focus... he couldn't focus on anything.

'Let me out... Let me out...'

...

"Ruby, get off of him!"

Bill wasn't sure who had yelled those words but the voice sounded very familiar. Safe. Warm. Comfort. He felt the stranger release him, but he still couldn't open his eyes. He remained still, very still. All he could do was listen at this point.

"Oh come now, I was only having some fun with him. Besides, he seemed to enjoy it~"

"Enjoy it? Are you serious?! Look at him! He's having some kind of panic attack right now because of you! Did he even give you consent to be on him like that?"

"It's not like he was telling me to stop."

"That's NOT the same thing! He wasn't telling you to stop because when he's having a panic attack, he goes nonverbal! Bill doesn't like to be touched, so unless he gave you the 'OK' to touch him, you shouldn't be practically laying yourself on top of him!"

"Nonverbal? Seriously? Just because he's being touched? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. What kind of freak doesn't like getting touched? And having a panic attack over it- sounds like he's just doing it for attention."

"...Get out."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me- get out. If you're going to stand there and be disrespectful towards my friend then you can leave because I'm not putting up with this crap. So get out before I force you out of my store."

There was a moment of silence, and then Bill heard the front door bell ring indicating either someone walked in or someone had left.

"...You know- this is what I'm talking about. You are selfish, only ever caring about yourself. Ruby didn't do anything wrong, and yet you kicked her out. You've changed, Y/n. And I don't like it. So until you figure out what's wrong and are ready to apologize to both me and Ruby, don't contact me. Matthias, come on. We're leaving."

The bell rang a second time.

Footsteps could be heard, making their way towards Bill's general direction. His eyes stayed closed, his body remained stiff.

"...Cipher? Hey, can... you hear me?" the voice paused, waiting a moment. The silence was killing Bill. Luckily, the voice spoke up once again, "It's okay. You're going to be okay, I promise. We'll get through this, alright? I'm gonna-... ...hmm. No. I'm not going to do that. I won't touch you, okay? Let's see... How about some breathing exercises, alright? If you can hear me... let's do that, okay? I want you to take a deep breath for four seconds. Just like me," Bill could hear the voice take an overly dramatic deep breath in, but just hearing them do it encouraged him to follow along. "Alright. Good. Good, Bill. Hold your breath for seven seconds... Just like that, yeah, and now we're going to let it out for eight seconds."

He followed their steps, holding it in for seven seconds and letting it out slowly for eight. The two of them repeated this process, again and again. The voice didn't seem to care how long it took until Bill was able to snap out of it. All they cared about was repeating the process with him and making sure he was following along.

Soon, the demon was able to open one of his eyes. And then the other. He started blinking slowly, breathing much easier now than he had been before. Lifting his head up, he quickly spotted the owner of the voice and relaxed a bit.

"Candle...?"

"Yeah, it's me. How are you feeling?"

"Mm, lightheaded... I feel.... really.... lightheaded."

"That makes sense. Bill, I-... I'm sorry, Bill. I should've noticed sooner that Ruby was practically hanging all over you. I should've stopped it sooner before it had gotten this bad- and that's on me. I really am so sorry. ...And I'm also really glad that you're doing better now. Is there... anything I can do? I can get you some water, or grab a chair for you to sit down on."

Bill shook his head, gently lifting his hand and going to hold Y/n's only to hesitate. The human smiled, however, lifting their own hand up and giving him the sign that it was alright and they didn't mind. Bill grasped their hand, squeezing it a bit and sighing. "Just... stay. Please."

"Alright, I'll stay. ...We should really figure out a way where you can communicate whether you want physical touch or not if you ever go nonverbal again. If you don't feel comfortable saying so, or physically can't bring yourself to say if you do or don't want physical touch at that moment, then there has to be another way to do it," they said softly as they stood there with him, holding onto his hand.

"What about ASL?"

Both Bill and Y/n turned to glance over at Norah who began walking over to the both of them with her notepad in hand. "Sign language is another form of language that we humans speak, but this kind of language doesn't need our voice to communicate. Instead, sign language uses hand gestures, facial expressions, and body movement to communicate. When Vox goes nonverbal, they will sometimes use sign language when they feel the need to speak up. They don't use it often but since we know there's a chance they will use it, both Jerome and I have decided to learn some common words and phrases so we can better understand Vox when they're using sign language. One of the words just so happens to be touch. For example, if Vox wants touch from either myself or Jerome then they would tap the back of their non-dominant hand with their middle finger on their dominant hand. And if they don't want any touch, then they would simply do the same gesture but in the process they would also be shaking their head. It would be hard to communicate in that way if you go both nonverbal and freeze up, but if you ever just go nonverbal then it might be a good idea to learn some sign language."

It didn't sound like the worst idea to try. And it might make both his and Y/n's life easier if they were able to communicate when touch was good and bad for him since he was beginning to tell that it varied based on where he was being touched and who was touching him. So he nodded his head, tightening his grip on Y/n's hand. "Could you teach me...? Could you teach me how to do sign language?"

Norah hummed, thinking it over for a moment before nodding. "Sure, I will help you. You are teaching me Caesar Cipher, after all. Next time, however, I would appreciate it if you just tell me like a normal person or slap my head if there ever is another spider in my hair."

Bill smirked, holding back a chuckle while Y/n glanced back at him with a raised brow. "...Is that what you did earlier? That you wouldn't tell me about?"

"Umm- maybe?"

Bill grunted as his side was jabbed, laughing a bit which caused Y/n to follow along and laugh with him.

When the laughter settled, Y/n looked at the demon and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "Are you okay? Honestly?"

Bill sighed, nodding his head slowly as his shoulders relaxed. "Yeah... I'm okay. Thanks for your help, Candle. I really do appreciate it. I don't care what your boyfriend says: you're not selfish. You care about others. You look after your friends- and me, and I really... really appreciate your help back there. Honestly. Thanks."

Y/n's eyes widened, not expecting Bill to have heard all of that back there between Claire and them. But then they smiled, really appreciating what Bill had said. They didn't entirely believe him since Claire's words were still ringing in their ears, but it was nice that a demon believed that they weren't as selfish of a person as their own boyfriend thought they were.

"You're welcome, Cipher."

Grq'w zruub, L fkhfnhg: wkhuh lv prvw ghilqlwhob QRW d vslghu lq brxu kdlu.

Ru lv wkhuh?

Character List

Bill Cipher

Y/n L/n

Norah Rain

Jerome Henderson

Vox Richards

Brik Walls

Agent Powers

Agent Triggers

Adrianna Narvaez

Olivia (Ollie) Webber

Claire Wolffee

Ruby

Matthias

Now that majority of the cast has been introduced:
If you would like to ask them any questions and/or share your thoughts about them, don't forget to leave them in the comments!
Maybe I'll answer the questions in a later chapter, maybe I won't- a hiatus is coming up in the future and I may need some filler short stories during that time.

But until then:

Chapter 14: Sunday, October 30th, 2022