"Huh... interesting," Y/n muttered after they had just gotten off the phone and placed it faced down on the table next to their plate of toast.

"What is?" Bill couldn't help but ask his human roommate before shoving a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"That was my boss. Apparently someone broke into the store last night. The door was shattered when he got there this morning and the entire place had been wrecked. A lot of stuff had been either broken or taken. So he's shutting the store down for a couple days... which sucks since this would have been my first day back after having taken care of you these past couple of days. But good news- he plans to still pay everybody while we're out of work. So until the store can be fixed—"

"We don't have to go to work!" Bill exclaimed with his mouth full of food. He threw his arms into the air, a bright smile on his face.

"...Bill, you don't work anyways."

"Yes— but you are constantly dragging me up to that place of torment and misery. So I'm practically suffering along with you whenever we go up there. But now we don't have to! Which means~ I get to go back to bed!"

With that, Bill scooped up his bowl of cereal and proceeded to head out of the kitchen. The moment he stepped foot out of the kitchen doorway, Y/n's cell phone began to suddenly ring once more.

Bill quickly peaked his head back into the kitchen, a look of horror crossing his face.

"Don't tell me that's your boss calling and changing his mind! I need my beauty sleep!"

"Oh hush, you big baby. It's just Ollie calling," Y/n said as they picked their phone back up and brought it to their ear, answering the call. "Hey! Did you just get a call from the boss, too? ...I know, right?! I was shocked to hear it myself! I mean seriously- we sell a bunch of cheap merchandise. I'm surprised anyone would waste their time stealing from our store. ...Oh? And what did you and Adrianna have in mind?"

Bill leaned against the wall, scooping up spoonful after spoonful of cereal into his mouth while listening in to the conversation. He was a very curious demon, he couldn't help but to eavesdrop. Besides, it's not like Y/n got calls from people often. He was honestly beginning to think they didn't have any friends. It wouldn't really surprise him if that were the case.

"Oh... really? Y'all were planning to head over to Queen's Court? ...You wanted to know if Bill and I would come? Well, uh-..."

"Queen's Court? What's that?" Bill suddenly asked, walking back over to the table to hover over Y/n.

Y/n moved the phone away from their ear, placing their hand over the microphone as they turned around to talk to Bill. "It's-... It's an amusement park. An amusement park is a place where-"

"I know what an amusement park is, Candle! It's one of the only good things you humans have in this dimension! Tell them we're going! We HAVE to go! Screw sleep- I don't need to go back to sleep! I need to ride roller coasters, eat a bunch of junk food, waste all your money on a bunch of those rigged games!"

"Bill- we can't."

The demon's face instantly fell, his excited smile dying right as they said this. "What? Why not?! I'm feeling much better now! Sure my nose is still stuffy but it's fine! I'm fine- I'll wear a mask if I have to!"

"Bill, that's not it-"

"Then what is it?!"

"Queen's Court isn't in Mercy. ...It's in Virginia, outside of the borders of this town. It's not that I don't want to take you to an amusement park. It's the fact I can't."

"...Because of the barrier," Bill whispered, deflating a bit.

"Bingo. So, yeah. We can't go."

Bill frowned, watching as Y/n went to lift their phone and bring it back up to their ear to speak to Ollie once more only for Bill to reach out and take the phone right out of their hand.

"Bill!"

"Sorry, Spider, just give us one sec," Bill pressed the mute button before slamming the phone back on the table. "...What do you mean we can't go? You can still go with them if you want to."

Y/n looked up at him confused, leaning back in their chair and crossing their arms. "First of all: never take my phone out of my hands again and then proceed to slam it on the table! Secondly: what do you mean I can still go? I gotta stay home and-"

"Take care of me? Why? It's just a stuffy nose, it's not like I'm dying! Candle, I'm not your responsibility to stress and take care of 24/7. If you want to go out and have some fun, then go! Do it! Ride those roller coasters for the both of us!"

"Bill, I can't just leave you here all day on your own."

"Why not? I'm very responsible! I think I've proven by now that I am a demon that you can trust."

"Says the same demon that wouldn't listen to me about standing out in the rain for too long and getting himself sick for the past couple of days," Y/n pointed out with a smirk on their face.

"Okay, but I was a different demon back then. I've grown these past couple of days, I've changed! You can trust me to stay at home alone!"

Y/n just stared at him, looking very conflicted at the moment on what to do here. Of course they wanted to go. Apparently Ollie, Adrianna, Jerome, Norah, and Vox were all going together and of course they wanted to tag along with their friends and have some fun. But that meant leaving Bill alone all day. They wouldn't even make it back to Mercy before midnight, probably, depending on when they left. The dream demon would be all on his own. They didn't necessarily know how to feel about that. Besides, Bill really seemed to want to go. Would they just be upsetting him by going without him?

"Bill, I-"

"When was the last time you did something for yourself?" Bill interrupted, pointing his spoon at them. "You're constantly trying to please others, when was the last time you let yourself have some fun because that's what you wanted? You're telling me you really don't want to go spend a day with your friends outside of work for a change?"

The last thing Y/n expected to occur that day was for their dream demon roommate to convince them to leave him home alone while they went out to go to an amusement park.

They had given Ollie the excuse that Bill was still sick and wasn't feeling up to going on roller coasters so that was his reason for not tagging along. Ollie didn't seem to actually care if Bill was coming or not for it was Adrianna who had been the only one wanting to invite him along.  He apparently gave Ollie too many bad vibes to the point she straight up told Y/n she could make do without his presence being there.

Luckily Bill had already left the room when Ollie said this over the phone.

By the time the party car arrived to pick Y/n up, they were in a panic to make sure Bill knew what to do in case of an emergency.

"Candle, we've been over this five times already!"

"And a sixth time isn't going to kill you! Now then- if there is an emergency and you need to reach me, I left my phone number on a sticky note hanging up beside the home phone. I also left the number of the local sheriff's department. Do not use either of these numbers unless it is for an emergency. While I'm gone, you are to stay out of the 'off-limits' rooms. I will know if you enter them. Don't question how I will know, I'll just know. If you are hungry, you are not to cook anything. The last thing I need is you burning my house down so you can either eat a bowl of cereal or make yourself a sandwich- I don't care. Just do not cook anything. What else was I going to say..."

The sound of a car honking could be heard coming from outside.

"Oh, would you look at the time!" Bill exclaimed, spinning Y/n around and proceeding to push them towards the front door. "Don't want to keep your friends waiting! Off you go!"

"Wait, but I wasn't-"

"Byeee~!"

With that, the demon slammed and locked the front door in Y/n's face.

Bill stood there for a minute. Then he stood there for another five minutes. The sound of a car pulling out of the driveway could be heard. Another five minutes passed before he slowly moved towards the window to peek outside.

Gone.

They were gone.

They were really gone.

"...I'M HOME ALONE!"

Bill threw his arms up into the air, a bright smile spreading across his face.

Now was probably the time you expected Bill to begin breaking some of Y/n's rules: enter the 'off-limits' rooms, start a fire in the house, annoy the crap out of the sheriff's department now that their number was just at his fingertips, etc.

He did none of these things, however. As tempting as it all was to do, Bill only had one thing in mind to do now that Y/n was out of the house:

Figure out where the heck Y/n hid the cookie jar.

Ever since he got sick, Y/n refused to let him have any cookies. Or any sugary treats, for that matter. They said that it wasn't good for him, saying that if he wanted a speedy recovery then he should stay away from junk food. Well- SCREW THAT! He's waited long enough! He needs those cookies and he needs them now!

He just needed to figure out where they had hidden them.

Bill started checking everywhere. He checked the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom, his own bedroom, and even the attic. He tore every room up, but found absolutely nothing. There were no cookies in sight. The only room he hadn't checked was Y/n's room. Which he could enter now. They were gone, they wouldn't be able to stop him from going in. And yet when his hand started hovering over the doorknob to open the door to their room, he couldn't do it. He couldn't open the door.

Bill didn't know why he couldn't push himself to just walk in, get the cookies, and get out. All he knew was that as he stood there in front of their bedroom door, all he could think about was the day Y/n let him enter their room so they could hold hands and cuddle. They trusted him that day. He didn't want to lose that trust... not now. What if they found out he entered their room and refused to let him get cuddles from them ever again? He couldn't risk that.

Bill took a step back, turning away and walking back towards the kitchen. Picking up the home phone, he dialed Y/n's number and brought the phone up to his ear. Maybe he could get permission first. Or they could confirm the cookies were not in there. If they did that, then he'd have no reason to be tempted to enter the room in the first place.

The phone rang once,

twice,

a third time.

It continued to ring before finally:

"I'm sorry, your call has been forwarded to an automated voice messaging system: Y/n L/n is not available at this time-"

"What?" Bill muttered, looking down at the phone confused.

He tried to call them again, sitting down at the kitchen table and listening to the phone ring once more. Maybe their phone was just on Do Not Disturb. Maybe they hadn't noticed their phone ringing the first time.

"I'm sorry, your call has been forwarded to an automated voice messaging-"

Or... Maybe they were trying to ignore him now that they finally got some space from him.

That's fine. That's completely understandable. It makes sense that they would want a break from him. After all, he's been a pain in their side ever since he got here. So needing a break from him is reasonable.

It is.

It's completely understandable why they wouldn't want to talk to him.

He put the phone down on the table, walking off towards the living room where he proceeded to collapse onto the couch and turn on the tv.

It's not like he even wanted to talk to Y/n anyhow. He just needed to know where they had hid the cookies. They probably wouldn't have even told him.

Bill sat there, trying to focus on the television in front of him. He tried to ignore all the thoughts going on inside his head and focus on whatever program it was he decided to watch. It seemed to be working— for at least one hour.

Then Bill found himself back in the kitchen once more, repeatedly calling the same number hoping that Y/n would eventually pick up their phone and answer at least one of his calls. They can't exactly ignore their phone ringing non-stop forever, right? Eventually they'd find it so annoying to the point they'd have no choice but to answer it just to yell at Bill for being so annoying and interrupting the time that they were trying to spend with their friends... right?

He tried.

He called, got sent to voicemail, and tried again.

This cycle repeated so much that Bill lost track of how many calls he actually made.

Not a single one of his calls was answered...

Not one.

His heart sank while his fears began to grow. Bill allowed Y/n to leave, he even pushed them to go out with their friends since they never did. What if now that they were gone, they didn't plan on coming back? It was a dumb thought to have because obviously they would come back to their own home where all of their belongings were... but what if? He tried to fight the doubt in his mind, wanting to replace it with a more reasonable possibility for why they weren't responding to his calls. But he couldn't seem to push the dark thoughts away. They kept returning: thoughts of being abandoned and being left behind swarming his head.

Then he thought back to when he had been trapped in Stan Pines' mind.

Such a random thought to have all of a sudden. But it wasn't really all that random. He thought back to that room, how empty it had felt. There wasn't much in that room but a chair and a man that hated him with every inch of his being. He remembered the blue fire that engulfed the room and how his confidence instantly faded in that moment. He was trapped with no way to escape. He was going to burn, he was going to die and no one was coming to save him. No one. He was all alone. He was alone. He was going to die alone.

Bill gasped, dropping the phone and letting it fall onto the table. He stood up from the table, lifting his hand to his bowtie and clutching it to the point that his knuckles turned white.

He needs a distraction. From his thoughts, from Y/n— Bill looked around the room in an attempt to find something that could distract him. But he was in the kitchen, there wasn't much in there to distract himself with as he was not interested in eating any of the food that was in there. The only thing he was still craving to eat was cookies- and he still had no idea where Y/n hid them!

...He could go buy some. No. He didn't have money.

...He could go steal some. That definitely seemed like a more reasonable thing for him to do. Plus, going out and shoplifting would make for a great distraction!

It was decided. Bill went to put his shoes on and also threw on one of the hoodies Y/n had bought for him before he exited the household and began to walk into town.

Stay distracted.

Don't think about the fact Y/n has abandoned you.

Focus on the cookies.

Somewhere in the household, a light lit up in the darkness. A screen displaying one message:

[You have (27) missed calls]

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Holiday Special: Sunday, Dec 25th, 2022

Don't forget:
A hiatus is coming soon.
If you want little short stories during this hiatus, I suggest leaving questions for the characters.
If there's something you'd like to know or someone you'd like to see more of, leave them in the comments.
I'll then pick and choose which ones I feel like tacking.