The rest of the day had gone by pretty smoothly after they left the three teens to do some investigating and research over at the town line. After getting something to eat, Y/n set some ground rules for Bill at their house like what he was allowed to eat, telling him he was never allowed to touch their cookie jar or ice cream stash. He was not allowed in certain rooms, for example: Y/n's room was strictly off limits. Bill was required to clean up after himself and help with chores when asked to, he was not allowed to make a mess. And unless he was given permission from Y/n to do so, he was not allowed to leave the house without them.

Bill found all these rules that the human was listing off quite humorous. A king among demons was being expected to do house chores and stay inside like a pet? It was hilarious! If it wasn't for the fact that Y/n was their source of shelter, food, and money at the moment he would have killed them on the spot for daring to take control over him like this. But at the moment, he was pretty weak. He wasn't at full strength right now. All day he had tried to summon even a single blue flame but nothing occurred, his magic wasn't working like it should be and it worried him. His magic was still with him, was it not? It did transfer over with him when he was reincarnated, right? He wasn't sure. So for now, until he could be at full power again he thought it would be interesting to listen to the human for now and see where this went. Bill thought it might be fun just to humour the human and let them believe they were in control for now.

For the rest of the afternoon, they watched tv, relaxed, ate, and at the end of the day Bill used the couch as a bed once more while Y/n retreated back to their room for the night.

The next day, Y/n introduced Bill to the bathroom of the house, handing over some shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and towel before leaving him be and going to go read in the living room. It was Y/n's silent way of saying "you reek, you smell like swamp water, go take a shower." They were almost tempted to light some candles just to try and cover up the stench but decided against it. If another power outage was to occur, they'd need to save up those candles just in case. For the time being, they settled with spraying air freshener around the house and cracked open some windows while Bill showered before sitting down and relaxing with a book.

It took about 20 minutes before Bill exited the bathroom, water dripping from his hair onto the hardwood floor as he made his way into the living room. He had draped his towel over his shoulders, his clothes back on just as they had been before he went and showered.

Before he could open his mouth, Y/n lifted their head only to gasp and shake their head. "No no no- why would you go and put those clothes back on? That defeats the purpose of the shower if you put those back on!"

"...Yeah, well it was either these clothes or I came out naked. It's not like you handed me a pair of clothes that I could change into." He shrugged, looking down at his attire. He seemed pretty relaxed on the outside, but on the inside he was cringing so hard as he felt the clothes rest against his skin once more. These clothes were absolutely horrendous, he much preferred a suit and bowtie to whatever it was he was wearing right now. But he also had a bit of class and some self respect for himself which was why he chose the disgusting clothes over coming out in a nude body. The idea of coming out naked made him uncomfortable, and at this point he just had to weigh his options of which choice he hated more. Nudity won. Clothes from the lake seemed to be the only option to go with from there.

"...You don't have any other clothes. ...Right. You need to get clothes." Y/n clasped their hands together, taking a deep breath in and letting it out slowly. "Well then... screw my day off from work, I guess. It looks like you and I are taking a trip to the mall. I can't exactly let you walk around with one outfit all day every day like some cartoon character."

Bill's face slowly grew into a wide grin, becoming very excited over the idea of going outside of this house once again and getting himself some proper attire to wear. The idea of burning a hole through the human's wallet as he picked out whatever clothes he wanted made him very giddy.

"Yes! Very good- best idea you've had yet, Candle! Let's go now, I don't want to be seen wearing these clothes any longer than I have to," he headed towards the door, being quick to swing the door wide open. He closed his eyes upon doing this, not wanting to be blinded by the sun right off the bat.

"What- Uh... okay then." Y/n definitely wasn't expecting this much excitement to come out of him so suddenly over going shopping for clothes. "...And you know my name isn't Candle, right? It's Y/n- and you're already out the door."

Y/n sighed, shutting their book and placing it on the coffee table before getting up and following Bill out the door to make sure he didn't try to snatch the driver's seat. When they got out, however, they saw Bill sitting comfortably in the passenger's seat with his seatbelt already buckled. He looked like an excited child who was just told that he was going to an amusement park. They headed over towards their car, getting into the driver's seat and turning on the car. They drove out of the driveway and headed on out towards the Mercy Mall.

Driving out of the neighborhood, Bill preferred to keep his head up this time. He figured he might as well pay attention to his surroundings and get an idea of the layout of this town since he'd be staying here a bit longer than he had originally hoped he would. He hoped he wouldn't be stuck here for too long, but knowing the fate of his escape relies on three teenagers he knew it would be some time before he was able to escape outside of the barrier. So he kept his head up and paid attention to where they were at while they were driving.

When they exited Y/n's neighborhood, they drove down a road that was surrounded by woodland trees for a good bit before they came across a bridge that they would have to drive over in order to get over the river and make it to the other side. Bill pressed his face against the glass of the window to try and look down at the river before they passed it entirely, curious to see the water appearing so calm as it flowed beneath them. They drove over the bridge safely and made it across, now driving down the windy road once more. For a while, Bill saw nothing but trees. These trees were alive and well, unaffected from Bill's reincarnation that took out a good portion of the woods as well as the animals living within it. They were a long ways away from that area where he had originally woken up.

Fifteen minutes passed in complete silence between the two before buildings started to appear within the trees, and suddenly they were now on a street filled with small shops scattered on each side of the road.

"Welcome to main street, Bill," Y/n announced as they turned to see Bill's eyes widen. "Down here you can find all sorts of small little shops. We have little pawn shops, thrift stores, a hair salon, ice cream parlors, a bookstore, a cafe- you name it, we got it down here. And if we kept going straight, we'd end up at that park where we met Jerome, Norah, and Vox. It's kind of like this roundabout with stores circling the outside and the park on the inside with the road being the only thing between the two."

"Is the mall down here?"

"Oh- No, the mall is like an extra 15 minutes away. Just sit tight, I'll let you know when we're there."

Bill groaned, flipping backwards against his seat and crossing his arms, glaring at the road ahead of them while Y/n chose to ignore his pouting attitude.

Another fifteen minutes passes by before finally they arrive at the Mercy Mall parking lot. The mall itself wasn't huge, though it was fairly bigger than a lot of the other buildings in this town. Y/n was the first to get out of the vehicle, Bill following behind rather quickly as they began to head into the mall. Bill seemed to be amazed by how large the place looked on the inside with there being so many stores. And- people. So many people. He hadn't actually been around a lot of people since he returned. Y/n and the three teens were the only ones he's actually spent time with. He had yet to meet anyone else and there were just so many people.

"Wow..."

"Yeah, it's cool, I suppose. I don't go to the mall much- but there's a ton of different stores to check out. There's mainly clothing stores, book stores, game stores, toy stores, and even a food court. The food court is my favorite place to be, there being so many good food options and all. I also really enjoy going to this store called Cold Subject- mainly emos and edgy kids like to go there but it also has a bunch of cartoon and anime merchandise for people to buy so a variety of customers are accepted there. But yeah, there's a lot here that we can check out, if you want, but only when we've finished getting you some new clothes to wear- umm... Bill?"

The dream demon was gone.

"Crap-"

Y/n quickly looked left then right before spotting the demon rushing into one of the most expensive and most formal stores in the entire mall. Of course out of all the stores here he would choose that one. Of course. Y/n began to sprint after him, trying to catch up to him.

Bill had already entered the store, eyes wide in awe at the sight of the clothes that were in this store. This store has dresses and suits galore, everything Bill could ever want! At least when it came to the suits; though, he wasn't opposed to the idea of wearing a dress or two. He quickly rushed over to the side of the store meant for men's suits, checking out all the different styles of suits and different colors that you could get them in. This was the type of fashion he was into, not this hillbilly outfit he had on at the moment. He wanted to dress in style, wanted to dress in literally anything else that didn't look like the clothes he had on right now. As he rushed around and examined each piece of clothing, he stumbled upon a mannequin that was wearing an outfit that quickly caught his eye. The mannequin wore a yellow suit which definitely stood out amongst the regular black suits. It wasn't a regular suit jacket, but instead it looked to be a tailcoat suit with a white dress shirt beneath it and around the mannequin's neck was a simple, classic, black bowtie. Bill was absolutely mesmerized by the suit, his eyes widening with this bright smile on his face. It was perfect! This was his dream suit, the suit he needed. He wanted it so badly, he wanted to wear it and show it off. No more looking like the man that just went swimming in a swamp for him. Bill quickly lifted his hand, reaching out to go and grab it—

—only to be yanked back and turned around to face his human roommate.

"Bill! What the heck were you thinking running off like that?! And into this store- out of all the stores, you had to pick this store?!" Y/n whispered-growled at the demon, trying to keep their tone hushed as to not draw any attention towards them.

"You said we were getting clothes today! And I've already picked out what I wanted," Bill spoke in an innocent manner as he gestured towards the mannequin behind them.

Y/n's left eye twitched as they slowly released Bill's arm and walked over to check the price tag of the suit the mannequin was currently wearing. All color drained from their face as they looked over the price tag and then re-read it just to be sure they were reading it correctly. 'You've got to be kidding me...'

"...Yeah, no, you're not getting this."

"What?!" Bill yelled, causing a lot of the customers to glance over at them, "Why not?!"

"Why-!" they started to yell back before quickly composing themselves in an attempt not to draw any more unnecessary attention towards them. "Why not? Bill, I'm not made of money. I don't have money growing on trees in my backyard, as cool as that would be! I came here to get you clothes, yes, but I'm not buying you suits and ties!"

"But why not?! That's the type of clothes I want!"

"I don't care about what you want, I care about what you need. Do you need a suit? Are you going to a wedding or funeral sometime in the future? Are you getting a job to work as some sort of government agent?"

"Well... no-"

"Then a suit is of no importance to you right now! What is important is getting you shirts, pants, socks, boxers- things you NEED right now! I'm not going to waste my money on formal clothing when I can be using that money to buy food, pay for electricity and water, or literally anything else that is necessary to help provide for us. I won't be wasting my money on this, end of discussion."

"No, no, no- reopen discussion. Why do you automatically assume I don't need this, hmm? I could need this. I could very well need this one day. Maybe I'm not attending someone's funeral now but I might later, or I might not be attending a wedding now but you never know what the future holds. This is the type of clothing I'm used to wearing! A suit and a bowtie brings attention and respect to the one wearing it- and I deserve attention and respect so I should be wearing that suit! I need it, Candle!"

"Y/n. My name is Y/n, not 'Candle'. This is my money that I'm choosing to spend on you and maybe if I had the money to do so, I wouldn't see a problem in getting it! But I don't. I'm sorry. Welcome to the real world, Cipher! We can't always get what we want." Y/n sighed, not wanting to waste time arguing about this anymore. "Maybe one day we can get it but not today, not this trip, okay? It can be like a reward for being on your best behavior or something. Now, come on. We're already getting glared at and the last thing I need is to get kicked out and banned from yet another store at the mall."

They turned around and when they knew Bill was following along they began to head towards the exit of the store.

How did it come to this point in his life where the all powerful and all knowing demon was left to listen and obey to a mere human's wishes and commands? Sure he made a deal to stay out of trouble and in turn they helped find a way to free him from the barrier that surrounds this town, but now they were just being unreasonable not letting him get the one thing he has asked for. It's not like he was asking them to get him some deer teeth or a head that never stops screaming- it was just a mere suit! The perfect suit. He couldn't be seen wearing hoodies and sweatpants like Y/n, or whatever it was he was wearing now which smelled absolutely horrendous at this point. No, he couldn't stoop so low as to wear what commoners wore. He needed to show some class, he needed to receive respect from these mortals that he was forced to live among for the time being. Was asking for one suit really too much to ask for? It couldn't be that expensive. Maybe the human was just doing it to be cocky, to show him who's 'in charge' here. Just like how they had repeatedly slammed him against the barrier yesterday. Was this just fun for them? Was it fun for them to continuously rub it in his face that right now he was weak and they had more power and control over him?

...No. No, they had no real power or even any control over him. He was still the king of demons, he was still in charge over his own life and actions. He didn't need Y/n, he didn't need to listen to them. If they refused to buy the suit for him, he'd just have to get the suit another way. His way.

"Look- we can get you whatever t-shirt, jeans, shorts, or hoodies you want, okay? It's just that the price for that suit is equal to the price of buying seven days worth of outfits, if not more. So I'd rather get you the necessary clothes now and maybe another day we can get you a suit. How does that sound?" Y/n tried to reason, starting to calm themselves down. Sure this whole 'taking care of a demon' thing was becoming really stressful as they had to now figure out how they were going to care for him and all, but they had to consider that this was all very new for him as well and it was probably going to be hard for the both of them to adjust to this new life.

When Bill didn't answer right away, Y/n scratched the back of their neck and sighed. "Silent treatment? Is that how we're gonna do this? ...Are you really that pissed with me right now?"

Again, only silence in return. They turned to look over their shoulder, wanting to see what Bill's expression was at the moment—only to find Bill not even walking behind them anymore.

"Wha-"

They turned to look back at the store they had just walked out of in time to see a blond-haired man running out of the store holding the mannequin that wore the suit he had been wanting. Y/n's jaw dropped, not believing what they were witnessing right now. Bill was seriously trying to steal the suit now all because they said they wouldn't buy it for him?! They could already feel their hair turning grey from the stress Bill was putting on them.

"BILL!" They quickly began to sprint after him, going to attempt to stop him.

Bill didn't really have much of a plan right now, he was acting on instinct at the moment. He knew he wanted the suit, that he needed to claim the suit as his, and right now it seemed the only way to do that was to just take what was his and go. Where was he going to go? Well, he didn't think that far ahead. Would he run to the car? He didn't have a way to actually start the car, and when Y/n got to the car there was no doubt in his mind that they would start scolding and screaming at him. They'll probably sit there long enough for the police to catch up. He could always run back to their place, he kind of had a vague sense now of where that was but would he be faster than a cop car? He could run off into the woods and hide among the trees. It might risk dirtying up the suit but he'd at least have the suit at that point. He could always clean it afterwards when the chase cooled down and he can make his way back into Y/n's neighborhood safely. He was trying to calculate all his possibilities right now for getting out of here while at the same time he was trying to figure out how reasonable they were to actually succeed as he ran through the mall and headed for the exit.

Bill wouldn't make it far, however. As close as it seemed he was to escaping, he was suddenly stopped by a strong force shoving him to the ground. Bill grunted, hugging the mannequin even tighter in his grasp as someone grabbed hold of his arms to try and pry them from the mannequin. Bill hissed, trying to fight this person as best he could but they seemed to have more strength than him and successfully pulled his arms off the mannequin and held them firmly behind his back. How pathetic was this? A human was taking him down. It was a sad sight to see. The demon growled, trying to turn his head around to see who it was that was sitting on top of him. It was a very large fella who had thinning ginger hair on the top of his head but had a very bushy beard on his face. That must be where all his hair went. He seemed to be wearing some sort of uniform, and something that belonged to the human dropped beside Bill's head when the demon was tackled to the ground. As he turned to face said object and saw what it was, he found it was a hat. But not any hat, this hat had words written across it: Mall Cop.

'Oh great...'

Y/n skidded to a stop as they watched their demon roommate get tackled to the floor by a mall cop who was trying to restrain the thief. Great. This is exactly what they wanted to happen today. Note the sarcasm. They rubbed their head, wishing this was some sort of nightmare they were experiencing. They knew better that it wasn't but, boy, did they wish it was. They looked around, noticing that people were now staring as well as videotaping on their phones. Why couldn't they have just stayed home? Or better question: Why didn't they leave Bill home and just go to the mall on their own? If only they knew the answer to that one.

"Get your filthy hands off of me!" Bill spat, trying to break free only to remain contained and pinned to the floor.

"I'd advise that you resist struggling now and don't talk. You're in a lot of trouble, kid. I mean- you were trying to steal a mannequin for Pete's sake. Oh- and I suppose you were stealing the suit, as well. To put it simply: you're in a lot of trouble," the mall cop spoke in this really gentle voice that didn't seem to fit the big guy. The mall cop pulled Bill up to his feet, leaving the mannequin on the ground as he held the demon's hands securely behind his back.

Y/n looked around frantically, trying to figure out what to do to fix this mess that the demon caused for them. They really didn't need to be dealing with the police right now, that's the last thing they wanted. Maybe they could convince this cop to let Bill go with a warning? There was only one way to find out, and that was giving it a shot.

"Andy- ! Uh- Andy, sir- !"

Bill and the mall cop turned their heads in time to see Y/n running up, looking incredibly nervous but also very pissed by the situation. Out of instinct, Bill shrunk back like a child afraid they were about to be scolded.

"Oh, Y/n. Hey there- Sorry, I'm kind of in the middle of catching a thief right now, mind if we chat another time-"

"It's actually about the thief in custody."

Andy, the mall cop, blinked slowly before sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Oh geez, Y/n... What have you gotten yourself into this time?"

"A lot of trouble, apparently. See, this is my-... my friend-"

"You need some better friends then if they're going around stealing mannequins!"

"I was after the suit, not the mannequin," Bill muttered under his breath, still struggling in Andy's grasp though Andy's grip remained firm. It didn't seem as though the mall cop even noticed the demon was still trying to break free.

"Yeah... Yeah, you're right, I do. But this one has actually been my friend since childhood. He just recently moved in with me from our hometown and-... and he wanted to do this dumb risk challenge we used to do as kids. Though back then we just tried to pocket some candy, not-... carry a whole mannequin out. ...I know this looks really bad, but is there anyway we can sort this out and not have the police involved? It was super dumb and childish what he did, yes, and I will even propose the idea that he cleans the floors of this mall with a toothbrush just to make up for his crimes!"

"Woah, as funny as that would be to watch and I'm sure everyone else would get a kick out of it-... you said he just arrived here?"

Y/n nodded their head slowly while Andy seemed to be silently considering something.

"...Tell ya what, next time I stop by the General Store, you owe me a free milkshake and in turn... I'll let your friend go with a Mercy Pass."

"A- what?" Bill paused his struggling to look up at Andy in confusion.

"A Mercy Pass. This isn't called the town of Mercy for nothing, y'know. Sometimes we like to give people a second chance in this town to do better if we think they deserve another try. But this is the only Mercy Pass I'll be giving ya. Do this again and Imma have to do this the legal way. 'Kay? You're lucky you have such a good friend."

"Free milkshake and you'll do that for me? Done! I'll make that milkshake for ya myself! Thank you so much, Andy," Y/n said while letting out a breath they hadn't realized they had been holding.

"Tis no problem, kid. Now then, I suggest you get your friend out of this here mall until he is capable of being a good citizen and can listen to our rules. If you want to come back, Y/n, you may. But I think you should take your friend home for now until he can act right."

"I will, thank you again, Andy. I owe you big time- you'll get the best free milkshake, I promise!"

Andy released Bill from his grasp, only for the demon to be snatched by Y/n and pulled out of the store without a second to comprehend what just happened and how exactly he just got out of that.

The car ride back home was silent for the most part, the driver having their hands clenched around the steering wheel with their teeth gritted together while the passenger curled up in his seat with his knees tucked into his chest. The human did not seem happy in the slightest after the stunt Bill just pulled in the mall. They still couldn't believe what just occurred. Bill was so incredibly lucky right now that they were able to get him out of this mess. But the fact that this mess happened in the first place-

"Unbelievable. You, Bill Cipher, are unbelievable." They turned to face Bill with a scowl, appearing like a pissed off parent scolding their child for misbehaving. "What were you thinking?! That you can just take whatever you want without any consequence?!"

"Uh... yes?"

"No! That's not how things work down here for humans on earth! I don't know how things work wherever the heck you're from, but that's just not how things are done here. We follow rules, and if we don't we get in trouble for not doing so. I mean, at least some people are smart enough to steal and not get caught doing it- you were just being plain stupid! And for what- a suit?! This was all for some suit?! Was it really worth risking getting locked up and punished for it if I hadn't been able to talk Andy out of calling the cops?!"

Bill frowned, looking down at his lap. He didn't say anything right away, simply messing with the hem of his shirt while he was being yelled at. It was a pathetic sight, seeing him being treated like he was some child. He was far older than this human, and yet when it came to his actions he really did seem like a child with Y/n being his parental-figure. He lifted his head up to look out the window.

"...To me, it would have been worth it. When I woke up from being reincarnated, I found I lost... everything. I lost my body, my beautiful body being replaced with a meatsack to call my body now. I lost my voice, now speaking with someone else's voice box that is entirely different from my own. I thought I'd at least have my powers still, but ever since I woke up I haven't been able to get them to work. It sucks realizing I'm just as weak as the rest of you humans now. ...When I saw the suit, I thought back to this bowtie I used to own. I wore that thing all the time; it made me who I was, completing the outfit altogether. And whenever I got the chance to possess a human body, I'd quickly change into a suit or the closest thing to it that the human owned. It just made me feel like me. This hillbilly get-up I have on right now? It's not mine! It belongs to whoever this human was before I took their body- just like everything else! The only thing I still have that's mine is my mind but it's not enough! It's not enough... ...Everything is so weird and different now, everything I was is gone and I thought-... I thought getting the yellow suit with the bowtie might make me feel more like... me again."

Bill turned to look at Y/n, looking defeated at this point as he realized he wouldn't get his way, his shoulders falling and his body slouched. "I don't expect you to understand any of this, though. So go ahead, be pissed at me all you want. I don't care anymore. I'm not getting the suit, I get that now. I'm just stuck like this."

Bill turned away, leaving Y/n a bit baffled by his words. That's why he wanted the suit so badly...? He was right, they didn't understand it. Not entirely. They've never been reincarnated before, they've never had to live inside of someone else's body that wasn't their own. That didn't change the fact that they still didn't have the money to buy the suit.

Soon they reached Y/n's house where Bill was dropped off before Y/n took off back to the mall. Bill would've used this time to explore the rooms he wasn't allowed to go in but he was no longer in the mood to be mischievous. He walked over towards the couch, his bed for the time being, and curled up on top of it. He felt drained once more, not like how he felt on the first night he arrived at Mercy. He felt unmotivated, disappointed in himself that his plan hadn't worked. To be fair, it wasn't much of a plan but it was still a plan he had committed to and failed at.

Bill ended up closing his eyes and passing out right there on top of the couch after a while of just sitting there, not wanting to do anything else while he was home alone. He wasn't sure how long Y/n had been gone for. It could have been an hour, or possibly longer. He wasn't sure, all he knew was that one moment he had been asleep and the next he was waking up to something being thrown at him. Opening his eyes, he looked up and slightly glared at the human towering over him before glancing down at his lap to see what had been tossed at him only to gasp.

On Bill Cipher's lap was a small, black bowtie. It wasn't something he was expecting to see, especially not after what happened earlier. He gently picked up the bowtie, holding it delicately in his hands before glancing up at the human questionably.

"I don't understand what it's like. I've never been, uh-... reincarnated before. So I don't know what it's like to lose everything that makes you you. ...I can't afford a suit right now, but a bowtie is in my budget. So I thought... why not. It's all yours, as well as all the other clothes I just bought you. ...Don't expect anything else from me for a good while." Y/n dropped a bag onto the floor, which fell onto its side and revealed the clothes Y/n had bought.

Bill continued to stare up at them in shock and disbelief. He just caused so much trouble for them, they had been pissed beyond belief looking as though they were about ready to kick him out and say goodbye to their deal... and yet they were rewarding him with this? They were... being nice to him? They had no reason to be nice to him, so why did they do it? Was it just to get him to shut up and be good? They couldn't be doing this just "because". That didn't make any sense to him. Very hesitant about this gift, Bill said nothing and simply hugged the small item to his chest out of fear they'd take it away from him now that he was happy.

But they didn't. Y/n turned around and began to walk away from Bill towards the stairs.

"...Why were you kicked out of a store?"

Y/n stopped, turning to look back at Bill while tilting their head to the side in confusion by what he meant.

Bill continued: "You said you didn't want to be 'kicked out and banned from another store at the mall.' What did you do?"

"Oh- Oh, I forgot I had mentioned that. ...There's this arts and crafts store at the mall, and it had this entire shelf of picture frames- I ended up putting a picture of myself in each picture frame just to see how many people would actually buy it if my face was on it. Customers thought it was funny- but the owner of the store did not."

Bill's eyes widened before letting out a laugh, shaking his head as he wasn't expecting that to be the explanation in the slightest. Y/n's shoulders relaxed, smiling softly seeing the demon happy now before turning and heading upstairs. When Bill calmed down from his laughter and noticed that Y/n had left, he looked back down at the bowtie in his hand with a smile.

Bill Cipher then put the bowtie on, feeling a bit more like himself again.

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Chapter 8: Sunday, August 7th, 2022