"I still don't understand why you're forcing me to come with you. Couldn't you have just left me back at the house?" Bill muttered under his breath as he pressed his forehead against the glass of the window, watching the trees pass by as they drove.

"You really thought I was going to leave you alone for 7 hours in my house where you could be doing who knows what without me there to stop you? Yeah right! I was already freaking out at the idea of leaving you alone at my place for 2 hours while I left to get you clothes. My anxiety couldn't handle leaving you alone for 7."

"Aw, but I'll be a good little demon! You can trust me~"

"...No. I really can't trust you. You're coming to work with me today, demon, and that's final."

Bill yelled in frustration, pulling his head back only to slam it against the glass a bit harder. Y/n simply rolled their eyes, ignoring the little fit he was throwing as they drove off to work.

Y/n worked at the Mercy General Store, a small little gift shop that was much closer to the townline than it was to the actual town and any other civilization. It was a store that had jams, jellies, small trinkets you could decorate your home with, souvenirs for tourists who were visiting or just passing by, and the most famous item they sold: milkshakes. If it weren't for the crazy milkshakes they made, the store would rarely have any customers unless it was christmas time and people were looking to buy some cheap, last-minute gifts for their family and friends. It was a good thing the boss brought milkshakes to the store when he did or else they would have run the risk of having to shut down the place due to the lack of customers coming in.

When Y/n finally parked the car in the Mercy General Store parking lot, they were the first to get out followed by a grumpy demon who had very little to no interest in the idea of being stuck here all day. Bill trudged his way towards the front door of the store where Y/n was already pulling out their keys to officially open the store for the day.

"The lights are on," Bill quietly made the observation as he looked through the glass door to view the inside.

Y/n paused their search for the right key on their keychain, glancing back at Bill before looking forward and seeing that he was correct. The lights were on. They should be off. Whoever worked yesterday should have turned off the lights when they were closing so there was no reason the lights should be on in the store right now. The human tensed for a moment, looking down at the handle of the door with a small thought plaguing their mind. Reaching out, they grasped the handle and pulled on it gently to see what would happen.

The door opened with ease in response to being pulled on.

"Huh- How did you do that without unlocking it?" Bill asked, tilting his head to the side as he found this trick of theirs to be interesting. But then he instantly frowned, the realization dawning on him. "...So, uh... guess someone beat us to it then?"

"There's no other keyholder working today. I'm the only one working today who should be able to open this door. Which means... it's possible that whoever was working yesterday forgot to close the store properly- or someone broke in." Y/n let a shaky breath escape, staring at the door in fear before a stern look crossed their face and they puffed their chest out. "That's fine. I'll take care of this. No problem. I'll let them know they've been caught and that they need to leave my store now before I call the cops."

"...Right. 'Cause that worked so well when I broke into the store just the other night. And what if they have a weapon on them or something?"

"Okay... Okay, fair point-... You know what? You're the demon. You take care of this."

Y/n quickly grabbed Bill's arm and shoved him in front of them.

"What?! No! I'm not risking my life for yours! If anyone's about to die here, it's going to be you!"

"Who said anything about dying?! I just need the 'all-powerful demon' —or so he claims to be— to take care of a breaking and entering real quick for me."

"Okay, first off: how dare you mock me?! I am an all-powerful demon! Secondly: this isn't my problem! This isn't my store to take care of! You deal with it!"

"It might not be your store, but it is the store that is paying me to get you food and clothes so if ya want to continue having food and shelter, you will handle this problem for me!"

As they were too busy arguing at the moment, neither of them realized the figure walking closer and closer towards the door. It wasn't until the front door was slowly creaking open that the human and demon jumped back and screamed bloody murder like they were about to die in that very moment.

"...Y/n, what the heck are you doing?"

Both the human and demon stopped their screaming as the stranger said these words, staring at the new person for a moment in silence to recollect themselves. Bill took a deep inhale, already beginning to analyze the new person and observe their physical traits. It was quick for him to note that this stranger was the complete opposite of himself when it came to looks. The stranger was taller than Bill, larger in size, and more muscular compared to Bill's noodle-like figure. Their skin color were complete opposites from one another, Bill being extremely pale while the stranger was extremely dark. They also had a bit of an after shave on their face as well as this scar that went across their lip and reached up across their face, ending right below their left eye. Their hair was in coils and the coils were long enough to pull into a ponytail and keep out of their face. Examining their outfit, Bill noted how loose the clothing was that they wore: a simple grey t-shirt and a pair of baggy jeans with brown boots. Bill wondered who they were and how they knew Y/n. Hopefully they were on good terms seeing as the stranger looked as though they could easily crush Bill if they really wanted to.

"Brik?! My gosh- you scared the crap out of me! What are you doing here? I don't remember seeing your name on the schedule for today." Y/n was quick to recompose themselves, straightening their posture and smiling at the stranger softly.

"I wasn't. I had to come in to take a shift for Ollie. Adriana texted me last night saying that Ollie had gotten sick and no one else was available to take the shift so I offered to take it up. Adriana would have taken the shift, but she wanted to stay home to help Ollie recover, which I understand."

"Oh geez- really? Dang... I hope Ollie feels better soon. But hey, I'm glad I get to work a shift with you now."

Brik nodded, his eyes shifting towards Bill and looking him up and down. "...So. Who's Goldilocks over here?"

Y/n smiled, placing a hand on Bill's shoulder who in turn growled lowly at the physical contact being made. "This is my childhood friend from my hometown. Brik, meet Bill Cipher. Bill, this is Brik Walls. He's kind of like the father-figure in our workplace who keeps everyone in line and makes sure chaos doesn't occur within the store."

Bill tilted his head, looking up at Brik with a skeptical look. "Uh- Hi?"

"...Okay, next question. Why is Goldilocks here?" Brik crossed his arms, raising a brow in question.

"That's not my name-" Bill hissed, receiving a pinch to his shoulder from Y/n which caused him to tense up.

"Because Bill has been bugging me about getting to show him where I work for the longest time now and I figured since the boss was out of town on vacation or something, I could let Bill stick around for the day and just hang out. ...You wouldn't tell the boss-man about this... would you? Bill is pretty harmless, in all honesty. I swear he won't be a distraction and will be on his best behavior!"

Y/n tried to sweeten the deal there at the end as to help convince Brik to let Bill stay. Brik was a rule follower, keeping everyone in line and making sure everyone was on task. He was much more lenient than the boss-man, however. Even though he was strict on making sure the employees were in line and on task, he always made sure that they were all mentally and physically okay. He didn't want the people he worked with to feel as though they were suffering so he always tried to make sure their needs were met. When Brik knew the boss wouldn't be visiting for the day, he would ask the employees what kind of music they'd prefer to listen to on the radio rather than listen to the set radio station that the boss claimed it had to be on. If he saw someone beginning to stress out or grow tired, Brik would take over their position and let them get a 15-30 minute nap in the back room. Y/n really enjoyed working with Brik for this as he made work tolerable. He was always looking out for the little people which they really appreciated. It's pretty much why all the employees dubbed him to be the father-figure of the group.

"...You swear he won't be a distraction to any of the employees or customers trying to shop?"

"I swear! Cross my heart and hope to die!" Y/n just really wanted this to work so they could basically babysit Bill since leaving him at the house wasn't an option.

"...Geez- Fine! I just hope the boss doesn't check the security cameras while he's on vacation."

"Thanks, Brik! I really appreciate this."

"If you get in trouble for this, I had zero involvement."

"Completely understandable."

Bill kind of spaced out during that entire conversation, standing there and shuffling his feet in an awkward manner. He had never felt so small before in his life; this guy was like a grizzly bear that looked as though he could kill him very easily if he wanted to. If he had his powers, it'd be a different case. But he didn't. Therefore, Bill Cipher felt incredibly weak and vulnerable standing next to the tall, large, and muscular Brik Walls.

Brik Walls. Like... "Brick" Walls?

He was going to question it, but then again he's dealt with stranger and much weirder names than that. Like "Dipper". "Dipper" was most definitely a strange and weird name. There was a reason he called the child "Pinetree" instead. It just made much more sense to him than "Dipper".

The three of them began to head inside, Bill trailing behind the two as Y/n and Brik conversed amongst themselves.

"I didn't see your car parked in the parking lot, by the way. Don't tell me you walked all the way here."

"No, no. My car is in the shop again this week so Cynthia had to drop me off. She goes into work a bit later today so luckily it all worked out and I didn't make her late for work."

"Ah- gotcha. Brik, I swear that car of yours has a new problem every other week. Maybe you should try looking into getting a new car soon."

"But that would mean I'd have to get rid of Old Bessie. I don't think I could commit such a heinous crime."

"I told you not to name it. I knew you would get attached to it if you named it!"

Bill rolled his eyes, mocking the two as he raised his left hand and began to move it to make it look as though it were talking whenever the two of them spoke. He really wasn't looking forward to today in the slightest.

The first hour wasn't so bad. Bill was told by Y/n that he could roam the shop, but he wasn't allowed to touch anything. They were not in the mood to buy anything that Bill might end up breaking so it was better to just tell him he wasn't allowed to touch any of the merchandise. And with Y/n having their eyes on him like a hawk the whole time, Bill couldn't even disobey their orders. Which sucked. But at least he wasn't being forced to sit down in a corner for 7 hours and was allowed to walk around. He was able to examine almost all the merchandise that the store seemed to carry in that first hour of being there. Majority of the items seemed incredibly overpriced for their cheap appearance, but he knew there were some people out there who would go as far as to pay double what it already was priced at just for the cheap product. Humans were weird like that. Bill never understood humans and their desire for such objects that could be taken away so easily.

At one point, Bill came across a shelf that looked very similar to all the other shelves he had been examining before it except this shelf had an item that he recognized very quickly. This shelf in particular was covered in small glass jars with different colors of wax inside of them. Candles. They were candles that all had a different label on them, different scents. Bill stared at them in silence, tilting his head in curiosity. This all seemed so familiar to him but he didn't know why. It was like a deja vu moment to him as he could have sworn he's stood in this spot before staring at the very same candles. There was one scent he didn't see, however. Where was it? It should be right there in the front, right? Bill didn't know why he thought this, but he could've sworn a specific scent was supposed to be there and not seeing it made him question whether or not he actually had been here before. Maybe he hadn't. When would he have had the chance to stand in this spot before now? The only other time he actually entered the store was when it was pitch black and he couldn't even see his own hand in front of him.

Frowning, Bill looked away and was going to continue to examine the next set of shelves when something, or someone, ran into him.

Then Bill realized that this ginger's arms were wrapped around him so it wasn't an accidental collision.

"Bill! You're here! I can't believe you're really here!" Jerome exclaimed, hugging the demon tightly which caused Bill to feel as though his ribs were being crushed.

Vox was standing behind Jerome, watching them with a small smile on their face.

Bill blinked, frozen in a moment of confusion before going and grabbing Jerome by his shoulders and pushing him off of himself. "What the heck are you doing?"

"Umm... hugging you! Do-" Jerome paused, lowering his voice to a hushed tone before continuing, "Do demons not experience hugs? Do you even know what a hug is?"

"What?! No- I'm not talking about that! I'm talking about why you're here! You're supposed to be at the town border figuring out a way for me to get out of here!"

"Well you see- some humans have this thing called a 'job'. And this 'job' helps us obtain 'money' that we can use to buy our everyday wants and needs. We can't exactly skip a shift we're scheduled to work unless we want to be fired," Jerome spoke very slowly to help Bill understand better while Vox was nodding their head in agreement in the background.

"But you guys have a job to help me out right now!"

"Relax, Norah is still working on it since it's her day off! But Vox and I had to come in today. We'll be back to working on the invisible barrier later. Just relax, alright?" Jerome smiled, patting Bill's arm before walking away.

Bill's eyes twitched in frustration. He was going to have to wait longer to escape this town all because these humans think their earthly jobs are more important?! He couldn't believe this, this was outrageous.

"Hey, Cipher," Y/n called, walking over to him with their hands shoved in their pockets. "Now that Jerome and Vox are here, our milkshake bar is open. It's gonna get really hectic in here so why don't you sit in the back with them and just... relax. Take a nap. Just don't bother them or break anything, yeah?"

"They should be figuring out how to free me and instead they're sitting here making milkshakes?! This isn't fair! What even is a milkshake anyways?!"

"Life isn't fair, buddy-... I'm sorry, you don't know what a milkshake is?"

Bill shook his head, the frustration in his eyes not leaving.

"...I'll have to remember to order one for you in the future. Maybe. But for now, sit in the back and be the good little demon you promised you would be."

Bill huffed, kicking the ground before storming off into the backroom. He really hated being ordered what to do. It wasn't fair. He should be the one making the orders, not some pathetic human. He sat down on the ground, surrounded by shelves that were filled with all kinds of different candy toppings. He wondered if these were for the milkshakes, whatever those were. He also wondered if he would be allowed to snack on any of them. He was getting kind of hungry, now that he thought about it.

Y/n was right about one thing: when the milkshake bar opens up, people are quick to storm into the store and order some. There were more people in the store now than there had been in the entire hour when the store had first opened up. The people just wanted their milkshakes, it seemed. Jerome and Vox were both quick to get started on the orders that were coming through the small window that sat between the front of the store and the backroom. Jerome had begun to scoop and mix ice cream while Vox was in charge of decorating the milkshakes. They were putting the milkshakes into mason jars, both big and small, and piling up a whole bunch of whip cream and candy toppings on top of it. It didn't take long for Bill to get bored, faking a yawn every once in a while as he sat there debating whether to just disobey Y/n again or listen to their orders. Though, there wasn't really much to do out there in the front unless he wanted to examine more merchandise. So he remained seated, pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them.

After a while, the milkshake lunch rush hour seemed to finally cool down as Jerome and Vox weren't running around as chaotically as they had been. They seemed more relaxed now as they did more detailed work on the milkshakes since they no longer had to worry about there needing to be fifteen or so made after the one they were currently working on. Bill wondered if he could convince them to let him steal one of the milkshakes. The sugary treat did seem really good and again, he was very hungry. And with these two being obsessed with the supernatural, maybe he could make a deal to spill some demon facts to them if they let him snatch one of the milkshakes.

Bill's thought process went on hold when he heard the bell to the door ring, indicating someone had just entered, and heard someone call out, "Y/n~". This was then followed by a loud gasp.

Bill stood up, quickly moving towards the small window and in the process shoving Vox out of the way in time to see Y/n quickly rush out from behind the register and run into the arms of a stranger. The stranger had blond hair, a more pastel blond compared to Bill's blond hair. He also had a goatee that was the same hair color, just dark enough to actually spot it on the stranger's chin. He couldn't see their eyes as they were covered by a pair of sunglasses and their skin tone was very tan like all they did was stand outside soaking up the sun. There was also the possibility that they just constantly get a spray tan to hide how pasty their skin actually looked, Bill had yet to rule that out from being a possible option. Their clothes were very simplistic: light blue jean jacket, white shirt, and jeans. Nothing really noteworthy there but of course if Bill was going to analyze them he planned to do a full analysis. This stranger had their arms wrapped tightly around Y/n; Bill wondered if Y/n was currently suffocating from that hug.

Bill frowned, tilting his head as he watched Y/n pull back and start talking to this stranger. He couldn't hear a word they were saying due to how far away they were but Y/n sure seemed ecstatic while they talked. "Who-...?" Bill's words trailed off, continuing to watch the two in bewilderment.

Bill didn't actually expect anyone to answer his question, so when Jerome snuck up beside him and began talking he somewhat jumped in surprise. "Oh- Ew, he's here...? Geez... That's Claire Wolffee, Y/n's boyfriend."

"...Y/n has a what now?"

Zhofrph wr wkh kxpdq zruog! Qrz jhw wr zrun

Chapter 9: Sunday, August 21st, 2022