Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ford was walking. He’d been walking for hours now, through the woods and to a cave he had found and was now going to explore. He'd been exploring a lot recently, trying desperately to find new leads as his research had come to a screeching halt. This cave was his biggest lead in months.

He had his backpack stuffed with everything he thought he could need-- though you can never be fully prepared for everything in Gravity Falls, something he had found out over his many adventures through the town and woods.

Ford had a flashlight out as he walked into the mouth of the cave and started looking around at the (possibly) prehistoric paintings. All well preserved thanks to the lack of previous exploration. He’d found this cave on accident while running from some large strange creature. He didn't get a great look at it the moment thanks to it having been night at the time, but he had found this cave when barreling through a dense patch of foliage. He had seen glimpses of the paintings, but lacking a strong flashlight, or really any supplies, he opted to mark it on his map for later exploration when he wasn’t being chased. Now was that later, and he was rather excited to get to work documenting everything.

As he walked, he took his time, stopping often to copy the glyphs so that he could translate them at a later date. He’d noticed quickly that most of the prehistoric paintings in the area used the same codes so he’d made some very useful ciphers to decode them. He would have a lot of fun with it as well. He’d always loved puzzles. As he explored the desperation to find a lead turns to excitement at how much was really in this cave. He writes down lots of things and is careful not to touch any of the paintings, not wanting to ruin them.

As Ford got deeper into the cave he saw a rather large painting of people worshiping a large yellow triangle, with a singular eye. He wasn’t sure why, but he was... drawn to it. He murmured the inscription aloud as he read it, despite the warning not to…

What could possibly happen?

—

“Nothing...” he said to himself (in truth, a bit relieved) after a few seconds of waiting, and looking around the cave. He got a sudden chill down his back like he was being watched and looked around again. Not seeing anything different from before. He does his best to shake off the feeling and continue his exploration, never fully shaking the feeling, but managing to ignore it as he distracted himself with work.

Little did he know, he caught the attention of a rather malevolent creature, a demon, a spirit, a God of Chaos-- whatever you wanted to call him.

He got the attention of Bill Cipher.

Who was now watching him closely from his vantage point in the Nightmare Realm, though ever painting in that cave that holds his likeness.

Ford continued walking through the cave, drawing all the paintings around him. He was very proud of how accurate they were to the real ones.

He was a rather good artist after all.

Once he finished the drawing, he closed the journal and slipped it back into his bag. He’d reached the end of this cave, and he started on his trek back out into the woods once again.

He’d mostly shaken the feeling of being watched by the time he left the cave and started the long trek down the mountain the cave was on and back through the woods. He had no idea his mind was being rifled through by a certain dream demon that was taking quite the interest in his life.

The demon in question was currently going through his mind, taking a stroll, opening and closing random doors, catching glimpses of memories, looking for anything he could use to his advantage if he chose to open negotiations with this particular mortal. Acting as if it was the most casual thing in the world.

Ford yawned as he checked the time, deciding to take a quick nap in a nearby grove of birch trees-- about halfway back to his little outpost, he’d napped here a few times during his adventures in these woods. He didn’t notice how the eye markings on the birch trees seemed to be staring at him.

It was a nice spot, with the canopy of the trees blocking most of the already faint evening light. Once he’d started a small fire and taken precautions against the various native cryptids, he laid back, resting his head on his backpack and closing his eyes. He must have been more exhausted than he’d thought, and found himself sinking into sleep very fast.

***

The demon that had been going through his mind for the better part of the last few hours (looking for anything he could use to get into Ford’s good graces. Gain his trust) when he finds it. The mortal’s ‘dream.’ Passion. Drive.

Ford’s goal was to study weirdness, his reason for his move to Gravity Falls. Perfect, he thought to himself, then looked around as he sensed Ford going to sleep. “Perfect timing too,” he added to himself aloud, with a short crazed laugh.

***

Ford was standing in a grayscale field, not one of his usual dreams-- not that he remembers them usually but this just felt… off. What was this?

He looked around a bit more, trying to figure out what was going on. He knew this was a dream which was another way this felt wrong. He hardly ever lucid dreams.

/SNAP/

Then the ground fell out from underneath him, and suddenly he was floating in a void of swirling color and chaos that looked… well in a word, weird. Another word though, was beautiful. He didn’t know why he noticed that, it wasn’t something he would usually note. Perhaps it was simply his appreciation for space.

/Snap/

“Whoa!” he shouted, as he suddenly fell back into a chair, being ripped out of his little momentary trance. Everything spun for a second, before he found himself face-to-face… face-to-front? Well, he wasn’t sure but he was staring at a triangle sitting in front of him, with a teacup in its small black hand.

“Care for a game of chess?” the triangle asked as it snapped its fingers.

/SNAP/

Summoning a chess board on a table floating between the two of them. It summoned a cup of tea for Ford while drinking its own… drinking it through its eye? Ford chose not to question it for now, he still didn’t know what was going on. “Welcome, my lucky guest,” it said, voice laced with cheer. (It sounded… male, maybe? Did triangles have sexes?)

Ford floated forward slightly in the chair, though he wasn’t sure how he managed it since although he had wanted to move forward, he hadn’t made a move yet. Then again, they didn't seem to be in a place that followed any of the same laws as anything he was used to. Of course it didn’t, this was a dream after all he reminds himself.

He made a move on the chessboard (thinking it best to appease this… thing, for now.) He stole a suspicious look at the teacup before taking a drink. As far as he knew this was all a dream and couldn’t hurt him. Ford looked at the being sitting across for him over the teacup with a look of confusion, “Who are you? How am I your lucky guest?” he asked, clearly very confused by all of this.

Bill made a vague gesture at their surroundings, “My guest in the Nightmare Realm of course! And you’re my special guest because I want to help you.” He says in his usual shrill tone. His eye creased a bit, in a way that looked distinctly like a grin, “You see, Stanford, every million years I pick one brilliant mind to work with, and this time that brilliant mind is you!”
Bill tried to make sure Ford was intrigued enough that he’d take the deal when they got to that. He made his own move on the chessboard once he finished speaking. “And my name is Bill Cipher, It’s wonderful to finally meet you face to face” he said, with another triangle-smirk.

Ford nodded slightly, though he was still clearly confused by all of this. He looked at Bill for a second as he made another move on the board. “Well... it seems you already know me, but for the sake of formality my name is Stanford Pines,” he said.
Bill nodded-- which was more of a bob up and down, him being a triangle after all. “You’re right, I do know you, though I do appreciate the formalities,” he made another move, capturing one of Ford's pieces as he did.

“...So here is my offer. I want to work with you, help to discover everything you can about this weird hick town you’ve taken up residence in,” he said, “possibly in other worlds as well,” he added, throwing out even more bait to get Ford invested.

Ford himself was quiet as he made another move on the chessboard, then glanced back at Bill, tilting his head, “What do you mean other worlds?” he asked, cautiously.

“Well, other dimensions to be precise-- you could build a device to travel between them, but that’s a topic for another time. For now, let’s just discuss our partnership. I can help you continue all forms of your studies. To my understanding you’ve hit a roadblock, I can get you past that, and then even further than you ever dared dream” he spoke as if he’d already sealed the deal. “Do you want my help?” he asked now, abandoning the game as he held his little jet black hand to Ford.

Ford looks at it, just kinda staring at him as he thought over the deal that has been proposed. His eyes drifted from Bill’s one eye to his hand, an offer to further his research past what he could have ever hoped. All of a sudden this was all feeling far too real for a dream. He thinks it over for good while really, but in the end he makes the choice to take it. How could he not?

“Yes , I would very much --uhm-- appreciate having help from a being such as yourself,” he said, also abandoning the game as it faded away from between them and their chairs floated a tad closer together without him really noticing-- at least not right away.

“Then do we have a deal?” Bill asked, as a blue flame flashed to life over the jet back of his little palm. He waited for Ford to shake his hand and seal the deal with bated breath-- or at least what amounted to that for him, seeing as he didn't seem to really breathe.

Ford looked at the outstretched hand, just now realizing how close they were.

For a moment, he had second thoughts as he watched the flame lick over Bill’s hand-- before he reached out and shook it, sealing the Deal.

He was surprised as his skin touched the flames, finding they weren’t hot to the touch or even warm . In fact they were cool, even cold-- not freezing, but still bone chilling in a way that felt hard to explain.

He watched as the flames swirled around their hands for a moment, before disappearing, the dream fading along with them.

***

Ford woke in a cold sweat, in the clearing he had gone to sleep in, the sunlight gone and replaced by the faint glow of the full moon overhead. He shot upright, debating with himself if that had all been real or just a crazy, crazy dream his mind created thanks to the cave painting he’d seen.

After a few good long minutes of sitting there, thinking it over, he decided to just push it out of his mind for now. Everything could be dealt with once he got home. He stomped out the last embers of his fire before he grabbed his bag and headed back to his house.

Chapter Text

By the time Ford reaches his home again he had nearly forgotten the strange dream. He heads straight down to his lab once he gets home to analyze his findings more, even though it was the middle of the night he had just woken up from a decently long nap so would probably be up for the rest of the night. He wanted to study this strange place as much as he could.
Ford works for hours down in the lab studying his field findings and running a few tests on samples of things. Until eventually he starts getting tired and stretches a bit as he pushes himself away from his desk after finishing the last urgent task he was doing. He gets up and heads to his kitchen to make some food;. He couldn’t study the ins and outs of all the weirdness of this town if he didn’t eat something.

While he sat at his small table eating a bowl of cereal while reading through a random chapter of his first journal, he has a habit of rereading his older research once in a while to make sure he never forgot any of it.

Eventually though the sun starts to peak in through the window Ford decides it's time to get some rest. He would really need to work on his sleep schedule at some point, but that point was not now. He puts his dishes in the sink to handle later and heads to his room to get some rest. At this point he has almost completely forgotten about the strange dream from his nap in the woods, but that wouldn’t last much longer.

He gets to his room and draws his curtains before he kicks his shoes off and lays down in his bed.

***

He woke up in that same void he had made the Deal in and quickly remembers his last dream as he is once again face to face with the triangular being from before. He once again knew this in a dream and found it very strange. He looked around slightly, just getting his bearings quickly, but he still wasn’t really sure what to say, hell he still wasn’t sure if this was even a good idea.

Bill grins at him, well as much as a triangle without a mouth can grin, it at least felt like it was. “Hello Sixer, welcome back!” Bill greets him and summons another tea and chess set out of thin air. “Come sit down, let's talk more about this deal of ours and how I can help you” he says.

Ford walks, or well floats, over and sits across from him again, just like before, ‘I suppose that’s a good idea” he says as he takes a sip of the tea “you mentioned other dimensions, can you explain that a bit more?” he asks.

Bill chuckles a bit, the reverb sending a chill down Ford’s spin, “of course, a brilliant mind like yours just wants to get straight to the complicated stuff, well i suppose i can explain, there are other dimensions, and this space here is the space between them, I live here, some beings can project themselves here or i can pull people in in their dreams, as I’ve been doing to you. There is a way to physically leave your dimension with science, it will be hard but you're a smart guy so i think you can handle it, though it will take time”.

Ford looked amazed and in awe, the chance to build a machine to go to other dimensions? He was thrilled, even if it would be extremely difficult, he felt up to the challenge. He grins slightly, unable to contain the utter excitement he felt at the idea “I would love to travel to other worlds, i’d love to study them, with your help I’m sure i can make it into reality” he says. he had no idea just how blinded he was by Bill’s offer. Oblivious to Bill’s intentions as he drums a pen against his thigh, stimming from excitement.

Bill was very pleased at Ford’s response “wonderful, I knew I picked the right person to inspire, we’ll make your dreams a reality kid” he says with a chuckle once again. It was almost too easy, Ford was so easy for him to play like a fiddle. It was so easy it was almost cute!

Ford smiles at him, very excited to get started on this new project. “Thank you so much for this opportunity, I’ll do my best not to let you down” he says, he already looked lost in thought, thinking about all the possibilities for the future from here.
“I know you won't,” he says with a nod, once again more like a bob or a tilt on account of him being a triangle. “Now I think it's time for you to wake you” he says.

/Snap/

Bill stared at the spot Ford had been sitting only a second ago, now empty the useless chair melts from existence along with the chessboard. Bill was very interested to see where this would go. SIxer seemed like such an interesting fellow.

***

Ford wakes up in his bed and stares at the ceiling with a grin on his face, this was going to be so amazing. He got up quickly and got ready for the day, as if it wasn’t mid afternoon. He hurries down to his lab barely stopping in the kitchen to eat a piece of fruit while grabbing his journals from the table before he continues his rush down to the basement.

He sits down at his desk and opens his journals and grabbing out a few other books and folders from the shelves over the desk before he gets to work, decoding the ciphers from the cave. And beginning his entry on Bill Cipher, the brilliant being that seems to have taken a shine to him. Who was going to shoot his work to the next level. His Muse.

Chapter Text

Things were going so well for Ford since Bill entered his life only 6 months ago now. His research that had come to a stop was now flying. With Bill’s incredible knowledge he was able to find so many more strange things in this even stranger place. On Ford’s end things could not be better.

—

Bill found himself doing something he really didn’t know the reason behind. He was sculpting a human-ish form, he was taking time working on it to make it perfect. Perfect for what? He didn’t know, and the strange clawing feeling behind his eye whenever he tries to think about it makes him inclined not to look too deep into it. It was simply another of his random whims being the Chaos Deity he was… yeah that was it.

“ HAHAHAHA” 

He laughs out loud into the empty void about him then goes eerily silent for a second before he continues working on the form.

Soon enough the new body was finished. He floated around it giving it a once over before he nodded in satisfaction to himself. Then his triangle form fades out of existence. The  human form opens its eye and grabs the top hat from his old form, resizing it slightly to fit the new body, then doing the same to the bowtie. A sharp tooth grin spreads across his face. 

/SNAP/

Bill looks at himself in a newly summoned mirror. He was about the same height as Ford, maybe a little shorter. His one eye was electric blue with a cat eye pupil, the other was covered with an eye patch that was a simple black triangle of fabric with gold cords and an eye symbol drawn in gold on it. His hair was golden blonde and slightly curly with black tips and pulled back into a messy, short ponytail with bangs framing his face, his skin was tan with gold freckles across his face, and the skin on his arms and legs faded to jet black and his fingers were tipped with sharp claws, in fact everything about him was sharp, his eye, his nose, his ears, his shoulders, everything. He loved it. His outfit was a simple yellow suit vest with a brick pattern on the bottom half, a black suit jacket that is lined with yellow and boarded with gold and with curly coat tails, he was wearing black dress pants with a few triangle patches on them and a pair of shin high black boots with yellow detailing all over them. 

It was easy to say he was pleased with himself. Why he was so pleased was a lot harder. 

—

Ford was working on some smaller projects at the moment, as much as he loved the portal idea, but there was so much research and tedium in getting that project off the ground he kinda needed to work on smaller fun projects once in a while to keep his sanity. He’s already been pulling so many long nights already, with something to finally work on he was a lot less keen on getting to bed.

Currently he was studying some strange moths he had found on his very own front porch. What luck! He was currently looking at a few he had managed to catch in a jar. He had noticed they seemed to be glowing when he originally turned off the light to try to get them to go away, but he had been quick to turn it back on and grab his butterfly net to try to catch a few to study. He managed to catch five. He was happy with that.

He took them to his lab and continued studying them, and he noticed that the color they glow changes with the color of the light. That was fascinating! He doodles them into his journal. While he was writing up an entry on them he found himself drawing small pictures of Bill in the margins of the pages as he worked, he had found himself thinking about Bill a lot recently. He yawns slightly as he continues working and stretches a bit before he continues working flr a few hours.

***

Ford woke up in the void of the Nightmare Realm with a start. He wasn’t sure when he fell asleep so was surprised to find himself here. Though that wasn’t the most surprising thing anymore when he finally looks ahead of him and sees a strange one eyed yellow man sitting where Bill usually sat. It only took a second for logic to kick in and for him to realize this was Bill, but he looked so different. He looked human, almost, more elven really. He would definitely need to draw this form of Bill’s as soon as he could. 

Bill grins at him, once again all sharp teeth that really should freak anyone out.

Ford tried not to wonder why they didn’t look dangerous to him in the slightest, he looked Bill over slightly before waving to him “Hello Bill” he says.

 “Hey Fordsy!” he says in his typical shrill voice. As a few moths fly around him. Just like the ones Ford had been studying. “I see you’ve been working hard my little genius!” He says and glances around at the moths with a grin “studying bugs i see” he adds with a laugh. 

Ford nods as he watches the moths fly around the two of them before they disappear into the mist of the Nightmare realm. Then he looks at Bill again and looks him over a bit more closely. “Yes, I umm was…” he says, trailing off a bit before he finally asks, unable to stop himself anymore even though he thought it might be rude to ask. “Why do you look so… different?” he asks, he was so curious what was going on, this was new and he was always curious about new stuff.

Bill grins once again when Ford asks and throws him arms out as if to show himself off “i made myself a new body, i think it is quite nice” he says he says as he stands up and does a twirl before sitting back down across from him, as he does a teacup appears in his hand and he goes to take a drink-

-and splashes himself in the face with the tea as he poured it into his eye rather than his mouth. He froze for a second and quickly wiped it off. He would need to erase this memory– Huh? What was that noise, he wonders to himself as he looks up, his face already cleaned off like it never happened, he looks over at Ford. 

Ford is laughing slightly, clearly trying to hide it as he’s laughing at Bill. He knew that wouldn’t hurt Bill but he just found it to be a hilarious and rather cute mistake. Wait what? Cute? The shock of thinking that makes his laughter die down quickly as he looks down at the cup of tea he’d picked up from a small table passing by. He was trying to hide the light blush that was spreading on his face from the thought. He rubs his hand over his face to try to counter the blush. “I’m uhh very sorry about that, i didn’t mean to laugh at you” he says quickly, his voice slightly muffled behind his hand before he looks at Bill again. 

Bill watches the mortal giggling across from him. He should be angry, he should be pissed that this mortal is laughing at him, but he isn't. In fact he quite liked that Ford was laughing, it didn’t feel hostile. What did it feel like then? Bill really didn’t know and he once  again wasn’t inclined to think about it thanks to the twisting feeling in his chest. He pushes the feeling down and just grins again and laughs a bit as well “it's fine SIxer, i did just make this body. I still need to fine tune myself to it” he says as he wipes his face off one last time then actually takes a sip of his tea. 

Ford nods and clears his throat a bit “yes i suppose that is true, though in any case i am still sorry” he says.

Bill nods “of course, apology accepted, water under the bridge, whatever you say in your world” he says waving his hands around a bit before he leans back in his chair a bit and in an instant he went from cute and clumsy to serious as he folds his hands under his chin and leans on them while looking at Ford “now back to why i brought you here to talk this time, you need to stop working until you fall asleep at your desk” he says, was that really why he wanted to talk to Ford? Saying that even shocked himself.  “You’re going to hurt yourself then you won’t be able to work on the portal” he adds, though it was almost more a reassurance of why he was saying that for himself rather than Ford. 

Ford was also surprised by that. This was the first time Bill had shown worry for his well being. He looks at him for a second before he replies “umm well i do suppose it's not ideal, but i’ve had so many things to work on now, the portal and everything else, it's hard to find time for sleep” he says.

Bill raises his eyebrow as he watches him for a second then sighs “then let's make another deal, cause i don’t want you breaking yourself, you let me take over your body to put you to bed when you fall asleep at your desk” he says, he knew Stanford was stubborn about his work so he thought this might work, and as a happy bonus he would get unlimited access to Ford’s physical body, not just his mind. He could work with this, he was just doing this to get another deal, to get a physical body in the third dimension, but how long could he keep himself believing that? He holds his hand out to Ford, blue flames already licking over his hand as he waits for Ford to shake it. 

And Ford does with barely any hesitation, at this point he did truly trust Bill. He saw now down side to this deal, he could do all the work he wanted and still get to sleep in his bed.

Bill shakes his hand and watches as the flames wrap around both their hands then fades away. “Alright now continue the good work” he says before the dream fades into nothing. Leaving Bill once again sitting alone and wondering why the hell did he do that?

***

Ford woke up in his bed with his glasses on the nightstand next to himself along with a glass of water. He smiles slightly as he sits up and stretches, feeling more rested than he has in the last few weeks. He was excited to get back to work.

Chapter Text

“GET OUT OF HERE YOU BRATS!!” Ford yells after opening the door to a bunch of teens spray painting the front of his cabin and he comes out welding a large metal baseball bat over his shoulder. He kept it at his door to scare off the local kids that harassed him regularly.

The sight of what they only knew as ‘the crazy guy in the wood’ wielding a baseball bat at them was enough to send them running and screaming off his property. 

Ford sighs to himself as he lowers the crossbow and steps off his porch to look around and see the damage the teens did to his property. He turns around as he gets off the porch and looks at the damage.

FREAK!! LONER!! WEIRDO!! CRAZY!!

Ford groans slightly as he reads all the words sprayed across the front and side of his house.  He needs to get to work cleaning that off soon. 

“An interesting decor choice indeed IQ” says a loud familiar voice behind him. 

Ford turns around and smiles slightly as he sees Bill “hello Bill, umm well this isn’t a design choice of my own, some of the local kids decided to spray paint my house”  he says with a sigh as he turns back to look at the mess, he was just so frustrated with all the pranks the kids in this town like to pull. “This is going to take a while to clean,” he says as he rests his bat over his shoulder and shoves the other hand into his pocket. 

Bill was floating there at eye level with Ford but is laying like he’s laying on his stomach. He leans his head into one of his hands and looks at Ford then at the house again. He obviously knew what had really happened and just wanted to be funny, but seeing Ford so frustrated… he wanted to actually fix this for him.  He pats Ford on the shoulder. “You just go back in and relax Fordsy, you have better things to do, and I can handle this real quick. Just don’t go waving a bat at the next guy at your door” he says with a sharp grin that almost looks malicious, then disappears before Ford could say anything. 

Ford was left standing there slightly confused. “Umm ok?” he says before he just heads back in, he figured if Bill said he could handle it then he could handle it. He would just need to remember to check later just to make sure. 

—

Making a deal with and messing with the mind of one random person to clean the graffiti off Ford's cabin was simple enough for the demon. He'd just completely erase their memory of this when they were done.

Now those kids on the other hand, they would pay for making fun of his Sixer. After all he was a dream demon. Endless nightmares felt like a fitting punishment. This would be fun, he felt so soft around Ford. These strange feelings were getting hard to ignore so fast. He needs to get to the bottom of this somehow, but for now he really needed to let out some mind melting chaos to distract himself.

—

By the time Ford went back outside again a few hours later he found the outside of his house not only clear of graffiti but completely cleaned in all aspects. It looked as though everything had been professionally cleaned. He didn't know how Bill did this but he was very grateful not to have had to deal with that mess. He'd had his fill of cleaning up insulting graffiti when he was still in school, though even then he did have someone helping him clean it up…

He shakes off the thought and thankfully his attention is drawn elsewhere only seconds later.

Bill appears sitting on the roof of the porch with a grin on his face “what do you think Sixer? Up to your standards? I think I outdid myself” he says with a hand on his chest as he points his nose up proudly, just being silly. Far too silly for a guy that just cursed a bunch of kids with permanent nightmares. He was feeling better than ever right now. Sixer was happy, those stupid barely sentient juvenile flesh bags wouldn’t be messing with him again, and he got to have some fun. To him it was a good day. 

Of course not knowing that last part,Ford  just smiles back at him “it's perfect, thank you” he says. He really did think Bill was amazing, he was so kind! 

Bill chuckles as he floats down and stands in front of Ford “you're welcome, I'm always happy to help” he says. He does his best to wave off the fluttery feeling he got at the way Ford smiles at him.

Ford watches him come down “you are truly a miracle worker, how did you even manage to do that though? I thought you couldn't interact with this dimension?” He asks curiously. Bill’s abilities absolutely fascinated him

Bill chuckles slightly as Ford asks the questions “I simply cashed in a few favors, I only inspire one person a millenia but i help many people, and i can’t directly interact with your world, but i can talk to people, and well cleaning is an easy enough thing to find a person for” he says as he goes and sits on one of the chairs on the porch. 

 Ford goes over and sits next to him while thinking over what he said before nodding slightly. “Ah, you are a rather busy fellow, I suppose I'm lucky to have so much of your attention” he says.

Bill chuckles as he listens to Ford talk and leans his head onto his hands as he leans over the arm of the chair looking at Ford. “I’m glad to see I picked someone that can appreciate their situation,” he says.

Ford smiles brightly, he was glad that Bill was so happy to be working with him “i really do appreciate this opportunity you’ve given me, i really hope i don’t disappoint you” he says before he glances at the time and quickly gets up “i’m sorry to run off now but i need to go check on a test again. I only came outside to check the state of things out here in some rest time” he says then waves bye before he runs off back into the house. 

There was that feeling again…

Bill shoves it down as he watches Ford, barely holding back a physical reaction to the pang of intense emotion that racked his whole body at that smile. He lets his head fall as he groans slightly from frustration only once Ford was gone. He liked that smile. So why did it hurt to look at?

He felt sick. 

Chapter Text

Ford sat at his desk trying to work on the blueprints for the portal. Though it was proving difficult. He was rather embarrassed about his lack of mechanical engineering knowledge, especially now that it was coming back to bite him. He'd been sitting here for hours and had nothing to show for this session. he had barely anything from the weeks he'd already put into trying to come up with a first draft of the portal blueprints.

He sighs as he leans back in his chair and rubs the heels of his palms against his eyes, trying to rub away a forming headache. He'd been staring at these pages for hours now getting barely anything down and it was starting to take a toll. This was the third week of trying to work on the portal blueprints and he'd made no real progress since the first week.

“Hello Sixer!” Comes a sudden usually welcome voice ringing out behind him, making him flinch slightly as it made his head pound more.

He fixes his glasses before he turns his chair around to face him. “Hello Bill” he says, his voice slightly strained as he's rubbing the side of his head. He was trying to pull himself together quickly.

The grin that has been spread across Bill's face fades slightly as he sees Ford's current state. He lowers his voice slightly without really thinking about it. “hey Fordsy, how are you doing? Are the blueprints going well?” He asks before floating over Ford's head to look at the drawings in front of him. He frowned slightly at the basic drawings before he looked at Ford’s face again. The mortal was overworking himself again, but why did he care?

Ford rubs his eyes slightly trying to pretend as if he's not in pain as he fixes his glasses. Mind over matter after all he reminds himself. “I’m fine, it's just that I've unfortunately hit a bit of a standstill. I'm working on it, but I think I need more of your help for this. Mechanics aren't my specialty” he says.

Bill floats upside down, now facing him and seems to look closely at Ford's face for a second before he nods and crosses his arms “first and foremost, you need a break” he says bluntly “I know your head hurts IQ, I'm in there, remember?” He asks with a chuckle and lightly taps the side of Ford's head.

Of course he knew.

Ford nods slightly with a sigh and puts a hand over his eyes again, no point hiding it and the blackness helped. “Yes, well I've been at this for a while. I've just strained my eyes a bit, that's all, I'll be fine” he says as he leans back in the chair and faces the ceiling.

“You're going to focus yourself into a stroke, Brainiac. Take a break. I can make you feel better if you want, no charge” he says with a chuckle, before in the blink of an eye he's behind Ford and leaning over him slightly to look at his face.

As if sensing the shift Ford moves his hand and looks up at Bill. At this angle he did look rather creepy with his lightly glowing blue eye, his sharp teeth, and just the way the shadows frame his face. Though the shadow he cast over him was appreciated at the moment “what do you mean?” He asks.

Bill chuckles slightly as he looks down at Ford and tilts his head a bit as he lightly digs his fingers into Ford’s hair “come on, just relax, you need to take a break and sleep for more than 3 hours. I have plenty of ways to assist you, but not right now” he says. He didn’t know why he felt this way, but he didn’t like seeing Ford suffer, so he decided to just let himself be overbearing about it. He could erase any memories of these events from Ford’s head if he needed to.

He slowly leans his head back as he listens and sighs slightly, closing his eyes as he complies with Bill’s request, a nap did sound nice. “Ok, thank you” he says as he closes his eyes and relaxes just as Bill told him too.

It only took a few seconds for him to start feeling a soft pulsing building in his skull that felt like it was washing away the pain and strain while also lulling him to sleep after only a minute or so after that he was snoring softly as he sat back in his chair.

Bill chuckles to himself once Ford was fully asleep. This mortal put so much trust in him, it was almost laughable. He once again forced down confusing emotions he had as he looked at Ford’s face.

/SNAP/

Bill’s body disappeared and Ford’s eyes opened once again, though the expression on his face was distinctly different. This wasn’t Ford, no he was still fast asleep, Bill was in his body.

He gets up and stretches a bit. Jeez, it had been too long since SIxer last stood up. He stood at the desk for a few minutes just looking over Ford’s work before he headed out of the lab. He was just going to take Ford to bed, that had been his plan. Then as he walked down the hall he caught his, no Ford’s reflection in the bathroom mirror. He walked past it at first, but then quickly backtracked to go look in the mirror more closely. Suddenly he really wanted to examine Ford’s face, and what better time to do that than now when he had Ford’s body all to himself?

He stood there twisting Ford’s face into strange, weird and horrifying expressions, laughing to himself as he did. Ford’s face looked interesting in all sorts of poses. He wondered which ones he could get out of Ford himself, not just his body. As he continued flashing random expressions through the mirror he made one that was just a little too close to Ford’s real smile. The smile he’d given when Bill had the graffiti cleaned off his house.

There was that feeling, again.

The smile fell just as quick as it appeared and left Bill staring at Ford’s reflection in the mirror, now a neutral expression. He just stood there, six fingered hands gripping the edge of the sink after a while. He took a deep breath as he kept staring. He growled slightly the longer he looked. These feelings that kept trying to bubble to the surface every time he thought about Ford at this point were getting on his nerves.

Why did Sixer make him feel this way? What had this mortal done to him? He grips the front of Ford’s shirt as he stares at the mirror and growls more. The anger that built as he thought of these questions made him want to claw off Ford’s skin, and while in any other body he would have just done it as soon as he felt like it, he couldn’t bring himself to hurt Ford.

He looked down when a growl from Ford’s stomach broke his focus on the mirror. “Jeez Sixer, you need to take better care of this flesh suit better, when was the last time you ate?” he asks out loud to himself before heading to Ford’s kitchen to go rummage around for something to feed Sixer’s body.

Looking around the kitchen yielded few results, he didn’t have the coordination in a human body to do much more than mix something together and Ford seemed to really need to go to the store. He sighs slightly before he claps Ford’s hands together as he has an idea.

He was quick to head out the door of the cabin and started walking towards the town, just walking down the middle of the road, in the middle of the night. It was a miracle he didn’t get Ford run over with that one.

—

He was now sitting in the diner looking at Ford’s reflection in the window and was eating extremely spicy chili fries. As soon as he had seen them on the menu he knew that was what he would eat. He thought it might help with the clawing urge to rip off Ford’s skin. It was human safe pain! Why did he care that it would do to Ford?

Because I need him to trust me so he builds the portal.

He refused to acknowledge the other reasons he wanted Ford’s trust him and didn’t want to actually hurt him. He took a rather aggressive bite of the spicy chili, also adding extra hot sauce. At least the spice helped him sate his urge to mangle this body. He glared at anyone that gave him funny looks for how he was eating.

He really needed to get a handle on these awful emotions or they were going to tear him apart, at least that’s what it felt like.

He eventually finished eating the food. HIs urge to hurt something sated by the lingering burn in Ford’s mouth. He looks at the bill that had been left on the table and rolls his eyes before getting up to just leave. He didn’t care about that, and he hadn’t brought Ford’s wallet anyway, not that he would have paid even if he had.

As he walks to the door he’s stopped by a hand on Ford’s shoulder and a man forcibly turning around and pointing at the waitress who was holding up the unpaid Bill “you forgot something bud” he says in a low threatening tone.

Bill chuckles, a strange distortion of Ford’s voice with his own laugh and he grins as he looks up at the man who was a full foot taller than Ford. he glanced around, there were only four people in here including himself. This wouldn’t be a hard mess to clean up. He puts a hand on the man’s shoulder and squeezes “i don’t think I did, but i think you forget to mind your own business” he says before a six fingered fist connects with the man’s jaw sending the man and himself stumbling back.

The man fell into one of the booths from the force of the punch and even spits out a tooth before he was getting up to go after Bill.

Bill shakes Ford’s hand as he catches his balance on a random table, knocking down some plates. He chuckles as he hears the dishes shatter. He then runs away from the diner quickly, looking at Ford’s hand still, the mortal had more power behind his hands, more than Bill expected. That’s pretty cool he thinks to himself before shaking off the thought just as quick “i’m stronger” he reminds himself.

He headed back to the cabin once he was sure he had lost that guy. He was quick to put Ford to bed this time, just wanting to get back out there to deal with the memories of the people that were in the diner.

—

The next day Ford woke up feeling… mostly well rested. He did feel like he’d slept longer, but when he looked at his alarm clock it seemed as though he’d been out for 12 hours, that was odd, and one of his hands was sore. Did something happen?

He quickly shakes it off as he gets up and heads to the kitchen to make some coffee, he still needed caffeine. “Damn it” he mutters to himself as he sees that he’s out of coffee. He’d have to go into town today to shop.

He didn’t waste any time getting ready and even decided to go to the diner to get some coffee and breakfast for himself.

When he did go to the diner he didn’t understand the distance he was getting from some of the customers and the staff. They didn’t know why either, not that it was unusual, it was just they seemed more scared of him than before, but they all had the sense that he was one to stay away from.

He glanced up from his food once in a while to look at the people around him who were all looking at him as if he was a feral animal. He was quick to finish eating and pay for his stuff before he left again to do his shopping and head home.

He wanted to get back to work.

He wanted to talk to Bill.

Chapter Text

He finally admitted it to himself, he had to call in help. He needed someone that could help him actually figure out the mechanics of this thing. He needed to call up his old college buddy Fiddleford. He'd already pulled out the old paper with his number and was about to call him.

/SNAP/

He was stopped by the feeling of a presence behind him and then a familiar voice. 

“What are you up to Sixer?” Asks the familiar voice behind him, though when he turned he was met with a completely unfamiliar figure that was still easily recognizable, though, it was definitely all the yellow and eyes.

Bill stood there grinning at him with a hand on his hip, He had made some changes to his human form, He was taller now, he also had two eyes now, though one, where the eye patch had been, is now solid black with a bit of brick patterning under it and the other eye has a gold iris and cat pupil. He also now has much longer hair that is still in a ponytail still with black tips. His skin is still tan but only his fingers are jet black now and he still has freckles on his face. He was wearing a yellow puffy sleeved shirt that was open down the front and tucked into a thick yellow brick patterned belt around his waist. He also had a form fitting black tank top underneath with a gold outline of an eye on it that seemed to reflect his current expression and thin long gold chain draped around his neck with triangles on the ends. 

“Oh hello Bill, you look different again” he says as he turns around from his desk to face him again. “And I've decided to call in an old friend to help with the portal” he says as he looks Bill over, he wasn’t actually all that unfamiliar looking, he was still yellow and covered in brick and eye patterned, all just moved around. 

Bill just stared at him for a second, the eye on his chest looking slightly surprised as he heard that. “Oh? What are you doing that for?” He asks as he tilts his head slightly and crosses his arms. “And I like to change things up once in a while, this is a new form I’m trying out,” he adds. 

“Well the mechanical side of things keeps stumping me, my old college friend Fiddleford is an expert on that stuff though so I thought I'd call and see if he'd help” he says. “Otherwise this could take way longer to do on my own” he adds as he looks at the piece of paper in his hand, reading it over for the hundredth time that day. 

Bill clenched his jaw slightly as he listened, he didn't like the idea of Ford calling in someone else. He didn't want someone else hanging around him. Around his Sixer. As he flashed through a few of the surface level memories and thoughts about this ‘old friend’ he found more reason not to like him. He didn't like how close the two had been, but why?

He didn't let Ford actually see how pissed off he was by this though. He reminded himself that this was for the sake of getting the portal done faster. He finally grins at him and nods slightly as he swings one of his dangly gold chains around nonchalantly . “Ah, an assistant would be of great use, an extra set of hands as well” he says.

Ford nods “yes, his knowledge will be very important” he says and shows Bill the paper he'd been holding.

“Give me a call some time” signed Fiddleford McGucket with a phone number written under that.

Bill looks at the paper then nods “you should probably get to making that call then” he says “good luck, just make sure you need your research safe, he might be your friend but people will do crazy things to get ahead in life” he says.

Ford nods “of course, I aced cryptology in college, I can write anything I need to in code” he says, smiling as he thought about the class he took for fun and aced, He always loved codes after all. Writing in them would be easy.

Bill nodded slightly, almost chuckling to himself at the memories that passed through Ford’s head at the thought. Even when annoyed he liked seeing Ford’s happy memories. He was quickly reminded of the situation when he glanced at the paper Ford was holding. He crosses his arms. “Good, you should get to making that call,” he says. 

/SNAP/

He was gone and the room was left empty and quiet, almost feeling more empty now than before Bill had appeared. Why was that? Did him calling in help make Bill think less of him? He really hoped not. The idea of Bill being disappointed in him didn't sit right with him.

He shakes it off as best he can and turns back to his desk and phone as he looks at the paper in his hand. He typed in the number and hit call.

—-

Somewhere in Palo Alto… 

Fiddleford was sitting in his garage strumming his banjo as he looked at the half finished prototype portable computer sitting on the desk in front of him, he was making a lot of progress and he was excited to finish it. He just knew it would be the next big thing. 

The phone on his desk rings and sits up quickly sitting his banjo down as he answers the phone. “Hello this is Fiddleford’s computer majigs, how can i help ya today?” he asks. 

“Hello Fiddleford, this is Stanford PInes, i’m calling because i need your expertise, i’m trying to build a transuniversal polydimensional meta vortex, or more simply, a portal, i need your mechanical knowledge” he says quickly, basically as soon as Fiddleford answered, he was always quickly to the point, he was excited to talk to Fiddleford about this.

FIddleford listened to the familiar voice on the other end and smiled before actually processing what he said and tilting his head a bit as he leaned back in his chair again. “What are you on about Stanford? I know you get as happy as a hog in mud at new discoveries, but slow down, what are you talking about?” he asks as he puts some chewing tobacco in his mouth to help his focus on what was sure to be a long conversation.

—

Hours later…

“Ok i’ll be up there in just a few weeks, i gotta pack and get things in order before i leave, i’ll see you once i arrive” Fiddleford says. 

“Wonderful, i can’t wait to see you, i will have a room ready for you when you get here” Ford says, he couldn’t help but smile to himself as he listened, Fiddleford had agreed! Progress on the portal could continue. He was also excited to see FIddleford again, over the conversation he realized how alone he’s been with only Bill to really talk too. 

“Alrighty then, see you then Stanford, have a good night, bye” he said before he hung up the phone. 

Ford sat back in his chair after putting his phone back on the hook and was just thinking to himself. He was excited to see Fiddleford again, his old college friend, and well a bit more. He blushes slightly to himself at the memories of a few far and between drunk nights they had together. The closest he’d ever gotten to a ‘typical college experience’ not that he really minded that fact. He’d been extremely close with Fidds, he almost missed that. 

He had to shake off the thoughts of the memories reminding himself that Fiddleford was married now, they were only friends now. He closes his eyes as he drags a hand over his face before he gets up from the desk and walks off to do something else to get his mind off the past. He had to look towards the future. 

—

Bill had been listening to that whole conversation from the comfort of the nightmare realm. He liked that SIxer was working on the portal, he was glad he was trying to prevent setbacks. So then why was he so pissed about another person coming into Ford’s life? Flashing threw Ford’s current thoughts on this McGucket fellow didn’t make him feel any better, in fact it made him feel worse. It made him more angry. It made him jealous. 

He felt sick again. A horrible twisting tightness filled his chest. The tea cup in his hand shattering from the sudden crushing grip sending shards flying as the realization hit him like a freight train. His temper flared in frustration and anger. He realized the reason behind this sickness as he looked through Ford’s memories and thoughts and watched him as he was working on a random little side project. 

He was lovesick. For Stanford. For a mortal?!. How had he let this happen? And how did it take him this long to realize? This shouldn’t have happened. He had to get himself together. He needed to stick to his plans, feelings be damned.

He sighs and messes with the golden chains on his outfit as he tries to just relax and think about all of this. He needed to do something about this, but what?

Chapter Text

Ford was at his desk trying to work on a side project, there wasn’t much he could really do right now as he was waiting for Fiddleford to arrive. He had called the man a week ago now and it would be another before he actually arrived. He already had a workspace and bedroom set up for him as well as a few gifts bought just to try to make him feel more welcomed, it had honestly been so long since he had interacted meaningfully with anyone but Bill. He was looking forward to seeing his old friend again. 

Though, as happy as he was at the prospect of another person being around soon, it did still make the current loneliness weigh a little heavier on his mind. Bill had been pointedly ignoring him for the last week since he had called Fiddleford, or at least that was what it felt like, logically he knew Bill just had more important things to do, he was a god after all.

He sighs as he leans back in his chair with a hand over his face. 

“But what if he is upset with me?” he asks aloud to the room. The resounding silence that answers him was expected, but still felt suffocating. The silence no longer felt as natural as it use too,

He sighs and stands up from his chair to stretch. He had been sitting at that desk for hours already today just trying to distract himself from stressing with work, but it wasn’t helping. He was stuck in a loop, trying to think of something to appease Bill, he wanted Bill to come back already and at least tell him what he could do to fix this. 

The more he thought about it all the more unsure about everything he was feeling. He needed Fiddleford’s help to complete the portal, but what if Bill got angry enough to abandon him over this? What if Bill didn’t think he was worthy anymore now that he needed help. 

He absentmindedly starts to pace around the lab as he was thinking. 

  What could he do to make things up to Bill? How could he apologize?

He looks around the room and glances at what he had of the portal blueprints drawn. Really not much more than measurements and a sketch of what he hoped the finished product would be. 

A triangle with a circle in it. It almost looked like Bill’s true form, an intentional decision to some extent. It gave him an idea as he remembered Bill mentioning he could see through anything with his likeness. Bill liked to always know what is going on so maybe if he put up more totems to Bill it would appease him. He’d make sure Bill saw he was still giving his all on this project, he wasn’t calling in help to be lazy. Some things just need more than one person and this project is one of them. He would prove he was still one hundred percent devoted though and it would hopefully put him back in the good graces of his Muse. He didn’t know what he would do without BIll.

He didn’t know what he would do if Bill didn’t come back.

—-

Bill leaned back as he floated freely in the nightmare realm and was watching Ford through a drawing on his desk as he was working, though he wasn’t really paying attention to what Ford was doing. No, he was thinking. Trying to come up with ways to deal with this situation.  

He sighs and leans back, nearly flipping upside down as he takes a second to actually focus on what SIxer was doing at the moment and he chuckles slightly as he saw Ford start to pace around the lab, clearly stressing out. 

“ HA! Serves him right.”

He pulled a tea cup out of nowhere and took a sip from it while still floating upside down. He thought Ford deserved to stress for enlisting the help of that hack hillbilly, His Sixer was better than that.

He had looked through more of Ford’s memories around this Fiddleford fellow and he wasn’t happy about what he seen. Though he had laughed at the memory of Ford getting an invite to the man’s wedding and threw it away, claiming to himself that he had just been far too busy to go. 

As funny as it was, every single memory made him want to maim this guy.

As angry as he was about all this he knew it really was the best option, Ford was right he would need more help. He had seen the blueprints, they weren’t going well and in the memories he had seen that this guy at least seemed to know his stuff. 

He flips back to floating right side up and takes another sip of his tea. In all honesty he wasn’t even that mad about Ford’s new assistant. He needed to deal with the root cause of this frustration. 

These wretched feelings towards Ford. How had he let himself grow so attached to a mortal so quickly? 

He should want to kill Ford. to make him suffer. Make him feel stupid for trusting him. Make a fool out of the small minded mortal. He should want to stomp out every human in this dimension. He wanted to burn it all down and make everything his own. 

So why did he want to make sure Ford wouldn’t suffer? He wanted Ford at his side. He wanted Ford to be by his side to rule the multiverse with him, or maybe to keep him as a pet. He wasn’t completely sure yet. 

“Ahh!”

 He was so damn frustrated and pissed off about suddenly having feelings. He wanted Sixer to just stay an ant under his boot like all those other stupid meat bags.So why did he feel different about this one? Why was Ford special? Sure he was smart but what about him made him so special?

He groans slightly as he takes a break from his own thoughts and tunes back into Ford’s. He was very pleased at what he was hearing. As he listened to his own name being repeated in Ford’s thoughts over and over as he was working on getting back into Bill’s good graces. 

Bill smiles to himself, a strangely fond look on his face as he watches Ford and felt the intent behind the actions. Ford really did seem sorry at least and he had been stressing for what Bill felt was long enough. 

There was still a week until the Hillbilly arrived, he could deal with his urge to maim the man later, for now he wanted to talk to Ford again. 

—

Ford was sitting at his deck again, now drawing, he was drawing a picture of Bill to hang on his cork board since that was the quickest thing he could back for this at the moment. 

Just as he was finishing up the drawing he felt the energy in the room shift in that unmistakable way that always announced Bill’s arrival. He drops his pen as he spins around in his chair to face him, going so fast he had to adjust his glasses. “Oh hello Bill” he says. He was surprised to see him all of a sudden, but it was very welcome. 

Bill grins as he watches Ford almost fall over himself to look at him. He hadn’t even said anything yet! Ha! Sixer must have really missed him. He found it both hilarious and soul warming to watch.

He twirls his cane around his wrist as he looks Ford over. “Hello there Sixer! Sorry I had to go take care of some business elsewhere” He lied. He. Now he was apologizing? Now that really should feel so much worse that it does.

Ford felt relieved that Bill didn’t seem to still be angry with him, though he did still feel the need to apologize though, He didn’t get why, but the clawing anxiety didn’t feel like it would go away until he knew Bill was no longer mad at him, and that he was hopefully actually ok with this. “Oh well I’m glad you’re back and umm i just wanted to apologize for calling in Fiddleford without your permission, My Muse” he says. 

Bill grins at him and pats him on the head with his cane. “It’s fine Fordsy, just don’t let it happen again, and don’t worry I am ok with it” he adds, just to remind Ford of his mind reading. 

Ford jumps slightly at the reminder that Bill was hearing basically everything he thought, he didn’t care most of the time, but the direct reminder always made him try to be careful of his thoughts.  He clears his throat. “Oh well I’m glad to know that. Oh and I will be putting more of these around the lab so you can watch us working” he says and shows Bill the drawing. 

Bill chuckles as he looks at it “aww you’re drawing me! Try to get my good angle!” he says and turns abc into his triangle form for a second before shifting back to human form just as quickly. “Good good, I like that idea” he says then pauses for a second before eh continues “put them around your house as well”

“Pardon?” Ford asks, a bit surprised by the request. 

“So I can keep an eye on things everywhere just to make sure everything is going well, to make sure your so-called friend doesn’t try anything with your research, and you wouldn't want to risk your “Grand Theory of Weirdness ". What if he tried to steal it?”

Ford takes a second to actually respond. Fiddleford would never do something like that. He was a good and honest man. He didn’t like thinking that his friend would do something like that. He liked to think he was a better judge of character than that, it wouldn’t hurt to let Bill keep an eye on everything just in case, if he wanted to. “Umm Ok i can do that” he says. 

Bill nods “Good I look forward to seeing you continue your work” he says then vanishes like he was never there.

Leaving Ford sitting alone in his lab once again, but feeling much better than he did five minutes ago. He turns back to his desk to get back to drawing Bill. He wanted to get as many totems to Bill put around the house and lab as he could before McGucket arrived.