Chapter Text
Ford sat stiff as a board, starring hard at his interlocked hands on the table. The seconds felt like hours as he listened to each ring of the phone. He barely even dared to breathe.
"Hey, Sweetie." Caryn answered on the final ring.
"Hey, Ma." Stan smiled.
Ford covered his mouth to not let out a sob. It had been far too long since he last heard his mother's voice.
Stan reached over, rubbing his back. "How's it been over your way?"
"Pretty good." Caryn assured. "How's Orgeon? Heard ya got the kids out there with ya."
"Mhm. Dipper and Mabel have been keeping me on my toes." Stan laughed.
"Welcome ta my world." Mama sassed.
Stan laughed harder.
Ford grinned, keeping his mouth covered for the time being.
"I got some things I wanna talk to you an' Shermie about. But it's sort of, face to face stuff going on. Plus a big event about to happen out here- I was hoping I could fly the family out here for a few days? Got room in your schedule for that?"
Caryn snorted, "I dunno, sweetie. Might be hard for me to clear room in my very busy career. I mean. Between the Bingo and the golfin' and whatnot..."
Stan laughed happily, shaking his head. "Well, it'll be well worth the trouble if you can. I promise."
"When's this gonna be?"
"I gotta talk to Sherm and Alex first, see what days they can get off. Then I can let you know for sure. Hoping for maybe in two weeks or so?"
"That soon? Tickets out are gonna be a fortune-"
"Don't worry about that." Stan grinned to the phone. "It'll all be covered-"
"Business doing that well??" Pride was clear in her voice.
"Somethin' like that. You'll get a full answer when here, ok?"
"Alright dear. You take care okay?"
"I will. Love ya Ma."
"Love you too. See you soon, Stanley."
Stan and Ford's eye both widened as they stared in shock at the dial tone.
"She knows?!" Ford looked to Stan.
"I don't know?!"
"How long has she known?!"
"I DON'T KNOW!"
"Did she think I was the dead one? Or does she know we're both alive??"
"SIXER. I DON'T KNOW."
Ford stared at the phone for a few more seconds before shaking his head and laughing. "Leave it to Ma..."
Stan chuckled, putting the phone up. "No kiddin'.... I'll call the boys in a bit- I need a drink."
Ford snickered, nodding. "I'll leave you to that. I need to go for a walk."
Stan patted his back, heading for the kitchen.
Bill frowned over at Ford tossing and turning beside him in bed. "Sixer."
Ford sighed, opening an eye.
"I can't hear my own thoughts over yours... Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Ford sat up, putting his glasses back on.
Bill reached a hand out to try to soothe his worries.
Ford got up entirely, pacing the room. "We have Time Baby looming over us at any moment, I'm still trying to figure out how to integrate everyone safely into the town, Ma apparently knows Stanley isn't me? I don't know how much she knows or how, Weddings in general are nightmares to plan, We have no idea if we'll have the capsule ready in time for Globnar, I'm going to have to see Sherman again and try to act normal even tho his existence still feels like a burning coal in my gut! I have no control over anything going on in my life anymore and no way to handle any of it! There's no plan for anything! I just feel so- AAAH!"
Bill watched, wide eyed, as Ford's lid on his emotions broke off entirely. "Hey now. We have a plan. It just isn't on a timeline-"
"I just feel so- so-.... Helpless! I can't do anything!"
Bill shifted his form, a humanoid body with an inverted triangle for a head (If only so his corners wouldn't be stabbing Ford in the cheek.) "Making yourself sleep deprived isn't going to solve any of that. Come back to bed."
Ford glanced over, raising a brow at the form. Bill knew he liked his base form best.
"It's easier to make sure you're sitting still when I'm not half your height." Bill shrugged. "Plus, your body's instincts still prefer full contact."
Ford sighed, heading back to the bed. "I just want to be ready-"
"We will be. We'll go thru this one by one in the morning, alright? Right now, you can't think clearly."
Ford clicked his tongue, knowing Bill was right. Ford curled up against his Muse, resting his head on Bill's chest. There was no heartbeat, of course. But there was a thrum of magic humming throughout the form.
Bill removed Ford's glasses, placing them on the nightstand and petting his hair. "I'm here. You're not dealing with any of this alone."
Ford let out a slow exhale, trying to calm his mind and rest.
Ford groaned, sitting back up after several minutes. "What if the unicorn hair can't pad the wish's magic?? What if we can't even get any at all?? What if all the magic scares Ma?? What if she becomes scared of me like Fiddleford?!"
Bill sighed, popping back into his natural shape. "Sixer-"
"What if I do something stupid when Sherman's here and upset Stanley?! He doesn't even know I'm not happy about that side of the family! What if the kids think I hate them!?"
Bill rolled his eye, taking mental note that despite his hangups about his brother, he has warmed up to the kids. That was a start. Bill glanced to Ford, thinking. He could just soothe the chemicals in Ford's brain, but as worked up as he was? Bill wasn't convinced that'd last. And keeping the brain's balance altered thru an entire night didn't sound safe.
"What if-" Ford's words cut off as the glow beside him vanished. "Bill-" Ford turned, worried he'd scared his muse off. But, no. The triangle was still there.
Bill carefully took off the hat, no longer floating over his head but instead crookedly sat on his higher point. Bill set it and his bow tie aside on the nightstand. He was relieved to see his trick was working, and for at least a bit, Ford's spiral had been derailed by confusion.
Ford stared for a moment, processing the shift. ".....You can turn that off?"
Bill gave half a shrug, glancing down to his hand and flexing it, debating. "I wasn't always magic, you know?"
"...Since this is-.... Just.... Natural Bill?"
"Something like that. Tucking my abilities away into a temporary dormancy. See if that helps your mind calm itself down enough to sleep." Bill let out a soft sigh, nervous. He carefully removed the protective gloves from his charred hands. With his powers, the gloves may as well be a natural skin, able to move, flex, and stretch at his will. Without them? They were just gloves.
Ford watched quietly, shifting a bit closer. He'd had suspicions on Bill's base form, but he never dared to ask.
Bill silently took his boots off as well, placing them and the gloves on the nightstand carefully. He glanced to the side, noticing Ford's silent expression of wonder. His voice spoke without any of the echo or effects, "Watching a world burn comes at a cost."
Ford reached over carefully, holding Bill's hand. "Does it hurt?..."
"Not physically." Bill used their conjoined hands to pull Ford closer. Without his powers, he couldn't bend himself or curve at all to cradle Ford's head. Instead, he laid back flat, holding Ford where his bow tie usually sat, petting his hair idly.
Ford tucked his arms under Bill, above his own head, holding him close. It wasn't particularly soft, but Ford didn't mind it. His mind's only focus soothed to just the knowledge that this was something just for him. Something no one else would ever see or experience.
Bill rolled his eye as low as it could go, starring at the human laying on him. Without his powers, his eye was blurry and damaged once more. The world unfocused and hazy from years of being forced to take things he never once asked for. Bill gently ran his hand across the side of Ford's face.
Despite the haze, Bill could still see his human crystal clear. He couldn't tell if it was due to countless nights studying Ford's every mark, scar, dip, and angle, or if it was due to how close he was curled. He didn't much care for the why. All he knew is his Sixer was as clear as the stars he gazed up at as a child.
It started with a fire, it always did.
Inferno raging around him, taking everything in it's path with it.
Bill sighed. He'd seen this nightmare several thousand times over. Back before he learned to override his need for sleep entirely.
Bill looked around. Why was he back here again? He'd sworn to stop having this nightmare centuries ago. Bill gazed up at the stars above him.
Why did you do it?
Bill sighed, tired. Those words had filled him with so many emotions. Hurt, Anger, Sorrow, Regret. He'd gone thru it all so many times, all he was left with was numb.
Why did you do it?
Bill turned to face his burning parents, the memory of every inch of it was once seared into his mind. Now all he saw was static. It didn't mean anything any more.
Why did you do it?
Bill clenched his fists. A different memory echoed in the back of his mind, briefly. Why us?? What did we do wrong?? If so many people are acting this way, we MUST deserve it so WHY-
"Why did YOU do it?!" Bill accused the shapes he could barely remember beyond their colors. Bill raises a shaky hand to his eye, clutching the side as he fought back the tears. "Why did YOU do this to me??"
Bill's hand jerked slightly, a red string tied around it pulling it away from his eye. Bill frowned, grabbing the string in his other hand, confused. He turned from the blaze behind him, following the odd string.
Bill found himself on the edge of his flat world, the string curved over the edge. Bill leans over as much as he dared, finding the string tied around something below.
Bill squinted past the haze, spotting the string worked into a red noose, wrapped tightly around Ford's neck.
Bill frowned, leaping over the edge to try to help. He found himself floating, unbound by gravity, as he lowered himself down to where Ford swayed in the emptiness.
Bill sighed in relief to see the noose loosen as he neared. He couldn't see clear enough to even try to de-tangle the mess of red. Bill wiped the tears from Ford's eyes.
Ford reached up, holding the hands against his face.
Bill frowned, watching the noose tighten once more from where it was still tied to his hand.
Bill extended an extra set of hands, and cut the string apart entirely. Watching it fall away. Bill tried to let Ford's face go, to set him free from it all.
Ford held on tighter, pulling Bill close. Wings made of the cosmos themselves stretches out behind him, lifting them both out of the emptiness. Above the nothing, above even the fire still burning below. Until all that surrounded them were their stars.
Bill smiled softly, resting his form against Ford's, trusting that they wouldn't fall.