"Dipper!"

The Mystery Shack was packed with tourists, as per usual, all eyeing the overpriced merchandise that lined the wall after taking the phony tour. Wirt still tried to ignore the fact that he was working with a con-artist. However, none of that was on his mind now as he pushed through the crowd of people, trying to find Dipper.

The sixteen year-old was at the front desk while his sister sat behind him, playing with Waddles. It was pretty clear that Dipper needed help with all of the customers, and that Mabel was supplying none of it. But again, that wasn't on Wirt's mind right now. The only thing he was thinking of was getting Dipper alone to talk to him. He approached the desk after pushing through the line of people waiting, to the actual customers' annoyance.

"Hey, man, I never thought you'd show up. Listen, um, yesterday… You said that you wanted to talk. We still can, if you want. No problem," Dipper said nervously, though he did glance around at the amount of people in the tourist trap of a shop. Mabel was watching the scene unfold with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, yeah, that sounds totally perfect. We should talk, right now," Wirt said, almost frantically as he grabbed the boy by the arm, tugging him out of the gift shop and up the stairs to the attic. How he knew how to get to their room in the attic, Dipper didn't know, but he decided not to question it. He was too busy wondering what exactly was so urgent that Wirt needed to talk about it immediately.

Wirt practically threw open the door when they finally made it, shutting it and bolting it behind him. He seemed… tense. Not that he wasn't always tense, but he seemed much more tense than usual.

"Are you okay, Wirt? Is something bugging you?" Dipper mentally hit himself as those idiotic words came out of his mouth. Of course there was something bugging him, it would be surprising if there wasn't.

"No, I'm… I'm not okay. The- The triangle guy- Bill, I think- he came into my room last night. He tried to make a deal with me," Wirt confessed. Dipper looked terrified on his new friend's behalf.

"You didn't… Did you say yes?"

"No! No, of course I didn't. I'm not stupid. I've been through enough to know that Bill isn't to be trusted," Wirt shook his head. Dipper tried not to feel slightly offended, since trusting Bill all of those years ago didn't make him stupid. It made him desperate.

"So… What's wrong, then? If you didn't make a deal, everything should be fine. He can only hurt you if you let him. But you're strong, you didn't let him. You should be fine," Dipper insisted, more convincing himself than Wirt. He's going to be fine. Wirt didn't let him in. He will be fine.

"I think he's going to go after Greg. This has happened before! Some- Some all-knowing being tries to go after me, and it doesn't work, so… it goes after Greg," Wirt looked terrified for his brother, and rightly so. Anyone would be, in that situation.

Dipper looked confused for a moment, not understanding at all what he meant. This had happened before? Wirt had contact with some other all-knowing being? Another being as powerful as Bill existed?

"Wirt, calm down. You're not making sense. Everything is going to be fine. Just tell me from the beginning what happened… before. When did this happen first?" Dipper did his best to remain calm. After all, it wasn't every day a friend of his was confessing to have experienced the supernatural. Wirt himself hesitated, contemplating how this could go before he started speaking.

"It was, um, four years ago. I was fourteen, and Greg was ten. It was Halloween, and we were out trick-or-treating. Some… stuff happened, and we were running from the police. I was, anyway, Greg didn't know what was going on. I didn't do anything, though!" Wirt corrected himself as soon as he saw the look on Dipper's face. No need for him to think his new friend was a criminal or something. "So… We jumped over a wall in a cemetery, and we ended up on some train tracks. And just our luck, a train was coming. I pushed Greg out of the way and jumped, and we both fell down a hill and into a pond."

Dipper hadn't any idea where this story was going, but he tried to listen and focus on his friend's story just as he had the day before. After all, he was truly interested in his past.

"People think the next part was just a hallucination from, like, hypothermia or something, but we got out of the pond and started walking through the woods, trying to get home. We weren't home anymore. We were in a place called the Unknown. It was all kind of old-timey, but we were in costume so we fit right in. We almost died there… a lot. All sorts of weird things happened to us. But there was this… I'll call it a being. It talked like a man, and was sort of, um, humanoid, but it definitely wasn't human."

Ah. So this was the other all-knowing being that Dipper now had to be terrified of. Lovely.

"It was called the Beast. It had this… this lantern thing, with a woodsman's daughter's soul in it, but it turns out that the soul inside of it was his soul. I-I think, I don't really know. But he had to keep the lantern lit, so his job, and the woodsman's job, was to get kids lost in the Unknown. And when the kids lost all hope, he turned them into these oil trees that kept the lantern lit. I was the Beast's original target, until Greg decided that he would take the responsibility. He almost got turned into a tree, but I cut him out and took him home. I… don't know what happened to the Beast. It might still be around. I don't know," Wirt sighed, running his fingers through his already messy hair.

Dipper was silent for a few moments, trying to comprehend everything. Wirt had been through more than he thought. He knew that almost losing a sibling was horrible, so he definitely related to him.

"I'm… really sorry that happened to you. But you're not in the… Unknown? Yeah, that's it- You're not in the Unknown anymore. You're… here. In this… realm. You're relatively safe. The Beast can't get you, and Neither can Bill. I promise," Dipper knew that his promise was probably hollow, but he wanted to comfort Wirt somehow. He looked distraught, and not at all like himself. Wirt gave a sad smile to the other boy.

"Thanks, Dipper. That really means a lot. I'm glad that I actually have someone to talk to about all of this. I can't even talk to Greg about it, because he didn't take it seriously enough. Well, I guess he did. Bill told me that he was traumatized about it, and offered to take away all memories of the Unknown." Wirt elaborated.

Dipper could understand why that would be an appealing deal. He too had some rather traumatizing memories that he would prefer to be gone.

"No problem, Wirt. That's what friends are for, right? Whatever you need, I'll always be here, alright?" Dipper gave a genuine smile, shoving his hands into his pockets. He really meant it, too. He really did care for this boy, in more than just a romantic way, and he wanted to help him in any way he could. Wirt even smiled a bit too, even if he was in something of a situation.

"I'm… really glad that I met you. I didn't expect to make friends so fast in Gravity Falls," Wirt chuckled, a bit timidly.

Oh god, this is just like all of Mabel's shitty rom-coms.

"I'm glad that I met you, too. You're a really cool guy, and even if all of that stuff happened to you, you're probably one of the most normal people in this town," Dipper sniggered.

I sound just like character from those rom-coms!

Wait, am I the leading guy or…

Shit, what if I'm the girl part?

"Normal? Oh, yeah, totally, I'm as normal as they get," Wirt rolled his eyes, and in that moment Dipper realized that, yes, if their lives were a terrible rom-com, Wirt would be the leading man, and Dipper himself would be the leading lady.

"Oh, come on, you're normal," the younger boy shoved his friend playfully with his elbow.

Alright, this is getting kind of out of hand. Make a move.

"You act normal. And you wear normal clothes. And you have a normal face…"

"My face is not normal. I have a huge nose,"

"Your face is fine," Dipper laughed. Wirt raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, so you think I'm fine, do you?" he smirked and Dipper blushed a deep scarlet.

"Shut up, you know what I meant," Dipper shook his head, looking anywhere that wasn't Wirt's eyes. This could absolutely not be happening. Wirt was not flirting with him. This was the same boy that had gone through a breakup a few days prior. Well, he sure got over stuff fast. Wirt laughed a bit, ten spoke again.

"Listen, Dipper… I know that you have a crush on me. I've known for… a while," Dipper was absolutely mortified. How did Wirt find out? He had been the epitome of secretive and smooth!

Not really, but Dipper liked to think that he was.

"But I'm too young for you, or you don't like boys, or you aren't over Sara, or all of the above," Dipper said for him, not confirming or denying that he had a crush on him. But it was still beyond obvious.

"Or… none of the above," Wirt raised an eyebrow, sniggering. "Dipper, I like you. I think you're cute. And you're smart. And… something of a mystery. I like mysteries."

For once in his almost-seventeen years of life, Dipper Pines was left speechless. He was the first boy he developed a crush on that actually liked him back! This was a milestone!

"I-I… oh," Dipper stuttered. Wirt sniggered again at his attempt at speech.

"Just kiss me, kid," he muttered, taking the other boy by the collar and gently pressing their lips together. This wasn't Dipper's first kiss, but it felt a hundred times better. He felt relief that Wirt liked him back, and a sudden confidence that he didn't understand. Wirt was apparently confident too, because Dipper felt himself being pinned against the nearest wall. Not a fiber of his being wanted to argue with this.

That is, until he felt a tiny blade being pressed into his neck as Wirt's lips pulled away from his own. That was something that he would very much like to argue with.

"Wirt, what the fu-" He began, but was cut off by the blade penetrating his skin.

"You really are dense, kid. And you taste worse than I thought you would!" Wirt said in a voice that was not his own.

Oh god.

Of course.

"Bill… What do you want?" Dipper asked angrily. It hurt to talk, since moving his mouth also moved his neck, and deepened the wound.

"Those journals. Duh," Bill rolled Wirt's eyes.

"And you had to make out with me to get to them? Someone's desperate," just like last time, he was acting much more confident than he felt.

"Like I wanted that, Pine Tree! I was just thinking, what body would be even better than yours to possess to get those journals? But then I realized that there were a few billion bodies that're better than yours, so I narrowed it down to Gravity Falls. Your little infatuation seemed the best to, well, corner you!" Bill laughed using Wirt's mouth.

"So you stole a pocket knife from the gift shop and made out with me?"

"Enough chat, kid. Bring me the journals and I won't give you another hole in your disgusting human body!" He said cheerfully.

Dipper, at the moment, hated both himself and Bill. He had been so gullible. Even when he called him kid, he still thought that nothing was wrong! He should have noticed something wrong the moment he started flirting.

But now he didn't. And it seemed that it would be the death of him.

A/N: Sorry for the wait! I've been working hard at school.

Please don't tell me that Wirt is OOC. He's supposed to be.