Chapter Text
The Mystery Shack looked peaceful and calm as two cars pulled up. Gompers glanced up at them briefly before returning to his grazing. A few songbirds sang from the surrounding forest. Something scampered into the underbrush; it could have been a startled deer or a feral boy band member. And the sun had shifted just enough to stream between the surrounding pine trees in a visually-pleasing way.
Of course, when he actually opened the door, Stanford wasn’t very surprised to find pure chaos.
“Accept your fate!” shouted Mabel at the top of her lungs. “The broccoli is your friend!”
“Never!” denied Stanley, a slight laugh in his voice.
From his spot by the door, Stanford could see his niece and nephew trying to pelt their grunkle with pieces of broccoli and cauliflower as they chased him from the kitchen towards the living room, Stanley defending himself with a pot lid for a shield. Apparently Mabel had decided to be more direct with her efforts to get him to eat more vegetables and live a healthier lifestyle. And she’d convinced her brother to help. Waddles seemed satisfied with eating anything that fell to the floor instead of landing in Stanley’s mouth. Which seemed to be everything.
Until Dipper made a lucky throw while his grunkle was laughing. Which led to Stanley coughing, but he was still laughing enough that it wasn’t too concerning.
“Nice shot, Dip-Dop,” cheered Mabel.
“Too bad we don’t have brussels sprouts,” said Stanford. “They would be more aerodynamic and would be easier to aim.”
Twin voices yelped in shocked unison, “Grunkle Ford!”
The vegetables immediately stopped bouncing off Stanley’s pot lid shield. Waddles didn’t seem that upset; there was more than enough to satisfy the pig’s appetite.
“You’re back,” said Mabel. “Did you have fun?”
Smiling faintly, he said, “It was… more emotionally intense than expected, but I am glad that I went.”
Eyeing him curiously, Stanley said, “You do seem better than when you left. Guess that talking with your pen pal nerd helped.”
“It truly did,” said Stanford. Pausing, he added, “Actually, Dr. Rune decided to accompany me back. He wanted to see all of you as well.”
“Company?” Mabel quickly tried to brush any lingering traces of vegetables from her sunset sweater. “That’s amazing, Grunkle Ford. Sounds like a successful friendship date to me.”
Turning back towards the porch, Stanford saw Bill looking somewhere between amused and nervous. He said that he wanted to be the one to decide how and when to tell them. He didn’t seem as uncertain as when he forced himself to confess to Stanford, but… It seemed fair to let him figure out how to approach the topic. Bill brushed off his waistcoat. Then, drawing himself up to his full height, he stepped inside.
“Oh, um, hi?” greeted Dipper awkwardly. Glancing around at the scattered vegetables on the floor, he said, “Sorry about the mess. We didn’t expect— We were trying to help Grunkle Stan’s diet. Please don’t judge Grunkle Ford for any of this.”
Nodding slowly, Bill said, “Considering his recent health problem, I can understand your motives. A few more vegetables might be good for Stanley.”
“Really, Ford? You told him? Didn’t you have anything better to gossip about?” Stanley rolled his eyes, and shook his head. “I’m fine.”
“Now,” he muttered, earning a suspicious look from Stanley.
“You look familiar. I thought you weren’t from around here.”
“My family was from Gravity Falls.”
Stanley didn’t look completely convinced by the explanation. He was studying the man’s face carefully and, since he wasn’t drowning in grief, he would probably recognize Bill sooner than Stanford did. His brother was hard to trick.
“Hi, I’m Mabel. Did you know that you look a bit like a calico cat?” asked Mabel with a bright grin. “Only instead of orange, you’ve got white patches. Are you secretly a cat-man?”
“Hiya. Not a cat, I’m afraid. Just some skin without pigment. It’s called vitiligo,” he said, wiggling his fingers. “I also have a glass eye. Unfortunately, I exhausted all the good jokes and puns about it ages ago.”
Even after over sixty years and a completely human life, Bill still seemed to be on a similar wavelength to Mabel. Stanford couldn’t help the small smile.
Smirking, Stanley said, “Sounds like the type of friend that you’d make, Ford. Smart and a little weird. No wonder you liked the guy.”
“From you, that’s probably the biggest compliment you’ll ever give me.” Smiling with a faint hint of fondness that Stanford never expected Bill to direct towards the man, he said, “But it is good to see you, Stanley. And thank you for getting rid of that ridiculous mustache and fake name. I almost tried buying the ‘Grifter’ just to track you down back in the day.”
Sounding extremely confused and increasingly suspicious, he said, “So you saw one of my commercials in the eighties?”
Not answering, he turned towards the younger twins and said, “And it is nice to see you as well, Pine Tree and Shooting Star.”
Stanford saw all three of them stiffen. Mabel and Dipper exchanged looks, realized that the sunset sweater and trapper hat wouldn’t hint at those nicknames, and slowly turned back towards the man. They knew. It was clear on their shocked faces. And yet they were scared to suggest the impossible idea.
And when he saw their eyes flicker briefly towards him, Stanford knew that part of it was a reluctance to risk hurting him if they were wrong.
“Dr. Rune?” asked Dipper hesitantly. Then, apparently deciding to be the one to take the plunge, he whispered, “…Bill Cipher?”
Taking a bit of a shaky breath, he said, “Technically, it would probably be ‘Bill Rune’ now. But, yeah… It’s—”
“Bill!” shouted Mabel, somehow delivering a hug via flying tackle to the man’s midsection and knocking him off his feet.
The brief yelp of surprise and confusion was quickly covered up by the girl’s laughter. Genuinely happy that Bill wasn’t gone. And that was enough to cause Stanford to give his own quiet and relieved chuckle.
“But— But— But you’re alive!” yelled Dipper, waving his arms despite looking rather pleased by the news.
“And taller,” said Stan, somewhere between stunned and frustrated.
Rolling his eye, Bill said, “Yes, I was shorter as a homunculus. We get it.”
Mabel’s arms were still locked around him. And other than a couple of half-hearted attempts, Bill didn’t seem to be that concerned about trying to pry her off. Maybe it was just as reassuring to see them as it was when he was reunited with Stanford.
“That’s it. I’m punching your lights out,” said Stan, the frustration moving in the direction of anger.
“Really? You’ve literally been the death of me twice and I saved your life, but now you’re going to hit me less than five minutes after I make it back?” he complained, glaring back from his spot on the floor. “Guess I should be relieved that you aren’t dumping me in a shallow grave. And you complained about Ford not being grateful in the past…”
“I told you what would happen if you broke Ford’s heart. That stunt of yours— And then you just come waltzing back in like nothing happened? Look, I’m happy not to be dead and everything, but—” Throwing up his hands briefly in frustration before gesturing towards Stanford, he said, “Do you have any idea how much that hurt him?”
“Stanley,” said Stanford firmly, resting a hand on his shoulder. “It’s fine.”
“No, it really wasn’t fine. If he did some weird switcheroo fake-out thing—”
“Not fake,” said Bill. He was staring down at the top of Mabel’s head instead of meeting anyone’s gaze. “A very real and agonizing destruction of what should have been a permanent nature. Except somehow I was lucky enough to get dragged back together enough to reincarnate and then spent over sixty years trying to remember who I used to be.”
Stanley stared at him hard. Stanford couldn’t say whether or not his brother quite understood the entire implications of how places like the Theraprism existing outside of time could allow someone to reincarnate to a period before their demise. It was probably difficult to comprehend without either experience with the phenomena or extensive studies. But his brother was good with reading people. And he seemed to see enough in Bill’s face and body language that he relaxed, apparently accepting that Bill was being honest. That he truly did tear himself apart with the belief that there would be no coming back from it.
Bill destroyed himself to save Stanley and shouldn’t have been able to return. But he did. He found his way back. And Stanford felt lighter than he had in over a week.
Raising her head, Mabel said, “So you didn’t remember us? You didn’t remember Grunkle Ford?”
“I certainly do now,” he said, his right eye focusing on Stanford with an impossibly fond expression.
Giving a hesitant smile, Dipper said, “It’s… good to have you back. And thank you. For what you did for Grunkle Stan.” The boy paused for a moment before pulling his new Journal from his vest. “Also, I have around a hundred questions.”
“I make no promises, kid,” he chuckled slightly. “I know lots of things, but not as much as before. Limits of trying to fit everything into a human skull, I’m afraid. On the other hand, I’ve spent decades in academia and you pick up a few things there.”
Mabel clearly had more important matters on her mind. She finally let go enough to help pull Bill back to his feet. She grinned brightly at the man as she dragged him over towards Stanford.
“True love conquers all,” she giggled, clearly not caring that both Bill and Stanford gained a reddish tint to their faces at her words. Then she paused, looked Bill up and down, and abruptly gasped, “Wait! Since you’re taller now, your old sweater isn’t going to fit anymore. I better get started on a replacement.”
She immediately took off running for the stairs, nearly tripping over Waddles as he continued to forage for scattered pieces of broccoli. She was a girl on a mission. Stanford could only smile at her boundless energy. Even without Mabel Juice, it was hard to slow her down.
A moment later, Soos came through the door from the gift shop, munching on his slice of infinite pizza. He blinked briefly, but didn’t seem very surprised by the guest.
“Oh, hey, Bill,” he said with a vague wave.
“Wait, you recognize him?” asked Stanley.
“Of course. Mr.-or-Ms.-or-Dr. The Axolotl told me about him coming back about… five minutes ago. I really need to try those cotton candy clouds next time.”
Rolling his eye, Bill muttered, “Frills needs to work on their timing.”
“But I’m glad you’re back. Dr. Pines and everyone else really missed you, dude. And the Axolotl said to enjoy your souvenir.”
“Souvenir?” asked Stanford.
Shrugging, Soos said, “Yeah. ‘Cause souvenirs are basically memories, right? Of cool stuff you’ve seen or done. So Bill remembering is the souvenir that Axolotl gave him.”
“I don’t know whether to be grateful or to hate them,” muttered Bill with a brief laugh. Then, smiling at the young man, he said, “Thanks, Question Mark. I… missed it here too. Even before I remembered, I think I missed it.”
Stanford slowly tried to reach for his hand again. But the abrupt sound of a vacuum cleaner made everyone jump in surprise.
“I vacuum the vegetables now,” said Abuelita, already working on the chunks of cauliflower that Waddles hadn’t already eaten.
Dipper never would have thought he’d see the day when Bill’s presence would improve things. But the summer had been full of surprises. Rather like the previous summer, but without the fate of the entire dimension on the line.
He couldn’t say that Dr. William Rune was exactly the same as Bill Cipher. Not even the calmer version that had been staying with them as a homunculus. Fewer morbid comments and descriptions of people as “meat balloons.” Certain phrases that felt more like something Ford or a college professor would say, which made sense since he’d spent decades working at a university. He seemed more comfortable in his skin and to have a more human perspective on things after spending a lifetime as one.
But there were other things that definitely felt like Bill. Certain facial expressions or teasing comments. A definite fondness for yellow in his wardrobe, even when he pulled some rather cozy-looking sweaters and polo shirts from his suitcase. The strange flinch a few days later when his hand bumped into a pill bug was new, but Dipper remembered Phacops and didn’t say a word as he quickly helped clean out the damp leaves and bits of bark that Grunkle Ford dragged in with the strange reptile he’d found in the woods for study.
He wasn’t completely different, but he wasn’t completely the same either. “Bill Rune” was the best description for him. But even with the changes, there was still a lot of the old him left. At least the good parts. It was especially easy to see around his grunkle. The way that they talked or looked at each other. Lots of handholding, chess games, and long conversations about scientific investigations. As much as Dipper didn’t like thinking about Ford and Bill kissing— because it was like his parents making-out like teenagers or Mabel talking about how tongues are supposed to enhance the kissing experience according to the magazines that her friends at school passed around— it was definitely preferable to his grunkle looking absolutely miserable. He would put up with any amount of weird looks between them if it meant that he never saw Ford cry like that again.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, Ford had invited Bill to stay. And, after borrowing the phone briefly to call someone named “Steve” about taking care of his mail for a while, he agreed without any complaints about the sleeping arrangements. Bill had almost seemed nostalgic for the boiler room. Stepping into it almost hesitantly, a small smile tugging at his mouth as he looked at both the bed and the plastic stars. When he’d pulled out the book from under the pillow and chuckled, talking about how he’d found himself addicted to “Wolfman Bare Chest” and the rest of the series for reasons that he’d never been able to explain until his memory returned, Dipper had taken that as his signal to escape.
He'd settled back in. Not quite like he’d never disappeared, but like Bill wanted to be part of everything again and was going to work hard to re-earn that place once more.
And they’d barely had time to get used to the idea of the return of a new and improved Bill Rune before the entire family found out that Mabel had sent letters home. Specifically, they found out that while she’d kept Bill’s presence a secret like they had around Gravity Falls, she’d been more honest about Grunkle Stan. He and Ford had spent the day after Bill’s return on the phone. Dipper was rather impressed by how forceful his parents and Grandpa Shermie could shout through the phone. Ranting and yelling about how Stan had a heart attack and no one thought to tell them, all of them on the verge of driving straight up to Gravity Falls to check on him. Thankfully, Stan had managed to mostly calm them down by explaining that the doctor said it wasn’t actually a heart attack and that he was perfectly healthy. Which was technically true, but misleading.
They knew it was a real heart attack. A real and terrifying heart attack that nearly killed Stan. Dipper didn’t think that he would ever forget Ford doing CPR on him.
But Grunkle Stan was alive and healthy. Even his shoulder was gradually improving. And Bill was back, even if he’d needed to take the long way.
Everything was all right.
Dipper would almost describe things as going back to normal, but Gravity Falls was never normal. Less than a week later and they had new anomalies to deal with. Ford found his weird reptile that turned out to be able to turn into stone as a defense mechanism. A flock of miniature ravens tried to take up residence in the attic and they needed to both change them back to normal size and chase them out (though it might have been wiser to get them out first instead of trying to deal with the full-size ravens making a mess). And then he and Mabel were out later than expected visiting their friends, leading to an encounter with a feral, sharp-toothed, and blood-thirsty Kill Billy that had wandered closer to civilization than normal. They only escaped when they were lucky enough to run into Ford and McGucket, who used his ham-boning skills to confuse it long enough for their grunkle to get the jump on it.
The latter was a little dangerous, but all of it almost felt like a relief after everything else that had happened recently. Some normal Gravity Falls weirdness instead of… Well, everyone being miserable from loss and near loss.
Except for Bill introducing himself to McGucket as Dr. Rune and offering his help if the man wanted to talk sometime. That was a new level of weirdness. But he had a PhD in Psychology and if anyone would know about handling memory problems, it would be Bill. The guy spent billions of years poking around minds and over sixty years trying to remember his life as a triangle.
Warm summer days passed. Dipper and Mabel hung out with friends and had adventures, Stan went to his physical therapy and complained about it, and Ford and Bill tried to become reacquainted. New stories of an ordinary life in California, occasionally mixed with some of the less horrifying memories from a more triangular existence, were shared.
But summer wouldn’t last forever. They’d learned that lesson the hard way a year ago. August seemed to move like a flowing river, carrying them along.
Autumn was coming. And while Dipper and Mabel would have to go home and start school, decisions would have to be made about what would happen with everyone else when the summer was over. He could only hope that all of them knew what they were doing.
Since the event wasn’t also celebrating the town being saved from Weirdmageddon and Stanley recovering his memories, the birthday party for Dipper and Mabel didn’t have quite the turn out this year. There was certainly no news report about it. On the other hand, Mabel was able to play out their fourteenth birthday party with her brother the way that she wanted.
The large space that Stanford once designated for research and development back in the day had become a rather flexible and multiuse room in the decades since. And was apparently the preferred location for any parties for the Mystery Shack that weren’t outdoors; it was where they’d thrown his and Stanley’s party a few months ago. Just as they did for the party for the older Pines twin, the children covered everything in streamers and balloons. A few banners were added to the walls. The pair created a collage of photos of the two of them through the years courtesy of Mabel’s scrapbooks. A long table was covered in chips, cookies, twin bowls of punch and Mabel Juice, and a rather impressive cake that Melody bought for the occasion.
Once more, a large number of guests were children and teenagers. But while he and Stanley had been the primary focus of the celebration, this party was for their niece and nephew. Which meant that Stanford could watch proceedings from the railing slightly above the chaos. It was a lot of social interactions and he wanted to spend a little time with Bill.
While they weren’t exactly advertising who he used to be, Gravity Falls was relatively aware of Dr. Rune’s existence. They told a few people who had known about him as a homuculus— Pacifica had been more surprised that she didn’t recognize him on her own than him coming back to life— but it was simpler in general to let people meet him as an entirely new person. Reincarnation was supposed to give him a chance to live a new life unburdened by the weight of his past mistakes. It was why they weren’t supposed to keep their memories.
Stanford was grateful that Bill managed to reclaim and keep those memories. He was grateful that Bill found his way back.
Watching what looked like the start of a “silly string war” below, Stanford leaned slightly against Bill’s shoulder. He’d chosen the side with Bill’s real eye. He’d already figured out that Bill preferred that when they were relaxed and he might want to see facial expressions. But when dealing with hazardous situations like aggressive anomalies or crowds where he could bump into people if he was too distracted, it was better if Stanford served as a buffer on his blind side. Bill had a lifetime of experience navigating the world with one eye, but that didn’t mean it didn’t have its complications. He couldn’t just roll his eyeball to a more useful side anymore of his head. Stanford was still figuring out how to properly interact with certain aspects of Bill’s new limitations, but he did his best to do whatever was easier or more comfortable.
He had also learned that Bill was prone to a stiff neck by the end of the day. A side effect of compensating for his missing eye. Stanford was already contemplating where to research effective massage techniques to help with that.
“It looks like they’re having fun,” said Bill.
"Not as much as Stanley,” he smirked.
Despite still being dragged to physical therapy to help rebuild his physical strength back, Stanley was enjoying the fact that he was officially allowed to stop using his sling. He still needed to be careful not to overuse his shoulder, but it was recovering. He’d already taken the opportunity to give the younger twins a “double noogie.” Now he was getting some cake without the risk of dropping anything.
And Stanley had already claimed the right to drive on the way back to Piedmont.
“The kids will be starting school soon,” said Bill, perhaps a little too casually. “Students will be returning to campus too.”
Letting his hand slide across the railing to cover Bill’s pale-patchy hand, Stanford said, “We should probably discuss the more long-term future, shouldn’t we?”
“I need to tell the university if I’m going to… And you and Stanley have your boat. Your childhood dream.”
“We do. But Stanley and I have already contemplated the topic previously. We talked about everything before…” Stanford trailed off, grimacing at the memory of his brother’s collapse and Bill’s destruction. “Before things changed.”
Turning slightly towards him, Bill asked carefully, “Oh?”
“Shorter trips with plenty of time spent back in Gravity Falls between. We’ll have to bring the boat up to a closer marina than the one we left it in. We will also have to wait until Stanley fully recovers before risking any more strenuous adventures. But it should be an effective solution that will satisfy everyone. And since you are no longer trapped within the limits of Gravity Falls, you could even come with us on some of those trips as long as you don’t mind the close quarters with myself and Stanley both. Or you could stay here.” His thumb brushing back and forth across a patch of vitiligo, Stanford said, “I know that you mentioned trying to work as a psychologist here or working on scientific papers long-distance.”
“I did.” He smiled, looking a little relieved. “I could certainly retire from the university a few years early. I doubt anyone would be particularly surprised after my rather distracted and distant demeanor this past year. Though you may have to put up with at least a few visits from Steve and his family at some point. He’s remarkably difficult to dissuade. Maybe Question Mark can keep him distracted with the Mystery Shack.” Bill took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m just happy that I get to spend this time with you.”
“Of course, if everyone is going to continue living under one roof, we may need to do some renovations to ensure that there is enough space.” Using his free hand to gesture toward the room, he said, “Maybe converting this room into a different purpose or building a new addition? It should be far enough from the business half of the building that it shouldn’t cause problems.”
Smiling, he said, “That… sounds nice.” Bill chuckled faintly. “Of course, if you intend to do some renovations, you may want to consider rearranging the walls enough so that you can reach the underground lab through the living room or something instead of ducking behind the vending machine in the gift shop. That really wasn’t the most practical idea ever. Just asking for some kid with a sweet tooth to stumble on it.”
Stanford chuckled and admitted, “That might be a wise change.”
“I’ll need to return to pack my belongings and sell my old place. That might take a little time, so I could do that while you take the kids home. We could use the money from the sale to do the renovations.”
“Or we could use the treasure that Mabel and Dipper buried in the forest.”
Startled, Bill laughed. Stanford smiled at the sound. It seemed so familiar, but not quite the same as the manic and deranged laughter of the triangle that once haunted his sleep. It didn’t bring any feelings of anger, resentment, betrayal, or fear. It didn’t remind him of those painful and paranoid years. All it made him think about was happier times.
That was the point of the reincarnation. Second chances. Healing, atonement, and letting go of that old pain.
After a moment, Bill grew quiet. Quiet, a bit more withdrawn, and distant as he turned his gaze back towards the party.
“I think… I think that part of me was worried that you would… change your mind. About me staying around. I— He— I was horrible to you. I hurt you. Wouldn’t blame you if you decided that you deserve better than that.”
“Don’t do that to yourself, William Ambrose Rune. We’re moving past it,” said Stanford firmly. “I get to decide what I deserve. And as long as you want the same thing, I want you in my life. You’ve already essentially moved in. We’re certainly not going to kick you out now. You selling your place in California and bringing all of your belongings here? That would make it more official, I suppose. But it would not change anything that truly matters.” Stanford turned to face towards Bill more directly. “You are important to me.”
Smiling fondly as he turned back toward him, he said almost teasingly, “Important? That’s pretty vague.”
The familiar pattern of words. Expressing care, concern, and affection, all of that extra meaning hidden beneath the surface. Words that Bill originally used when he gathered the courage to risk being vulnerable. Just as he was the one brave enough to try kissing. Bill was the one who kept taking risks as he did his best to figure out his unfamiliar feelings. Even in the face of Stanford’s distrust and suspicion at the time.
Perhaps it was time for Stanford to be brave and face the intimidating unknown first instead. He took a deep breath, considered everything that he’d regretted not saying when he believed that Bill was truly gone forever, and proceeded forward.
“I love you,” said Stanford firmly. And when Bill stiffened and stared wide-eyed, he said, “Was that clear enough for you or…?”
Bill’s hands were abruptly cupping his face, the man kissing him hard and almost desperately. Trembling from shock, eagerness, nerves, or a combination of all three. Stanford pulled him close, his fingers burying into the silver hair. Not as long as before, but still long enough. The warmth was a change from the coolness of a homunculus. But he chased the warmth of Bill’s lips and basked in his touch. It was different, but it was still Bill. No matter how he might change, triangle to homunculus to human, Stanford knew that he would fall in love with him again and again.
“Yes!” shouted Mabel from down below, startling them into jumping apart. Both of them blushing heavily as they are abruptly reminded that they aren’t alone and that there’s an eager audience watching them. “Finally! I got to see them kiss! Mabel’s Summer of Love is an official success!”
Yelling up at them, Stanley said, “If you two keep suckin’ face like that, I’m getting the hose.”