Epilogue

"Still stuck here, huh?" Dipper asked as he flopped onto the bed next to Bill.

"Unfortunately," Bill replied with a sigh, setting aside the book he was reading. "They said there's a lot of internal and external damage, it'll take a while to recover. They're having to give me a lot of antibiotics as well, apparently I have quite a few infections. Not really surprised."

Dipper chuckled as he looked over the various things attached to his partner, and up at the nearby heart monitor. "Well, at least you don't have to stay in the body."

"No but it heals more quickly if I'm in it feeding it energy. And I have to be in it enough to actually look alive." Bill looked at Dipper as the other's appearance shifted, eyes returning to their demonic shape and color, wings stretching from his back. "Getting used to your new body?"

"Yeah, I've been practicing flying with these bad boys." Dipper gave the wings a slow flap. "It's pretty fun."

"Great. How's your magic been?"

"My magic's been really good, in fact it's never been easier. I've kept the Shack open and have been doing shows in your place. People love it, but I think they miss you. You're much more charismatic than me."

"Heh, well, tell them I'll be back and joining in as soon as I can." Bill reached up to run his fingers down one of Dipper's wings, feeling the leather. "It's interesting that these manifested for you... nearly every demon can fly of course, but you actually having wings is pretty unique. I just use my will. So did Pavonis. I think in time, you won't even need these. They're probably mostly for show..."

"Yeah, I can still levitate if I want to. But I like physically flapping these. It just seems more fun having to actually learn how to fly, how I have to angle them and stuff like that."

"Oh, I totally understand." Bill moved his hand around to stroke Dipper's cheek, admiring his eyes. "I love how your eyes look now. Very pretty."

"Thank you. I think they look cool too." Dipper looked at Bill's eye patch. "It's gonna be hard getting used to you only having one now."

"Eh, that's the way my normal form is, I don't really mind." Bill touched the patch, which was white and square-shaped. "I think I'm gonna get a black one. See if I can make it triangular, hm?"

Dipper laughed. "Of course you'd want a triangular one. Hey, are you sure you don't want me to just try and fix it?"

"That'd be really hard to do. No, it's fine. Don't worry about it." Bill took advantage of how close the other was to kiss him. "Have you talked to Mabel lately?"

"Yeah, she's back to doing her normal work in college. But she said she'll come back in December. She said she's gonna send you a bunch of flowers, and hopes you get well soon."

"What a sweetheart." Bill cast around for another topic. "How are Soos and Melody, then?"

"Melody is still doing great, but she's really getting there. The baby is due in November, after all. Early November too, I think."

"Damn, so that's only a few more weeks."

"I know. It's exciting."

"Has she thought of any names yet?"

"Yeah. They really want to name her Carol. They're still deciding on middle names though." Dipper began playing with Bill's hair. "Carol Ramirez. I like how that sounds."

"It is a pleasant name. They should make her middle name William. Just... for no reason."

Dipper laughed. "You would like that, wouldn't you?"

"It's a good name." Bill sighed and shifted. "I can't wait to get out of this stupid bed, it's making my back sore."

"I can't wait until you're back home either." Dipper brushed his lips over Bill's. "I can think of something that'll really make you sore, but in all the best ways."

Bill gave him a cheeky smile as he pecked at his cheek. "Ooh, is that a promise?" One of his hands slid down Dipper's back, unabashedly cupping his rear.

"Mhmm... I'm curious to see how this affects my stamina." Dipper really wished there wasn't a blanket between them, and that Bill didn't currently have bruises and cracked bones.

"Heh... you'll have more energy than you'll know what to do with, I'll tell you that much." Bill was aware of how Dipper wanted to press down on him, and continued to tease him, hand pulling his hips down and forward a bit. "We could probably go for hours. Depending on how much I push this body, that is."

"Mm, we'll definitely have to test it." Dipper felt his wings curl possessively forward, casting the other into shadow. "It's weird, but... you seem more attractive than before, is it... because I'm a demon too?"

"That's exactly it. You're naturally more attracted to me because we're the same kind. So you're really going to want to be intimate with me, and when we do it, you're probably going to lose yourself to the lust. At least the first time. I've told you before, but we experience the Deadly Sins more strongly than any other emotion. So your lust is going to take over in the heat of the moment, and I look forward to seeing how you behave when it does."

This conversation was really making Dipper antsy, but he forced himself to be patient. "Yeah. That should be interesting. Um... how long are you stuck here, again?"

"They said I may be able to leave in two weeks. I'll need to keep physical exertion to a minimum, though."

"Screw that, the moment they let you out of those doors, I'm healing you the rest of the way myself."

"Sounds like a plan." Bill stretched, and said, "Got any plans for today?"

"Besides visiting you? Not really."

"Are you sure? You seem to be thinking about something."

"It doesn't have anything to do with you."

"Everything has something to do with me."

Dipper kissed him before getting up, eyes glowing as his features shifted so that he looked human again. "I'm just gonna surprise a certain someone that we promised a new motorcycle to."

Bill seemed surprised for a moment, then nodded. "Ah yes. Well, tell Gideon I said hi."

Dipper agreed to do so and headed out.

He didn't actually buy an entire new motorcycle, but rather, he obtained the one that Bill had crashed and paid for it to be fixed and repainted, so that it looked essentially brand new again. He drove it up to the car dealership while Gideon was working, waited patiently for him to not have any customers, and then took it right up to him and hopped off.

"Here ya go, good as new," he said.

"My bike!" Gideon wrapped his arms around the handlebars, then coughed and backed away, rubbing the back of his neck. "Um... thanks, Pines. Er, Dipper. Thank you. It looks great."

"I figured you wouldn't want a brand new one, you already seemed to have an attachment to this one, so I got it all fixed up. I put in a new radio, um... it sounds great."

"Yeah, yeah I see that. Thank you very much, I'll just... take this over to the building so it's not in the way." Gideon began walking it over to park it, and Dipper walked with him, not really having anything better to do. "So, how are you doing?"

"I'm all right. Trying to get used to these." Dipper stretched out his wings; he tended to let his demon features show while he was in town. So far, no one has really seemed concerned. He simply explained that he got into some pretty bad magic and this was just how he was now. He could give the full story later.

"Yeah, I reckon they're a handful. Is Bill doing okay?"

"His body is healing. It'll take a while though. He went through a lot."

Gideon nodded. "Yeah, I know. Well, I hope he makes a full recovery."

"He should. If not in the hospital, then I'll fix him up the rest of the way."

"That's good."

"Also, he wanted me to tell you hi."

"Oh. Tell him I said hi back."

"Sure."

"And you're still not going to... I don't know, report me?"

"It'd be kinda hard to prove what you did by now. No, I'm not going to worry about it. I'm not going to forgive you, but I'm going to put the past behind me. Besides, I had some fun a few days ago burning down the house you kept us in."

"Heh. Well I'd rather you burn that place down than my actual house. Hey, I get that you won't forgive me, but I just want to apologize again. I was really awful, but you know what? I'm gonna have to learn to forgive myself, and pray for forgiveness from the Lord as well, and just hope I can find peace."

Dipper squinted, but decided not to comment. "Well, good luck with that. I accept your apology, it doesn't make things better, but I accept it. Stay out of my way and I don't think we'll have any problems."

"Oh, of course. Um, I need to keep an eye out for customers, but thank you again for fixing my motorcycle. I really appreciate it." Gideon held out his hand, and Dipper took it, shaking his hand. Then he turned away and stretched out his wings, limbering them up in preparation to fly.

"No problem. Feel free to stop by the Mystery Shack for one of our magic shows some time... they're apparently pretty entertaining."

"Maybe I will. Bye, Dipper."

"Bye, Gideon." Dipper swung his wings down and took off, kicking up dust with the speed of his flight.

Rather than angle to go toward the Mystery Shack or anywhere into town, he instead kept flying up, closing his eyes and just enjoying the feel of wind rushing through his hair, the cold air surprisingly pleasant against his face. He didn't seem to feel temperature like he used to. He could recognize when it was cold or hot, but it didn't bother him like before.

When he was high enough, he tucked his wings in and went for a free fall, eyes still closed, grinning at the thrill of just tumbling downward through the air with nothing to stop him.

He opened his eyes after a few moments, leaning his head back to check where the ground was. The world spun wildly around him, but he could make out exactly how far away from the ground he was, and knew he had twenty more seconds before he'd have to do anything. He waited, and then turned so his stomach was down, wings spreading out again. There was a tug as the air billowed up underneath them, but he did it carefully, to avoid straining them. In moments, he had caught the air properly and was no longer falling, instead flapping to rapidly ascend once more.

He reached out to Bill with his thoughts, letting him know how much fun he was having, and got an enthusiastic acknowledgment from the other demon. There was a brief magical disturbance, and then he was startled by Bill himself appearing in front of him, in his triangular form of course, glowing brightly and laughing at Dipper's surprise.

Then he flew forward and took his hands, and the two spun around each other as they flew higher and higher, above the clouds, the world falling away below them, but they had eyes only for each other. And unrestricted by something as meaningless as physics, Bill was able to speed their flight beyond what Dipper had been capable of.

"How high can we go?" Dipper called over the rush of wind.

"As high as we want," Bill replied happily. "Neither of us need to breathe oxygen! We can just keep going!"

"Oh, that's right! I don't need to breathe!" Dipper has been breathing anyway, it was unconscious for him, but it occurred to him that of course he didn't have to anymore.

Bill looked up, as they were now high enough to actually make out stars. Then he said, "Remember when I said that we need to dance together more often?"

Dipper nodded. "Of course."

"Well..." Bill gave him a twirl, before pulling him up more quickly, and they could feel minor resistance as they passed through the mesosphere. "What do you say we just keep on flying, so that we can dance to a backdrop of stars?"

Dipper felt his face grow hot, and he leaned forward to press a kiss below the other's eye. "That's the most romantic thing I've ever heard."

"So are you in?" Bill asked with amusement, able to see a reflection of himself in Dipper's eyes and knowing that his body had taken on that ridiculous pink hue it got when he was feeling particularly affectionate.

Dipper squeezed his hands and nodded, pulling him close to himself as he moved his wings down more firmly and they finally made it through the thermosphere. "I'm in."