Chapter Text
Day 30
Ford walked down into the basement carrying two mugs, “Did you figure out that formula yet?”
A groan was his only response. Ford sighed. It had been a month since they started working together and the progress, while substantial, had halted. He wasn't sure when Bill had last gotten sleep, but Ford didn’t even have to get up close to see the bags under his partner’s eyes. “You should probably sleep.”
“You keep saying that word…but I still don’t understand.” Bill cracked a mocking smile.
“Knock it off, you know what I mean.”
“Hm, nope,” Bill kept typing away, stopping to sniff at an aroma in the air, “More tea? Seems counterintuitive to your request.”
Ford hummed an affirmative and set a mug down next to Bill, “Here, so where are we on this? Any luck?”
Bill picked up the mug and brought it to his face, murmuring, “Getting there…” he recoiled before he took a sip, “Is this jasmine? No, no, no,” he set the mug down and pushed it towards Ford, “That’ll put me straight to…you know, that word you like using so much lately…”
Ford laughed and pushed the mug back towards Bill, “Because you need it, you goof.”
“Needs are irrelative, we’re getting closer,” he slid the mug away, “I’m just one formula away from figuring this out. If you would help me out here…we wouldn’t be in a rut.”
Ford looked at the sheets of paper Bill had stacked, reading over the formulas, “You know…if this is all accurate…we can launch tomorrow.”
Bill smiled, “That’s the idea,” he said, “You think your friend will be able to help out with the data input?”
“I can get him to come by,” Ford responded, “He’d like to see the finished product.”
Bill chuckled, “Don’t think he likes me too much,” he mumbled, “He never stays long when he knows I’m here.”
Ford clapped Bill on the back, “Well, you are a little off-putting,” he said with a teasing smile.
“Thanks,” Bill drawled out, “What a nice friend you are.”
Ford shrugged, “Don’t take it personally, he’s just not very trusting.”
When Bill said nothing, Ford picked up Bill’s mug with a huff, “This tea used to be your favorite,” he said as he rounded Bill’s desk to sit at his own, “Now we have ten boxes of jasmine tea that are going to go stale.”
Bill didn’t respond, he only typed away and mumbled numbers and formulas under his breath.
Ford shook his head and set back to work.
Their tea went cold.
Ford was a few hours into his work when he yawned loudly, he wiped at his eyes, “Bill…I can’t do this anymore,” he said, “I’m starting to mix my letters and numbers together.”
Bill didn’t respond.
Ford turned in his chair to face Bill, “I can’t work without sleep so just…give me a few-“ He stopped when he noticed Bill slumped over in his desk, “Bill?” When Bill didn’t respond, Ford stood from his chair and walked over.
Bill’s back was rising slowly in even intervals which gave Ford some relief that the man hadn’t died at his desk from overworking and insomnia. Ford leaned over and chuckled at Bill’s sleeping face. He was out cold.
Ford murmured, “Guess you’re crashing on the couch, then.” He gently shook Bill’s shoulders, “Hey, wake up,” he said softly, “Come on…”
Bill stirred a bit and grumbled, “Times’it…?”
Ford shook his head, “Don’t know, come on,” he said as he tried to get Bill to stand, “We’re getting you to the couch.”
Bill shook his head and rooted himself to his chair, “Can’t work on the couch…” he clumsily grabbed a pen, “M’not sleepy…”
Ford laughed, “Sure, come on,” he hooked his hands under Bill’s arms and gently hoisted him up, “You’ll blast this place apart if you work like this.”
Bill didn’t argue but he protested grouchily all the way to the living room.
Ford guided Bill to the couch and sat him down. Bill just sat there and looked like he was contemplating going back down to the basement until Ford threw a blanket and a pillow at him.
Bill glared, “Oh you’re evil,” he said tiredly, “This is the pillow from heaven…if there is such a place…” he said as he rested his face on it and stretched out on the couch, sighing sleepily.
Ford smirked, “Thought that might make you reconsider,” he said as he turned out the light, “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Bill was already fast asleep.
Clear air. A little cloudy, but otherwise, calming. The creaking of a swing set. A ship set out to sail.
Then fire. Burning hot smoke. Lightning tears through the sky, ripping it apart to a hellish nightmare. The sky swells before it unleashes a firestorm of roars and screams.
In the distance, familiar, maniac laughter.
Ford squinted as a figure approached him in the distance, “Bill?”
Ford woke up in a cold sweat. ‘Just a bad dream…’ he rubbed his eyes and sat up. He groaned when he checked the time and saw it was only 2:30 in the morning. When he heard sounds coming from the living room he looked up curiously and then when he realized, he rolled his eyes.
Bill was awake. Ford hoped he didn’t bring their work to the living room. The mess didn’t need to spread like a virus all over the house.
Ford threw the sheets off the bed and headed to the living room to address it.
To Ford’s surprise, Bill was sitting on the couch playing with a deck of cards, arranging them strangely and making mumbling sounds. When Ford rounded the couch to look at Bill’s face, he felt himself freeze in fear at the sight of Bill’s eyes.
Were they glowing yellow?
Ford rubbed at his eyes and readjusted his glasses to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. Nope, still yellow. He slowly knelt down on the other side of the coffee table and looked at the cards. Bill had arranged them in ranking order…with the kings minus one eye. Ford leaned forward to listen to what Bill was saying.
“Yfim rg zoo wldm, wldm gl gsv tilfmw…”
Ford narrowed his eyes. Was his friend having another stress dream…? Ford reached over and tapped on the table, “Bill?” Ford nearly fell backwards when Bill’s gaze snapped up directly in his eyes. Bill’s stare was always unsettling. But this was terrifying.
A smirk crossed Bill’s face, “Yfim rg zoo wldm…gfim rg fkhrwv-wldm…”
Ford gulped, “B-Bill…wake up,” he stammered out, “You’re scaring me…”
Bill blinked and his eyes went back to their normal look, “Uh…” he looked around, “That’s weird…” he looked back at Ford, “How long have you been in here?”
Ford shook his head, “Like two minutes…what’s going on?”
Bill looked down at the cards on the table, “Couldn’t sleep, decided to play solitaire. Wanna play?”
Ford rubbed at his eyes, “Bill…you were making a lot of noise…were you having one of those dreams again?”
Bill was silent for a moment before he started playing with the cards again, “It’s fine,” he replied flatly, “I woke up feeling like to play solitaire. Haven’t played in a while…it’s a good game…”
“You were speaking something strange in your sleep…like in another language…” Ford said cautiously, “Do you realize that?”
Bill’s gaze shifted curiously and he shook his head, “I don’t know,” he retorted, “I probably wasn’t saying much of anything.”
Ford looked at Bill inquisitively before deciding that arguing close to 3 in the morning was something he didn’t want to do, “Okay,” he conceded, “Try not to make too much noise…we have to make sure our calculations are correct for tomorrow…”
Bill hummed but otherwise said nothing.
When Ford went back to his room, he closed the door and locked it.