Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Eight years ago Bill had made a promise to his parents that he would use his knowledge to bring fortune to the family and set a reputation for the family name. The Cipher’s had always had an odd reputation in the small town in New Jersey known as Euclydia, the other residents would silently and openly judge them for having a son who was so strange and bizarre. Scalene and Euclid’s son, Bill, was born with an eye that was completely blind, and a long faintly yellow scar covering it and running down to his chin, odd triangular birthmarks on both of his palms, and bright yellow hair that could not be explained by the doctors- because if they took one look at the genetic history of both parents, there was no reason that Bill would’ve come out the way he did.

Bill did not understand why the other children made fun of him,  but he was also indifferent to their frequent taunting and name calling. Even as a child he always knew he was destined for something greater, and he was meant to make a difference in the world and prove that he was much better and could be so much more than his low life idiotic peers could ever amount to be. So if they made fun of him, why did it matter? He was better than them, and they all knew it. He was the top of his class in every subject you could imagine, every elective, every math class, every science class, anything you could name. Which made his acceptance letter into the top science college in Jersey equally less surprising than him earning an A+ on all his final exams, but his parents wept and threw their arms around him congratulating him anyways.

“Oh, Billy, make Mommy proud, okay?” His mother, Scalene, wept as she held him tightly. He recalled back on the memory, remembering that he was standing in their dimly lit kitchen and was pressed against the counter as his mother nearly strangled him to death with the force of her hug. He let her cry into his shoulder, and he couldn’t help but stare at the crocheted tapestry hanging over the oven that said “HOME SWEET HOME” with three little birds sitting on a branch, nuzzling each other fondly.

“I will, Ma.” Bill said, stifling his sigh of relief as his mother released him from her python-like hug. He stepped backwards and gave her and his father a soft smile, picking his bags up from the kitchen floor in his hands. “I guess this is it, huh? No longer gonna be keeping you two up with my late night studying and tinkering on whatever science project, it’s my roommate’s problem now.”

Scalene laughed through her tears, and Euclid looked at him solemnly with a smile on his face.

“Good luck, son.” Euclid said, patting Bill on the back. “We’ll miss you.”

When Bill left his childhood home, he knew that the yellow bird that was crocheted on his mother’s kitchen tapestry had left the branch. He wondered if the little bird had bigger plans like he did, or if the bird was undecided and flew around aimlessly. However, Bill knew that he was more set on his future than he was on anything in his life, so he was flying around with purpose and not aimlessly. College flew by like it was nothing, and Bill worked so hard that he could count more hours that he was awake than he was asleep, and he was learning more and more about the subjects he was beginning to be more interested in as time went on- the paranormal and the bizarre.

Bill himself was already strange and weird, with his eye and his hair he had been an outcast from everyone else at birth. So the idea of being able to study things that were as odd as he was captivated him, so he made plans to do something with his new interest after he graduated college. In 1974, the year he graduated, he had received a $100,000 grant for his anomaly research and to build himself a lab in the location of his choice.  He had chosen possibly the most strangest, weird, horrifying, and interesting place on Earth, the mother of all anomalies- a small town in Oregon known as Gravity Falls.

So this brought Bill to present day, November 9th 1976, driving in his yellow 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle along a scenic road with tall pine trees and dense foliage lining either side of the one way road. His radio was quietly playing “Rocket Man” by Elton John, Elton John’s voice guiding him into the new world he was about to thrust himself into. Oddly enough, Bill did not feel the slightest bit nervous about uprooting his whole life today and moving into Gravity Falls, once he had gotten the call that his cabin had finished construction he had practically leapt for joy and was ready to get started on his research immediately. He wondered what Gravity Falls had to offer.

On the side of the road, a large weathered sign was sitting among the foliage and trees that read “Welcome to Gravity Falls”, and Bill could feel the excitement in his stomach building up. He drove through the quiet town, taking note of the inhabitants and wondering if any of them knew the truth about this town or if they were all oblivious. Clearly they were all oblivious, because Bill did not believe that the man with a comically large handlebar mustache and a brightly colored button down shirt and tan slacks would be a secret genius that knew all the secrets of the town. As he was observing the dated architecture of the town and looking at the various quirky shops and landmarks, it dawned on Bill that he needed to go grocery shopping so he could survive his first week in Gravity Falls.

He begrudgingly pulled into the parking lot of the Gravity Falls Supermarket, “Where everything is Super! (And overpriced!)”. Bill put the old Chevelle into park, and stepped out of his car. He didn’t really eat much anyways, so he was walking into the store completely blind on what he needed to keep himself alive-( in his case, half blind), so he would just hope that the cabin had a microwave so he could heat up some Ready to Eat meals. As soon as he stepped foot through the doors of the supermarket, he felt an overwhelming sense that this town wasn't just the host of the strange- everyone here looked strange. There was a tall lanky man in the produce section picking up more oranges than he could count that had a shaved head, and an 8 ball tattoo on his left shoulder. The handlebar mustache man had reappeared, and was chatting up a storm to the tattoo man who looked like he couldn’t care less. Bill shook his head and focused on the task at hand, striding towards the freezer aisle and picking up a few pre-made meals without really thinking twice about what they were. He just wanted to get in and get out of here so he could immediately begin his research.

With five or four frozen meals in his arms, he stepped into the line to the cash register. Behind him, the 8 ball tattoo guy was tapping his foot with his bag of fifteen oranges clutched tightly in his hand. Bill kept an eye on him in his peripheral vision, moving up a space as the line slowly and surely moved up one.

“Hey tiny, what’s with the get up?” He heard from behind him, knowing that the voice belonged to the man with the 8 ball tattoo who was in line with his bag of way too many oranges.

Tiny? Bill thought, offended. He didn’t think he was that short, but now the tattoo guy’s comment made him feel ever so slightly self conscious.

“Excuse me?” Bill asked, turning around to face the man. 

“Your clothes. You’re dressed like you came out of some detective movie or somethin’.” The man chuckled, looking like he was about to double over from the laughter overtaking his body. Bill gritted his teeth, suddenly feeling more mad than ever. “You aren’t from around here, are you?”

Bill was starting to get frustrated as the conversation continued on, his grip on the frozen meals tightening. However, the man’s comment made him aware of how odd he looked right now. He was wearing a dark gray almost black trenchcoat, a cream button down with a black bowtie, a yellow wool vest, black pants, square glasses, and dress shoes. Huh. He really did stick out like a sore thumb, didn’t he?

He moved up one space once again as someone else checked out with their items, then resuming his conversation with the man behind him. 

“No, I’m a scientist. My name is Bill Cipher, and I’m here to research about your town.” Bill said matter of factly, straightening his posture as he did so.

All he got in response was a chuckle. “Wait, you actually came to Gravity Falls willingly? Good luck with that, kid. This is as interesting as it’s gonna get.” He laughed. “Name’s 8 Ball.”

I would’ve never guessed. Bill grumbled internally, adjusting his glasses. He placed his items in front of the cashier, watching as she rang up his many frozen meals.

“Nice to meet you.” Bill said quietly, putting on a friendly smile as he looked at 8 Ball. And he seriously doubted that this was as interesting as Gravity Falls was going to get, he wouldn't have poured a 100,000 dollar grant onto this project for nothing. It just seemed like 8 Ball was as oblivious as everyone else in this hick town was.

He quickly paid for his food, and grabbed the paper bag from the cashier. 8 Ball did the same, and decided to follow Bill out to his car. Great.

Bill fumbled for his keys, struggling to put them into the mechanism on the side of the driver’s side door. Please don’t talk to me. Please don’t talk to me. He repeated in his head as he struggled to open the door, being fully aware that 8 Ball was still behind him.

“Well, I can tell you’re in a big hurry, Bill. I’m not gonna bother you anymore, just thought I’d be the first person to welcome you to town.” 8 Ball said. “I’ll keep an eye open for all the science stuff you do here. Who knows, maybe you’ll manage to put us back on the map.”

At that, Bill smiled. He swung open his car door and placed the bag of food in the passenger's seat. Maybe he could make a change here, and maybe all of his work will make him such a big name he’ll be included in all the prehistoric landmarks that were placed around the town. “I sure hope so.” Bill said, climbing into the driver's seat and buckling his seatbelt. “Uh, see you around.. 8 Ball.”

8 Ball nodded with a grin, then walked away to his car. Bill started up the engine, and as he was backing out of his parking space, he thought about what he had said. Maybe you’ll manage to put us back on the map. His first interaction with a stranger in Gravity Falls, and there were already expectations placed upon him. It felt empowering. He already knew he was going to love it here.

On his way to the cabin, he played his music louder than usual, (this time it was one of David Bowie’s newest hits, but Bill couldn't remember the name), had his windows rolled down, and he was singing along to the lyrics he somehow knew when he couldn’t even remember what the title of the song was.

Fame (fame) makes a man take things over

Fame (fame) lets him lose hard to swallow

Fame (fame) puts you there where things are hollow

Fame (fame)

Fame not your brain it's just the flame

When he pulled into the dirt driveway, Bill took in the sight of the cabin. It was more like a shack when he noticed the size, but you could only get so much when you employed the only lumberjacks in Gravity Falls that were willing to build a wooden cabin in the middle of the woods for an eccentric scientist. None of that really mattered though, what mattered is that this place was suitable for his research and he wanted to start immediately.

He grabbed his bag of frozen food, and stepped out of the car and took a deep breath. He was too in awe of his surroundings that he didn’t even notice the bag slipping out of his hand, and in a flash, it dropped to the ground and its contents laid in the dirt as a consequence of Bill being distracted. Shit.

He bent down to pick up the packages, but they were quickly snatched by… something. Bill was taken aback as he saw a creature scurry away with his purchase clutched in its tiny hands, with what looked like a cheap santa hat perched atop of its small head and a pure white beard that reached its knees. Bill watched, jaw agape as the creature took one look over its shoulder and gave Bill a glare. “Mine now!” It said in a shrill voice, scampering off into the forest. 

Bill rushed inside, ignoring the fact that his car was still running and he was left without food for tonight. He would deal with that later. He fumbled around in the massive pocket on his trenchcoat and reached inside and pulled out a thick black leather journal that was empty, and grabbed a pen that was clipped to one of the pockets that was near his armpit. He placed the journal on the brand new counter that was near the window, frantically sketching an interpretation of the creature that had stolen his food. Messily written across the page in big letters was “GNOME”, and Bill proudly looked down at the page. 8 Ball was wrong. This place was more interesting than the man thought! He would use this journal to document every strange creature he came across (and possibly add more details about the gnomes once he found the one from the driveway and took back his frozen pizza), and he would make a fortune by proving to everyone that this small town in Oregon was more than just a place to drive through. It was a haven to all sorts of strange things, and Bill was the newest addition to the bizarre creatures that lived here. Satisfied, Bill shut the black leather journal with a slam that echoed throughout the unfurnished and empty cabin.

The fact that the sound echoed so easily throughout the cabin made a realization fall on Bill- in his haste to leave his apartments in New Jersey immediately to head to Gravity Falls, he hadn’t even considered the fact that the truck with all his furniture and essentials wouldn’t be arriving until tomorrow. He had nowhere to sleep, nowhere to sit down and relax, no television, and he doubted that the cabin came with its own rotary phone and phonebook. Oh. He thought, realizing that he was in a bit of a predicament. On top of it all, all of his food had been stolen by the thieving gnome, so he was hungry and without a bed.

“Ugh.” Bill groaned, placing his back against the bare wall and sliding down onto the ground. It was already getting late and he was exhausted from the drive from Jersey  to Oregon, so Bill supposed he’d have to just sleep on the floor and go without eating tonight. That was exactly how he wanted his first day in Gravity Falls to go. He couldn’t be too mad though, today was a moment in history of him discovering his first strange thing in the town! 

Bill gave in and removed his trenchcoat, pushing it against the corner of the wall and flattening it so it would soften the floor a little bit and he wouldn’t wake up with too bad of back pain. He reluctantly slid further onto the ground and layed down on top of his trenchcoat, noting in his head that he’d have to wake up and iron his trenchcoat and go grocery shopping again. Bill sighed, his eyelids fluttered and he felt himself drifting off into a deep sleep.

In his dreams, he saw the image of a six fingered hand and could feel it reaching out for him, even though the image was still and only flashed a few times in the void of his mind. Maybe he was imagining it, but he could feel a deep, gruff, and sophisticated voice calling for him. He could also see a vast, purple starry landscape in front of him, littered with scrolls and papers floating around with no purpose, globes spinning on their axis with no means to end their course, and what seemed like math equations dancing around him in circles. There were golden clocks and pocket watches that kept ticking but were all perpetually stuck at 12:30, the hands seeming frozen in time. Bill was too tired to look around more, which in turn made the image of whatever it was he was seeing phase in and out just like the six-fingered hand.

“Bill,” The voice called out to him. Bill was too tired to answer. He rolled around uncomfortably on his makeshift bed, making a few soft grunts as he adjusted himself in his sleep. “Bill, I have been watching you. You’re destined for great things Bill Cipher, and I want to help you.”

Help me later, I want to sleep. Bill answered, knowing it wouldn’t mean much because this was only a weird dream.

“Bill, I want to help you.” The voice repeated. Bill was starting to get a little annoyed. This was not like his usual dreams, and he was really, really tired so it’d be nice if he could sleep in peace. “Now is not the time for us to meet. My name is Ford. And I will come to you when you need me most.”

I’ll believe you can help me if you can make those moving guys come in faster. Bill joked, not really knowing how he was able to form coherent sentences and thoughts in this dream. Usually every dream was driven by something else, now he felt like he was in control.  But seriously, what’s happening here?

“You’re in the mindscape.” The voice, ‘Ford’, replied. Bill could see the dream start to materialize more, the starry landscape becoming more solid than it was a few moments ago. The papers and scrolls whizzed past him, looking more real and tangible this time, but whatever the voice belonged to was nowhere to be seen. “Like I said, it’s not time for us to meet yet. I’ll be watching you though.”

“Thanks.” Bill said, tiredly, also surprised to hear the words coming out of his mouth instead of from his head. Weird. “I think I have to wake up now. Will I be seeing you again?”

He heard the voice laugh. “Of course you will. Find me when you feel like you’ve reached a point where the roads end. And I will find you and make a path for you.”

Soon enough, Bill woke up tired and exhausted and didn’t feel well rested whatsoever. His back hurt really badly and his trencoat was crumpled up on the floor. He groaned as he sat up and walked towards the front door, feeling like every limb weighed five tons and he had to drag his feet with every step he made. He knew he had fallen asleep last night, but it felt like he hadn’t slept at all. He opened the front door, stepping back in surprise as he was greeted with the sight in front of him.

Over ten piles of boxes sat on the front porch, all labeled with the words that Bill had written on them himself a few days ago. Things just kept getting weirder and weirder, and Bill was living for it. He didn’t know if it was a coincidence or not, but he remembered mentioning to the strange voice- Ford- that he would believe that he wanted to help him if he made the moving guys come faster. He placed his hands on his hips, looking off into the horizon and catching a glimpse of a tiny yellow canary staring at him from a branch on one of the pine trees.

Bill knew from this moment that he was really going to like it here.

Chapter Text

Settling into Gravity Falls had been easier than Bill had thought, especially after he had been graced with the blessing of all of his belongings showing up to his doorstep a day early. He had immediately furnished his cabin to the best of his ability, tediously pushing his mattress upstairs at the pace of what felt like one step a minute, his body weight could only do so much when it was pressed against a king size mattress.

His room, the masters, was nothing exciting. He didn’t care much what it looked like on the inside, the room had its purpose and Bill was never much of a professional decorator anyways. There was a wooden desk placed in front of the window, which already had a load of papers messily spread across the surface of the desk, and his black leather anomaly journal being the only thing neatly placed on top of it all. There was also a large bookshelf that he had somehow pushed up the stairs and pushed it against the wall opposite of his bed, with all of his books and encyclopedias already put on it. (Everything was sorted in alphabetical order, Bill would not be able to continue with his day without knowing everything was sorted the way it was supposed to.)

He had also hung up his many framed degrees on the wall, not that he thought that anybody would ever visit and enter his room to view them, he just thought that seeing his own achievements when he woke up every morning would give him a driving force to go out and do better things. He would wake up and go, Get up and start your day, Bill. You don’t have those ten PHDS for nothing!

After he had moved everything into the cabin, Bill had gone back to the supermarket in town and had purchased the frozen meals that had been previously stolen from him the night before by the gnome, who he had still managed to catch yet. So instead of going out into the night with a trap and his journal in hand, he had begrudgingly walked up to the same cashier from yesterday and placed in front of her packages of  frozen pizzas, salisbury steaks, meat loaf, fried chicken, and literally anything else he could carry.

“Hey, didn’t I see you yesterday?” She asked, squinting to get a closer look at him. Under her gaze Bill shifted uncomfortably, not liking the fact he could tell she was studying every detail on his face, and taking an excruciatingly long time to study the scar on his left eye. She didn’t say anything about it though, she just laughed and started ringing up his items. “In fact, I think I remember you buying the same exact things, too.”

Oh, right. He reckoned that the same weird guy in a trenchcoat showing up to the store twice to buy the same things he bought the day before seemed a little suspicious, so he guessed he owed her an explanation.

“Yeah, but my bag got.. misplaced.” Bill muttered, knowing he probably shouldn’t tell her about his encounter with one of the forest creatures. 

She hummed, ringing up the last few of the frozen meals and  sloppily throwing them into the paper bag, making Bill wince. Did she even care that was his food that she was handling? Clearly not, because she threw each package into the bag more vigorously each time.

“Well, I’d keep a closer eye on your stuff if I were you!” She laughed, probably thinking that was the funniest joke she had come up with in a lifetime. Bill was not amused. He grabbed his bags from her and left in a hurry to walk to his car.

After that, the days seemed to blend together. Bill would wake up early in the morning, get dressed, grab his journal, and would walk through the forest searching high and low for anything he could possibly study and document. Sometimes he would find nothing and walk home empty handed, the only thing he returned with would be the dirt and mud that clung to his pants and coat and the occasional interesting rock he had pocketed to put on his shelf. Other times, Bill would discover something fascinating and would excitedly scribble a drawing of it and write everything he had learned about the creature. It was only his first week and he was already being enlightened in more ways than he thought was possible.

The black leather journal that he had been carrying around had been refurbished, only slightly, because Bill decided that one day he would publish his findings and possibly make a fortune off of his work. The black cover had been sanded down to the best of his ability, and a golden isosceles triangle glued onto the cover with the number “1” painted over it in black paint. The triangle was only fitting because of his odd birthmarks on his palms, and he supposed that plastering the anomaly that he was born with on his own book of anomalies made sense.

He decided to sit down at the desk in his bedroom and write an introduction page in the journal, in case anyone were to ever find the journal and wonder who was behind all of this. 

About Me

I suppose it would make sense to introduce myself. My name is Bill Cipher. I am the author of these journals, if anyone ever intercepts or claims these journals, you should know that is impossible unless I’m dead or you are a thief. Hah! Kidding. 

I moved to Gravity Falls in early November of 1976, I am a scientist from New Jersey who is fascinated by the strange and the bizarre. I myself am “bizarre” . I was born with my left eye completely blind, which was adorned with a pre-existing faint yellow scar running down from my eyebrow to my chin, bright yellow hair, and triangular birthmarks on both my palms. Perhaps it was destiny, because my own weirdness led me here. Who knew that being an outcast in high school had its perks? When I discovered that there was one place on Earth unlike anywhere else that was the hotspot for “the unexplainable” I uprooted my life and settled down in a small lumber town in Oregon to explain the unexplainable.

I plan to get to the bottom of the mysteries lying beneath this town, one way or another. 

Bill paused, tapping the page with the bottom of his pen absentmindedly as he debated how to sign off his page. He didn’t know if it was a good idea to include his own name in the introduction page, because there were so many malicious people out in the world that he feared what would happen if this ended up in the wrong hands. So, Bill picked up his pen and crossed out his name.

My name is △, and I am a scientist from New Jersey.

_________

December 13th, 1976

“So you say you actually saw it?” Bill questioned the tall and burly lumberjack, his journal open in one hand and his pen clutched in his other hand. He shook off some snowflakes off of the pages, feeling a chill run down his spine as he felt the temperature drop by the second.

The lumberjack angrily punched the nearest tree in response, causing the trunk to quiver and at least three squirrels plummeted to the ground. 

“Damn right I did! Saw it with my own two eyes!” The lumberjack shouted, Bill couldn’t actually really tell if he was shouting or if that was his usual tone of voice. “That thing ran up to the camp n’ stole all of our aftershave! Pesky little creature. S’ppose it was just one of them raccoons or somethin’.” 

Bill nodded, furiously scribbling in his journal. “Yeah, or something…” He muttered.

Bill had found himself in the lumberjack’s camp tonight not originally for research purposes, but because he owed them a favor for building his cabin. He had agreed to come down to their camp in December and help them chop wood for the winter with the lumberjack- “Old Sam O’connor”- and his family. It turns out, they didn’t actually need Bill’s help, they just thought it would be funny to try and watch him try and handle an ax and chop down trees. So it was purely by coincidence that the second Bill had his back turned, one of the creatures from the forest crawled out and caused a disruption in the camp.

“I plan to help you find it, Sam. And I can possibly trap it for you so you don’t have to deal with it again.” Bill said, closing his journal and stuffing it into one of the pockets on the side of his coat.

One of Sam’s children, a tall red haired boy with tons of freckles, (Bill remembered his name was Sammy Jr) snorted and spit on the ground next to Bill. Bill’s nose twitched and his lips curled up ever so slightly in disgust.

“Is he one of ‘em animal control freaks?” Sammy Jr eyed Bill up and down. “Looks a bit scrawny. Ya think they use him as bait or somethin’?”

The entire family laughed, but Bill was not amused. 

“Actually, I’m a scientist.” Bill corrected, but his words seemed to phase right through the boy. Go figure. “One of my majors is in biology, so I can probably help you identify that thieving… beast. Uh, animal.” He didn’t think the O’Connors knew the slightest bit about the paranormal or the obscure, so he had to use terms that they would understand.

“Do whatever you gotta do, Will.” Sam slapped Bill on the back fiercely, then he trudged off into his tent with the rest of his seven family members trailing behind him in the snow.

“It’s Bill.” Bill mumbled, knowing it wouldn’t get him anywhere in this case. 

He watched as the last of the O’Connors disappeared into Sam’s comically large tent, listening to the faint commotion of them all speaking loudly to each other. He knew that he would have to start scheming a trap almost immediately, because he didn’t know how long he could deal with Sam punching trees and becoming the leading cause of deforestation any longer.

“Well, we know that it likes aftershave.” Bill thought to himself out loud. He wondered if he had packed any in his bag, or if the creature was attracted to any shaving related product. He decided he was going to test this theory. “Let’s hope it likes shaving cream, too.” He walked as quietly as possible to his tent, and got down on his knees on the floor to reach for the bag he had brought for the camping trip.

Bill fumbled through the bag, and dug around for a bit until he pulled out the portable razor he had thrown in there ‘just in case’, not that he thought he would’ve needed it much, but it was always best to plan ahead. With a sigh, Bill pretended to shave his face, although his facial hair was typically nothing more than a stubble and the beginnings of a mustache, he had to make it believable that he was shaving so he could attract the creature. He reached down for his shaving cream, and-

Bill yelped as the shaving cream was torn from his hand, and felt a flurry of fur and wiry hair attack his face and all of his body. He thrashed around the tent trying to throw off his attacker, but whatever it was was not able to be shaken, and he fell backwards onto the floor with a painful thud. He panicked as he felt himself engulfed by the large amounts of hair, specifically around his face, feeling like he couldn’t breathe, and also his nose tickled really bad and he couldn’t get his arm from underneath him to scratch it.

“Get off of me!” He grunted, thrashing a bit more when he realized that his efforts were useless. In a last resort, he clutched the miniature razor he had in his hand and started vigorously scraping and scratching at his face to free himself from whatever hairy creature had taken over his face. 

After what seemed like hours of struggling and shaving, he finally broke free and got to take a look at his “attacker”. Staring at him were a pack of what looked like.. beards? They seemed to all be sentient, and one was clutching his shaving cream by the ends of its mustache. Bill stared back at them, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. The group of beards muttered something in a muffled language that Bill could not translate or understand, and with one last glance at Bill they scurried out of the tent in a flash of browns and reds all while still holding his shaving cream.

Bill tilted his head back, taking an extra moment to catch his breath and process what just happened. 

Was I just attacked by a group of vicious sentient facial hair? 

He sat up as soon as he heard voices outside of his tent, and heavy footsteps trudging through the piles of snow. And by the sound of it, it sounded like a lot of people coming his way. The flaps to the tent entrance were pulled open with such force that Bill could’ve sworn he thought that the tent was going to come down, and he was not even the slightest bit surprised when he saw Old Sam O’Connor staring at him through the crack, with a huge grin on his face.

“So you met the Beardcubs, huh?” Sam questioned, his huge smile not faltering a bit.

Bill was a little taken aback. Those things had names?

“The what?” He asked, shocked and confused that O’Connor knew about one of the anomalies living in Gravity Falls. He pushed up his glasses with his index finger, squinting a bit at O’Connor to make sure his eyes weren’t deceiving him and this wasn’t a fellow scientist that just looked like him. “You knew about them? And.. and you didn’t even bother to mention that there would be some beard creatures running around the camp?”

Sam shrugged, looking so incredibly nonchalant about the whole situation- it bothered Bill so much that he could scream. Was this a normal occurrence for the residents in Gravity Falls and they all just chose to ignore it? What was going on here?

“Well, I didn’t think they’d bother us while we were out campin’. Usually they only come during the summertime, but I suppose they had different plans this year. They’ve been bothering us lumberjacks for years, but I’ve started to take a liking to ‘em.” He laughed, which did not bring Bill any sort of comfort. “But ah.. don’t take it too personally, kid. Just thought you’d wanna peace of mind being out here. I didn’t know you specialized in all this stuff, I just thought you were a nerd or something.”

Bill facepalmed, taking an incredibly long deep breath. All this time he had been researching Gravity Falls, he had been under the impression that the locals knew nothing about the paranormal activity going on- but it turns out he had been completely wrong the whole time. Everyone here simply chose to put on a front of ignorance.

“Well, thanks for telling me anyway. If it weren’t for you, I probably would’ve named them beard beasts or something.” Bill said with a laugh. “Just.. tell me next time you see something like that, okay?”

Sam shrugged, taking a step backwards from the tent and removing his hands from the flaps of the entrance. He still had the same toothy grin, his long curly fiery red hair bouncing with every huge step he took. “See ya ‘round, Will. Thanks for coming out here to help the family.”

This time, Bill did not bother to correct Sam. Instead he smiled back at him, feeling very accomplished, yet confused. He had not expected to bond with the locals, especially not the ruthless lumberjacks who looked like they were capable of using Bill as a toothpick. But it turns out, maybe the answers to all of his questions lay deeper within the town- with the people.

Bill looked out of the open flaps of the tent and observed the snow gracefully falling on the ground, covering where Sam had left his big footprints with soft white blankets. He took a deep, wistful sigh. He needed help, and he thought he knew the exact person who would be able to. Bill fondly recalled on a sophisticated voice calling out to him in his dreams, who reminded him that if he ever reached a point where roads end, it would be there to lend a hand. He needed Ford.. he needed someone else who possibly had greater expertise than he did.

Chapter Text

Months turned into a year as Bill tirelessly continued his routine of studying and documenting the strange things the town had to offer, his journal was nearly filled to the back page by the time May had rolled around. He would usually come home late in the night and stumble around in the dark of the cabin, still being extremely careful to not knock down any jars that had been placed meticulously on their respective shelves, his limbs feeling heavy and weighed down by the intensity of his exhaustion or whatever pain the latest creature he discovered inflicted on him.

Bill thrived in it. The more exhausted he was, the more successful his studies were. He would rather come home exhausted with loads of new information than return empty handed, he could not possibly be seen as a failure when his university had given him a grant just for this. The last thought lingered in Bill’s head for a second, but he quickly shook it off and continued rearranging artifacts in his bedrooms.

Don’t think like that. He scolded himself, holding one of his several trophies he had amassed over the years in the crook of his arm, and a rag in his free hand so he could wipe the surface clean. All of these trophies and certificates were a reminder that Bill Cipher, a graduate from the top technical university in the country with four PhDs, was anything but a failure. 

As he placed the trophy back on its respective shelf, he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the golden surface. He frowned as he stared back at himself, the long thin scar over his left eye standing out so harshly that he was starting to believe it was taunting him. The truth was, Bill was starting to get desperate. He had so many unanswered questions that it was starting to gnaw at him and swallow him whole, and the one person he believed could answer all of those questions hadn’t bothered to show up yet.

Bill had searched nearly every corner of the town looking for a sign that the six fingered entity had left a mark, but there was nothing. Maybe the night he had encountered Ford he was so sleep deprived that he had imagined him, and now Bill was just running into dead ends over and over for no reason. But he knew that wasn’t true, Ford was out there and Bill had to find him. 

He took a few steps away from the shelf and fell backwards onto his mattress and groaned, rubbing his face intensely with his hands as he wallowed in his own frustration. He was starting to get restless, and that wasn’t good. Any undesired emotion would just get in the way of his studies. 

That’s how he ended up cruising in the Chevelle, gripping the steering wheel with an intense scowl on his face. The idea to leave the cabin and abandon his studies for a few hours had struck him while he was lacing up his boots on the edge of his bed, he was fully prepared to go out for a full day of another expedition. He could feel himself starting to zone out as he felt the rough texture of the laces between his fingertips, the motion of crossing and looping coming to him on autopilot while he stared at no point in particular in the distance. He couldn’t possibly focus on the work at hand in a state like this, he needed something to take the edge off.

So, he parallel parked outside the Gravity Falls tavern- because of course this archaic town had no proper places to park- and swung open the car door and began to walk. Just a few drinks and he’ll be in and out. He won’t look too weird sitting at a bar in the middle of the day in a trenchcoat, right? He didn’t have time to ponder the answer to that question. He pushed open the doors of the bar and was immediately greeted by the pungent smell of cigarette smoke and alcohol attacking him at every angle.

The interior was dark, dingy, and outdated just like everything else in the town. The only lighting was two dim yellow ceiling lights, which made the whole place feel like he had just stumbled into a dark alleyway he wasn’t supposed to be in. The bar, where the bartender had been leaning over and talking to a man sitting in front of him, was full and there was no stool available for Bill to sit. Bill looked to the right of him, and saw a pool table in a far corner with a small crowd of men huddled together.

Knowing that it would be a while until he was served, he walked towards the group of men, feeling small compared to all of their hulking frames and huge muscular arms that bumped against him as he squeezed through. Once he settled he noticed that all of them were watching a game between two guys, one who was huge, bearded, and ferociously growling and sweating in a large tshirt, and another man who was tall, smirking, and had a shaved head.

“Come on 8 Ball!” One of the men next to Bill shouted, all of them seemed way too overjoyed for a game of pool. He didn’t know it got this competitive.

However, the name 8 Ball rang a bell in Bill’s head. As he looked closer, the tall, smirking man looked very familiar. He had dark freckled skin, dark brown eyes, and a prominent nose. On his left shoulder, which was exposed due to him wearing a tight white tank top, he had an 8 Ball tattoo. This was the man from the supermarket who had welcomed him on his first day in Gravity Falls.

“What’s going on?” Bill asked the man next to him, who looked down with a grunt of acknowledgement before he cleared his throat. 

“If 8 Ball wins this game, this will be his third win in a row for the day. He’s something else, that’s for sure. He’s basically a champion when it comes to pool, just look at that leaderboard, man!” The man elbowed Bill with a laugh, and Bill could’ve sworn that his elbow made contact with three of his ribs and bruised them.

He directed his attention to the chalkboard that was crookedly placed on the wall behind the pool table, and he started to read the leaderboard. 

‘WINS FOR THE WEEK’ was written in big capital letters on the top of the board. Beneath it, it read ‘8 BALL’ with ten tallie marks placed next to his name. It was only Tuesday. The other players, ‘JAMESON’, ‘WRENCH’, ‘CALLIE’, and ‘SHARKBAIT’ all had only one or two tallies. 8 Ball was good, and judging by how the room exploded into cheers, he had just won.

A man went behind 8 Ball and gripped his shoulders. “Another win for the King of Pool!” The men all cheered once again, clapping and whistling in unison as 8 Ball looked out into the crowd and gave a sly grin. However, when he scanned the crowd and caught sight of Bill, something in his expression changed, his eyebrow raised in confusion ever so slightly.

The group of guys slowly started to dissipate, and soon enough it was only Bill and 8 Ball left at the pool table. 8 Ball was applying chalk to the tip of his pool stick, and didn’t even bother to look up from his task when Bill approached him.

“You’re really good,” Bill said, hoping that his words came out as genuine and not sarcastic. He hadn’t had a conversation with someone in a few weeks. 

8 Ball looked up for a brief second and looked at Bill. “Oh, it’s you. I didn’t expect you to come around to a place like this.” He said disinterestedly, returning to applying chalk to the end of the stick.

Bill rolled his eye and scoffed, crossing his arms as he continued talking to 8 Ball. “Don’t act so excited.” He said sarcastically. “I’m surprised you remember me.” 

8 Ball shook his head and laughed. He placed the pool stick in its respective basket in the corner, then walked back to where he had been standing seconds before. He placed his palms on the edge of the table and leaned forward, still having this mischievous smirk on his face.

“I mean, no offense, but I don’t think anyone can forget a face like yours. Not that it’s bad, you just aren’t really something this town has seen before.” 8 Ball lifted his hand and gestured to Bill’s whole body, making Bill frown at the gesture. “I’ve seen you around a couple other times, but you’re always running around and got your mind set on something.”

Bill huffed, and smiled a bit. 8 Ball was friendly, despite everything. Bill usually avoided interacting with anybody in Gravity Falls, but maybe he should venture out and talk to more people so he doesn’t look so much like a weird, lonely scientist.

“Well, things aren’t gonna study themselves. I’m a really busy guy.” Bill smiled more once he heard 8 Ball laugh again. 

“Oh, I’m sure.” 8 Ball walked away from his place at the end of the pool table, and stood next to Bill. “Busy guy like you doesn’t have time for drinks with friends, eh?” 8 Ball rested his arm on Bill’s shoulder, and Bill could strongly smell cigarette smoke and sweat as he came closer.

Bill felt a little embarrassed. He came to the realization he doesn’t have any friends, so an outing like that would never happen in the first place. “Well-” Bill was about to explain he didn’t have anybody to go out with, but he stopped himself. He cannot expose vulnerability to this stranger. “I usually just drink with my friends at home, but I stopped a while ago because I started getting complaints from the neighbors back in Jersey that the parties I was throwing were too loud.”

That was a complete and total lie. And for a second, he thought 8 Ball could see straight through him.

“Hm. Well, if you don’t like going to bars, why don’t we head back to my place and have a few drinks?” 8 Ball grinned, and Bill started to feel a bit nervous. He barely even knew this guy, and the only other conversation they had was at the supermarket a year ago.

What if this 8 Ball is a shapeshifter who took on the form of the real 8 Ball and is going to lure Bill into its lair and feast on him, because it wants to get revenge for Bill poking his nose where he shouldn’t have? What if he ends up making a fool of himself- no, he is not a fool. He never has been and never will be. He is too smart to be overthinking situations like this. But what if-

“Sure.” Bill said, and nothing more. 8 Ball removed his arm from Bill’s shoulder and clasped his hands together with an even wider smile.

“Great! That way, you won’t be so lonely and uptight. All you need is an experienced guy like me to be your friend and show you around town.” He didn’t even bother to acknowledge that Bill had already been here for a year and probably knows his way around just fine. He seemed way too excited to make a new friend and Bill didn’t want to burst his bubble.

“Where’s your house? I mean, I parked my car outside so if you wanna just hop in I can drive us there.” Bill offered, trying to be as nice as possible. 

8 Ball was already walking towards the door, but stopped and turned on his heel when Bill offered to drive them there.

“My house is just around the corner, we can walk there and be there in less than a minute. Trust me, I walk to the bar everyday and don’t even work up a sweat from doing it. I’ll get one of the guys to watch over your car while we’re gone.”

Bill did not question anything 8 Ball said, because it turns out his house was literally just around the corner. Who knew that a house would be built directly next to a bar? As they walked up to the driveway, Bill observed the exterior of the house. It was small, and was painted in dark red paint that was starting to chip away. The garage had multiple dents in it as if someone had run into it in the past, or maybe even recently. What was left of a potted plant was next to the welcome mat at the front door, it was withering away and was a sickly brown color.

8 Ball dug into the pockets of his loose jeans, and pulled out his house key. He inserted the key into the lock and opened the door, giving Bill a nod as they both walked inside. The interior was a reflection of the exterior, it was messy, yet homey. There were some places that looked cleaner than others, and other places that looked trashed like two people were living here.

“KYLE! GET OUT HERE!” Bill flinched when he heard 8 Ball suddenly yell. 8 Ball seemed to notice Bill’s reaction, so he turned to Bill and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Kyle’s my roommate. He’s usually busy with his band in the garage, but they all got sick with the rainbow flu.”

“What’s the-”

“KYLE! Oh, there you are.” A man appeared out of the hallway that was attached to the living room, trudging slowly towards where Bill and 8 Ball were standing. 

Kyle was short, skinny, and looked very pale. He had acne all over his face to the point it looked more like freckles, and he was so bony that his cheekbones looked like they could cut through paper. He also had deep eyebags and two visible smile lines by the corners of his mouth. He also looked very unamused.

“Who’s this?” Kyle asked, looking Bill up and down. His gaze was so piercing that it felt like Kyle was looking straight into his soul. “I thought I told you not to bring your friends from the bar home while I’m here.” 

Bill was trying his best to understand the dynamic between Kyle and 8 Ball. They were roommates, but Bill couldn’t tell if they hated each other or not, which was a strange concept to Bill since he remembered being the best of friends with his own roommate in college. Bill was determined to make a good first impression, even if Kyle had a tough outer shell and looked like he despised him already.

“My name is Bill, Bill Cipher.” Bill outstretched his hand for a handshake, a weak, friendly smile forming at the corners of his mouth. Kyle tentatively accepted the handshake, his fingers just barely touching the surface of Bill’s gloves, it seemed like he was trying his best to not make any more contact than he needed to. Kyle’s nose twitched and his lip curled upwards as Bill firmly shook the other man’s hand, he acted as if Bill had a disease.

“Pleasure.” Kyle said, his hand immediately returning to his side. “You look different than the other guys 8 Ball has brought home.”

Is that supposed to be an insult? Bill thought bitterly. “That’s probably because I’m not from around here, I’m a scientist. I’m from New Jersey.” This did not seem to phase Kyle whatsoever. Kyle moved past Bill and sat down on the small flower print  sofa behind them with a loud thump. “Uh, from a small town called Euclydia.”

8 Ball decided this was a reasonable place to chime in. “I met him last year at the supermarket. He was buying a ton of frozen meals, and he looked scared out of his mind when I said ‘Hi’ to him! We’re cool now though, right Bill?” 

Bill shrugged, not really knowing how ‘cool’ he was with 8 Ball, who was still kind of a complete and total stranger to him. He decided to take his place on the armchair that matched the floral pattern on the sofa, sitting down and feeling his weight sink into the cushion. He could feel Kyle staring at him. He desperately wanted to get out of here. 

“How’d you two meet?” Bill asked, trying his best to continue being friendly despite feeling very uncomfortable. 8 Ball chuckled, and moved from his position next to Bill and walked into the kitchen that was attached to the living room. As he listened to 8 Ball’s footsteps, he could hear the familiar sound of a fridge opening and beer bottles being jostled around.

8 Ball walked back into the living room carrying a six pack of beer, an unidentifiable logo wrapped around the base of all the beer bottles, which meant that these were possibly some Gravity Falls delicacy that Bill didn’t know about. 8 Ball walked over to Bill and handed him a bottle, a friendly grin spread across his face as he watched Bill examine the bottle carefully in his hands.

“Here, let me get that for you.” 8 Ball took the bottle from Bill’s hands, and Bill watched in amazement as 8 Ball did something he had never seen before. 8 Ball lowered the bottle down to his belt buckle, inserted the bottle cap into the small opening, and started twisting. In a matter of seconds, a loud pop sound filled the room, and Bill watched the bottle cap clatter onto the ground. 

Bill was impressed, he could feel his own jaw agape as he watched 8 Ball hand the bottle back to him with a prideful grin on his face. He took the bottle from 8 Ball and pressed it to his lips before taking a swig, relishing in the familiar flavor washing over him.

“Alright, so let me answer your question. Kyle and I were best buds in highschool,” Bill could’ve sworn he heard Kyle snort, however 8 Ball continued without acknowledging it. “I got into a lot of trouble in school and hardly paid any attention to my classes, and all my friends were idiots who would rather toilet paper our neighbors houses than pass our exams.”

Despite himself, an amused laugh escaped from Bill. “Really? I would’ve never guessed that.” He said teasingly. 8 Ball rolled his eyes and continued.

“But anyways, that’s how I met Kyle. I guess you could say he took pity on me, because both of us had kind of reached a dead end in our lives. He didn’t have many friends, but he loved music and wanted to start his own band one day.” He said, and Bill could’ve sworn he saw a faint smile appear on Kyle’s face. “My friends were jerks, and he helped me realize that I really only needed one good friend who actually cared about me. So I stopped talking to those meatheads and I finally started passing my classes. Then after highschool we attended the same community college, and now we’re here.”

Maybe it was the beer talking, but Bill could feel himself at ease. The energy in the house was no longer tense, it was comfortable. He no longer felt like he had to put on a front.

“I didn’t have many friends in school either,” Bill admitted. “I think it was because I was too much of a know it all that hanging out with me was tiring. And plus, being the only kid in school with one eye made me sort of an outcast. That’s on me though, huh?”

He was greeted by uncomfortable silence for a minute that he was sure he had shared too much. But then, Kyle and 8 Ball laughed. 

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that now, Bill! Now that you’re in Gravity Falls, we’re your friends now. So don’t ever feel like you’re alone.” 8 Ball laughed, walking over to the armchair and patting Bill on the back. 

Bill grinned, and looked to Kyle, who was genuinely smiling this time.

“Yeah man, you’re cool.” Kyle said, lifting the beer bottle to his mouth and taking a sip. 

Somehow, Bill had cracked Kyle’s tough exterior. Unlike his other accomplishments, which involved academics or tracking down some mysterious paranormal entity, he had succeeded in social interaction for once. Although he considered himself charming, he never quite got the hold of making friends or keeping them. He always either said too much or was too quiet and made people think that he secretly despised them. But now he had made two people genuinely like him, which made Bill warm with a strong feeling of pride.

“Thanks, Kyle.” Bill said, and then took another sip of the beer.

“Actually, you can call me Keyhole. It's a nickname that my friends have given me, and since you’ve gotten my roommate’s seal of approval, you’re good enough to call me it.”

Friends. Bill thought, feeling content. I have friends now.

___________

June 2nd, 1977

The day had been similar to any other, except this one was filled with more promise than he had in over a year. He had just finished crafting a device that sensed abnormal pulses of magical energy, and acted on a “hot” or “cold” system. It was actually just a refurbished barcode scanner, but Bill had been tampering with it for days to make it look more official and function the way he had wanted it to. He decided to set out on a journey to the dense, untamed forests of Gravity Falls to see what kind of traces he could pick up.

As he trudged throughout the forest, he had the magic sensor held out in front of him, watching intently as it assessed the energy in the area. So far, the scanner had picked up faint unusual traces of energy in the area, but it was so far away that the device gave off only a gentle beep. Bill continued walking forward, trying his best to avoid tripping on any of the tendrils and vines on the forest ground or randomly plummeting to his doom as a cliff appeared out of nowhere. “Randomly Appearing Cliffs”, is what Bill called them- a real phenomenon that occurred deep in the forests that he had discovered the hard way. 

While he was walking, Bill’s thoughts were disturbed when he heard a loud rumbling and a crackle from up ahead. Instantaneously, pellets of rain began to fall from the sky and relentlessly drenched Bill and the forest around him, washing away any last bit of hope he had. Discovering any kind of anomaly was ten times harder in the rain because the majority of them were scared of it, or it was their weakness. And Bill did not particularly enjoy the rain, either. His walking turned into a sprint as he desperately searched for any kind of shelter, but that plan was utterly hopeless due to how overgrown the forest was, and the cabin was miles away from his current location. He didn’t even know if the scanner was waterproof.

The severity of the rain only seemed to increase, and Bill’s movements were starting to become careless as the ground beneath him started to be slippery and littered with massive puddles. Just his luck, the one day that he would’ve probably had the greatest lead he’d have in a year it-

Suddenly, his foot got caught on one of the vines on the ground, and he was sent plummeting down the slope in front of him. He yelped, and tumbled for a few seconds before finally making contact face first with the ground, his pain was quickly replaced by aggravation as he could feel mud starting to settle on his face and enter his mouth. 

“Great.” He grumbled as he stood up, wiping off his face with the back of his hand. 

Then, he heard it. A very loud rapid beeping coming from below him. He picked up the magical  sensor from the ground, and looked at the display on the base of it, it was pointing him forward. He decided to follow it, and the beeping only increased the further he followed its directions to a… A cave? That was odd. Bill found himself standing in front of a cave, it’s yawning entrance beckoned him into its depths, and the rocks that formed the cave entrance looked so ancient that they were weathered down and fit into each other at awkward angles, as if they had been chipped away years before Bill had discovered them. 

Excitement bubbled throughout his body, and he could already feel his feet moving to rush inside the cave and discover what kind of energy signature the sensor had picked up. He fumbled inside of his coat and pulled out a flashlight, quickly turning it on so he could enter the cave. As he walked throughout the cave, he could only see as much as the flashlight’s faint light could illuminate, and all that he could see was odd inscriptions on the walls and old equipment like shovels and rope littered on the stone floor. What was even stranger was that the sensor’s beeping only increased the further he walked through the cave, and the display on the base was still pointing him straight ahead.

Perplexed, excited, and nervous, he continued on his journey until he couldn’t move forward anymore. He stopped dead in his tracks when he was standing face to face with a wall, there was nowhere else to go from here, and the sensor’s beeping ceased- had he reached his destination? Was there something behind this wall? He lifted his flashlight, and placed his hand on the stone wall, checking to see if there was a hollow spot that indicated there was another side to the cave. But as he kept on sliding his hand on the base of the wall, his flashlight illuminated something peculiar. His hand was resting inside of a drawing on the wall, which was a large picture of a six fingered hand. 

Bill stepped backwards, awestruck. He lifted his flashlight, and illuminated the full drawing. It was an ancient cave drawing depicting people kneeling in front of the six fingered hand, presenting the hand with offerings, and some were standing in front of the hand carrying spears, poised to attack. This is what he had been looking for this whole time, a sign that Ford had left his mark on the town and he hadn’t been imagining him! Beneath the hand was a warning, which Bill pointedly ignored, to not summon the entity at all costs. Then, there was an incantation listed that would summon Ford.

Of course, Bill read it out loud without thinking twice. “Sixum entangulum..” He continued reading the incantation out loud, half expecting the ceiling to split open or for him to start levitating. But, to his disappointment, as soon as he finished reading, nothing happened.

This whole thing had been a bust, it seems. He could hear the rain intensifying even more from the outside of the cave, and Bill realized that he was probably stuck inside the cave until the rain passed. With a sigh, he threw his flashlight and satchel in the corner of the cave, and pressed his back to the wall and sunk down onto the ground in defeat. He suddenly felt very, very tired. 

I guess it wouldn’t hurt to close my eye for a bit. He thought, and let himself drift off to sleep. This wouldn’t be the weirdest place he had fallen asleep in. 

When he opened his eye, he found himself in a place all too familiar. A purple, galaxy like landscape, littered with memorabilia like prisms and globes, and scrolls whizzing around him and dancing in the air. He took a few steps forward, pulling one of the papers from the air and examining it- and to his surprise, it was a thesis paper he had wrote himself when he was in college. He let it drop from his grip, and instead of falling, it floated back into the air and continued its dance with the other papers in the air.

He turned to his side, and gasped in alarm when he saw one singular eye staring into soul. A golden six fingered hand was floating next to him, it had one big eye in the middle of its body that strangely enough was adorned by a one lensed pair (could he call it a pair?) of glasses, thin black arms and legs, and a black tie beneath its eye. Bill knew very well who this was, this was what he had been searching for over a year. Ford. A shaky breath escaped his mouth.

”Greetings, Bill.” Ford said in a deep, sophisticated voice. “I was wondering when you would find me.”