Chapter Text
Dipper had to say something. After one too many sleepless nights moving the pictures around on his conspiracy board, he realized he had to talk to Stan about the VHS tape he and Mabel accidentally stumbled across.
He decided to broach the topic the next day after the Mystery Shack had closed for the evening, while he was sweeping the gift shop and Stan was counting the money in the cash register.
It was just the two of them left. Soos and Wendy had already gone home, and Mabel was out with Candy and Grenda. Dipper would have preferred not to have to have this conversation alone, but Mabel thought it was best to wait until Grunkle Stan brought up the topic on his own. But that day wasn’t ever going to come, and Dipper needed answers. If need be, he would get them behind his sister’s back.
“Grunkle Stan?”
“What?”
This was a bad idea. A very bad idea.
“Mabel and I found something last week that I wanted to ask you about.”
Stan lifted his eyes from the handful of cash in front of him. There was no turning back now.
“There’s this VHS tape from a long time ago? Were you… possessed by a demon?”
His grunkle looked at him blankly for a moment before bursting out laughing. “Kid, you gotta stop watching them scary movies. You’re gonna give yourself nightmares.”
“This was real!”
“Demons are just a bunch of made up hooey to scare kids like you.”
“So you were just pretending to be possessed?”
“Of course,” Stan said with a shrug.
“Why?”
“Advertisement for the Mystery Shack.”
Dipper took a deep breath before asking the thing he most needed to know. “What do you know about Bill?”
“Who?”
“Bill Cipher. The demon. In the video.”
“I don’t remember. This area’s got all sorts of ghost stories.”
“Did you summon him? Did you make a deal with him?”
“What? No. I just told you, demons aren’t real.”
“You can tell me the truth,” Dipper said. “I know I get scared easily, but I can handle it.” He needed Stan to confirm what he already thought was true: that he, too, had been possessed by Bill.
But maybe it really was just some yellow contact lenses and a dumb advertisement.
“Was there an attraction in the Mystery Shack about Bill?”
“Yeah, yeah, it was a whole thing. Scared the kids too much though, so I had to get rid of it. I had to learn the hard way that horrifying demons weren’t gonna be a bestseller in family friendly entertainment.”
Something was off. Stan was lying. Dipper would assume he was trying to hide the truth, but really he just seemed clueless.
“Bill doesn’t look terrifying. By appearance, he’s less scary than literally every attraction you currently have.”
“Look, when I said terrifying, I just mean, uh… It was the religious zealots that got all up in arms about the demon stuff. Crowded outside the Shack with signs protesting. Much better advertising than I could do!”
“Grunkle Stan, what does Bill look like?”
“What’s with all the questions, kid?”
“I’ll give you a hint: his image is all over this house. It’s in this room right now.” He stepped to the side so the rug with Bill on it would be in Stan’s view.
“Okay, so I didn’t get rid of everything. Like you said, it wasn’t scary.”
Dipper wanted to scream. He wished he had Mabel for backup. He hated talking in circles like this. Why couldn’t Stan just tell him the truth? He could handle it!
“You don’t know what Bill looks like, but there’s video footage, which you claim is an advertisement, where you’re possessed by him.”
“Look, kid. I did a lot of crazy stuff back in the day. Getting this place up and running involved a lot of trial and error, and I’ve forgotten about more attractions than you could imagine. I forgot about the wax figures until you kids found ‘em. I’m an old man. My memory isn’t what it used to be. Maybe I should take a look at the tape and see if it jogs any memories.”
“I don’t want to bring back bad memories. Maybe there’s a reason you forgot them.”
“Dipper, the only things that still frighten me are jumpscares and my own father. I’m not gonna run screaming from my old home videos.”
“If it jogs any memories, will you tell me?” He needed Stan to remember and to talk to him. He needed someone who understood the true extent of how scary Bill was. But maybe Bill was only ever a spooky story to Stan. Maybe Dipper truly was alone.
“Sure.”
“Even if they’re bad things?” Dipper wanted so badly to tell Stan about his own horrifying experiences, but he needed the reassurance that he wouldn’t be laughed at for it. The worst thing he could imagine was opening up about the fears constantly tormenting him only to be met with laughter and joke after joke at his expense.
Stan shrugged. “I promise I’ll tell you if I remember anything about this demon giving you nightmares.”
“How did you know about my nightmares?” Dipper asked as he handed the VHS tape over.
“You don’t become the best poker player in Vegas without learning how to read people.”
“If you were the best poker player in Vegas, why do you run this place?”
“I think it’s past your bedtime, kid.”