-A Tale of Two Stans-(Part 2)

"Excuse me?" Ford muttered.

"I did what now?" Stan grimaced.

Kryptos pointed at Stan angrily. "I've seen those human movies!! When humans get into a bed together that means they've had sex!!!"

Stan paled and made a horrified face, the little dude was accusing him of some serious shit right now, while Ford blushed so much his face turned crimson red at the mention of the 's-word'.

"Kid, this is absolutely NOT that." Stan explained, still trapped as Bill's pillow. "We-We are even clothed!" He complained.

Kryptos growled "What do clothes have to do with it?" that's when Stan realized most of Bill's friends were essentially naked by human conventions.

"Because...Because when you do that, you need to have your clothes or pants off to-"

"Stanley, please, please Stop." Ford begged him, covering his face.

Kryptos didn't know what they meant but he was too angry to care. The human claimed he hadn't taken Bill's body in such a way. To be fair, he didn't know how Bill's species copulated and he didn't really watch that 'porn' stuff at all so he didn't really know how humans did it either. So maybe they really needed to be clothes-less to do it.

But he was still angry that they had taken Bill to their bed. Kryptos floated into the room and over to the bed. "Well, I'm getting Bill away before any clothes come off!" He huffed.

"Please, I've been trying that for 10 minutes." Stan looked relieved. His arm was already numb.

Kryptos gripped onto Bill's thin waist and tried to lift him up. Bill let out a sad whine and shifted, wrapping one arm around Kryptos and the other around Stan, pulling the compass down onto the bed as well.

"Ah!" Kryptos yelped as he was dragged onto the bed. He laid beside the human with his eye wide. Bill was laying on top of him and the compass blushed dark blue at how warm the chaos god was.

"Great. Welcome to the threesome." Stan rolled his eyes.

Kryptos growls at the human. Well. If he couldn't move Bill, he was going to stay here to make sure none of the humans tried taking their clothes off. He would protect Bill's chastity. Seriously, of all places to fall asleep! Kryptos was happy Bill had learned to sleep. They were all relieved that he could rest. But Bill's lack of experience with the subject (he didn't sleep very often after all) meant he would just...black out randomly sometimes. They've found him asleep on the ground before.

Kryptos looked up and saw the other human, damn they looked the same, do all humans look the same(?), but this one had glasses, smiling at him.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Um. Drawing you! I think you are fascinating and it is amazing how you work." Despite the portal thing, Ford hadn't lost his enthusiasm for the strange and the supernatural. He was a big old child.

Kryptos growled. "Well you better not touch me human!" if the glasses human tried anything he would pull his glove off and zap him.

"Oh, of course I wouldn't do anything without your consent." Ford reassured. "I just want to ask questions, that's all." He clicked his pen and smiled. "What are you?"

Kryptos grumbled. "I'm a Polytool. Do you humans not know anything?"

Ford felt offended, but decided not to say anything. "I know lots of things about my world...I'm a scientist, I study the supernatural." The young man smiled proudly. "Are you male or female? Or other?" Ford added.

Kryptos rolled his eye. "I'm male. Though Bill likes to pretend I'm a girl sometimes. He really wants a little sister for some reason…" Kryptos suspected that was part of the reason why Bill never noticed his feelings. It was frustrating but Bill's innocence in this subject was so...endearing.

Ford smiled. "Alright. I'm a man too." He chatted as he wrote down the information. "How old are you? And what is your species's lifespan?"

Kryptos frowned. "Well...I'm not sure how old I am. Bill cursed me with immortality a few hundred years ago. My species normally lives around 300 standard galactic years or so."

"300!?" Ford gasped. "I-I...I'm 24" He laughed sheepishly. "Now I don't feel so old…" He wrote that down, along with a note: Investigate how standard galactic years work.

Kryptos groaned and laid back in the bed. "Wow. You're barely out of toddlerhood."

Ford crawled closer to the bed and laughed. "I can assure you, um, Polytool, I'm not a toddler. I've been out of my teens for a while now."

"My NAME is Kryptos." The compass gritted out. "And wow. 24 and you're past adolescence? How short are your lifespans?"

Ford stroked his chin with his six fingers. "It is usually around 80. But people are starting to live up to their 90's and there are some cases people reached their 100s, but no more than that."

Kryptos muttered "What does Bill see in such a short lived race?"

"We are the most intelligent species on our planet." Ford replied easily. "We have gone to the Moon, and really deep into the ocean, and I am totally sure they'd be able to get to Mars! We also have really diverse cultures, traditions and invented laws and government."

"Diverse generally means uncooperative. How many wars have your people started among themselves?" Kryptos asked plainly.

Ford paused. "Um...you mean...Every country...or just in mine? There were 2 World Wars...My country saved the World in the second one defeating the German Army." Ford smiled proudly like the patriot he was. "I don't know much about wars in other countries...I know there were some in the Middle East, again, we are working on that, but…"

Kryptos laughed, there was no amusement in it "That just about answers my question."

"But...that doesn't mean it is because of diversity. It is because of economic reasons. Everyone is the same right now. Men, women, black people, everyone!"

"Well why don't your people share the resources and therefore, not have those economic problems?" Kryptos asked.

"Because the economy would collapse!" Ford exclaimed. "You can't just give stuff for free to everyone!" His father always said they needed to work hard to earn money. "Are you a communist?" Ford narrowed his eyes.

Kryptos looks over at him "What is communist?"

Ford opened his mouth to speak but...he didn't know how to explain it. What did they say at school and college? It was bad, yeah, but why?

"It is someone who wants the Estate to have all the control over market and the prices...It wants to establish common ownership of the means of production and no social classes...Not giving people freedom of speech and-and then everything goes bad...Like in Russia or Cuba."

Kryptos scrunched up his face in confusion. "So it's like the Federation?"

"What's the Federation?" Ford flipped to another page to write down.

"The main governing body in the multiverse. They invade a planet and 'civilize' it. Stamping out the native culture and establishing their rule. They claim to be bringing Order to the multiverse by connecting all the planets under their rule." Kryptos frowns. "They don't have full control over all their planets though, if the planet doesn't have the resources they want, they generally leave them alone." Why put in the effort if they weren't getting anything from it?

"Um...That sounds more like colonization or a monarchy." He read a book about the colonization of North and South America and it sounded more like the case of the South.

"Well the Federation devotes certain planets for the production of certain products and ships it out to all the other planets, thus distributing resources evenly throughout them." Kryptos absently placed a hand on Bill's back.

"Are you sure it is evenly?"

Kryptos laughed. "They try to. But there are a bunch of corrupted council members who will take bribes or stuff under the table to get more or less of certain things."

"Oh gosh, the rats are even in space, there's no way out…" Ford muttered.

Kryptos shrugs. "For the most part, many planets are still self governed by the native people aside from the Federation officers and government buildings. Things used to be a lot worse before Bill came along." Kryptos looked at his sleeping friend fondly. "Bill brought the leader of the Federation along with him to see some of the unfairness in their system and small changes have been happening to make things better."

Ford hummed and smiled at Bill. "He's... a very peculiar Bill…" The man with glasses commented. "If only I had met one as decent as him…"

Kryptos squinted at the human in confusion. "What do you mean? There's just Bill. What do you mean one of him?"

"Um, no." Ford shrugged. "In my dimension, Bill, not this Bill though, tricked me into building his portal to invade my world when I was just starting my research in Gravity Falls...He promised me he'd help me find marvelous creatures if I helped him...but he lied…"

"And have you?" Kryptos asked. "You're here aren't you?" He lifted himself up slightly on the bed. "I'd say he didn't lie." Bill wasn't very good at lying. He could bullshit easily but an actual lie? Directly? He was awful at that.

Ford blinked and after a few seconds he groaned. That son of a bitch! "He meant creatures from space! Not in Gravity Falls!" He pulled at his hair angrily.

Stan looked back and forth between the two. A lot of their talk had gone over his head but that was mainly because the warmth of the little demon on him was making him drowsy. "Something wrong Poindexter?"

"Never make deals without reading the fine print." Ford groaned.

"I know that. That was my first class at college." Stan grinned. "And I ain't dumb about that! If you had heard Filbrick when he talked, you would have known too."

Kryptos flops back on the bed. "Well, I don't know about this supposed other Bill, but my Bill talks a lot about stupid clients who never pay attention to the wording of their Deals. He says it's hilarious how dumb people are."

Ford pouted. "I'm a dumb client…" He whimpered and laid down on the wooden floor.

"You know, Stanley...this makes sense…"

"What? How come?"

"I never paid attention to Filbrick because Sebastian was distracting me...and it was Sebastian who threw us through the portal! You see where I'm going, brother?"

Stan resisted the urge to groan. "Sixer, can we please not get into this again…"

"Just saying…" Ford didn't want to talk about it either. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. If he had gone to West Tech, he would be busy doing other stuff, like winning Nobel Prizes, he would never have had enough time to think about the weird stuff in Gravity Falls, and meeting with Bill!

The rising levels of unhappy emotions made Bill whimper softly in his sleep. Stan instinctively reached up to pet his head and the demon settled back down. He was still making quiet distressed sounds and Stan began saying "Shhh it's okay...shhh…" as he rubbed his fingers through Bill's hair.

Kryptos pouted at the human's grooming behavior. Grooming, social behavior for strengthening social, emotional bonds between members of a species. "Why are you touching him?"

Ford sat up from his spot on the floor and looked at Bill. He was having nightmares?! A dream demon? He leaned closer curiously.

"He's scared." Stan told Kryptos with a shrug. "When someone is upset you usually try to help them feel better? Aliens don't do that?"

Kryptos peered at Bill. "We do...but...well...Bill only learned how to sleep like...a few decades ago. He generally sleeps near Xanthar or his... father." Kryptos sneered at the thought of the salamander "I've never seen him...distressed before. He doesn't sleep often enough that I see it."

"Fascinating…" Ford muttered and wrote that down.

"Should we wake him up?" Stan pouted at Bill's sad face. He was such a softie...

Kryptos nudged Bill lightly. "Bill?" He didn't want to jostle Bill too much, he was still skittish around forceful contact. Actually, now that he thought about it…

"Hey, what was your Deal with Bill? Why IS he asleep here anyway?" Kryptos asked Stan.

"Ehh…" Stan rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not sure Bill wanted you guys to know…"

Ford decided to flee and settle on the desk again, writing once more. Kryptos frowned. "Why wouldn't Bill want us to know? He tells us almost everything-" except about his own emotional traumas and problems that he really needed help in "-like he LITERALLY has no filter and just blabs stuff all the time." Which was another trait that Kryptos couldn't help but find absolutely adorable about the demon-god. The way he gets so flustered at his own lack of filter was so cute.

"Don't blame the messenger for the letter." Stan shrugged. "I made a deal, and I'll respect it or I could die because Bill's powers would force him to...kill me?"

"Punish you." Ford corrected from his spot.

Kryptos laughed. "Yeah. That's how Deals are. Mine was both incredibly simple, and complex. I'm...probably safe from any sorts of punishments but me...and the others, are still a little worried sometimes if we're keeping up our end of the Deal properly…"

Ford's head almost did a 180 degrees turn at the compass' words. "You made Deals with this Bill?!"

Kryptos shrugs. "Yeah. Bill gave each of us an offer, and we accepted. He didn't force it on us or anything, though he didn't precisely explain what the Deal fully entailed, but it's not a bad Deal at all."

Ford looked at the compass. "Don't talk to me all cryptic!" He was tired of that. "What was it!" He urged the alien to explain it.

Kryptos rolled his eye. "Not much. We agreed to be his Friend. From now until the end of time."

"Should have done that kind of deal when we were kids, uh Poindexter?!" Stan joked to his brother, but Ford seemed to be in shock. "Man, I was joking."

"Until the end of time…" Ford whispered.

Stan looked up at Ford. "Sixer? Are you ok?"

"Oh no...No, no, no!" Ford panicked and covered his head. "Fuck! I fucked up! I fucked up!"

"More?" Stan joked but Ford didn't even glare at him. "What happened…?" he lifted himself up, Bill's sleeping form still pressed against his chest. "Sixer...what did you do? What Deal did you make with your demon nacho?"

Ford started hyperventilating while his eyes watered. "My...My mind...He can get in my mind...Until...until the end of time…" He whispered, pulling at his curly hair nervously.

"Okay Ford, you're not making any sense. What are you talking about?" Stan tried to get up so he could comfort his brother and ended up having to pick up Bill and that Kryptos kid along with him.

The young man whimpered softly, scared and angry. "He can possess me, Stanley...He can use my body…"

"Ok seriously, please explain this to me? What was your Deal with your demon?" Stan had one large muscular arm wrapped around both Bill and Kryptos, the compass blushing as he was pressed right up against Bill's chest.

"I was stupid…"

"Sure you were!!" Stan roared but continued giving his brother the comfort he needed. Ford groaned and took a shaky breath. "I wanted to see everything in Gravity Falls, I wanted answers...I was amazed at everything I saw and I wanted to know where they came from...Bill-Bill appeared...he said he could help and told me about the portal...he was so nice and flattering I-I fell for his tricks...you would have never fallen for that...We made a deal, to-to work faster. He could use my body to work...whenever he pleased." A single unmanly, stupid, shameful tear streamed down Ford's cheeks. If Bill had been awake to hear Ford's thoughts he would have gave the man a stern lecture about how crying was perfectly normal.

Stan frowned. "Ok, so you get to play puppet, but what was your side of the deal? What were you getting?"

"Initially? The portal. He said it was a gateway to the weirdness leaking into Gravity Falls…"

Now Kryptos was frowning as well. "What were your terms? Your exact words when you shook his hand?"

"Um…" Ford sniffed. "It-It is a deal...from now until the end of time…" He was doing everything in his power to not crack.

Kryptos and Stan both stared at him. "Wow. You were the one to put a time stamp on the duration? And you chose, until the end of time, oh my angles…" Kryptos face palmed.

"WHY WERE YOU SO STUPID?!" Stan cried. He was worried, hell, he was shitting himself right now with the mere thought a dorito demon could possess his triplet!

Bill frowned at the yelling, stirring softly and coming back into wakefulness. "Hm…" he wiggled a little.

Kryptos and the others hadn't noticed Bill waking up.

"Ok, Stanford. How do you break that stupid ass deal?!"

"I CAN'T!" Ford shouted. "Didn't you hear?! I can't simply not fulfill my end of the deal! Or I get killed! Or worse!"

Kryptos furrowed his eye in thought "Theoretically you can break off a Deal. But there's specific conditions to do so...which would depend on the ENTIRE wording of the Deal, both your half and Bill's half."

The young paranoid man started rocking back and forth hugging his knees. He was doomed. He was doomed!

Bill slowly blinked his eye open. Huh? What was? He was sort of draped over someone's shoulder. There was a large flat-ish thing pressed against his chest that he realized groggily was Kryptos. Huh? Bill yawned, his sharp teeth on full display. "W-whuu?"

The three turned to look at the demon. Then Ford continued rocking back and forth.

"Why are you carrying me?" Bill blinked sleepily at Stan. He looked down at Kryptos pressed face first into his chest. "Oh...hi Kryptos~"

"Hi Bill…" Kryptos blushed. Ah...he really needed to get off Bill before he woke up fully. Bill looked around. "What's happening?" He yawned again.

"Ford can become Bill's puppet forever and whenever he wants so we are panicking." Stan informed Bill.

"Ah...cool…" Bill said sleepily. "Just dun...let him in yeah?"

"Yeah, sure!" Stan exclaimed sarcastically. "You heard that, Sixer! Haha, silly me! How didn't I think of that!" His smile suddenly disappeared and he deadpanned at the demon.

"S...metal...hard to get through…" Bill mumbled, laying his head down on Stan's shoulder. "An' barriers...like...the one I put around here…"

"A barrier?" Ford lifted his head from between his knees. "A barrier to protect my mind from Bill…"

Bill nuzzled his face into Stan and yawned again. "Runes...an...magical...unicorns…" he mumbles something unintelligible "...moonstones…"

"Oh, oh!" Stan exclaimed. "Ford, a tinfoil hat! Like those crazy goons wear! But something real, it exists right? Like, something to cover your brain?"

Bill giggled softly "Tinfoil makes things look fuzzy~" he starts drifting off again. Was having a nice dream about lines. Lines and lines zooming in forever and ever...

Stan decided to risk it and started shaking Bill by the shoulder. "I know! A metal plate!! A metal plate to cover his mind, skull, whatever!! As if it was tinfoil!!"

Bill rolled his head along Stan's shoulder. "Around the brain...cover the mind...it would hurt tho…" he sighed. "Run into a metal wall. Hurts me too…need permission..."

Stan and Ford shared a look. Stan didn't want his brother to be in pain, but he didn't want him to be fucking possessed, you see the struggle?

"I'll do it...But-But not now…" Ford felt he will have time for that later...But it was a perfect idea! It wouldn't let Bill read his thoughts or enter his mind! He eventually stopped rocking and gave Stan a hopeful look.

Kryptos managed to dislodge himself from Bill and floated above the two men. "You're both crazy." He said simply. "But...if you're really that dead set on keeping your Bill out, you've got a long and painful surgery ahead of you."

Stan sat down next to Ford on the floor and hugged him by the neck kind of harshly. " Don't worry, bro...Where we go, we go together…"

Ford gaped at the words for a moment before smiling.

Bill sighed happily. "...now kiss…" He slurred sleepily.

"EEEW! HE'S MY BROTHER!" They cried in unison with the same levels of repulsion at the mere thought.

Kryptos face palmed. "What the heck are you dreaming about Bill?" Bill giggled "Happy...feelings..."

Kryptos shook his head fondly and tried once more to pick up Bill, Stan easily handed him over, shuddering. "I don't want to know what he's dreaming about…" Kryptos managed to dislodge Bill this time and floated away unsteadily. Heavy. Though he would never say that to Bill's face. Or to anyone else. Or out loud. Or even think it for more than a split second.

"Well you two have fun figuring out what you're gonna do. I'm getting Bill to somewhere safe to sleep." Kryptos blushed when Bill latched onto him and began rubbing his cheek against his plane. Focus! Get Bill to Xanthar. The only safe place for him to sleep.

The brothers watched the compass shaped alien float off lopsidedly while carrying Bill.

"Stanley...did Bill just say he wanted us to-"

"I'll not hesitate to punch you in the nose if you finish that sentence." Stan threatened.

Ford stood up from the floor and sat down on the bed, staring at his hands. "Alright...We need a plan to make this work, ok? I'll ask Bill for the blueprints for the quantum destabilizer and then we will research where we can get the parts…" Ford narrowed his eyes at his brother's nervous posture. "What?"

"No-Nothing! It's not like Bill already put all that nerd information in my mind to keep you from hurting our own brother or anything!"

Ford narrowed his eyes. "You let Bill inside your mind?!"

Stan scoffed. "Please, Ford, I may be dumb, but I ain't stupid." He grinned and Ford stared at his triplet in deadpan. Stan continued, "He made an ET shit, like this! BOOP!" He poked his brother's forehead with his index finger. "And then I have the blueprints!"

"Well...tell me." Ford bent down to grab the Journal he left on the ground.

Stan's expression firmed. "No."

Ford blinked. "What? I'm not kidding, Stan. Tell me what it is."

Stan shook his head. "No Sixer. I promised Bill, WE promised Bill that we won't shoot Sebas...or anyone else with it. Just Bill. Not this Bill, your Bill."

"Stanley we don't have time for this!" Ford cried. "Tell me the freaking blueprints! You aren't the scientist! You have never built anything!"

"Yeah well, I may not have built anything before but I know what a Hexoganal-thread wrench is and I know we'll need one to connect the Disruption Socket to the base holster." Stan said.

Ford gaped. "That doesn't sound right coming from you…" He mumbled. "Imagine I-I just started speaking about microeconomics and macroeconomics! Or about business! It doesn't sound NATURAL!"

Stan managed a grin "I know right? Isn't this wild?" He frowned a little "The blueprint also says we need a plumbus...but it doesn't say why, what a plumbus is and what its used for…"

"The fuck is a plumbus…" Ford wrinkled his nose, upset.

Stan shrugged. "I guess we'll need to figure that one out ourselves. Maybe Bill assumed we would know what it was."

Ford pouted and crossed his arms over his chest like an upset child. Stan watched him amused. "Come on, Brainiac, you are still the genius...I just know this tiny thing."

Ford sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Right. Right! We just need to track down all these parts and build this thing."

Stan grinned. "Alright...And while we are there, we will get you an alien doctor to put on that metal plate."

Ford's determination decreased a bit. He wasn't a coward...but...he was? A little? "Yeah...and that too."

Stan placed a hand on Ford's shoulder and gave him a comforting squeeze. "Come on Sixer. You're not in this alone. I'm gonna be right here the whole time and we're gonna do this, together."

Ford nodded, once again determined. If they managed to do this, then they'd go down in history like heroes! They would save the world from the most dangerous demon ever! Stanford and Stanley Pines!

Yeah, he liked how that sounded…

"Do you think we'll see hot alien ladies?"

Ford managed a bark of laughter. "I'm sure we will."

"You know there's one here too. One of Bill's friends. A giant woman. Literally hot alien lady. She's on fire!" Stan laughed. "Mother of teenaged twins, looks damn good for her age too." He grinned. "She called me cute."

The triplets laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Ford looked at his brother with a raised eyebrow. "Going after single mothers now?"

Stan laughed. "Well...maybe not her. Apparently she eats her partners…" he shuddered a little. "Besides, I've got Carla waiting for me back home...so...I'm not gonna do anything for real with the hot alien ladies we find."

Stanford laughed and shook his head. Oh dear, Stanley was just like he remembered him… "I'm glad you think like that...I'd have snitched to her everything you might do."

Stan punched his shoulder and Ford cried softly while laughing. "You are a horrible brother!" The man without glasses laughed. Then he grinned mischievously. "Well, even if I don't get a nice alien girlfriend...there's nothing stopping you~"

Ford choked on his own saliva and his brother burst into laughter. His face warmed up and he shook his head. "Yeah...I'll pass."

Stan laughed for a long while and the two brothers stayed up talking and making plans until they both drifted to sleep once more. Dimension travel was stressful on the body. It would take them around 3 more jumps before they got used to the strain and no longer had to sleep so often.

---

"Is it really time for you to go?" 8-Ball sniffled sadly as they all stood around. Bill had informed them that he could feel the warping of reality signalling a portal forming sometime soon. They all quickly helped the two humans pack their bags, filled with bottled water and plenty of rations and other supplies (like rope, Bill made certain they had plenty of rope) and now they were saying their goodbyes before the portal opened.

"We don't want to-No, well, we want to, we are on a mission." Stan told his green friend. "But I'll miss you, guys! This reminded me of frat parties at college!" His eyes watered. How he missed those parties...

8-Ball began bawling, his odd eyes streaming blue liquid. He picked up Stan and hugged him tightly, the human groaning when he felt his spine almost crack.

Ford put on the six-fingered gloves Bill made for him and shook hands with the demon, who was in his triangular form. "Thanks."

"No problem. Just...try to stay alive. I'd hate to have to tell Seb you two weren't gonna make it back…" Bill said.

Ford resisted the urge to roll his eyes and nodded politely. "We will…"

"Don't take anything from strangers!" Bill said.

Ford DID roll his eyes this time. "We won't…"

"And make sure you check all food and drink with the Edibility detector…" Bill added.

Ford was groaning now "Yes Bill, I know."

"And if a person comes up to you talking about Bejus, tell them you are an atheist!" Bill continued.

"We know." The triplets groaned.

"And don't forget to wash behind your ears!" not even a joke, that cheese smell that develops would attract Sniffer-Mice and no one wants them chewing on their ears.

Ford facepalmed. Who knew Bill Cipher was a nagging mother?

Pyronica was laughing as she pulled on Bill's arm. "They'll be fine Bill." She stepped forward to poke Stan's chest, his Cursed clothing protecting him from any sort of burns.

"I'm unstoppable." Stan whispered in awe at his badass space clothing.

"Stay safe cutey~" Pyronica purred and Stanley grinned.

"You too, hot stuff."

Ford rolled his eyes and put on his goggles, Stan followed him seconds later. They clicked on the Dimensional Translator bracers Bill had gotten for them (which apparently cost a whole hour of head pats for Stan to pay off and had reduced Bill to a purring happy demon laying on Stan's lap).

The air around the room was starting to swirl. A tear was slowly opening behind them, sucking in the room around them. Bill had his hands stretched out to hold his friends back safely. "Be careful ok?"

"Are you ready?" Ford asked his brother, his body shaking with adrenaline.

"Nope...Let's do this." Stan nodded and with one last glance to the waving group, the triplets walked through the portal.

There was a near blinding flash of light and when it faded, Bill's friends blinking spots out of their eyes (or lack thereof) the two humans were gone.

"They're gonna to get killed." Pynelope commented.

----

(Back to Bill's POV)

I was sad to see them go. For more reasons than just the obvious. I was gonna miss my head pats. As everyone dispersed back to their own activities, 8-Ball sobbing loudly while PaciFire patted his back and led him away, I noticed Kryptos floating up to me.

"What's up?" I asked him.

He has a complicated look in his eye. He opens his mouth and then closed it without saying anything. I can tell he was struggling to find the right words. "You know…" He finally says "If you...want to snuggle...or...or something more...you can ask." He flushes "I, we, won't judge you for it…"

He looks away before glancing back at me. "S-s-so if you...want anything...physical...you...I...um…" He stuttered.

Finally he takes a deep breath. "Do you want a back massage?" He asked quickly.

I pause. There's a shiver going through my bricks. "Ah.." I wanted so badly to say yes. But...but…

Kryptos could see my unease at the idea. He smiles sadly. "Yeah, stupid question, forget I said anything…." He turns to leave and I reach out to take his hand. He turns back questioningly.

"I can't….handle a back massage...not...yet…" I say softly. "But...when I'm in my other forms…" I looked up at him "...maybe you could brush my hair?"

Kryptos lights up with a bright smile. "Sure! I'd love to...ah...you know...whenever you want!"

I hug him, cutting off his babbling. "I'm glad you're my friend Kryptos. I love you." I nuzzle into his plane. He carefully places a hand on my head. "Yeah. Love you too Bill." He says softly.

---