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mothmansplaining

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"Stanford Pines. Leave a message."

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From:

tetractys

"NH-"

It doesn't even hurt that much, but the intensity of how they're looking at each other, the buildup, the fact that it's Ford, the fact that it's now...

Bill closes the distance again for a brief but very heated kiss. He had a faint hope before this that kissing Ford would make the desire better somehow, that he would dislike kissing him, get little enough out of it that he could call the need fulfilled and let the complication die. Instead it's made it much worse, somehow. Feeling what it's like to be touched and bitten and kissed by him has made the tense urgency in Bill even more acute. He has some idea of what's going on, although he can't say he's ever felt it himself, and he knows the solution has to be mined out of Ford. Bill wants to crack open his ribs and pull out the cure for this toxin building up in Bill's veins, and if it was as simple as that he'd have done it already.

"FORD," he starts, his voice low and slightly desperate, "I WANT-..."

From:

mothmansplaining

That sound and that tone cut right through Ford, clawing their way inside him and sinking in hooks low in his stomach. A clear-headed Stanford Pines might think oh, fuck, and try to cool off a little, because that feeling he had was definitely inappropriate. But there are a lot of chemicals swirling around his system right now, and he hears I want-, and staying back is impossible. Before Ford can say anything in reply, he's moved in for a kiss he can't help. This one's hot and a little loose and entirely uncalculated.

"What," he whispers, almost before the kiss breaks, keeping his mouth so close it's nearly still touching Bill's. "What is it?"

Now, Ford knows what people are usually asking for when they say I want-- in a tone like that and cut themselves off. He's familiar with the entire request being too forward, or someone being too awkward, or a setting being too public for the whole thing to get out. But it's Bill, and -- does Bill Cipher even fuck? He might not. He might be talking about something else, like taking this somewhere with a severed head that never stops screaming, or Ford's blood, or something. Who knows how much common ground Bill actually has with him when it comes to this sort of thing.

(Ford Pines's romantic self-sabotage instinct is still going strong.)

From:

tetractys

YOUR TONGUE CAN SHOW OFF BETTER THAN THAT. God, don't say that, he'll get shirty and insecure about his kissing and miss the point.

Bill's arm snakes out abruptly so he can neck the rest of his champagne. Okay. Go. Say something. Go. It's embarrassing, just bite the bullet. Go. Ford is so close to him, he's all Bill can see. The countdown to the end of the world, again, continues behind them.

Why are words so hard? Bill is good at words.

He makes a sound like a venting hot air balloon instead and kisses Ford again, frustrated and hungry.

From:

mothmansplaining

?? ???

The kiss is returned -- and it's very nice to be kissed like this, don't get him wrong -- but the way Ford moves betrays that he's been puzzled.

What is Bill asking for? What does he want from Ford that he isn't getting?

Ford has talked himself out of getting it.

From:

tetractys

Ah, for shit's sake.

Bill goes back to clinging when they finish, frustrated that this wasn't enough of a clue, his mind fuzzy from kissing and alcohol. He pulls Ford back by his hair, just a bare fraction of an inch, and holds up a finger - honesty please.

"DO YOU STILL HAVE DREAMS ABOUT ME? YOU KNOW THE KIND I MEAN."

This could easily be uncomfortable or mocking, but the swollen black mirror of Bill's pupil looks clouded with hunger and it's all sincerity under only a little bit of an alcohol slur.

From:

mothmansplaining

Oh god damn it, oh that's the honesty thing he just agreed to. Oh, shit, he's gonna have to--to answer, here, if he wants to keep this arrangement going. The embarrassment doesn't dispel the haze, though -- the look in Bill's eye, the hand in his hair, the fact that his face is still so close to Bill's, all of those keep Ford in the moment enough to answer.

"Yes," he whispers, quiet and hoarse.

From:

tetractys

"GOOD!"

A second of a beat, just to gather his thoughts; his light shivers.

"COME UP TO THE DREAMSCAPE WITH ME. SHOW ME."

He lets go of Ford's hair. Be nice. "PLEASE."

Bill meant that to come out brusque but it ended up way too pleading. Years of unresolved tension will do that.

From:

mothmansplaining

Giving Bill a straight answer there had been difficult. He'd had to pull it out of himself. It had been a risk -- it's an admission that would be very easy to make fun of.

Seeing a flicker in response, the feeling he gets when he's told good, both help significantly. He doesn't have the wherewithal to really process how much he likes hearing good while Bill's face is so close and Bill's hand is in his hair. This is for the best. That way lies madness.

But then Bill makes that other request, and Ford's eyes widen. "What, n-now?" he stammers, caught by surprise by the speed Bill's moving at. Once that surprise fades, other questions begin to bubble up -- does Bill just want to see them? Does he want to watch? How much of this is Ford exposing very personal fantasies he never intended to allow into the light of day? "Those are -- they're very personal, Bill."

From:

tetractys

A long exhale.

"I DON'T HAVE TO SEE THEM, I WAS HOPING WE COULD... MAKE A NEW ONE."

Like the other Ford and Bill? Yes? Except not like them, they're awful.

From:

mothmansplaining

Oh.

"You want to..."

Go to the mindscape. Definitely have mind sex. Right now.

"We only started kissing without mistletoe influence ten minutes ago," he says, more startled than anything. That's fast even by horny-alien-in-bar standards. "For someone who's capable of waiting for millennia, you're moving very fast."

From:

tetractys

Bill knows he's right and feels a little weird about it so he goes on offensive and rolls his eye up to heaven.

"I'VE BEEN TRYING TO GET IN YOUR STUPID ... TACTICAL PANTS FOR FIFTEEN YEARS. I'VE TAKEN YOU OUT TO DATES MULTIPLE TIMES! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO JUST SAY YA DON'T WANT TO, BUT THIS ISN'T NEW FOR ME. IT'S OLD! OLD LIKE YOU!"

Edited (wr0ng) Date: 2019-06-18 04:41 am (UTC)

From:

mothmansplaining

"Wait, what dates?"

This is new. This is very new information for Ford Pines.

From:

tetractys

"DIDJA EVER NOTICE THAT BOTH TIMES I CAPTURED YOU WE HAD DRINKS TOGETHER? ONE TIME I SANG YOU A SONG, AND ANOTHER TIME I OFFERED TO PLAY DUNGEONS AND MORE DUNGEONS WHICH I DON'T EVEN LIKE?"

That last part wouldn't have come out if not for the chemical help.

From:

mothmansplaining

"Those weren't dates, I was captured!"

And oh no, Bill just offered to play DD&MD to get close to him? ~~Are you a fake geek girl, Bill Cipher~~

"And how was I supposed to know you didn't actually want to play?"

From:

tetractys

Because Bill hates rules and DD&MD's rule books are absolute doorstops. But -

"I DO WANT TO! I WANT TO SPEND TIME WITH YOU."

From:

mothmansplaining

That throws Ford off for a second, because it's actually kind of a nice thing to say. Huh.

But he rallies.

"But I didn't know those were dates, Bill. You might have been on a date, but I was looking for a way to escape!"

From:

tetractys

Now, this is a mildly horrifying thing to say, but Bill totally breezes past all of that.

"I GAVE YOU LOTS OF BIG CLUES!"

He teleports to the piano bench and plays some clomping notes.

From:

mothmansplaining

"I thought you were just being infuriatingly classy!"

Drives him nuts how stylish Bill can be sometimes. They both breeze past the horror of being flirted with while afraid for your life.

From:

tetractys

"AWW, YOU THINK I'M CLASSY."

Eyelash flutter. Bill, you just kissed. Literally like a minute ago.

"BUT SOMEONE BEING CLASSY ON PURPOSE AT YOU IS FLIRTING! THAT'S IN THE RULES!"

He plays a flourish on the keys; QED.

From:

mothmansplaining

"Is it?"

Ford sounds very doubtful.

"What if they're just trying to rub it in your face that they have it all together and you're tied to their wall?"

From:

tetractys

Lol, guilty.

"WELL, THAT WAS HAPPENING TOO! YOUR SECRET ADVANTAGE IN THAT SITUATION IS THAT YOU LOOK REALLY GOOD TIED UP."

From:

mothmansplaining

Ford's face had just started to get back to its normal color, but whoops, all that work's for nothing now. He sputters.

"You were looking at me?!"

How is he supposed to feel about that? Ford has some very mixed emotions sloshing around his brain.

From:

tetractys

"I'M ALWAYS LOOKING AT THINGS!"

And that's the flippant answer, but Bill doesn't leave it there. He does a swoon over the keys.

"OH NO, I'M CAPTURED AND PINNED TO THE WALL BY A CLASSY AND HANDSOME GUY! WHO KNOWS WHAT ME AND MY HOT LEGS ARE GOING TO DO IN THIS STICKY SITUATION?"

Bill sits back up.

"AND THEN NEITHER OF US DID ANYTHING! SO YOU CAN SEE WHY I GET A LITTLE FRUSTRATED!"

From:

mothmansplaining

He's flabbergasted.

He is trying to think through the champagne and the years, to reframe some of his and Bill's big interactions.

Bill was a monster. An absolute monster. But he did tie Ford up a lot. Drinks were involved. Ford had been very worried about many other things at the time. But some of what happened is....suspect.

"Oh. Oh, you were flirting."