A/N: MOAR! oh? what's that? you want more chapters? well, here's one! Chapter Eleven! Chapter Onety-one! hehah! I hope you enjoy.

A Triangle in the Stars
Chapter Eleven: Dinner Time

Bill and Wendy stared at the boy, waiting for something to do. Steven smiled at them, "So, uh... let's just dry off and chill, or whatever. I'm dead tired." He yawned, and glanced at the sky. Dinner would be soon.

"Alright, dude," the redhead nodded, "I'm all for it."

Never mind the fact that the lifeguard she left in charge was probably waiting for her to come back and relieve him of his duties. Bill nodded as well, "It's been a rather long day, kids. We're due for some relaxation."

And this was said with no malicious intent behind it. He really was tired. That meltdown really did a number on him, and his albeit small uses of his powers didn't help much either.

Steven sat on the sand and watched the sky in silence now. Bill mimicked what he did, sitting in silence. Only he crossed his arms, watching the sky with a narrowed eye. Wendy sat down as well, watching Steven with a concerned and slightly uncomfortable expression on her face.

"Chilling. Chilling on the beach with my pals, Bill and—" he frowned and raised his head to get a look at the redhead. "Did I get your name?"

"Wendy. Wendy Corduroy," she smiled, erasing the discomfort and concern from her face. "It's nice to meet you, Steven." She then glanced at his gem, but largely ignored it. She'd honestly seen weirder things.

Bill was sullenly silent, though he was mulling the word "pal" over. After everything, this kid still considered him a friend? his eye was wide for a moment, as if touched, but then he scoffed inwardly soon enough, Idiot...

"Wendy. Well, Wendy, welcome to Beach City! ...assuming you're new to the weirdness here."

"I'd been here for quite a bit, seen lots of weirdness before. Nothing really fazes me anymore," the redhead admitted, still smiling. "Thanks for the welcome though."

"You're welcome!" he grinned, and then frowned. "Uh, do you like hugs?"

"Sure, man!" that smile got bigger, but then it flickered, "Why'd you ask though?"

Bill tore his attention away from the sky and settled his eye on those two, glaring slightly.

"Uh... some people around here don't really like hugs," Steven shot a sad glance at Bill, frowning a little. He shook it off and smiled, and went to hug Wendy.

Wendy hugged him back, "Oh. I see." She shot a glare at Bill, who happily returned it. The demon soon sighed, thinking things over.

He let go after a minute, with a sigh. "Did you know Bill before he was like this?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, man..." she answered. That was the only thing she said though.

"Oh... did he like hugs back then?" Steven thought Bill once was kinder, nicer.

Wendy shook her head. It was then that she knew what Steven had meant. She corrected what she said, "No. He was always like that..." and she thought to herself, and worse...

"Oh... but he must have been different before he met you, then. He's not a bad guy, underneath that tough skin of his," Steven smiled. "I know, I've seen change in him firsthand!" he had no idea that it was he who caused it.

Wendy was downright shocked, "Bill? change?"

She couldn't say a thing other than that. She, mouth slightly open and eyes wide, glanced at Bill, who narrowed his eye and tensed his body language, glancing away and askance. He growled out in a low murmur, "Don't read too much into it, kids..."

But he had to admit. He'd become slightly less, in Steven's terms... "mean"... since he washed up here. He didn't know what it was. But he hated it.

"Yeah... uh, you're a lifeguard, right?" Steven asked, frowning, looking at the sky again. Dinner would be soon. Maybe the Gems would be back early...

Wendy's eyes went even wider. "Oh, yeah! I am," she sighed, realizing she had forgotten that she had left one of the guards to take over her shift. She didn't particularly act on it though. The redhead wanted to stick around a little while longer, especially since she was distrusting of Bill and didn't want Steven to be alone with him. The demon rolled his eye at her thoughts, though they were all completely right and proper.

"Well, we gotta head home soon for dinner... I'm starving..." he patted his stomach, which promptly growled. "Maybe I'll see you around sometime?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah.." Wendy frowned, "maybe..."

Bill grinned, which caused the redhead to frown even more.

"Alright!" Steven got up and waved. "C'mon, Billy!" he called as he set off into the opposite direction of the sunset.

Bill growled, wanting to protest against that name again, but held it in. He got up and proceeded to float after Steven, but Wendy soon got in front of him, pointing a finger at him, warning him in a low voice, "I swear, if you do anything to Steven..."

"Heh, like you'd do anything," Bill brushed her off, grinning. "I'm still more powerful, even in this current state." He then lowered his voice, so that Steven wouldn't hear and so that it'd come off more sinister, "I could vaporize you without even batting an eye..."

Wendy didn't even flinch or falter or cower. She dropped her hand, frown deepening, glaring at him. Bill returned the glare, hands on his "hips". The redhead would wonder why he didn't just kill her already, but she realized that Bill wasn't really a happy-go-lucky killer. She was still standing merely because the demon wouldn't be able to cover it up. She released a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

They stood there, in silence, still glaring at each other...

Steven had realized Bill wasn't following him, and had come back to find the two staring at each other. He sighed.

"Hey! lovebirds! we have better things to do than stare at each other!" he grabbed Bill's hand and started pulling him along.

"We're not lovebirds!" both Wendy and Bill shouted, highly offended. The demon was apparently too offended to notice he was being carried away. The redhead put her hands on her hips, frowning and staring after the two.

Steven let go of Bill after they were a few yards away. "Sorry, Bill... but I'm really hungry. Like, starving, almost. Do you have any ideas for dinner? maybe... can you cook?" he suggested. Steven had been cooking all his own food for the past week or so.

The demon thought on this, and then nodded, "I can try. But I won't guarantee any of it will be any good."

He immediately thought of putting poison in the food, but pushed that thought out of his mind. Not yet. Or ever. He wouldn't be able to see the look on Steven's face when he betrays him, after all. Wendy kept staring after them, shaking her head, and then she sighed and proceeded to walk back to the pool, and then, realizing it was almost time for the pool to close, broke out into a sprint.

Steven smiled, "Thanks, Bill. Other than the lunch Sadie packed us for that picnic today, I've mainly been eating stuff I can cook in the microwave. Hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, popcorn..." he shook his head. "So it's a really big help!"

Bill stared at him, a flicker of something flashing in his eye for just a nanosecond. He scowled all of a sudden, but couldn't prepare a nasty retort to go with it. Instead, he just said, "Think nothing of it."

Steven said nothing to that, wallowing in his hunger. He fell on the couch when he got to the Temple, at last, but didn't sleep, knowing things needed to be done. He just rested there. Bill scanned the boy for a while before he took off the cycloptic eye goggles, gently tossing them on the couch, and headed into the kitchen, getting out various cooking equipment with his magic. Steven eventually stood and went to the bathroom.

"I'm going to be taking a shower real quick. Get off the sand and such," he smiled at Bill, and then there was the sound of water, and after, the sound of a door closing.

Bill nodded, and then set the equipment on the stove. He floated over to the fridge, opened it, and saw there was nothing but popcorn, hot dogs, all the things Steven mentioned earlier. He frowned, murmuring, "Oh... well, this simply won't do..."

In a rare act of kindness, he snapped his fingers and made steak and potatoes appear. They were going to have baked potatoes and steak for dinner. He prepared the potatoes and cooked them using a small microwave oven. He knew how long they usually took, so he sped up the process. He tossed the steak into the already greased pan and turned up the fire. For someone who'd never cooked and never needed to cook, he was a bit of a pro at it. He blamed it on observation.

Steven came out after half an hour, in pajamas, amazed. "What's cooking?" he asked, taking a deep breath. The air smelled amazing.

"You'll see, kid. I think you'll like it," the demon grinned at him. The steak was about done and so were the potatoes. The boy grinned back and got out two paper plates, some plastic utensils, and two real knives for the steak. And soon there was a ding from the oven. Bill turned off the fire and the oven, grinning. This made him feel good for some reason. A reason he couldn't quite figure out... and this time, instead of vanishing, it stuck with him, in a small corner of his brain.

Steven then sat on the couch, excited for this meal, for something different.

"Order up!" the demon chuckled. He floated the steak and potatoes over into the plates, and sliced into and dressed up the potatoes with butter. He glanced over at Steven, and then he floated to him, levitating the food over. He snapped two pieces of buttered toast into existence too, and set one on each plate. Bill soon reached Steven and gave him one of the plates and some of the utensils, before he sat down beside the boy with his own.

Steven dug in immediately, not as messy as Amethyst, but not quite as clean and neat as Pearl. After scarfing down the potatoes and some of the steak and toast, he looked to Bill with admiration.

"Thank you so much... this is amazing!" he exclaimed. "We could start a business or something!" he laughed, realizing he had hardly any such talent. "Or... you could..."

Bill grinned, his ego swelling up with the praise, "Heheh. I could, couldn't I?"

He ate politely, ignoring how Steven had little manners. He was slowly starting to get confused again though. That show of kindness back there... it wasn't him... and he didn't have to do this. And yet he did. And he had no idea why.

"Yeah, you could! you'd be great! man... if I could cook like you..." Steven shook his head, not sure what he would do with that power.

The demon then chuckled, "Oh, kid! you're quite funny with those grand delusions! I'm not sure you'll even have a chance!" and that was it. The mean Bill was back. But he wasn't quite sure if he wanted it this way...

HA! I'm just kidding myself! of course I want it this way! he assured himself, and then kept eating. Steven didn't respond, his mouth too full of steak to answer. Bill watched the boy, eating still. He huffed, almost taking into consideration whether he should make the boy choke on the food. But no. He wouldn't. Because of course he'd miss out on that wonderful, pained face Steven would have when he betrays the kid. The boy finished with the rest of the food without a word, and then yawned, setting the plate on the table.

"I'm gonna go hit the hay. Could you clean up?" Steven asked, his eyes drooping. He was already heading upstairs.

"Sure. Why not?" Bill frowned after him, having finished eating as well. He didn't want to do this. He wondered whether Pearl had felt the same way every time she had to clean up a mess. But for him, it was easy. With a snap of his fingers, the place was all cleaned up and the pans and oven were put away. He chuckled, wondering why he even complained, and then yawned. This reminded him of his own tiredness, and his eye even drooped like Steven's.

Was he really getting sleepy? this wasn't good. And his tiredness from using his powers would prevent him from turning another one of Steven's dreams into nightmares. He looked up towards the attic, eye narrowed.

Steven was already asleep, in his bed, all curled up within his blankets. Bill floated up towards the attic, and yawned again. He watched the boy's chest heave as he breathed. The demon then remembered. He was supposed to tell him where he came from. But he decided it'd wait till tomorrow. They were both too tired, as hard as it was for Bill to believe it applied to himself too. He settled into bed, next to one of Steven's stuffed animals, and lay there. Eventually, his eye fluttering closed, he fell into a dreamless sleep...

A/N: Aaaaand there's Chapter Eleven! I hope you enjoyed it! I provided Wendy and Bill, and Ace was Steven. She was wonderful! and I hope you think this chapter was wonderful too! by the way, this is one of those pivotal chapters. Just letting ya know. :3
And, with that, I'll see you next week with the next one! unless, of course, you have some reviews to send my way. X3
P.S.: This chapter contains an aneurysm moment - something that is now considered "moot" or "funny" because of an episode or other canon material that came out after that something. I'll see if you can find it. XD I'll give you a hint: this was RP'd way before Summer of Steven, and the episode in particular is near the end of that event. XP