A/N: Oi, I meant to have this here yesterday, but I got sucked into Pony Town and stuff. Anyway, I just finished converting this chapter, so.. yeah. It's hot off the press. xD I'd also like to thank NektannNeightyFour for favoriting this story! and also tanithlipsky for favoriting and following this and reviewing a week ago. Now I finally got the chance to thank them properly. :3
Also, keep in mind, this will be the last chapter for a while, so savor it. :3

With that said, READ ON!

A Triangle in the Stars
Chapter Sixty-Eight: I See Now…

Back at the Temple, everything seemed peaceful now, with Steven fast asleep. All of a sudden, Greg woke up and set about checking his son, holding a hand close to his forehead. He was relieved to find that the boy's temperature had once again gone down. Bill had stayed up, however, all that time, certainly not peaceful. His eye looked bloodshot, almost like he'd been crying. And he had been. He fell to the temptation, taken the chance to weep his feelings out while no one was looking. His cup was floating beside him, empty. Greg chanced a glance towards the demon, and stood up immediately, reaching for him, "Woah, are you okay?"

The demon blinked, eye widening for a second, and lied once more, "Yes. I'm fine. I'm just.. tired, I guess?" He shrugged, sounding a little weak too. He didn't think this would actually work though. Greg probably knew the difference between tiredness and tears. And he did, but sighed and sat back down, not pushing the subject.

Silence passed once again. It lasted several minutes. Until… "You're just so perfect…" the demon mumbled, rubbing at his eye. It just came out, and he didn't even realize it until it was too late. Maybe not even then. And it was probably too low for the man to hear.

Greg did hear it though, and his face scrunched up. "Uh… I don't swing that way, Bill…" he rather wished he was somewhere else, fidgeting.

"No.. not like that.." his brow furrowed, with more or less disgust and discomfort. The demon sighed. Of course, it'd be taken that way. Of course. But he wasn't talking about that anyway. He wasn't even interested. Nor would he ever be.

"Tell me what you mean. You've got something on your mind, something eating at you, don't you?" the middle-aged man looked at him affectionately. He seemed as much as a kid as the boy, to the rockstar.

The demon glanced at Greg, and his insides twisted. His parents never ever looked at him like that, and it once again killed him. The words then suddenly began spilling out, like the tears had, "This kid is lucky to have you. He's lucky." And then more tears came, and he choked on his next words, "You're just the perfect parent…"

He regretted it the moment he said it all, getting up and moving away as the mug crashed onto the floor. He felt like he was intruding. Steven was far more important than he. Greg shouldn't be worrying about him. He shouldn't be. He had his own son. The tears started coming even faster.

"Hey, hey, it's okay…" the man furrowed his brow softly, "I mean, jeez, nobody's perfect. I've… I've messed up with Steven before." He was smiling though, liking the compliments, but wondering why he was crying.

Bill sniffled, and wiped away the tears, growling at himself for breaking down like that. He shook himself then, "I.. forget it. Okay?"

He then hugged himself, hovering in the area. Greg shouldn't ever know. But he considered him a perfect parent. Especially compared to the ones he had. The demon mentally slapped himself, Stop thinking about them, Bill. They don't deserve it. They're nothing but shit underneath your feet…"

This hardly worked, but he pretended it did. But his eye was still bloodshot. It looked pretty bad, especially with that permanent dark circle. Greg didn't know how to approach this, but Steven sputtered, and coughed awake. He looked pale and sickly still, but he was able to sit up without too much trouble. The man immediately turned to him, a little worried but still smiling, "You okay, lil' buddy?"

Steven nodded, kinda smiling, but then glanced at Bill and frowned. He knew they needed to talk. Bill saw the look in Steven's eye, and nodded. He would appreciate it. He took deep breaths, even though he didn't need to, to help calm himself down further. At the same time, he hated depending on the boy. Why couldn't he just handle this himself?

"Well…" Greg looked at the two, standing up, "it looks like you two have something to talk about. I should go, anyway. You gonna be able to handle him from here, Bill?" the man glanced at the triangle, biting his lip.

He nodded, smiling a little, "Yeah. Thanks…"

The gratitude was partially genuine. He truly did help. Even if it nearly killed his well-being, at least Steven was doing better. He was beginning to understand that this was what empathy, at least Steven's empathy, was really like.

Greg nodded. "Well, don't hesitate to call again, if things get hairy." He smiled. "See ya, kiddo," And he headed out, waving.

Steven waved after him, weakly, "Bye…"

Bill waved too, and sighed. A weight had sorta been lifted off him just now. But he still felt horrible. He growled inwardly. Stupid emotions…

"So…?" Steven glanced at Bill, unknowingly breaking through his thoughts. "What's going on?"

The demon sighed, deciding to open up, "Greg.. he kept reminding me of what I didn't have.. should've had…" He clutched at his bowtie, with both hands, "I probably shouldn't feel that way.. but I do.. I can't seem to help it…" He blinked away the incoming tears. He'd broken down enough already.

"He didn't mean to, did he?" the boy held out his arms, too weak to stand up and hug him.

"Of course he didn't," he floated over and hugged the boy. He didn't need to worry about catching the fever. Or did he? he seemed more human than demons these days… he sighed, "It was just his presence.. how he treats you.. it's.."

He couldn't finish, choking again.

"This isn't about your parents, is it?" Steven asked, raising an eyebrow. A smidge of annoyance snuck into his tone, which Bill felt, and so he squirmed away.

His eye twitched, and he nodded, "Yeah.. it's about them again.."

He mumbled something then, probably a swear. When would they leave him alone? even in death they were probably laughing at him and his inability to deal. He wished he could kill them again.

Steven frowned a little, "Why can't you just forget? you're on Earth now—a whole new dimension. Bill.." he gently tapped the demon's hand, "this is a fresh start…"

"I know… I know.." the triangle sighed, "but it's hard.. it's hard to forget abuse.. hard to move on…" he looked at the portrait of Rose Quartz, very nearly crying again. "I'm trying.. honestly.. but it's so hard.. if I had a memory gun, I could just do that instead…" But he knew this wouldn't ever happen. To his knowledge, the memory gun used to destroy him was also destroyed. And he didn't know what it might do to him, to forget. Maybe he'd even get his childhood personality back. Or it could send him back into psychopathy. He wasn't sure at all.

"Bill…" the boy's eyes widened a little, and slightly regretted the tone he'd taken, and shook his head, sighing, "I hate seeing you like this. You should make yourself a cup of hot chocolate…"

He sniffled, "I did that while he was here…" he looked at the shattered mug on the floor, and at the unfinished mug Greg left behind. He snapped his fingers, cleaning up the mess, and then looked at the boy again.

"Oh.." Steven then began thinking a little, before he brightened up, "oh, have you had ice cream before?"

He had to think on this, furrowing his brow a bit, and after a while sighed, "Looooong time ago."

"I think there's some in the freezer. Help yourself," he smiled, gesturing slightly to it.

"Thanks, kid," he smiled, and made his way down to the kitchen. His realm didn't really have ice cream. It was more like a flavored cream. But this dimension's dessert was probably the same.. right? he was comparing them, mentally. Steven watched, and stood up, shaking, using the bed to balance himself. He looked like a simple gust of wind would send him to the ground. The demon reached the fridge and opened the freezer, grabbing the tub of ice cream. It was French vanilla. He hummed, and opened it, inspecting it. It looked very similar. He was so into this he didn't notice the kid trying to stand up. Steven wobbled, and took a step. He just about fell on his face, tripping on his own feet. He caught himself, with his hands, but scraped them. He would find it much harder to stand up from the floor as opposed to his bed.

Bill heard this, and immediately turned around. He gasped, "Steven!" and teleported to his side, helping him up as he made the tub of ice cream float beside him, "you're still too weak."

The boy sighed. "I know… I don't want to stay down though…" he then thought of an idea, "can I borrow your can?" He recalled the thing, possibly because of the sickness.

"Oh, sure," the demon smiled, summoning it into existence. He stared at it, and shuddered, remembering every single bad memory of his psychopathic days. He then handed it off, frowning a little, "I don't use it anymore anyway."

Steven took it. It was lighter than he expected, almost like a feather, but strong too. He smiled then, standing up on it, "Thanks, Bill…"

"You're welcome," that grin came back and got even wider, and he grabbed the tub of ice cream, sat on the bed, snapped a more or less giant spoon into existence and began scooping and eating. It was extremely chill, unlike how his dimension did it, but it was also extremely good. He hummed with delight. It was working.

"It's working, isn't it? Ice cream always helps me," Steven smiled, and lay back on the bed, setting the cane against the bedframe. Maybe it would do him better to rest a while longer.

"Mhm, it's delicious too," he stopped to look at the boy, smiling. "It's not like the ice cream back home.. which when I think about it now was more like a flavored cream…" he looked at the ceiling, rubbing at his "chin" as he pondered over this.

"Huh. You think you could make some?" Steven's eyes sparkled. He wanted some.

"Probably," he continued pondering, brow furrowed. "I'll have to make due on some ingredients because some can't be found here. Magic just doesn't do it justice…" He got off the bed, continuing to eat now. He thought it was nice that he was able to talk about this without breaking down. Then again, it was his favorite treat.

"Hmm," the boy considered this, and nodded. "Well, it can always wait. You good now?"

He nodded, but at the same time wanted to make it now. He knew the substitutes for the ingredients that had gotten destroyed along with the entire dimension. He sighed, but smiled, "Yeah, I'm good. Thanks.."

Silence then hung over them, but it didn't last for long. Steven broke it, sounding a little in pain, "What should we do?"

"Well, I'm not really sure," the demon admitted. But something came to him soon enough. He smiled, and began humming something.

Steven tilted his head a little, frowning softly. "That's… familiar. What is that?"

"It's that song you sung to me about empathy," he stopped humming for a moment, and then started again, his smile widening.

The boy thought on it again, and chuckled abashedly, "Can you sing it to me? I'm afraid I lost the words…"

The demon nodded, and took a deep breath. And then he began in a soft, gentle voice, swaying to the beat, "When I make someone happy, it makes my spirits oh so tappy. Do I see now? well, I do see now…" he was changing it up, however. Because he did see. He actually understood the concept. And he was proud of himself. Steven hum along, smiling softly. It was beginning to come back to him.

"When I see that someone's sad, yeah, it does make me feel bad.." he continued to sing, closing his eye, "do I see now? yeah, I do see now."

The boy hugged Bill, still humming. He wanted to break out his ukulele, but decided this was fine, but his eyelids were becoming droopier still. The demon hugged him back, swaying still, "I'll reach out, with compassion, to those hurtin', no more lashin', cause pain only makes it worse," he hit the high note perfectly here, and brought his voice down again, "and it'll only badly reimburse.. do I see now? yes, I do see now."

And Steven was fast asleep. It was like a lullaby, and the kid was still really sick. The demon opened his eye, and looked at the boy. He chuckled, and stopped singing, ruffling his hair. He returned to the tub of ice cream then, and turned his attention to the television, which was still turned on, but muted. He unmuted it then.

And so gentle, nice time passed; it was pure bliss, for both of them—a break, and it was just what they needed too, especially after Malachite. Peace and quiet, throughout the night. Pearl didn't come back out though, not even to check on Steven. She knew Bill was still out there, and would probably be staying. She couldn't handle that.

But Garnet could. Her stones on the door glowed, before it opened, and she stepped out. She looked up at the loft, and smiled upon seeing the absolutely sweet scene of Steven having curled up against the demon. Bill looked down at her, and she tossed him a thumbs up.

And, with no hesitation, he smiled.

A/N: And we reach the high, red levels of heartwarming once more. :3 It doesn't feel like a cliffhanger, but the story is still not finished. Or maybe it is, and I could put whatever occurs after this as a new story. Not sure. I'll have to discuss it with my partner. But maybe it'll be better if I just keep it all here. xD
So, the song from Chapter Thirty, or, um, Thirty-Two - forgot which - makes a comeback, but in a different way. Also, Ace had Steven and Greg, and I had Bill, Pearl and Garnet. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that. I really do. It's a perfect ending, in my opinion, especially since Christmas is less than three days away and a happy note is what we all need. :3

Speaking of that, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and since we probably won't have a new chapter by New Years, Happy New Year as well! let's see what 2018 will bring and I'll try to fix the earlier chapters in the meantime. :3 3