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1. Denial
Stan Marsh and Kyle Broflovski were friends. Best friends. Super best friends, even.
Stan Marsh was not gay for Kyle Broflovski, no matter what everyone said or thought about him.
The fact that they spent a lot of time together didn’t mean they were interested in each other like that; the fact that they went out to the movies just the two of them, or went out to the arcade just the two of them, or went out to eat just the two of them did not mean that they were dating; and the fact that they were a bit more physically affectionate with one another than most people did not mean that they were attracted to one another.
Stan and Wendy breaking up for the umpteenth time and ending their relationship for good (for now) had nothing to do with Stan spending more time with Kyle than he did with her, either.
No, Stan and Kyle were just friends. Just best friends. Just super best friends.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Seriously.
That’s all they were.
Stan was completely, one-hundred percent straight, and Kyle was… well, Kyle was straight too. Definitely. The looks he sometimes caught on Kyle’s face… they were just directed at someone else. Even when there was no one else in the room. Yeah.
After all, best friends couldn’t be gay for one another… right?
2. Pining
Kyle wished to any deity that would listen that his feelings could just magically disappear.
Not all of his feelings, of course. Just the ones that would bubble up to the surface whenever he was around Stan.
Kyle wasn’t even sure when they started, but as soon as he’d acknowledged them for what they were (reluctant as he was to do it, and certainly not aloud), it was as if a switch inside him had been flipped. Suddenly, he became acutely aware of every single moment in his life--going all the way back to his elementary school days--in which Stan had chosen to spend his time with him over anyone else, going above and beyond in both the most minute and the most extensive ways to do whatever he could for Kyle.
How he hadn’t realized his feelings for his oblivious best friend sooner, Kyle had no idea. He just wished the feelings would go away, because they were getting harder and harder to hide.
Sometimes he would catch himself just watching Stan, silently observing him and committing every last inch of him to memory despite seeing him practically every day for as long as he could remember. Sometimes he would be embarrassingly aware of the lack of space between the two of them as they sat together playing video games, of the heat emanating off of Stan’s body and the slight dimples in his cheeks as he smiled at Kyle and the way his eyes seemed to light up with joy whenever he looked at Kyle and--
No, that was just Kyle’s imagination playing tricks on him. He was getting worse.
These feelings were getting out of hand, and Kyle had to figure out a way to stop them before he did something stupid.
Like grab Stan’s beautiful, oblivious face and kiss the ever-loving daylights out of him.
… Yeah, that would be bad. Tempting, but bad.
3. Confession
“You have a what?”
Kenny laughed, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender as Kyle glared at him. “Hey, it wasn’t my idea. I just thought it’d be fun to join in.”
“But a betting pool on me and Stan getting together?”
Kenny rolled his eyes, his amusement clear as day on his face. “Dude, it’s obvious that you two are into one another, even if you’re too stubborn to admit it and he’s too oblivious to acknowledge it.”
Kyle tried in vain to will away the heat that he could feel rising to his cheeks. “We are not-- we’re just friends!”
“Friends that have sleepovers even in high school, friends that go out for lunch and dinner together, friends that go to the movies together, friends that--”
Kyle put a hand over Kenny’s mouth to forcibly quiet him, his face just about as red as his hair even as he continued glaring at the smug blond. “We’re best friends. That’s normal best friend stuff.”
“Denial’s not just a river in Egypt~” Kenny responded in a sing-song tone, his words muffled behind Kyle’s hand (not that it mattered, since Kyle had years of experience understanding muffled-Kenny-speak).
“I am not in denial!!” Kyle exploded, moving his hand in favor of clenching it into a fist in frustration--though who exactly he was frustrated with was anyone’s guess at this point.
“Not in denial about what?”
Kyle just barely resisted the urge to groan as Mr. Oblivious himself strolled up to them, his expression a(n unfairly adorable) cross between confused and concerned as he looked between his two friends.
“It’s nothing, Stan,” Kyle replied, at the same time that Kenny said with a grin, “Kyle has something to tell you~”
Kyle shot Kenny another harsh glare that the blond returned with an impish smile, but before Kyle could yell at him, Kenny slipped away with only a wave of his hand and a “You’re welcome!” in place of a goodbye.
“Kyle…?”
Kyle stopped glaring at Kenny’s quickly-retreating form in favor of (reluctantly) glancing over at Stan, his face heating up once more at the expression of concern on his friend’s face.
“It’s fine, dude. Everything’s fine,” Kyle responded, deciding it would be best to not mention the betting pool. “Kenny was just being an ass.”
Stan frowned, obviously not convinced. “You know you can tell me anything, right?” he asked, trying and failing to not feel a bit stung that Kenny apparently knew something about Kyle that he didn’t.
“Of course I do!” Kyle immediately replied, his expression turning conflicted as he added, “I just….”
“Just what?”
Kyle let out a frustrated groan, running a hand over his face as he tried to compose himself before he did or said something he’d regret. “Seriously dude, forget it.”
“... Alright, if you’re sure.”
Kyle made the mistake of moving his hand off of his face to look at Stan, and the sad yet patient smile on his (beautiful, oblivious) friend’s face was the straw that finally broke the camel’s back.
“Oh god damn it, Stan!” Kyle exclaimed, startling the other boy so badly that he physically jumped.
“Dude, wh--mmph!” Stan’s eyes widened in shock as Kyle suddenly grabbed him by the front of his shirt and slammed their lips together.
(Neither of them paid any attention to the quiet whoop of joy coming from a parka-clad boy hiding a few feet away, watching the emotional ticking time bomb known as Kyle Broflovski finally explode and the oblivious Stan Marsh finally coming to a (literally) eye-opening realization.)
Kyle finally became aware of his actions and abruptly pulled back, his face bright red and his eyes wide--but before he could say anything, Stan spoke up with an embarrassed yet pleased smile.
“So, uh… I guess that’s what you had to tell me?”
“Dude, I’m sorry, I just--” Kyle cut himself off as Stan put a finger to his lips, startled and the slightest bit flustered by the sudden action.
“Kyle. Dude. It’s fine.” With a laugh, he added, “I mean, a little warning would’ve been nice, but you don’t have to apologize. I should really be the one apologizing, to be honest; I’m sorry I was so stubborn, and I’m sorry I didn’t realize how you felt sooner--or how I felt sooner, for that matter.”
Not giving Kyle a chance to respond, Stan leaned in to press his lips against Kyle’s in a proper kiss, letting his actions do the talking for him.
I love you.
4. PDA
The next day, Stan and Kyle came to school holding hands, but it wasn’t until Stan kissed Kyle by his locker that the two of them got any sort of reaction from their friends and fellow classmates.
Of course, all reactions first and foremost were either along the lines of “god damn it I was wrong” or “pay up!”, but after the betting pool had been settled (which Stan was only now catching onto, and was no less thrilled about than Kyle had been), everyone congratulated the two of them on finally getting together.
(Stan and Kyle both thought that the “finally” part could have been left out, regardless of how true it was.)
Within a week, Stan and Kyle had replaced Craig and Tweek as South Park’s most well-known gay couple, if only because Stan couldn’t keep his hands off of Kyle now that he’d officially embraced his attraction towards his best friend, much to Kyle’s embarrassment.
That wasn’t to say that Kyle didn’t enjoy the affection, nor was it to say that he didn’t enjoy not-so-subtly flaunting that the popular, attractive quarterback chose to be with him out of all the people he could have been dating. Not to mention that Kyle had been dreaming about being able to kiss Stan whenever he wanted for years now--he just didn’t realize how embarrassing it would be for Stan to kiss him in front of their friends, and in front of their family, and in front of complete strangers, and….
Well, Stan certainly loved kissing him, to say the least.
Which was good, because Kyle loved kissing Stan too--he just preferred taking charge behind closed doors, where he was the only one that could see Stan’s expressions and hear the noises he made as their kisses gradually grew more passionate.
5. Proposal
The thought of living his life without Kyle in it never even occurred to Stan--even before they started dating, Kyle was always a permanent fixture in his life, for better or for worse.
For better or for worse, in sickness and in health--
The box sitting in Stan’s pocket felt heavy, his face flushed with a mixture of giddiness and nerves.
Stan knew that there was no way Kyle would say no, so part of him felt silly for feeling so nervous. In fact, the only negative response he might receive was that he spent too much on the ring--he was sure that Kyle would say that he would have been happy with getting something simpler and putting the money towards something practical, like his own car (sharing a car proved to be much more annoying as they got older, especially when their jobs were in opposite directions of one another) or saving up to buy their own house (their apartment was nice, but Kyle had dreams of owning his own house for years now, and Stan couldn’t deny that having their own private space without worrying about other tenants hearing them was an appealing thought).
Still, impracticality aside, Stan was a romantic at heart--and so regardless of knowing that his and Kyle’s lives were already more closely intertwined than any married couple’s, he still went all out in putting together a sappy, romantic proposal, from the ring to the moment itself, down on one knee in front of all of their friends and family (all co-set up by Wendy--he’d never felt so blessed to have such a good ex-girlfriend and such an amazing friend as when he went to her for advice and she offered to help arrange everything so Kyle would be none the wiser).
When Kyle practically tackled him to the ground in a tear-filled, passionate kiss, Stan knew that all of the effort he’d put in had been worth it.