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Kyle leaned against the wall with a solo cup filled with some random liquid that Kenny had filled it with, laughing with his arm around Butters waist. Why was he here? He thought, as he scanned the room and saw multiple couples bumping into each other under the mistletoe, sometimes it was on accident, other times on purpose. Always blatant, and always sad, he looked away from Stan and Wendy, pulling on the sleeve of his sweater. Why does he get abandoned at these parties? They all know he hates attention, he’s only happy having it when he can do a speech or when he’s being acknowledged. His eyes caught brown across the room, finally someone who was just as miserable, though he never thought he would have that in common with his frenemy.
‘Lies,’ a voice that sounds like Stan whispers in his mind, forcing him to confront that he actually has a lot in common with him. He scowled and looked away, groaning out loud as the man he was watching made his way to him. He stands next to him in silence, and for some reason, maybe because it’s a familiar body, maybe because it’s a childhood friend, but it does help seep through the nerves clawing at his psyche. Against his will, he relaxes and says stiffly “Hey Cartman.” He ignores the eyebrow that pops up, he’s too tired to use childhood insults, plus it’s Christmas eve, right? Stan told him he should be nice on Christmas and now he remembers why he’s here at the party. He should have known it was just an excuse so he could go, Stan’s parents were actually pretty strict now that they were officially divorced.
The biggest change was Randy who essentially became a male version of his mom, and refused to let Stan leave without having a chaperone. Kyle can’t blame his parents though, not after he needed a liver transplant because he decided to drink himself to death as a normal way of committing suicide, and parties do have alcohol. From what Kyle could see everyone respected the no beer or anything for Stan's rule though, based on how he looked at a cup with puppy dog eyes and a scowl.
“You doing ok watching over him? You know after what happened this summer.” Kyle felt his face heat up and narrowed his eyes at Cartman, ready to verbally spar only to stop when he saw genuine concern in his eyes. It had been miserable, after he recovered he had been the one to watch over Stan and take care of him, always at his side. Stan had wanted to do nothing with Wendy and said he wanted to focus only on Kyle. Jokes on him though because even after getting everything he could from him, all it took was a mini skirt and a smirk for him to be back on Wendy’s leash. He only partially felt embarrassed to have gotten drunk at Cartman’s but he made it easy oddly enough.
The verbal sparring, the arguments, and insults, it’s a sense of normalcy and emotion that he can focus on. Cartman grounds him, he had realized that night and since then their relationship had become more antagonistic than outright hateful. Now he just thinks Cartman fucks with him to be an ass, not to do anything malicious.
“Yeah fatass, of course, I’m ok. It’s lame to keep hoping for something different after all.”
Cartman snorted beside him, “Yeah it fucking is Jew, but sometimes hoping isn’t all bad.”
Kyle turned to look at him and said “What do you hope for Cartman?”
Curiously, he got an answer and it just left him confused as he said “So much, nothing that will ever happen though.”
Kyle found himself bumping his shoulders against him, flushing at the contact and frowning wondering why he wanted to stop that wistful and melancholy tone and said “Well, there’s some shooting stars tonight, maybe you could wish on one of those and have something come true.”
Discomforted with the air around them Cartman said “Yeah, sure Jew let me just wish on stars and light the menorah.” Then he grabbed Kyle’s ball cap and ran into the crowd, laughing and ignoring the glares he received as he bumps into people. The whiplash was insane, is this what would happen every time they tried to be serious? Huffing out a sigh he followed, getting excited over the game of catch despite his best wishes. He finds Cartman in a room with a fireplace and for some reason, he was sitting on the floor with a jiffy pop popcorn thing, the kind that you can place on a stove and move back and forth and it will make popcorn. Kyle felt a laugh bubble up seeing Cartman moving the object back and forth, getting frustrated with how long it took. Silently, Kyle sat next to him and wrapped his hand over Cartman’s, and in silence, they popped some popcorn together, hat forgotten.
Once the popcorn was done, they placed it in between them, this time Kyle let his laugh fly as Cartman tried to open it, letting out sounds of pain from the steam and warm metal. He dared to look at him betrayed and Kyle settled down, throwing back an apologetic look. Amazing, twenty minutes had passed and they weren’t at each other’s throats. Does this mean they’re finally grown up?
“Shut up Jew, your thoughts are so loud.” Yep, no they didn't, Kyle thought as he scowls at the man next to him, stealing the last popcorn piece out of spite. Cartman narrows his eyes, mumbling about him being petty, and winces when the door opens, letting light in. He hadn’t even realized that the lights were off, only the fireplace letting them see. It was Token, holding some blankets and pillows and he rolled his eyes, “It’s snowing so my mom isn’t letting anyone leave tonight, please try to stay quiet, I already have a hangover.” Cartman went to say something but was silenced by a pillow in his face and the door closing, the rest of the items sitting by the door. Silently Kyle got up and grabbed the blankets, positioning them into a makeshift bed and laying down while Cartman poked at the fire and put another log in.
He jumped slightly as Cartman laid down next to him, and against his will he rolled over, only to realize that brought him face to face with Cartman. He took in a sharp intake of breath and said shakily “What the hell dude, turn around or something.”
Smirking Cartman pushed closer and said, “Nah, I prefer this side, why is this a problem?” Unbidden Kyle felt his eyes go to Cartman’s lips and looked back into his eyes, cursing at the blown pupils he saw, knowing Cartman had seen. “No, of course not, just you normally sleep on your other side.”
He did not just say that. He felt himself flush and turned around, ignoring the pulling onto his shoulder, eventually succumbing to the pull and rolling onto his back, glaring at the man who was looking down at him, leaning his body over him.
“How the fuck do you know how I sleep and why the fuck do you care?”
Kyle pushed him back and was honestly surprised at how easily Cartman moved and sat up, pulling on his sweater sleeve. “I just… do.” He tapered off with the do and looked away, embarrassed that he knew something so dumb about him. He could save it, state that they had too many sleepovers for him not to know, mention that he had to make sure he could stop any sneaking around that Cartman did but any excuse died on his lips when Cartman leaned forward and gently kissed his lips, pulling away and crossing his arm, looking away. Carefully Kyle leaned forward and returned the kiss, pulling away just as he felt lips push back. The fire had started to die and only low embers were in there, casting them both under darkness. They could deny what happened, neither could see the other and it happened so quickly there’s no proof that it even happened. Then Kyle felt an arm wrap around him and pull him close, silence weighing in the air. Kyle broke it first, “Cartman will we…” He trailed off and pressed closer hating himself and loving himself in equal measure.
“Tomorrow I’m not going to want to go out in all that snow, but maybe with you at my side, things can be better.” He thought about parties being alone and abandoned while his friends did their own thing and getting hangouts canceled by Stan because Wendy just HAS to see this movie and of course he HAS to go see it with her. Cartman removed his arm and Kyle grabbed onto his hand, entwining their fingers, and wondered if he could do this in the daytime. Selfishly he hoped it would always snow, so he could stay in this room and not have to confront his feelings. Laying his head onto Cartman’s shoulder he found himself saying “Yeah, I think the cold will be better with you around.” A final kiss sealed the deal as they laid down in each other's arms, finding each other like they always did when they felt like no one else would understand them as the snow fell.