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“So I’m taking your last name when we get married, right?”
Kyle was doing who-knows-what on his phone, not looking up at his boyfriend as he asked that. Stan, however, did glance away from his video game. His eyebrow was quirked and he had a playful smirk on his face.
“Back up a little, dude. Who said anything about marriage?”
“I dunno,” Kyle started with a shrug. “The other option would be to break up eventually, so...”
He had put his phone down now. Kyle said that as a joke, since he knew that people didn’t have to get married in order to stay together for a long time. It seemed, however, that Stan didn’t take it as jokingly as Kyle had intended.
“Wait- I don’t wanna break up, dude!” Stan told the red-haired boy from across the bed. “Do you??”
“Well if you don’t want to marry me...” Kyle continued to fool around, as he didn’t quite realize that Stan might have been taking him seriously.
“No, I do! I’m sorry, I do. I promise. Please don’t break up with me.” Tears were beginning to well up in Stan’s eyes now, as he begged for Kyle not to leave him.
Finally, Kyle realized that Stan seemed distressed about this.
“I was kidding, dude. I don’t want to break up either,” he assured the worried teen, moving to sit closer to him. He wrapped his arm around Stan, gently rubbing Stan’s shoulder with his thumb.
Stan wiped his eyes with the side of his hand, then stared at the quilt that he and Kyle were sitting on. He mentally cursed himself for, once again, not being able to take a stupid joke.
“I’m sorry...” He apologized once again, though he didn’t specify what for, so it didn’t surprise him when Kyle asked why he was sorry. “For not taking the joke like I should have,” he explained.
“You don’t have to be sorry for that, dude. It’s okay,” Kyle promised. But Stan wasn’t entirely convinced.
“But you meant for it to be a joke and I thought it wasn’t, and now look where we are. God, I can never understand when somebody’s joking! I- I wouldn’t be able to handle it if you broke up with me all of a sudden. I can’t stand it when things change out of nowhere! I hate this stupid fucking brain of mine! I hate it so much!!” Wiping his tears was useless at this point, as they kept flowing, but Stan still tried.
Kyle was taken aback by Stan’s sudden shouting. It startled him, but he wasn’t mad. He cupped Stan’s face in his hands and looked him in the eyes.
“Hey, hey... It’s okay, Stan. I’m not upset with you, okay?” He waited until Stan nodded in response before he continued. “From now on, I’ll specify whether I’m joking or not, okay?” Kyle suggested, then wiped a tear from his boyfriend’s cheek.
Again, Stan nodded as his answer. Kyle gave him a gentle smile.
“I love you.” Stan mumbled, starting to smile as well. That made Kyle beam wider.
“I know. I love you too.” Normally he would end that sentence with something like ‘you doofus’ or ‘you dork,’ but Kyle figured it probably wasn’t a good time for silly nicknames. Stan caught onto that, and he appreciated it.
“By the way...”
“Hm?”
“You’re right. You’re totally taking my last name when we get married.”