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Stan and Kyle were best friends.
At least, that's what they thought they were.
Cartman was a frequent advocate for their relationship, often planting fake love letters in their lockers and fighting to make every couple joke he could. Kenny wasn't as enthusiastic but would sometimes participate in Cartman's schemes and often smiled at Stan and Kyle like he knew something they didn't. Their classmates would joke every now and then, like they usually did, but didn't bother themselves too much.
Wendy was another person who also had a sneaking suspicion ever since Stan came out to her, but she didn't say any anything and instead made herself as open as possible if Stan ever needed anyone to talk to. She had told him that he ‘could tell her anything’ on multiple occasions and every time Stan gave a puzzled thank you.
But somewhere deep down Stan had a feeling that maybe, just maybe, he had a crush on his best friend. He shoved it down whenever he could, because of course he didn't have a crush on his best friend! It was just a thought that showed up sometimes from Cartman’s constant joking, and anyways, everyone’s had that thought once in their life, right?
Stan tried not to think about it too much.
The only one who was truly oblivious was Kyle, who regarded Cartman's opinion little higher than that of a rabid, deranged animal and hadn't taken any time to think about if maybe his feelings for Stan were more than platonic. Why would he? He was perfectly happy and fine with how things were.
So yes, they were best friends.
Stan sorted through his locker, loose sheets of paper falling out and littering through the floor. He frowned, pushing more of his stuff onto the ground, looking for something frantically.
'Still can't believe they let you on to the team,' Cartman remarked, leaning against a locker where he was talking with Kenny. Neither of them seemed to care about the fact that the floor was half covered with stuff from Stan's locker. 'Shut up Cartman,' Stan replied absentmindly, sticking his head in his locker.
'Are we ready for the big game tonight!?' Clyde announced, coming up to them and giving Stan an enthusiastic pat on the back. The boy hit his head on the side of the locker, swearing. He took his head out, rubbing the side of it with a pained expression.
'It's really not that big of a deal, Clyde,' Cartman sneered, and for once, he was right. The 'big game' was actually just a match against a school from a neighbouring county. Only a few of the kids were hyping it up while the rest of them didn't care or literally didn’t know. Stan only made the team because one of the kids had broken their leg a few weeks back and there weren't any other replacements.
'Are you guys coming to the game?' Clyde asked, throwing his arm around Stan's shoulder. Stan rolled his eyes at him, shrugging his arm off. 'Am I going to a gay game with a bunch of gay guys kicking a gay ball around? No thanks,' Cartman scorned.
Kyle walked up to them. 'What's going on?' he asked, opening his locker. 'Clyde asked me if I’m going to the gay football game tonight,' Cartman answered.
Clyde turned away from them was now bragging to any girl that walked past about how 'this was his big chance' and how he was 'going to really make it.' All of them gave him odd looks.
'Will you be there too Kyle?' Stan asked with a hopeful smile, turning from his locker to look at the red head.
Stan saw Cartman nudge Kenny out of the corner of his eye and then pull him away with a giggle.
'Of course!' Kyle answered. Cartman gave a thumbs up behind Kyles back as he walked away and Stan glared at him before turning back to Kyle. ‘Great!’ he smiled, before frowning at his locker and digging through it again.
‘What are you looking for?’ Kyle asked, closing his locker and eyeing the growing pile of stuff on the floor. ‘Oh… nothing,’ Stan said shortly. ‘Are you sure? I can help you look for it,’ Kyle offered, a little confused at Stan’s odd behaviour, but it wasn’t completely out of character.
Stan was actually looking for a loomband bracelet Kyle gave him a long time ago. It was red and blue, and was Stan’s good luck charm. He didn’t remember when he started thinking of it that way, but soon enough he found himself wearing it during big tests or events. He hadn’t worn it in a while though, and clearly he’s misplaced it, but it had to be somewhere. He didn’t really know why he wouldn’t tell Kyle about it, but quite frankly he found it a bit embarrassing that a three year old rubber bracelet from his best friend was supposed to be making him lucky.
‘It could be in your sports locker?’ Kyle offered when Stan didn’t answer. ‘Oh yeah!’ Stan said, stuffing the papers from the floor into his locker and slamming it shut. He started to run down the hallway before turning back and shouting a thanks at Kyle.
Kyle gave a thumbs up and as soon as Stan disappeared around the corner his locker burst open, loose items falling out. Kyle opened it fully with a grimace. Papers and scraps stuffed within every corner, and books with their pages tearing were jammed into sides of the locker.
Kyle glanced down the hallway and neatly arranged the papers into a stack, and setting the books upright. He couldn’t do much else than that otherwise he’d sit down and thoroughly organize everything. He smiled at the multitude of scrap papers with notes that they had written to each other, which Stan had accumulated and kept over the years.
He gave a sigh as he continued moving through the scraps of useless things littering Stans locker. Chewed up pencils, pen caps, stray staples and crumpled sticky notes. A bit of colour caught his eye as he folded a piece of project paper and he pulled out a loomband bracelet. It was red and blue, worn down from having been used so much. Kyle vaguely recognized it as a bracelet he had made for Stan years ago. He gave a silly sort of smile at the thought that he had kept it and tucked it in his pocket to give to Stan later.
Stan came to the gym locker room doors. Normally they were locked when students weren’t using them, but a slight budge made the lock give and Stan walked inside. He made his way over to his locker and opened it.
‘So, Stan,’ Cartman said, leaning against one of the lockers ominously. ‘Jesus, Cartman!’ Stan exclaimed, wondering how Cartman kept finding him. He had a pair of sunglasses on that he had probably taken from some kid’s locker, and had his arms crossed like he was pretending to be a secret agent or something of the sort. He pulled out a list from his pocket and skimmed over it before talking to Stan again.
‘Alright, I’ve done the hard work for you, and figured out a couple things. Firstly, Kyle does like flowers, but peonies are his favourite. Obviously it couldn’t be roses, because he has to be difficult, but it’ll have to do,’ Cartman remarked with a heavy sigh. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ Stan asked, looking at Cartman with a bewildered expression. ‘Oh, where did I get this from? Don’t worry about that Stan,’ Cartman said reassuringly, but leaned in to whisper, ‘Kyle is incredibly easy to trick online though. And he doesn’t lock his doors, his diary is in the second drawer on the left of his bed’ he winked. ‘Dude.’ Stan said, appalled.
Cartman ignored this and went on, taking his list back out. ‘He thinks that the matching couple t-shirts are annoying - a shame, you would look so cute together- but he MIGHT wear matching bracelets, if they’re sage green,’ Cartman squinted at the paper. ‘Or is that pine green?’ he muttered to himself. Stan was now fully turned away from his locker, Cartman taking up all his attention. ‘I don’t care.’ He said. Cartman looked up at him. ‘I went through all of this trouble, the least you could do is be grateful, jeez,’ Cartman rolled his eyes, like Stan was in the wrong here. ‘Why the hell would I need to know any of this?’ Stan asked, exasperated and gesturing to the list.
‘Oh, no reason, just a little birdy that told me,’ Cartman giggled, referring to Cupid me. Stan gave an irritated sigh and turned back to look into his locker. ‘Kyle likes caramel and dark chocolate, and hazelnut is his favourite. He hates white chocolate though, so stay away from that’ Cartman advised. ‘Stop talking to me,’ Stan muttered, resting his forehead against the lockers.
‘This is serious, Stan.’ Cartman said seriously. ‘I’ll get Cupid me involved if you really need me to, but you should confess to him yourself,’ ‘I’m not confessing to anyone, Cartman, least of all Kyle,’ Stan said. ‘Right,’ Cartman replied, his tone clearly implicating that he didn’t believe a word. ‘I don’t have a crush on Kyle,’ Stan insisted. ‘Okay. And I don’t have a red jacket,’ Cartman answered. ‘But you do,’ ‘Exactly,’
Stan stood there for a moment before Cartman began to talk again. ‘As for favourite meal-‘ ‘Leave me alone.’ Stan said, slamming his locker shut and walking out of the gym locker room. Cartman gave an exhausted sigh, frustrated with how difficult Stan was being. 'Is this what love does to people?' He lamented to himself, giving a disapproving shake of his head. Stan frowned as he walked down the hallway. He couldn’t find his bracelet, so he was going to have to rely on skill to win the game.
The turnout was a lot better than expected (Clyde was ecstatic when he saw how full the stadium was. Stan, on the other hand, had almost fainted when he saw that 90% of the school was there.) This was because the game started half an hour before the school day ended, so most of the students had lied and said they wanted to see the game to get off school. Whether this was a deliberate play on the teacher’s part or not, it worked out wonderfully because at least there actually was a crowd.
Stan was waiting outside the pitch, while his team was scattered around, talking to people as they gave them their final ‘good luck’s and ‘you can do it’s. Kyle came up to him, giving a sympathetic smile. ‘I’m going to let them all down,’ he said despairingly. ‘You’ll do great,’ Kyle reassured with a pat on the back. ‘Actually, I have this. I thought you could use it,’ he said, pulling out the loomband bracelet out of his pocket. Stan looked at the bracelet like it was an angel sent from heaven. He took it gratefully and put it on his wrist. ‘Where did you find it?’ He asked gratefully. ‘It was in your locker,’ Kyle gave a shrug. ‘I could’ve helped you look for it.’
Before Stan could respond, the referee blew the whistle, signalling for the team to come onto the pitch. Stan gave Kyle a quick hug before following Clyde onto the pitch. Kyle stood there for a second, then he made his way into the stands with everyone else.
The game was in full swing. Kyle sat on one of the benches, cheering along with everyone. He was slightly bored, but he was more than happy to be supporting Stan (and most of the school was there anyways). Kenny was sitting with Butters at the other end, with Cartman sitting behind them and giving an input wherever he could. Craig sat in one of the front rows, giving an enthusiastic thumbs up to Tweek whenever he came past.
He watched the game against the other school with little interest (he just watched Stan the whole time, who wasn’t the most active team player and just hung around the sides; consequently, Kyle didn’t know what was going on and Stan didn’t really look like he did either).
There was a drizzle and a slight gust of cold wind. That didn’t really matter to anyone else, because it was South Park after all, but Kyle was not at all suited to the Colorado temperatures. He hated the cold, which Cartman frequently made fun of him for. Kyle usually wore a few layers under his coat, but he had forgone them this particular day because everyone had been told the game would be held inside the gym hall, but because of the huge crowd, it was moved outside.
It was now half time, and the players were scattering around the benches to talk to their friends and drinking some water before they played again. 'Dude, it’s so cold,' Kyle complained, stomping up and down when Stan came up to meet him. 'Here, have my jacket,' Stan offered, taking it off and putting it around Kyle. The letters S. Marsh were embroidered on the back. 'It’s too warm anyways,' Stan remarked. Kyle gave him a grateful smile, already feeling a lot warmer.
'How’s it going?' Kyle asked, looking onto the pitch where the other school’s players were mingling with each other. 'I don’t know. I kind of suck, honestly,' Stan said with a shrug. South Park was two points behind the other school. ‘You’re not that bad. I mean, I’m not an expert, but you could be doing worse.’ Kyle gestured over to Tweek, who had dropped the ball on three separate occasions. Stan agreed, and before either of them knew it, the whistle blew, and the game resumed.
A deafening cheer went through the crowd as the referee blew the whistle and the game was over. South Park had won by a point, the point which Stan had scored.
The crowd quickly gathered down to where the team was, everyone cheering. Clyde was the captain of the team, so he cheerfully accepted the praise and the trophy, though he acknowledged Stan’s contribution.
Stan stood sheepishly to the side before everyone came up to him with congratulations. a couple of people gave him some quick hugs, including Wendy. 'Woah dude! You won us the game!' Kyle said in admiration, giving Stan a hug. Stan smiled, a little overwhelmed with all the positive reception. Cartman made kissing faces behind Kyle’s back and Stans face went red, averting his eyes.
Everyone made their way to the diner in celebration. Cartman, Stan, Kenny and Kyle all sat together in a booth with most of their class also dotted around the diner. Stan, for the most part, was pretty quiet. The diner was pretty loud anyways, and Clyde was bragging to anyone who would listen so it’s not like he needed to talk. He sat beside Kyle and opposite Cartman, who had Kenny beside him.
‘And I thought we wouldn’t make it- but then this kid drops the ball, right, so I get the advantage-‘ Clyde gloated, retelling the match as dramatically as he could. He sat in the middle of the diner, standing on his seat, much to the embarrassment of the people sitting around him. Most of the kids in the diner were listening to Clyde, some of them shouting with their own comments and others talking amongst themselves with their interjections.
Stan’s brow furrowed in thought. He didn’t exactly know what had suddenly changed, but he had a sneaking suspicion that he might like the red haired boy beside him. Maybe it was Kyle’s constant support, or maybe it was the bracelet giving, but Cartman’s jokes didn’t seem like jokes anymore. It was a sudden realization that he had no idea what to do with. His mind was working overtime to try and make sense of it, because if it was true, then his whole world would be turned upside down. Kyle was an integral part of his life, he couldn’t lose him. Clyde’s boasting and the loud hum of the diner weren’t helping him either.
Kyle chatted with Kenny, while Cartman leaned over to Stan. Stan looked up at him confused and Cartman made a kissing face, pointing at Kyle. Stan went red, and in panic, took a sip of his drink. Cartman opened his mouth to say something, but Stan sputtered into his drink. Kyle turned his attention back to him and Cartman leaned back, satisfied.
‘You scored the winning goal! How cool is that!’ Kyle exclaimed giving a nudge. Stan gave a small smile and nodded. Clyde was now recounting the monumental moment of Stan’s winning goal and Kyle raised Stan’s hand as a cheer rang through he diner. Wendy and Bebe gave a cheer in the booth across from them.
Kyle laughed and Stan was mesmerized. He looked at the red haired boy beside him, the little freckles on his cheeks and his curly red hair slightly damp from the weather outside. He had taken his hat off and was still wearing Stan’s varsity jacket. His green eyes sparkled in the diner lights and it was like a switch had flipped in Stan’s brain.
It must’ve been obvious because Cartman gave a smug grin at the sight of Stan’s ardent expression. He leaned over and whispered something to Kenny, pointing at Stan. Kenny looked at him and exchanged triumphant looks with Cartman before giving Stan a small thumbs up.
Clyde sat down and the commotion died down quickly, everyone returning to chatting amongst themselves. Kyle had been talking over his shoulder to where Tolkien was before turning back to his table. He was greeted with the sight of Cartman and Kenny giggling and Stan staring down at the table, cheeks pink. ‘What happened?’ he asked, looking at Stan. His cheeks flushed even more. Cartman burst out laughing before Kenny quickly shushed him. Kyle glanced at them, raising an eyebrow, before turning back to stan. ‘Nothing,’ Stan choked out, completely averting his gaze with Kyle. He started at him for a moment before shrugging and started a conversation again.
‘Did you see how much homework the fifth graders got?’ Kyle said, and the conversation turned mundane again as Kenny responded. Cartman would occasionally give an input but he was mostly focused on watching Stan, who was trying his best to keep himself composed. They continued chatting like that for the next 20 minutes, and everything was calm and normal. Wendy and Bebe also joined in from the booth behind them.
‘You have mud on your face,’ Wendy remarked, pointing at Stan. He rubbed at his cheek, not getting it off. ‘It over here,’ Kyle said, cupping Stan’s face for a moment and rubbing it off with his thumb.
It only lasted about 5 seconds, but it was like fireworks had gone off in Stan’s head. Kyle’s smile, and his hands which were still slightly cold but gentle, and soft, and-
Stan suddenly stood up and ran to the bathroom. Cartman gave his jubilant laugh, with Wendy and Kenny following after Stan. Kyle looked at the pair as the rushed to where the bathrooms were, thoroughly puzzled. ‘What just happened?’ He asked Cartman, the only one left in his booth. ‘Oh, nothing Kyle.’ Cartman said with an air, leaning back. ‘You guys have been acting weird all afternoon since the game. There’s something going on,’ Kyle said, gesturing to Stan and Kenny’s empty seats. ‘Not my fault you don’t get it,’ Cartman mused with a shrug. Kyle frowned at him.
Stan ran to a stall and banged the door behind him, throwing up. Wendy and Kenny waited outside, making sure no one went in. Stan threw some water against his red face and begrudgingly opened the door.
Wendy offered him a glass of water as Stan slid down with his back against the door. He sipped at it while Wendy patted his back sympathetically, crouching beside him. ‘So you finally figured it out?’ Kenny asked with a grin. ‘Shut up,’ Stan groaned, head in hands. ‘I’m glad you did,’ Wendy said encouragingly. ‘We were getting pretty sick of you guys,’ Kenny remarked. Wendy smiled at Stan at the joke, but Stan didn’t find it so funny.
He was quiet, mind racing. He just threw up. Because of Kyle. The last time he threw up because of someone was when he was infatuated with Wendy. Things started to fall into place – Cartman’s constant ‘joking’, Wendy’s empathy, Kenny’s smiles- Did they know the whole time? Was he the only one who didn’t know? Was he the only one that didn’t know he liked Kyle Broflovski?
‘Oh my god,’ Stan mumbled quietly. ‘What is it?’ Wendy asked. ‘I like Kyle. Wendy, I like Kyle!’ Stan said, half in despair and half in bewilderment. Wendy exchanged glances with Kenny, gave a shrug and rubbed Stan’s shoulder. ‘What am I going to do?’ he asked despairingly. ‘You could tell him,’ Wendy suggested and Kenny gave an enthusiastic nod. ‘I can’t do that! What if he hates me?’ Stan cried out. ‘He won’t hate you,’ Wendy soothed. She knew that coming to terms with a crush was an onslaught of emotions – but she didn’t expect it to be this bad.
Kenny peered around the corner and saw that Kyle had left his seat and was making his way over to where they were all sitting. ‘Kyle,’ Kenny told Wendy shortly, before going to talk to the red head.
‘What’s going on?’ Kyle asks, trying to look over Kenny’s shoulder at Stan. ‘What?’ Kenny pretended to be surprised, looking over his shoulder. ‘Oh, Stan? Yeah, he’s fine. We should sit down, don’t you think? And get uh…’ he glanced at the menu, ‘A double chocolate sundae! Yeah,’ He tried to move Kyle back over to the booth. Kyle frowned at him and pushed past him, walking up to Stan. Kenny gave a sigh.
‘Stan?’ Kyle asked, looking down at him. Stan looked up at him, and he felt his stomach turn. He shot up, opening the door to the bathroom again. ‘Holy shit,’ Kyle said, watching the door. Wendy and Kenny winced. The cat was out of the bag now, after that display. Kyle had seen, first hand, what Stan had been like around Wendy, so surely, he’d connect the dots now.
‘Is he okay?’ Kyle asked worriedly, turning to Kenny and Wendy. ‘What?’ Wendy asked, confused. ‘Is he okay?’ Kyle repeated, a concerned expression on his face as he gestured to the door. ‘Oh! Uhm…’ Wendy trailed off, and the three stood in silence for a moment before Stan opened the door again. ‘Are you okay?’ Kyle asked him immediately. Stan looked up at him, paused, making sure he wouldn’t throw up again. ‘Uh…’ he started, looking at Wendy and Kenny. ‘You should go outside,’ she said, pointing to a door that led into the back of the diner. Kenny gave a smile, and they both walked back to their booths.
Kyle looked at Stan for any sort of explanation, as Stan opened the door to the back. He breathed in the fresh air gratefully (as fresh as it could be, in the dingy alley between the diner and the next store), and fiddled with the loomband bracelet on his wrist. Kyle stood opposite him, trying to be patient, but he was quite possibly the most impatient he’s ever been. He crossed his arms, and he was still wearing Stan’s varsity jacket. ‘Ok, so,’ Stan took a deep breath, fidgeting with his fingers, ‘Do you remember how I’d get sick whenever I would talk to Wendy?’ he said, looking up at Kyle. He expected that to be explanation enough, and wondered how Kyle would react.
Kyle was confused for a second, before his expression changed to disbelief, and a little bit of anguish. Stan swallowed as Kyle opened his mouth to say something, expecting the worst. ‘Don’t tell me you like her again. You have to let her go, Stan, please,’ Kyle buried his face in his hands, shaking his head. ‘What? No!’ Stan burst out laughing from relief. Kyle looked up. ‘No dude, I don’t like Wendy,’ Stan said, then he paused, ‘I like someone else, I think.’.
It's like the stars had aligned – Kyle finally realized, finally understood – and he dared to think that Stan was talking about him. ‘Who is it?’ he asked, quietly , not wanting to get his hopes up.
A stupid smile started to form on Stan’s face and Kyle’s eyes lit up.
‘You.’