Work Text:
As you stepped behind the counter to adjust your apron, the bell above the wooden door chimed.
It was around three o’clock, and Tweek Bros Coffeehouse was buzzing with students and adults alike, all unwinding from their busy days.
Unfortunately, you were unfamiliar with the term 'unwinding'. When the school day finishes you have to rush over here and continue to overwork your body.
What made your day slightly better, though, was spotting your close friends, Nichole, Wendy, and Bebe settled into a cosy corner booth. You quickly began to prepare all of their usual orders with a smile. Finally approaching their table, you set down a caramel macchiato, a chai latte, and an iced mocha.
"Oh my gosh, we didn’t even order!" Bebe exclaimed, staring at the drinks in surprise. The aroma of the freshly brewed coffee filled the air.
"You didn’t have to." you chuckled.
"Thanks, Y/N." Nichole beamed, reaching for her drink.
"No problem," you hum, absently wiping your hands on your apron. "I feel like I haven’t seen you girls since the morning."
"Busy. Day." Wendy emphasises, a hint of weariness in her eyes.
Nichole sighs, "Totally. That math test was brutal. I was studying for it in the library for both breaks."
Bebe hums, "I’m so glad I dropped math, but hey, at least we have our coffee now. How’s your day been, Y/N?"
You shrug, "Pretty hectic as well. I didn’t get a free period the whole day so my classes were nonstop, and now I’m here for my shift."
Nichole offers you a sympathetic look. "You must be exhausted. Do you ever get a break?"
"Not really," you muttered, "But it’s alright. I just keep going. Like the terminator. Or a less creepier robot. Depends."
All of them laughed at this. The harmonising sounds were contagious, and you found yourself laughing, too.
"Agh! Hey, Y/N! The line’s getting pretty long!" Tweek suddenly shouted, getting a clear view of you slacking off with your friends. Funny how he only seemed to come out of the staffroom when you finally get a chance to relax…
You suppressed an eye roll, and unwillingly said goodbye to all of your friends.
Just as you returned to the counter, the door chimed again. Looking up, your eyes instantly recognised it to be your boyfriend, Kyle. He’d entered the shop with a few of his friends, namely Stan, Kenny, Eric, and Butters. You never liked his friends much, they were always either trying to rope him into doing stupid shit, or telling him to break up with you.
But that was also why you were so drawn to him. Kyle was his own person entirely — opinionated, ambitious, smart. He never listened to them. And the way his entire face seemed to light up when he saw you, was just another reason. He walked over to the counter, the others following closely behind.
"Hey, you." he greets warmly, "How’s your shift going?"
You felt a flutter in your chest just from seeing him. "Busy, as usual. What can I get for you guys?"
As you took their orders and started preparing the drinks, Kyle leaned against the waiting bay bench, watching you with a mix of admiration and concern. He always had that slightly on-edge look. It was akin to that of a worried father.
"So, how was your day?" he asked, "I hate that I only got to see you at lunch."
"Awh, same. It was pretty boring," you replied, "School, work, repeat. What about you?"
"It was alright. Just a lot of studying. You know how it is."
You chuckled softly, "Yeah, I do. I think studying is all you ever do, Ky."
He chuckled as well, "Well, someone has to keep my grades up. But seriously, how are you doing?"
Your eyebrows furrowed at the sudden shift in his tone. It was more serious now. "Good? I already told you. Why?"
"Because you look really tired."
Ow. You immediately tried to brush that comment off. Did that indirectly mean he was staring at your eye bags?
"…Well, who has time for sleep anyways? I’ve already had four espressos and I feel high on life."
His eyes widened. "What? Y/N, that’s way too much caffeine. You know, studies have shown that relying on caffeine can lead to increased anxiety and decreased cognitive function. Not to mention that the National Sleep Foundation recommends teenagers get at least eight to ten hours of sleep per night for good health and performance during the day."
You blinked, taken aback by his response. "Wow, that’s… a lot of information."
Kyle rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "Sorry, I get carried away. But seriously, you need to be sleeping better, not relying on coffee."
You moved to steam and froth the milk, "It’s just part of the job, Ky. Besides, I have homework and stuff to do."
Kyle frowned, his worry evident in every crease. "You can't keep this up. You need a proper night's sleep."
Just then, his eyes widened, as if a light bulb had gone off in his head.
"Hey, you know what? How about we have a sleepover at your place? That way, I can make sure you actually get some rest."
"A sleepover?" you raised an eyebrow, a smile tugging on your lips. "Just because you want to make sure I’m sleeping?"
"Well, yeah. And maybe we can watch a movie or something. But mainly, it’s for your health."
You laughed, touched by his genuine concern. That was another thing you loved about him — how caring he always was.
"Alright, Dr Broflovski. A sleepover it is."
"Finally taking it to the next level, huh guys?" Kenny chimed in, smirking from the side. "Gotta make sure her parents aren’t home, man. The first time is always the–"
"Oh, shut up!" Kyle snapped, shooting his blond friend a pointed look.
While you didn’t like Kenny’s sleazy implication either, he brought up a good point: what on earth would your parents think of Kyle staying the night?
"Crap. I didn’t even think about my parents." you blurted, almost dropping the drink you were currently making.
"Hm. Will they be a problem? Because neither did I." Kyle sheepishly admitted.
"Uhh… no. It’s okay, we can sneak you in."
"Really?"
"Yeah. They sleep like two logs, anyway."
As you finally handed Kyle his coffee, your fingers brushed his, and for a moment, the busy coffee shop faded into the background. His green eyes softened, "Great. It’s a date."
"Dude, can you stop being gay as fuck? Let’s go already." Cartman grumbled, his voice shattering the moment. The rest of the boys nodded as they retrieved their drinks.
"I’ll see you tonight!" you quickly shouted, watching your boyfriend get forcefully shoved out the door by his impatient friends.
˚₊✩‧₊
You adjusted your pillow and glanced at the clock from where you rested on your bed. It was almost ten o’clock, meaning Kyle would be here any minute. You felt a mix of excitement and nerves swirl around in your stomach. You’d been together for a while now, but this was the first time he was sleeping over, so surely your anxiety was accounted for.
When the doorbell rang, you practically leaped off your bed and hurried downstairs, hoping your parents wouldn’t wake up.
You opened the door to find him standing there, a backpack slung over one shoulder and a shy smile on his face. "Hey," he whispered.
"Hey," you whispered back, stepping aside to let him in. "Come on, let’s get upstairs before we wake anyone up."
The two of you tiptoed through the house, the only sound being the soft creaking of the floorboards under your feet. You led the way, glancing back at Kyle a few times, as you reached the stairs.
Ascending up the stairs, you stifled a giggle when Kyle stumbled on the third step, catching himself just in time. You put a finger to your lips, and he nodded, mirroring your silence.
Finally, you made it to your room. You closed the door behind Kyle, and let out a breath you hadn’t realised you’d been holding. "We made it." you spoke quietly, a triumphant look spreading across your face.
Kyle set his backpack down and looked around your room. "Nice place," he whispered, "So, what’s the plan?"
You pointed to the bathroom connected to your room. "First, you’re taking a shower. You had basketball practice today, right?"
Kyle rolled his eyes at your implication, but didn’t disagree. "Yeah, yeah. Fine, I’ll go first."
He grabbed a towel you handed him, and disappeared into the bathroom. You heard the water start running and took the opportunity to tidy up your room a bit. You smiled to yourself once again, thinking about how thoughtful Kyle was being, even if he was a bit overprotective about your sleep.
A little while later, Kyle emerged from the bathroom, his hair damp and a fresh set of comfy clothes on. "Your turn," he said, gesturing to the bathroom.
You grabbed your own items, and tried to ignore how attractive Kyle looked right after showering. "I’ll be quick."
You headed into the bathroom, the warmth from his shower lingering in the air. As you turned on the water, you couldn’t help but feel a sense of comfort and excitement. Tonight was going to be fun, you thought, and for the first time in a while, you felt truly at ease.
You finally stepped out of the bathroom, a cloud of steam following you. Wringing your hair with the towel, you were wearing an oversized South Park Cows sweater that Kyle had lent you a while ago. It practically swallowed your frame, but it was also comfy, and you enjoyed its familiar scent. Kyle, sitting cross-legged on your bed with his textbooks scattered around, looked up and froze for a moment.
"Hey." you greeted, walking over to the bed.
Kyle looked surprised as he fully took in the sight of you. "Hey," he replied, his voice slightly higher than usual. "You’re wearing my sweater."
You looked down at it, fiddling with the hem. "Oh yeah. I hope you don’t mind, it’s super comfy."
Kyle shook his head, a soft smile playing on his lips. "I don’t mind at all. It looks better on you."
You climbed into bed beside him and pulling the covers up around yourself. "Thanks. I kind of love it."
Kyle tried to refocus on his studying, but he couldn’t help sneaking glances at you. Finally, he reached over the bed to his bag, before pulling out a small case. Kyle rested a pair of brown glasses on his hooked nose, before continuing to read. They helped him concentrate.
You gaped in surprise, watching the entire scene unfold. "You wear glasses?"
Kyle blinked, before looking back at you sheepishly. "Yeah. You didn’t know?"
"No!"
"Oh. Well, not to sound like a grandpa, but I do, and they’re mostly for reading at night."
You nodded in awe, leaning in closer to to get a better look. "Hm. You look hot in them."
Kyle’s face turned a deep shade of red, and he fumbled with the textbook, nearly dropping it. "What? No."
"Yeah, you do. You should wear them more often."
He nervously laughed, too flustered to make eye-contact with you. "If you say so."
You settled back against the pillows, watching him with an amused glint in your eyes. "You should’ve told me sooner! I feel like I’ve been missing out."
Since you were no longer all up in his face, he managed to relax a little bit. "Well, now that you know I’ll try to wear them more often. Just for you."
You reached out, gently taking his hand in your own. "Thank you. You know I find you attractive no matter what, though, right?"
Your choice of wording did absolutely nothing to rid the blush from Kyle’s face. He squeezed your hand. "Thanks, Y/N. That means a lot to me."
The two of you sat in comfortable silence for a while, Kyle working on his studying and you slowly getting drowsier. Eventually, you snuggled up closer to him, resting your head on his broad shoulder.
"Ky," you murmured.
"Yeah?"
"I’m really glad you’re here."
He couldn’t help but smile at that, planting a gentle kiss to the top of your head. "Me too. Are you getting tired?"
"Actually, maybe." you replied thoughtfully. There was just something about Kyle’s presence that made you feel relaxed.
"Alright. I’ll put my stuff back."
Kyle carefully placed his textbooks away and reached over you to place his glasses on the nightstand. He turned off the bedside lamp, plunging the room into darkness. The bed creaked as you both went completely under the blankets.
You turned to face him, "Hi."
Kyle stifled a chuckle, wrapping an arm around you to pull you closer. "Hey."
You welcomed this, nestling against him with your head resting on his chest. "Goodnight, Ky."
"Goodnight, Y/N." he replied, his voice a murmur in the quiet room.
You were extremely comfortable in this position, and it left you wondering why the two of you hadn’t had a sleepover earlier. As you drifted off to sleep, Kyle’s steady heartbeat lulled you into a peaceful slumber.
˚₊✩‧₊
It was around 3 a.m. when you woke up in a cold sweat. Gasping, there was something restricting you from completely sitting up, which only made your heart beat quicker.
After practically snapping your neck, you realised that it was just Kyle. You were awake. Nothing was wrong. You could relax again.
Unfortunately, all your prior movement had caused him to stir awake as well.
He muttered your name, squinting his eyes to adjust to the sight of your form sitting up. Kyle quickly became worried when you didn’t respond.
"Are you okay?" he shifted to lean on his forearms, before moving an arm to lightly touch your hand. "You’re sweating." he commented.
"Yeah, sorry." you wiped your hands on the blanket. "I had a nightmare."
At that information, Kyle frowned and moved to sit up alongside you. Without another thought, he wrapped an arm around you to pull you closer. You were hit with comforting warmth instead of the cold remnants from your dream. Being in Kyle’s arms always grounded you.
"What was it about?" his hand ran up and down your back comfortingly.
"The entire school was brainwashed. The cafeteria ladies were selling coffee that brainwashed everybody, turning everyone who drank it into evil zombies. And Cartman was the ringleader—he was a big evil zombie who kept drinking the coffee, and everybody kept trying to force me to drink the coffee, while I ran away."
It was silent for a minute, and you turned to look back at Kyle only to notice that he was very visibly struggling to contain his laughter.
You huffed, "It’s not funny."
"I think that dream is a prime example of why you need to stop the caffeine intake."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."
Kyle couldn’t help but to outright laugh now, causing you to smack his shoulder. "My parents are still downstairs!" you whisper-shouted.
"Sorry," he urged out, not really sounding all that sorry. You just rolled your eyes.
"You wanna go back to sleep now?" He brought up, after calming down a bit. Kyle was eager to go back under the warm blankets with you.
"I don’t know." you admitted, "I know this might sound stupid but I’m still kind of shaken up from the dream."
While that dream was hilarious, Kyle felt bad for you, and he pulled you closer. To be honest, he was incredibly tired and would never be awake at this hour under normal circumstances, but his top priority was you. It always was.
Suddenly, he turned to you, like he’d come up with another brilliant idea.
"Okay, let’s do something then. We can advert your mind."
"Do something?" you repeated. "It’s not exactly like we can put a movie on. I know you wanted to watch that one with Adam Sandler but my parents will kill us if–"
Kyle pressed his lips against your own, swallowing your words. Oh. Doing this 'something' had definitely made more sense. You immediately began kissing him back.
Usually, your kisses with Kyle were sweet and chaste. How they should be. But this was more passionate, and slow, and kind of lazy.
One of his hands moved towards your lower back. Meanwhile, the other went under your right thigh to swiftly shift you into his lap. The way he’d done it so easily made butterflies erupt in your stomach; his boldness surprising you. You two had never really done anything like this. It was all happening really fast, and completely new territory. Both factors made it incredibly exciting.
You wrapped an arm around his neck, while the other grasped onto his thick red curls, that were out in all their glory. Your brain was becoming more fuzzy with each passing second. That nightmare now nothing more than a faded memory.
You loved how gentle his hands were as they explored your body. Roaming down the lengths of your arms, and your back, and your waist.
It was going amazing, when all of a sudden, Kyle roughly pulled away, a string of saliva connecting the two of you. His eyes were blown wide.
"Um. Are you wearing anything under my sweater?" he rasped.
You opened your mouth before closing it again. "Well, I don’t think any girl sleeps in a bra."
Even in the dark, it was incredibly obvious how Kyle’s face had flushed a shade darker. He coughed, clearly very flustered now. Probably the most he’d been all night.
"Right. Are you still thinking about that dream?"
"What dream?" you replied breathlessly.
"See? Good." he quickly nodded, lifting you off his lap and plopping you back into your previous spot. "Now we can go back to sleep."
"What?" you whisper-shouted, as Kyle ushered you to lay down again. He quickly pulled the blanket up. "You-you can’t just do that and then tell me to go back to sleep!"
"I adverted your mind, didn't I?"
You grumbled before laying back down. Weirdly enough, it felt like something you really wanted had been dangling in front of you, before being snatched away.
"Yeah, but… you shouldn’t have used such an addictive method." you shot back, causing him to chuckle.
You childishly decided to turn around, showcasing your annoyance with the situation.
"It’s 3am Y/N." Kyle tried to reason, only to be met with silence.
"You really need to sleep. That’s why I’m here." he persisted. He sighed, not wanting it to come to this, but he knew he had to give an explanation. Especially since you seemed peeved with the sudden ending of your makeout session.
"Y/N, you know I’d love for us to continue." Kyle spoke honestly, a moment of silence taking place before his voice dropped to a lower whisper. "But if we kept on doing that, I’d end up with my own problem that wouldn’t let me to sleep."
Your eyes widened. Not that Kyle could tell because your back was turned, but your face was incredibly warm. You just nodded against your pillow shyly. You supposed it would be pretty unfair to do that to Kyle when the two of you were supposed to be sleeping.
Kyle noticed you weren’t saying anything verbally, and he immediately felt nervous. Had he said too much?
"Sorry if that was too much information, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I just–"
"No, Ky, it’s normal. I get it." you cut him off with a short laugh. "Don’t worry."
"Okay, good." he chuckled. "I just didn’t want you to think that I didn’t want to kiss you … because if you think about it the issue is really much the opposite."
You laughed louder now, immediately covering your mouth so your parents wouldn’t hear. "I know, Ky." you whispered, flipping back around to face him.
"Can we sleep now?" he wondered, urging his arms out as if waiting for you to lay into him again.
"Yes. Of course." you giggled quietly, moving to rest against his chest.
Your breathing quickly became synchronised, deep and even, as you both drifted back to sleep. Hours passed in serene silence, as your bodies instinctively shifted closer, seeking comfort in each other up until dawn approached.