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It was an ordinary Tuesday when Stan walked into the school's cafeteria with his best friend beside him, they made their way towards the rest of the gang.
"What's up guys?" Stan asked while sitting down at their usual spot, Kyle followed suit next to him. Cartman, Kenny and Butters already occupied the table and were looking at a piece of paper Kenny held in his hands. "What are you staring at there?"
The three boys looked up simultaneously, everyone of them had another variation of amusement on their face. In hindsight, Stan should have known right then that trouble was ahead.
"Oh, you know, nothing. Just another of the Asian girls' yaoi art," Cartman said alarmingly casual.
"Uh okay? But I thought the 'Creek' thing was over?" Kyle wondered as he opened a juice box.
"It's not about Craig and Tweek this time," Kenny explained. "Lisa and her crew kinda moved on and went for another pairing."
"No way! Who is it?" Stan asked unpatiently, feeling a bit bad for the new couple.
"Um," the blonde grinned and turned the paper sheet around in one swift motion. "It's you two."
No way indeed.
Stan heard Kyle coughing up his juice. Then the world was zoning out around him and cold dread filled his veins. Somewhere in the distance he was aware of Cartman's vicious laughter.
He couldn't stop staring at the picture, eyes wide and pulse racing. It was just like the ones of Craig and Tweek a few weeks prior but instead it showed him and his best friend. Unmistakingly romantically involved with eachother.
Eventually he dared to glance towards Kyle who looked completely mortified, his face red from choking. This was a nightmare.
"Ahahahaha, your faces," Cartman was howling. "Awesome, fucking awesome!"
"And that's a cute one," Butters added to Stan's horror. "Not like the ones I found earlier."
"T-there are more?"
"Dude, there are dozens," Kenny said. "Though mostly the girls show them to each other? I got this from Bebe, by the way."
"I don't care!" Kyle was furious. "I can't fucking believe this!"
"Chill! I don't really think this is gonna be Craig and Tweek all over again. Just keep it cool and wait until it's over," Kenny suggested mostly unimpressed. "No one cares as much anymore."
"No, no, no! This has to stop. Now!" the red-head demanded. "Stan!?"
"I'm not feeling so good.“ He grabbed onto the cheap plastic table, thankful that he hadn't ate anything yet. "I feel a bit like throwing up."
Of course Kyle would be freaking out of his mind. There was no scenario in which this would end well. Not for Stan anyway. The fact that he was in love with his best friend was his best kept secret and probably the only thing the other boy didn't know about him. Super best friends until the end. He wouldn't dare to fuck that up, he wouldn't risk that for the world. The chance that it all came crashing down was too present. He felt a new wave of nausea hitting in. Seeing Kyle being so shocked about the sheer possibility of them being together was creating massive anxiety.
"Great," Kyle muttered. "Just fucking wonderful."
"Kudos to the artist, though," Kenny joked. "Those girls stepped their art game up since last time."
"I think you'd make a sweet couple," Butters noted cheerfully which made Cartman only laugh harder.
"Just shut up, okay? All of you!" Kyle bellowed before he turned to Stan. "Let's find Lisa and her friends and tell them to stop. She's probably outside already drawing more."
"You want to go now?"
"Yeah, dude," he confirmed crossing his arms. "Come on!"
"R-Right, just give me a sec." He tried to to focus. He could do it, just be normal about it. He managed before. He took a deep breath, and when he was sure that his stomach wouldn't turn on him he stood to follow Kyle. As an after thought he snatched the drawing from Kenny's hands. "I'm taking that with me. This is not a joke."
"Hey!" the blonde complained. "Don't be like that!"
"Fuck you!" Stan and Kyle shouted in unison.
The hallway was still empty when the two of them left the cafeteria to find Lisa. Kyle was a few steps ahead, he seemed so determined it almost hurt. What was the big deal anyway? Besides being head over heels for your best friend that is. So the girls liked the idea of two boys being together. Didn't seem too bad to him, stranger things have happened here. But of all the fucking people in this school they just had to choose him and his best friend. Yeah, right that's why it was a big fucking deal. Stan inspected the picture in his hands. That could never be them.
"You look pale again," Kyle stated but it sounded like an accusation.
"Sorry, it's just- The drawings I don't know," he shrugged.
"You don't have to keep looking at it, you know."
"They're so realistic-"
"I already got that you hate it!" Kyle's tone went bitter. "Don't have to rub it in my face the whole time."
Stan was confused about the sudden outburst. "Is something wrong, dude?"
"Nothing," he said but they both knew it was a lie. There wasn't a single incident in which 'nothing' ever really meant nothing. "Ugh, whatever. Just hurry up."
"You sure everything's cool?"
Kyle threw his hands up in frustration. "Yeah, everything's awesome except that apparently there's nothing more horrible than the concept of us being together! I mean you can't even look at the drawings without feeling sick! It's okay I understand now."
"That's not what this is about I just-"
"Don't!" he interrupted. "Just don't give me crap about how you're sorry. I know you're not- Fuck, I just thought you'd be a bit more mature about it that's all."
What. Even though Stan didn't knew exactly what was happening right now, he felt the need to defend himself. "Wait!" He paced past his best friend forcing him to stop walking any further. "Kyle, you were getting all worked up about this, too! What are you trying to tell me here anyway?"
The red-head pressed his lips together and glared at the other boy. They just stared at each other for a few moments, before tears started to quell up in Kyle's eyes. "Dude, I-"
"Why are crying now?!" Stan was at a total loss right now.
"This is the worst." He hitched, unsucessfully trying to fight back tears.
And if there was one sight Stan couldn't stand it was seeing his best friend cry. It broke his heart everytime. Kyle didn't cry very often, but he definitely did more than him. Also Kyle tended to cry out of frustration or anger rather than sadness.
"Kyle," Stan said softly. „It's alright.“ He stepped forward and pulled his friend in for a hug at which Kyle half-heartly prostested.
"No, it isn't-" His voice cracking and Stan could feel him shaking. Not long until the red-head was sobbing whole-heartedly. Stan's jacket would be ruined but he didn't care much. "It's alright, I'm here" He layed his head on Kyle's in an attempt to sooth him down. "I don't know what made you cry all of a sudden but we'll sort it out.“
Kyle's sobbing dried up after some time and he seemed to calm down again, though neither of the boys broke the embrace. "You know you can tell me everything, right?" Stan began carefully.
Just when he thought he'd receive no answer Kyle spoke up: "Promise me something?"
"Everything, dude." That was the truth.
"No matter what I say to you. Nothing will change between us."
Stan honestly couldn't think of a single thing that would part him from his best friend. "I promise."
Kyle pulled away a little so they could see each others faces. "Do you really find me that disgusting?"
"What are you even talking about? Of course not!"
"Then why are you keep getting sick from the pictures? Is it that bad seeing us, you know..."
"This has absolutely nothing to do with you. At least not like you think," he said, trying to let that sound as earnest as possible. You're perfect. And he really was to him with his broken voice and tear-smudged face. "It's me and my anxiety creeping up about some things."
"About what things?"
"About this whole thing. About what you think of me," he added more quietly with a hammering heart.
Kyle hummed in understandment. "I can tell you everything, right?"
"Always."
"I don't like the idea of people drawing us because- Because I don't want people to see us that way. I don't mind what they show though. I just thought that you were embarassed because it was me, and I couldn't stand to be reminded of the fact that you'd never like me back the way I like you. Which is more than as a friend friend. More than a best friend should."
Stan couldn't help but let out a relieved laugh. He imagined this so many times, how it would be like if he confessed to Kyle, or the more unlikely case Kyle to him. What he would say, what he would do. It was never like this. He laughed because really it was like weight lifted off of him he never knew was there in the first place. Kyle pulled away a little looking ready to bolt.
"I'm sorry, dude," Stan back-pedaled. "It's just that I don't care about them either, yeah they're annoying, but I don't know, I played along because I assumed you were the one uncomfortable and I didn't wanted to make things strange between us, so I said nothing because I was afraid that if you knew how I really felt-“ And there they were again. Even with Kyle in front of him spilling his heart out, the words were hard to get over his lips.
"How you really felt?" the other boy prompted.
"See you're my best friend forever and," he tried again. "I love you, dude." There it was. The L-bomb dropped. No take-backs now.
"You do?" he echoed before dropping his head onto Stan's chest, sobbing faintly.
"D-Did I say something wrong?"
"Not at all." He felt Kyle's arms curl tight around him and took that as a good sign. "It's so ridiculous, we're idiots."
And while Stan couldn't argue with that, he really wanted that beautiful boy to stop crying now. "Hey, Kyle. Look at me." He cupped the other boys face and wiped the tears from his face. "I love you, Kyle Broflovski. You hear me?"
"I love you, too." he replied smiling a little.
"Stop crying, please. That's a happy moment. I love you.“ He said again just because he could now. "I'm gonna tell you everyday from now on."
"That's gay, dude," he huffed but blushed nonetheless.
Stan smiled down at the boy before him and was glad when it was reciprocal. He could feel him grabbing onto his jacket, tugging him down a little and Stan leaned in. His brain somehow registered that they were about to kiss and that he should feel like vomiting, but he didn't. The only thing he was aware of was how close they were, that he could count the freckles on Kyle's face and that there were so many shades of green in his eyes and how fucking cheesy this all was, if he'd care at all. Shoot him dead now and then, he'd die a happy man.
"OHMAHGAWD!" an all too familiar voice cried out. "I FUCKING KNEW!"
"Go get' em, tiger!" someone else hollered, followed by a loud wholf-whistle.
The two boys froze in their actions. Before realizing that the annoying voices belonged to Kenny and Cartman, who had an uncomfortably looking Butters with them.
"Fuck Off!" Kyle yelled, instantly annoyed to no end. "Seriously! Go away and piss off someone else for once!"
Stan just let out an exaggerated breath. "Yeah, what he said," he called out lazily over his shoulder. Unable to come up with any sincere anger, still giddy from their almost kiss and well, everything else.
"Guys, it's witchcraft, the curse of the yaoi drawings!" Cartman grabbed onto Kenny and Butters for dramatic effect. "First they got Craig and Tweek and now these two. Oh. My. God. Do you think it's contagious?"
He heard Kenny calling Cartman out on it and Butters timidly asking if he'd be the next one to get turned gay by the Asian girls. That's when he remembered what they were about to do originally. The drawings. They could plaster the whole school full with them if that was what it took.
"Let's go somewhere else," Kyle suggested, tugging on Stan's jacket again.
"Yeah, let's do that," beaming at his now super best boyfriend. Maybe he should keep the drawing for personal reasons or whatever.