Chapter Text
Kyle woke up, but not in a hospital. He was laying down in a field of grass, small daisies surrounding him. The sky surrounding him was a sunset of pink and orange, almost like a painting. He felt warm, comforted, and a weird feeling of nostalgia, though he had never been here before.
There was no weight in his chest, no voices in his head. Just peace.
Then he heard it.
A faint voice yelling “Kyle!”. Footsteps growing louder and louder each passing second. They weren’t walking, they were running. Kyle sat up, turning his head into the direction of the footsteps.
There was a face he never thought he would see again.
Stan Marsh.
Stan fucking Marsh.
Kyle felt like time froze. All he could do was stare.
Stan wasn’t transparent. He looked solid. He looked like himself. No–healthier, fuller. He looked like himself before the depression crap. He still had the bleached, yellowy tips on his hair. He still had those big, stupid, navy blue eyes that convinced Kyle to do anything. His cheeks were flushed from running, but that didn’t stop the noirette from going towards his lover.
Kyle didn’t know how he ended running too. It was all a blur until they ran into each other, tears in their eyes. They collided into each other, arms wrapping around the other.
They didn’t speak, just taking in the presence of the other. Stan and Kyle clung to each other like magnets, hands gripping onto the other’s clothes. The redhead felt the other crying into his shoulder, and he was barely aware that he was doing the same. The silence spoke enough for both of them.
“Took you long enough.” Stan was able to say through his tears.
Kyle just cried harder. “Don’t ever leave me again.” He sobbed, gripping Stan tighter.
“I never want to be away from you again.” Stan whispered back, voice quivering. He pulled away, but just enough to look at Kyle. He cupped his face in his palms, hands shaky. The two made eye contact, faces flushed.
“You’re just as beautiful as I remember.” Stan told Kyle in that comforting tone that made Kyle want to melt.
Kyle’s breath hitched, thumbs making small circles on Stan’s waist. “I missed you so fucking much.” He whispered, tears threatening to spill over again. “It was fucking hell living without you.”
“I was there, every day.” Stan whispered. “I never left.” His tone was warm like a thick blanket in winter, pinky tracing the small S tattoo behind his left ear.
Kyle started to cry again, not from shock, but from relief. So he didn’t go crazy. No one believed him.
It was real the whole time.
“You don’t know how good it feels to hear that.” He mumbled through his tears, hands halting their circles. “I got diagnosed with some crazy shit and people thought I went insane.” Kyle looked down at Stan, eyes still wet. “And I started to believe it.”
“Oh, Kyle..” Stan started to cry after seeing his lover be so emotional. “I was there,” he whispered. “Always have, always will.”
“Then why was I the only one to see you?”
“Because you were the only one who still believed.”
Kyle’s tears spilled onto Stan’s hand. “I never did stop believing.” He said softly. “Even when people called me crazy, even when I called myself insane, I never did stop believing.”
“Thank you,” Stan whispered, wiping away the tears on Kyle’s face. “Thank you for believing, even when no one else did.”
Kyle looked at Stan again, the emotion laid out bare on Stan’s expressive face. The way he looked at him, like he was something scared, it reminded him of how it felt to be in love. Stan always had a way to make Kyle feel special, even in the afterlife.
Stan didn’t need to speak how he felt. It was on his face.
“Can I kiss you?” Kyle whispered.
Kyle didn’t get a response.
He got lips crashing into his own.
It was slow, gentle, exactly the way it should’ve been. Though they’ve kissed a thousand times before, it felt like their first all over again. The scent of one another filled the couples noses, it tasted like home to them. In that moment, that kiss was everything they needed, all in one moment.
Stan treaded his fingers through Kyle’s hair, gently scratching his scalp with his nails, just how the two remembered. Stan pulled away first, just enough to look at the man he was lucky enough to call his husband.
“You are so beautiful, you know that?” Stan murmured, hands still buried in Kyle’s curls.
Kyle smiled softly. “I think you’ve told me before.” He told him, smiling at Stan like it was the last thing he would ever do.
Stan started to laugh, the same, boyish, laugh that made Kyle get butterflies in his stomach. Kyle started to laugh too, realization hitting him all at once.
He was here with Stan, at that very moment.
Stan pulled his hands out of Kyle's hair, reaching out for Kyle’s hand. “Would you like to walk with me?” Stan asked, trying to sound as gentleman-ish as possible.
“Gladly.” Kyle replied, taking Stan’s hand and interlocking their fingers like muscle memory.
The duo started walking together, their chatter and the occasional breeze filling the air surrounding them like a sweater. The daisies fluttered along with the breeze, gently tickling their ankles as they walked.
“I’ve thought about this before.” Kyle spoke quietly. “About seeing you again. I thought I was just going crazy. I didn’t know what was real.” His grip on Stan’s hand tightened, knuckles white.
Stan nodded in empathy. “That’s kinda why I visited you.” He whispered, squeezing the other’s hand as well. “I tried to wait, but I didn’t want to be away from you.” He glanced at the daisies on the ground. “But I didn’t know it was gonna make you spiral like that. It was fucking selfish of me.”
Kyle brought the other’s chin up to make eye contact with him. “Look at me.” He told the noirette, tone a tad more serious. ”You think I didn’t want you there? I always did. You didn’t lie when you said I was the only one who still believed.”
Stan’s jaw clenched, as though he was trying not to cry. “But you were struggling. And all I could do was watch. "
The taller of the two pressed a gentle, comforting kiss on Stan’s forehead. “You’re not watching anymore, are you?” He reassured, voice a soothing melody to the other’s ears. “You’re right here, with me.”
“God, I love you.”
“I love you too.”
They were finally together.
Forever.