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Many people know that asking for help is not as tragic as it sounds like.
Unfortunately, Eric Cartman was not one of them.
It all started when he found out he’s failing his algebra class. Well, nothing’s new, he always sucked at math.
Somehow, he passed last year. Mostly because his previous teacher didn’t really care if the students cheated on tests. However, this year he had a new teacher. A demanding one, that observed the students during the tests to make sure they didn’t cheat as if her life depended on it.
Failing and then retaking the class didn’t seem like a very interesting option. Who would want to repeat a class? A Junior stuck with Freshmen in algebra… In Park County High that’s basically calling for gossips, weird looks and insults (as if he hadn’t experienced these on a daily basis).
He tried to study on his own, but was always distracted. Phone, video games or just leisure time in general sounded so much better than sitting and rereading formulas for the 100th time.
Much to his dismay, he knew that this was one of the only things he couldn’t take care of himself. So, he decided to call someone for help.
Not many kids in his grade were smart enough to tutor him. Kenny McCormick? The only thing on his mind was how to get as many girls as possible. Heidi Turner? They dated when they were younger. Broke-up on not so friendly terms. Wendy Testaburger? A self-righteous bitch. Not a chance.
That left him with only one option.
Kyle Broflovski.
His enemy. Rival. The one he is supposed to hate until the day he dies. “Supposed”, because the feeling he’s feeling for Kyle is not exactly hate. Neither is friendship. He doesn’t know what exactly he thinks of Kyle; only that his presence makes his heart race whenever he sees him.
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Kyle Broflovski was a perfect student. A+ in every class. Always on time. Attendance? Never missed a day. Didn’t get into fights (only at school though. The amount of times he got into one with Eric Cartman was bigger than there were stars in the universe).
Speaking of Cartman. Recently he had gotten a call from him. He said he needs Kyle to tutor him, otherwise he may fail a class.
At these words, Kyle felt a little bit both nervous and powerful. He had a chance to make his biggest enemy repeat algebra.
But he also had a chance to make his crush pass algebra.
Crush? Kyle wouldn’t call it that. If anything, it’s just Cartman suddenly getting hotter in high school. Not like he would ever admit it, but he found himself getting a little too “excited” whenever Eric passed by. Kyle thought it was too weird and disgusting to even think about it, so he blamed puberty for the sudden attraction. That resulted in Kyle avoiding his “enemy”. But since they lived next to each other, staying away from him was almost impossible. Cartman was also an attention whore, meaning he could not just walk next to Kyle unnoticed. He also couldn’t bear being ignored, so maybe that explains the random call about tutoring.
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The boys agreed to meet at Eric’s house after school. Mainly because Cartman’s mom, Liane, wouldn’t be there. She’s almost never at home with her son, and that is impacting Eric in a way he didn’t want to. Loneliness. He didn’t hangout with anyone. Stan was at Wendy’s every afternoon, Kyle was studying, Kenny was… actually no one knows what he’s doing but he’s always busy, and no one else wanted to willingly spend time with him. Until now, at least.
They sat on the comfortable couch in the living room. Kyle swiftly unpacked his schoolbag and took out an algebra book. That earned him an unpleasant look from the boy sitting next to him.
“Okay, so what exactly are you struggling with?” Kyle asked Eric, trying to sound unbothered and polite, but it was clear he was stressing about something.
“The fuck would I know, jew? Everything, probably,” he retorted, clearly annoyed that he has to do something he doesn’t want to with someone he doesn’t want to, for obvious reasons. But the tone he said it in sounded like he wasn’t even trying to give a fuck about his studying problem. As if he did it just to waste Kyle’s time.
“Could you be fucking serious for a while? I’m spending my free afternoon on YOU, and your ungrateful ass can’t even fucking appreciate it!” Kyle was so anxious that he immediately thought that Cartman was messing with him (fair enough, Eric’s always doing that, but not in that exact situation).
“Then your jewish ass should get the fu-“
“Shut up, dipshit! I’m not going to waste time on stupid fucking arguments! If you want to pass, then you better listen to me!” Kyle cut in quickly, before their wonderful conversation could escalate into a fight.
That seemed to somehow calm things down between them. Kyle knew that this time, Cartman’s fate with algebra was fully in his hands. He could use that to make him obedient in some way. Not fully of course, but better something than nothing.
“Wait,” Cartman murmured while reaching his jeans pocket.
Kyle stared at him with the algebra book in his lap. Honestly, he didn’t know what to expect from Eric. He could either pull out a knife out of his pocket and then kill him, or take a mint gum out. With Eric Cartman, you never know.
It turned out it were actually… glasses.
“Since when do you wear glasses, fatass?”
“I don’t know? Maybe since im like… eleven?”
“Then how come I have never seen you wearing them, hmm?” Kyle questioned the reply pridefully. He was sure that Cartman was lying; he knew the brunette ever since preschool. If he had to wear glasses, Kyle would definitely know.
“Because I wear contact lenses, you dumb-“
Kyle didn’t hear the rest of that sentence. Something caught his attention.
Cartman’s eyes.
Eric had heterochromia. His left eye was brown like dark chocolate. It made Cartman look soft and warm.
Contrastingly, his right eye was electric blue. It looked like the world’s prettiest diamonds gathered all at once next to a sapphire river at night with all of the stars of the Milky Way visible on the sky.
Shortly, they were gorgeous.
Kyle thought that Cartman’s two colored eyes reflected his split personality. In some moments he could be sweet and affectionate, and in others cold, distant and arrogant. Sadly to say, it seemed like the blue one had control over Cartman most of the time. Either way, they’re bliss.
Kyle stared yet another second. His cheeks were suddenly getting redder with every passing nanosecond. His heart has been beating so fast as if it was running for its life.
“Why are you staring at me like that, jewboy??????”
Kyle finally broke the 6 second eye contact. Internally, he was panicking, but he successfully managed to not show it. He also felt disappointed. Why would Cartman ruin such a beautiful moment?
“You should wear glasses daily, you look good in them,” Was all Kyle could get out of himself.
Cartman had no idea how to reply to that. Be nice and thank for the compliment? Out of character for him. Act mad and start insulting the guy? There was no reason to do that. His “object of interest” (as he called it in his mind) had just complimented him. So he decided to just shut up and not respond.
They eventually began to study. It went surprisingly well. It didn’t even take too long; Cartman understood most of the material in two hours.
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On the following day Cartman had an algebra test. Which he did great in, getting a C+.
Kyle never felt more proud in that moment. He made the town’s dumbest asshole earn a positive grade.
Kyle didn’t expect any payoff for his hard work. To his surprise, he did get a hug from his “enemy” and 20 bucks. Sweet.
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That was the day Cartman realized that the feelings he had for Kyle were called “attraction”, “affection”, and “love”. He also learned that asking for help wasn’t that bad at all (only Kyle though. He would never ask Stan or Wendy for help, duh).
And Kyle? He finally admitted to himself that he had a crush on Eric Cartman. He wasn’t really thrilled with the confession, but he knows that you can’t help who you fall for, so he just accepted his feelings.
That was also the day the lifelong rivalry between Kyle Broflovski and Eric Cartman had ended for good.