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"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Kyle huffed under his breath with annoyance, the liquid in his exhalation catching dust in the air and condensing into a fine cloud above his phone screen. The courtyard was cold; it was always freezing at this time of year in South Park. Fortunately, today happened to be one of the rare days where the wind's bite was gentler on the skin, and Kyle had every intention of spending the day sitting under a tree, admiring the partially cloudy sky and finishing the book he'd last borrowed from the library.
But who better to ruin Kyle's plans than Kenneth McCormick?
Unfortunately, Kyle considered himself to be the "responsible" one in the friend group, and even more unfortunately, that responsibility came with the consequence of his phone being on vibrate 24/7 (not ringer, he would have it confiscated for sure). One event led to another, and after thirty seconds straight of the damn machine buzzing in his pocket, Kyle had finally given in and opened his messages with the rat (affectionate, of course).
Kenny M: Ky
Kenny M.: Kyle
Kenny M.: Kyle (•́ ᴖ •̀)
Kenny M.: Kyle
Kenny M.: Ky
Kenny M.: Ky
Kenny M.: Ky
Kenny M.: Ky ligt of my ife
Kenny M.: ife
Kenny M.: Ky light
Kenny M.: light of
Kenny M.: Ky
Kenny M.: Ky please it's an emergency see look I'm even typing correctly
Kenny M: Ky
Kyley-B: What happened now?
Kenny M: Ky
Kyley-B: Kenny, I need you to use your eyes and see that I have already responded.
Kenny M: Ky (╥﹏╥)
Kyley-B: What.
Kenny M: can i take leo to your house
Kyley-B: What?
Kenny M: mb
Kenny M: can i PLEASE take leo to your house
Kyley-B: Why? What happened?
Kenny M: hes sick and i dont trust his parents to take care of him (¬‸¬)
Kenny M: its so bad dude he was barely standing and they still sent him to school and he collapsed its so bad
Kenny M: and if i take him to my house i think he would die immediately
Kyley-B: Oh my God.
Kyley-B: Yeah Dude, of course you can bring him to my place.
Kyley-B: Do you want me to go with him? I can call my mom and see if she can pick us up.
Kenny M: what if he dies while shes driving (╥﹏╥)
Kyley-B: And what if you drop him while you're running to my house?
Kenny M: ok call ur mom ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡
For once in Kyle's life, Sheila being an overbearing mess of a mother worked extremely well in his favor. At the mention of a sick child, the fiery-haired woman had shown up to the school in two minutes flat, leaving Kyle to scramble signing himself out of class for the day. By the time Kyle had made it through the school gates, he found himself ambushed by the hands of a caring parent, squishing and stretching his face in ways he'd only seen done to a stress ball.
"Oh Kyle, Bubbula, are you feeling okay? You're all red!" Kyle swatted Sheila's hands away from his face lightly, reddening in the face from embarrassment rather than illness.
"I'm fine, Ma. It's Leo who's sick." Kyle explained, readjusting his hat to his liking as Sheila backed away from him and looked around, searching for a blonde head not yet present.
"Oh, right. Where is he, anyways?" Sheila asked mindlessly. "Is he alone? A boy in his condition really shouldn't be alone."
"He's not alone, Ma. He's with-"
"Ky!" Kenny's voice cut into the Broflovski's ears, prompting both of the redheads to turn in the direction of the noise. The strawberry blonde was red in the face, panting from overexertion, the reason becoming clear to Kyle when his gaze traveled up from Kenny's violet eyes; the poor boy had decided to carry Leo all the way to the front of the school, despite being so much shorter than the other blonde that his toes were dragging on the ground behind him.
"Kenny!" Kyle hissed in chiding, rushing to the other teen to take the unconscious boy from his back. Leo slid into Kyle's arms with ease, but the redhead quickly found that holding someone close to your size bridal style wasn't exactly the easiest task to complete. It was only thanks to Kenny's inhuman reflexes that the blonde didn't hit the ground flat.
"Ky! You could've dropped him-" Kenny protested in worry.
"You were dragging him!" Kyle retorted, his voice still low in a hiss.
"He was like 90% in the air!" Kenny insisted, lifting his chin in place of his occupied arms in insistence.
"That's not how being in the air works-" Kyle elaborated, his point being quickly cut off by his mother.
"Can you boys stop arguing and get the poor boy in the car?" Sheila's voice cut the argument in half, causing hazel and violet eyes to dart towards the car before meeting each other in agreeance. Together, Kyle and Kenny managed to get Leo, completely knocked out, into the back seat of the car. Kenny reached over the blonde, gingerly buckling his seatbelt as best he could without disturbing him. Despite being completely unconscious, Leo's breathing was heavy, and Kyle couldn't help but notice the beads of sweat that formed on his temples. The redhead watched as Kenny brought the back of his hand to Leo's forehead, his lips pressed together in concern as his gaze traveled down to the blonde's heaving mouth.
"...take care of him, okay?" Kenny's eyes met Kyle's, concern and slight panic hidden behind those violet irises. Kyle returned a look of determination, nodding slightly as his lips formed a fine line.
"I will, I promise." It wasn't a secret to Kyle that Kenny was a caring person, and of course he'd be most protective over his best friend; Kyle would feel the same way about Stan, he was sure.
"Do you want to come with us, Kenny? It really isn't too much trouble for me to drive you." Sheila offered, causing Kenny to blush lightly and push his hands into the pockets of his parka.
"No thank you, Mrs. Broflovski. I've got some uhh... studying to do!" Kenny offered a smile, tooth gap and all, successfully charming the woman into believing the shallow lie. Kyle, for one, knew that Kenny had skipped so many classes that he was on thin fucking ice for suspension.
"Oh, so studious, Kenny. Good luck with your schoolwork!" Sheila waved to the teen, sliding into the driver's seat shortly after Kyle let himself into the passenger side. The redheaded teen reached over his shoulder for his seatbelt, his eyes catching Kenny's in the rearview mirror as the metal clicked into its slot. Kenny offered a wave and a concerned smile, saluting shortly after Kyle returned the farewell.
It was mere moments before Kenny was out of sight. Despite the brightness of the color, his orange parka faded into the distance and blended into the gray pavement with ease.
"So, Kyle." Sheila started, prompting the teen to turn his gaze to her. "How exactly do you know Leo? I don't hear his name very often." Kyle was at a loss for words; it was true that he didn't talk about Leo very often, he was usually complaining about Eric or gushing about Stan. But that didn't mean he disliked Leo. In fact, he liked Leo quite fine; Leo was sweet, kind, and everything that Kyle aspired to be (except that Kyle also wanted to be valedictorian, Leo didn't seem too caught up with academics to the outside eye).
"He's my... friend." Kyle answered semi-honestly. While it was true that Kyle saw Leo as a friend, he wasn't sure if Leo saw him the same way; Kyle was always running around with Stan and Eric, and Leo spent most of his time with Kenny. Of course, Kenny oftentimes joined Kyle's group in their shenanigans, but unlike the rest of the group, Kenny would intentionally carve time out of his day for Leo.
No wonder the two of them were so close.
"Oh, well I'm sure he's a sweet boy." Sheila's teeth shone under the sun. "It's very sweet of you and Kenny to want to take care of him. I'll make him some soup when we get home."
"Thanks, Ma." Kyle spoke to Sheila, but his eyes gravitated towards the rearview mirror once more, taking in the form of the unconscious blonde in the backseat. Leo's head lulled onto his shoulder haphazardly, letting his blonde mess of hair flop over his good eye. The position he was in left his lightning-shaped scar visible to the other teen, dancing over his eyelid and brow in a way that Kyle felt could be described as beautiful.
Though, he would never say that out loud. Eric would never let him live it down.
Right, that's the only reason.
The ride back passed in images of suburb houses and pretty lawns; it was only a matter of minutes before the trio had arrived at the Broflovski house. Sheila was the first to exit the car, immediately opening the backseat door and scooping Leo over her shoulder with ease. Kyle followed shortly, making himself useful by unlocking the front door for the other two in the triad.
"Where do you want me to put him, Kyle?" The aforementioned teen turned towards his mother, idly looking over the limp boy in her arms as he pressed his lips into a fine line. The easiest place to put him would be the couch; it was soft to some extent and easily accessible for Sheila to lay him down, but it wasn't exactly the most comfortable or spacious place for a sick child to rest. The floor was obviously out of the question; Kyle didn't want to give Leo another reason to wake up with aches in his joints.
"You can leave him in my room, I'll tuck him in." Kyle finalized; it wasn't exactly convenient for him, but Kyle figured that Leo's parents would want him back by the end of the day, and that worst comes to worst, he could sleep on the couch for a day and wash his sheets after.
"That's very kind of you, Kyle." Sheila smiled at her son before making her way up the stairs with Leo in tow. Kyle followed shortly behind her, moving the covers of his neatly made bed aside for Sheila to lay Leo down on his back. Kyle gently tugged the covers back over the other boy, his hand lingering slightly on the corner before he pulled his hand back into his own bubble.
"Do you need help with the soup?" Kyle offered, his hazel eyes meeting their match in Sheila's green. The two of them shared many things in common, but their intense gazes and determination were two among the top five. And right now, both Broflovskis shared a common goal of helping the other teen recover.
"Sure, Bubby. Come on." With a short wave, Sheila led Kyle down into the kitchen, leaving the blonde under Kyle's covers to rest in peaceful silence.
Leo woke up to the blurry vision of green; Leo thought for a moment that he may be either outside or in the school studio room, but he also recognized quickly that the green on the walls was too deep to be any sort of studio green screen. The teen rubbed his right eye momentarily, clearing up his vision enough for him to take in the appearance of a desk across the room. It was in organized chaos, perfectly sorted in a way passable to the outside eye, yet cluttered with annotation tools and papers. The bulletin board above the desk was littered with pins and strings, connecting post-it note reminders for the owner to clean up later. Above and behind Leo hung a silly picture of Einstein with his tongue hanging out, prompting the teen to giggle slightly at the sight. The beside table beside Leo held a small globe and a solar system model, giving the teen quite the impression about the room's owner. The blonde realized shortly that there was a full glass of water and a tissue box left besides the globe, and it appeared that somebody had gingerly left a stuffed orca on the edge of the bed, perhaps believing it may soothe him when he awoke. Leo gladly took the thing into his arms before continuing his survey of his surroundings. The shelf in the corner held a few books, ranging from what appeared to be fantasy to large SAT prep workbooks bulging out of the shelves with a vengeance. Atop the shelf lay a variety of trophies, a few that stuck out to Leo immediately were the ones displaying a basketball decoration, giving Leo an obvious hint to the reason for the reward. Above that shelf lay even more awards, certificates and pictures that revealed the identity of the owner to Leo. The hazel eyes that stared back at him from family pictures belonged to none other than Kyle Broflovski, and that fact was reinforced by the other teen's name being plastered on each and every visible certificate.
But what was Leo doing in Kyle's room?
The blonde got his answer quickly when a pounding headache overtook his senses. The teen doubled over in the bed, his hand reaching up to his temple to survey the issue; he was burning up. His fever was obvious, not that Leo needed to feel the warmth of his face to understand that he was sick. His entire body ached from joints to tendons, and he felt as though he'd accidentally consumed a whole tube of IcyHot paste. Despite having just woken up, Leo felt as though he hadn't rested in decades (though he was less than two decades old). He was fatigued in a manner that exacerbated his body aches, making him all the more thankful to have been placed in a bed rather than another surface such as a sleeping back or hammock. The burn in his throat was unsatisfied, burning a flaming hole into his neck that called for something more than the water offered to him on the table on his right. To top it all off, Leo was congested beyond belief. He sniffled slightly, trying to keep some pristine image of himself rather than gushing all over the fabrics of one hospitable enough to house him. He tore a tissue gently from the box, clearing his nose to the best of his ability (though this act took him four tissues) and tossing the trash gently into the bin he found left at the edge of the bed. Once the task had been completed to the best of his ability, Leo brought the glass of water to his lips, gulping down the liquid with unsatisfied fervor. The teen finished about half of the liquid before he pulled his lips from the rim, huffing slightly from sudden overexertion of his aching muscles.
It wasn't until the door opened that Leo's senses settled; he was sick in Kyle Broflovski's room, probably because Kyle had always been a sweetheart and wanted nothing more than to help people where he could. Kyle would ride a bike across a country to stick up for a single person, so of course he would offer a warm bed to somebody suffering from a rough (albeit common) cold. It was a trait of Kyle's that Leo admired; he often wished he could be like Kyle in that regard, not that Leo didn't ever jump to help somebody in need, but he couldn't help but think the world's colors shone a bit brighter whenever he saw Kyle do it.
"You're awake." And those same colors seemed all the more vibrant when Leo's green gaze met Kyle's hazel in the doorway. Kyle's red locks were free from their hat prison for a rare sighting, allowing Leo to admire the way the fiery coils swirled around Kyle's freckled face. Leo had never realized just how beautiful Kyle's hair was, it took all of his power to break his gaze away from those strings of magma. In his hands, the redhead held a steaming bowl of what appeared to be soup over a saucer, and from his wrist, there dangled an opaque white tote bag full of what was most likely the miscellaneous items that a Broflovski would bring to soothe the sick.
"I uh... I am." Leo responded, knocking his knuckles together gently to soothe his nerves as Kyle approached the bed. The redhead set down the bowl and back on the bedside table, adjusting the rest of the items on the surface before pulling his chair from his desk and turning his attention back to the sick blonde. "Gee, uh, thanks for all of this, Kyle."
"It's nothing." He responded, bringing his hand forward to Leo's hair and pushing his bangs up and away from his forehead. Leo gasped slightly at the contact, confused and flustered at the sudden perceived intimacy. The blonde was suddenly very aware of illness' effect on his appearance: how the bags under his eyes must be exaggerated by fatigue, how the sweat beads on his skin must be shining under the dim room lights, how heavy his breathing must be under the stress of disease, and any other consequence Kyle may catch that Leo didn't think of. But all of Leo's worries about his appearance were quickly silenced when the other teen brought his forehead to meet his own. Now, all of Leo's thoughts centered the other teen: how his freckles were still visible even in dim lighting, how soft his curls felt against Leo's skin, how his eyebrows knitted together when he was thinking, and how beautiful those soft hazel eyes were close-up. The blonde reddened slightly in the face; he always knew Kyle was handsome, but the fact was much more apparent when the two of them were mere inches apart. For just a moment, Leo felt the pit in his queasy stomach blossom with fluttering butterflies, rushing up from his core to his heart with a rush of passion. The moment passed quickly, however, when Kyle pulled away from the blonde, surprisingly unaffected by the previous closeness. "You still have a fever."
"Uh, Kyle?" Leo questioned, still red in the face from the contact.
"Yeah?" Kyle responded while unpacking the bag on the bedside table, still unaffected by the moment which left Leo's head reeling. For a second, Leo contemplated asking the redhead about the instance, but his inability to manage his emotions quelled his ability to.
"What am I doin' in your room?" Leo inquired, settling on the logical question to ask in the given situation.
"Oh. Kenny told me you collapsed, so I... I brought you here." Kyle answered honestly, bringing his eyes to meet Leo's gaze as he pulled a bottle of honey from his bag.
"Oh... hamburgers." Leo sniffled uselessly.
"How are you feeling?" Kyle pressed, continuing to take items out of his (frankly) overstocked bag.
"I'm alright, thanks, Kyle." Leo attempted to reassure the other boy, earning a stern look from the teen when he coughed into his elbow.
"Are you sure? You're burning up." Kyle continued to press, leaning close enough to Leo for the blonde's butterflies to rise from his core again.
"I- I am! I swear it!" The blonde raised his hands up, an action which seemed enough to convince Kyle that Leo was at least in a state better than the one he was in at school.
"If you say so, I guess. Can you swallow pills? I brought Tylenol." Kyle continued forward, shaking the bottle lightly in his hands. Leo flushed slightly, shaking his head in denial before responding verbally.
"I uh... they're kinda scary ta me." Leo answered a bit too honestly for his own liking, shrugging his shoulders slightly in defense to the possibility of the other teen teasing him. Instead, Kyle only placed the pill bottle back in the bag.
"It's fine, I brought liquid medicine too. It's just not going to taste great." Kyle warned. The redhead poured a bit of the viscous liquid into a cap, allowing the strong odor to reach the blonde's nose. Leo scrunched his face in response, earning a soft chuckle from the redhead as he handed the cap over to him. "You'll have to down it really fast."
"Do I gotta?" Leo asked, prompting Kyle to glare lightly at him. The look on his face was enough to encourage Leo (by the way of his people-pleasing tendencies) to take the cap from Kyle's hands and down the thing in one gulp, albeit accompanied by the scrunch of his face and a light gag. "Yuck."
"Here," Kyle offered Leo a spoonful of honey, holding the utensil to Leo's lips gingerly enough to make the boy blush. "It'll soothe your throat a bit." Kyle explained, smiling slightly when the blonde parted his lips and let the spoon slip into his mouth. Leo was more than grateful for the honey; aside from soothing his throat, the sweetness also erased the bitter aftertaste of the medicine.
"Thank you, Kyle." Leo spoke as soon as he pulled away from the spoon, offering the redhead a smile in return. "Uh... do my... uh..."
"My mom called your parents, you won't... get grounded." Kyle trailed slightly; it was no secret to any of the boys in their group that none of them necessarily approved of Leo's parents' strict punishments, but there wasn't much that any of the teens could do about the situation. Instead, they (mostly Kenny) had taken Leo under their wings as shelter and done what they could to help him. Leo appreciated it, to say the least. "I see you found Willzyx."
"Huh?" Kyle pointed down in Leo's lap at the stuffed orca, a whimsical smile gracing his lips as Leo blushed at the realization that he'd been caught cuddling a stuffed animal by a cute boy. Then again, said cute boy owned the stuffed animal.
"He helped me a lot as a kid when I was sick. I thought maybe he could help you too." Kyle blushed lightly, likely slightly embarrassed by the fact that he'd revealed he used to (and probably still did) cuddle a stuffed orca for soothing.
"Well shucks, Kyle. That's mighty kind of ya." Leo giggled to himself as Kyle turned his head away in some bashful attempt to hide his embarrassment. Leo saw right through it. "Thank you again."
"Any time, Dude." Kyle responded, clearing his throat before he brought his gaze back to Leo's eyes. The two teens stared at each other for a while; the moment was silent and raw, and Leo couldn't help but start counting the freckles on Kyle's face. Kyle's face tinted lightly with pink for a moment, his lips parting only for a second before the two were jolted alert by the sound of the bedroom door slamming open.
"Yo! Kyle!" The voice of a child rang from the doorway. Upon focusing his vision to the best of his ability, Leo realized that it was none other than Ike Broflovski. The child's blue eyes sparkled with mischief at the scene, and his black hair fell nicely over his lightly freckled face. "Mom and I are heading out to get groceries, 'kay?"
"Okay, Ike." Kyle responded, exasperated.
"Mom says be good." Ike added with a smirk.
"Okay, Ike." Kyle responded yet again, now embarrassed.
"And that you're her little Bubbula." Ike's smirk only deepened.
"Ike." Kyle hissed, his head turning to glare at his little brother. The said little brother snicked in response, his hand moving to lightly cover his mouth.
"And that's it! Feel better, Leo!" The child waved for a moment, leaving directly after Leo returned the wave with a giggle. The blonde sniffled, then turned to check on Kyle, whose face had grown beyond red with embarrassment.
"He's real sweet." Leo offered a conversation as he picked up the soup spoon, only for Kyle to bury his face in his hands.
"He loves to embarrass me." Kyle responded, to which Leo giggled again.
"But it's real cute! I don't got any siblin's, I think if I did, I'd wanna have a siblin' relationship like yours." Leo reasoned as he started on the soup. Kyle looked up from his hands, searching Leo's eyes for any sign of dishonesty.
"Really?"
"Really." The two of them fell into a comfortable silence, their lips curving up into smiles before Kyle broke the silence by clearing his throat.
"Sorry uh... can I get you anything?" Kyle offered. Leo thought for a moment, about to respond with a 'no thank you' before a shiver overtook his body and caused him to quiver.
"O- oh, uh, gee, Kyle. You don't gotta do all this for me." Leo responded, doing his best to ignore the cold in his core. Kyle narrowed his eyes slightly at the sight.
"You're cold." He spoke bluntly.
"I ain't!" Leo argued, his point being quickly disproved by the shakiness of his voice. The redhead sighed, standing up from his seat and heading towards his closet.
"When did we last do laundry?" Kyle asked under his breath but still audible enough for Leo to hear. The redhead flushed slightly when Leo giggled at the question. Kyle dug around in the closet for a bit, mumbling under his breath all the while as he pulled out two lion onesies from his closet. "Oh come on-" Kyle was quickly cut off by a fit of giggles from Leo. The redhead blushed at the sound, turning to face the laughing blonde.
"Awh, that's adorable, Kyle." Leo spoke through laughter. "Why do ya got those?"
"It's- my mom got them for me and Ike." Kyle answered honestly. "We used to watch The Lion King all the time as kids, so I guess she just thought we'd like these."
"For Ike?" Leo coughed, pointing at the second onesie in Kyle's hand. "No offense ta Ike, but uh... that's huge for him."
"She figured he'd grow into it." Kyle answered, prompting Leo to giggle again. "I'm serious!" Kyle exclaimed, only causing Leo to giggle more.
"Hey, uh-" Leo giggled again. "I got an idea."
"What's that?" Kyle asked, puzzled by the sudden excitement the blonde displayed.
"Y'know how ya asked me ta watch The Lion King when we were younger?" Leo inquired, causing Kyle to go red in the face.
"And you said no."
"Well, I'm real sorry 'bout it." Leo continued, turning to let his feet swing off the bed. "And your ma and Ike will be out for a while, so how 'bout we watch it tonight?" Leo offered, smiling when the other teen perked up at the idea, his hazel eyes filled with awe at the opportunity.
"Really? You want to?" Leo had the feeling that Kyle really liked that movie.
"Yeah, really!" Leo affirmed. "One condition."
"Yeah, sure Dude." Kyle agreed almost too quickly, realizing his mistake when Leo's smile tilted into a smirk.
"We gotta wear the onesies." Leo finalized.
"...Seriously?" Kyle questioned.
"Yes, Mister. Seriously. They're real adorable. And I'm freezin'." Leo reasoned with a shudder, to which Kyle rushed over to the bed and handed up the smaller of the two pajama sets.
"Deal. I'll uh... I'll be back." Kyle rushed out of the room quicker than Leo could respond; the blonde only giggled at the redhead's excitement, shakily standing up from the bed to change into his set.
Kyle felt absolutely ridiculous. Never in a million years did he expect to actually wear the stupid lion onesie that Sheila had bought for him, but here he was, standing in front of his bathroom mirror in said onesie with the hood up. His red hair peeked out from under the mane, framing his freckled face in flecks of flame and accenting his hazel eyes. With a sigh, he brought the hood down to his shoulders to take a better look at his reflection.
Reiterating, Kyle felt absolutely ridiculous.
"Kyle?" The sound of Leo's sick and scratchy voice broke the redhead from his spiral of criticism. Kyle made his way to the door separating the two of them, turning the knob and opening the door for the two of them to meet once again. Once the door was out of their way, the two teens found home in each other's gazes again, hazel eyes locking on green with awe. Kyle was immediately taken aback by the appearance of the blonde; the onesie fit him perfectly, almost hiding how he was still shaking from the slight illness. Unlike Kyle, Leo had decided to don the hood of the set, pushing down his mop of blonde bangs over his forehead and almost hiding that beautiful lightning scar.
Almost.
The sleeves were bunched up slightly at the blonde's wrists, just a few inches too long to be snug on him. Leo had opted to put on the detachable paws for full immersion, and the sight of it was frankly adorable. Kyle recalled clearly that out of the main group, Leo was always very good at getting into character. He would dive into acting without shame, and Kyle always found that trait of his admirable: how he would always put 110% into all that he did, despite the strange glances he attracted from other people. Leo didn't seem to care much about what people thought, or if he did, he cared more about being himself. Kyle wished he could be like that; he wished he could focus on his craft without worrying about his reputation, but unfortunately, he cared way too much about his appearance to be as carefree as he thought Leo to be.
"Oh." The sound left the blonde's voice; his green eyes were open wide in awe and locked onto the other teen's hair. Kyle was very aware that his curls were akin to a lion's mane, but he wasn't aware that the appearance of said curls while Kyle was wearing a stupid lion onesie would have this effect on Leo.
"Uh... you okay, Dude?" Kyle asked in an attempt to break the tension. Not that he minded the attention, but he wasn't quite ready to admit that just yet. The blonde jumped slightly, red in the face from the fact that he'd been caught.
"I- I'm fine and dandy, Kyle." The blonde responded, knocking his knuckles together to calm his nerves.
"Great. I'm glad. Uh... are you ready?" Kyle tilted his head slightly towards the stairwell, which would lead the two of them to the couch and television. Leo's head followed suit, tilting in a similar manner to Kyle's.
"I am, but you ain't." The blonde answered, causing Kyle's brow to knit in confusion.
"What?" Kyle responded, blushing lightly when Leo's hands reached over his shoulders. His vision was instantly blocked by red curls from his own head, pushed down by the onesie hood that Leo had just pulled over his head. The blonde had burst into a fit of giggles; Kyle couldn't see very well, but he could tell by the sound of said fit in front of him. The redhead pressed his lips together; half flustered at how close the two had become and half flustered at how ridiculous he must appear.
"There ya go!" Leo spoke through laughter. "A crown fit for a king." Kyle lifted his hair slightly with the back of his hand, giving himself enough room to meet Leo's joyful face past his curls. The smile on the other teen's face made Kyle's heart flutter for a moment, but the redhead only bit his lip and pushed those feelings down into his core and cleared his throat.
"A king?" Kyle echoed.
"Yeah! Like how Simba's the Lion King. You're like..." Leo's green eyes fell to the floor momentarily, only flickering back up when Leo found the words he was searching for. "Oh! Ya used to be the Elf King when we were kids."
"You remember that?" Kyle questioned, his brow knitting slightly. He was surprised; he didn't realize that anybody else thought about their childhoods as often as he did. He was slightly embarrassed by the fact; most of the people he grew up with had moved on from their time as children rather quickly.
Most, except for Leo.
"Well gee, Kyle, 'course I do!" The blonde answered, beaming with childish joy that Kyle could only wish to emulate. He leaned closer to the redhead, meeting his eyes with a genuine smile. "I think ya'd still be a good king today, too."
"...Really?" Kyle's eyebrows raised, surprised.
"'Course!" Leo answered, once again with genuine promise. "You're a great leader, and ya really care for the people 'round ya." The other teen confirmed. "Anyone would be real lucky ta have a king like you." Kyle blushed at the compliment, taking a moment to gather his words before he responded.
"Well... I think you'd be a great paladin, too." Kyle let his found words slip from his lips, flushing slightly at the implications of it. Leo's face also flushed red, his smile never wavering under Kyle's gaze.
"Gee, thanks, Kyle." He responded, falling into a comfortable silence with the other teen, before Kyle decided to break it.
"So, we're ready now?" Kyle asked, ignoring the flutters in his stomach when Leo's green eyes fluttered open.
"Yup! We're all ready now." Leo answered, instinctively reaching forward and interlocking his fingers with Kyle's. The redhead blushed at the contact, his hazel eyes following their linked hands. If Leo minded it at all, Kyle was unable to tell; his eyes were locked onto their joined hands. Eventually, Kyle's eyes raised to Leo's flushed smile, staring at those pearly whites for just a moment before he led the blonde down the stairwell, past the family photos, and finally settled on the couch in front of the Broflovski's flat screen television.
Kyle, of course, insisted on bringing snacks and some drinks. A movie experience wasn't usually fun without something to chow on, but the two teens found that the two of them quickly forgot about all things edible when they sat beside each other. The popcorn, the candy, the soda and the water alike all found themselves untouched on the coffee table before the boys. Wordlessly, Kyle's hand reached the remote, pressing the all-so familiar buttons to start the film.
The movie was just as Kyle remembered; he'd watched it more times than he would like to admit. But it became obvious to Kyle that Leo hadn't seen it nearly as much; each scene had Leo expressing a different emotion, whether it was tears, joy, or excitement for the next event to come. Kyle soon found that he was barely watching the movie at all; he was watching Leo. He was watching that adorable face change drastically between scenes, or excitedly singing along to songs he knew despite his sore throat.
And then the emotions hit Kyle like a truck; the butterflies that had been brewing in his stomach had become overwhelming, and he became paranoid that Leo could hear his pounding heartbeat. He wiped his clammy hands on his legs, hoping that he could brush the behavior off as typical awkward Kyle antics.
It was only after that did Kyle realize why his eyes had been glued to Leo all night. Or maybe he already knew, but didn't want to admit it. But Leo's blonde head landing gently on his shoulder spurred butterflies from his core yet again, and Kyle secretly thanked God for the perfect height difference his growth spurt had put between them. With the lack of distance between them, Kyle could feel Leo's body heat as he cuddled into his side. And maybe it was a mistake to let him get this close to him; maybe Kyle had no idea what to do with these feelings, and maybe he would be sick for the next week and a half. But that didn't matter much, because just one year from today, on the same couch with the same movie, the king and the paladin would be sneaking short kisses with linked hands as Can You Feel The Love Tonight echoed from the television speakers in front of them.
But the two of them still had a few more sick days to go before then.