Chapter Text
Stan: when are u coming?
Stan: babe?
Wendy: I just need to finish the biology project. Wait for me.
Stan: sure thing
It was Tolkien’s birthday party, and, as you could guess, the entire South Park High School population was there to celebrate. Well, they were going to be; it was still quite early, just around seven P.M. Everyone still had time to show up, and that fact made Stan feel more at ease. Besides, Wendy was always late to such events. Nothing new.
He strolled towards the kitchen, passing through people prepping a beer pong, laughing loudly and quite brazenly putting the liquid to good use. At the corner, just behind the home DJ setup, Kenny talked animatedly with Clyde, most likely about their music tastes and why playing Shakira was a must. Stan giggled at the thought and decided to steer a bit from his original course. Drinks could wait.
‘’…so ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ is a key point, dude!’’ Kenny gestured as vividly as vaguely. Clyde snorted and shook his head, probably out of arguments. But he quickly lightened up when Stan approached.
‘’Hi, Stan.’’ Kenny draped himself over Stan’s shoulder and batted his eyelashes dramatically. ‘’I was just informing Clyde why my midnight performance is the most important moment of every party.’’
‘’I get it, you do you, but dude… Shakira?’’ Clyde sent an imploring look to Stan.
However, as the lover of the middle ground, Stan only lifted his hands in defense.
‘’Nope, I’m not touching that problem.’’
Kenny smirked triumphantly, already repeating the lyrics to Shakira’s songs inwardly. It was going to be a wild party.
Wendy had been trying her best to focus and finish that stupid project, but it had proven to be completely impossible with her phone’s constant buzzing. She had put it on silent mode, but it seemed her attention was somewhere else. Unable to be productive, she stood up with a heavy sigh from her desk and sauntered towards her closet.
It was nearing ten o'clock in the evening, so it wasn’t like she could delay any longer either way.
Her phone rang once more, but she decided to pick it up this time.
‘’Yeah?’’
‘’Wendy! We were worried you forgot about the party!’’ Heidi squeaked through the speaker, loud music booming in the background. ‘’Are you coming?’’
‘’Yup,’’ she answered absent-mindedly, going through her clothes. ‘’I’ll be there in half an hour.’’
‘’Okay! Hurry up, Bebe’s already kinda buzzed!’’ The girls snickered on the other side, and Heidi ended the call.
Yep, just what she wanted that night—an unfinished project and a wasted best friend. At least Stan was there; his normalcy was everything Wendy needed.
Wendy: Where are you?
Stan: at the party
He wasn’t sure how he had ended up in one of the guest rooms, completely dark inside. Stupid migraine.
Stan’s hands blindly trailed the carpet’s patterns. What could he say? It felt grounding. He hadn’t even had that many drinks. But all this stress with the last year of high school… Every tiniest thought regarding it made him nauseous. A deep sigh escaped his lips.
Hiding there to escape ‘you’re fun at parties’ allegations, which, honestly, were quite in place this time, made him hate himself even more.
‘’It’s the last year… You should be out there.’’ He murmured to himself in the corner of the unlit room.
He heard someone gripping the knob aggressively, and his gaze snapped to it.
The door opened, and in the line of Stan’s sight appeared Tweek and Craig. They seemed as shocked as him that someone was occupying the room, sitting completely in the darkness.
‘’Hi, sorry, it’s taken.’’ Stan smiled apologetically, receiving an acknowledging murmur from Craig. ‘’Oh, wait a second! Do you know if Kyle’s at the party?’’
‘’Isn’t he your best friend?’’ Craig raised an eyebrow and was smacked by Tweek.
‘’He’s not, at least not yet.’’ Tweek answered and ushered Craig out, closing the door behind them.
Stan let his head hit the wall lightly as he leaned back. He couldn’t bring himself to go back; it wasn’t what he wanted. Perhaps waiting for Wendy and staying just for Kenny’s midnight shit show was the best option.
Yeah, a safe one.
As soon as she arrived to the venue, Wendy, quite fortunately, spotted Heidi. The girl was obviously hammered but contacting, which Wendy deemed satisfactory. Looking around, it felt clear she wouldn’t find a better option.
Heidi noticed her almost immediately and waved enthusiastically, gesturing for Wendy to come closer.
The colorful lights danced on people’s faces, somehow amplifying the sweaty and musky image of the main room. Wendy squeezed through the crowd carefully, J.Lo and drunken wheezes filled her ears.
‘’Hi, Wendy, it’s sooo nice to see you!’’ Heidi shouted, a wide smile plastered on her face. Her voice barely carried over the loud bass.
‘’Hi, nice to see you too!’’ Wendy yelled back, scanning Heidi’s face to see if her words reached her. ‘’Do you know—?''
She was cut off when someone’s shoulder bumped into hers. Quick apologies were exchanged, and Wendy found herself dragged by Heidi to one of the guest rooms, shouting something along the lines ‘yeah, sure, I’ll take you!’
Before she could object, she was swallowed by darkness behind big wooden doors.
‘’Stan?’’ Wendy whispered while tracing the wall to find a light switch. There seemed to be none, so the only sensible option remaining was taking out her phone with the flash on. But before she could do so, a set of hands grabbed her strongly, but with a surprising amount of gentleness.
She squeaked when a pair of lips landed squarely on hers.
Stan was already dozing off when the door finally opened. Someone slipped into the room, and all stimuli like the aggressive pop music or blinding lights of the corridor were cut off instantly after them.
He stood up quickly and jumped to Wendy, feeling a wave of relief.
‘’Damn, it’s so good to see you!’’ Stan laughed out a huff. ‘’Wouldn’t survive that party without you, hah.’’
Before Wendy could answer, Stan grabbed her face and kissed her.
He wasn’t sure whether it was a matter of all those drinks, his sleepy state, or the tiring thoughts, but God, did that kiss feel good. Maybe that cherry-flavored lipstick he tasted? It was definitely better than the usual vanilla.
Yes, that kiss was definitely something, Stan thought to himself, happy that the party wasn’t a complete disaster.
The lips moved against Wendy’s with both soothing finesse and refined rhythm. How nice Stan had finally, after all those years, understood what kissing should feel like. Because this was the best she had ever felt. She always told him that practice makes perfect, and now look where they were.
Wendy put her hands on Stan’s shoulders, thinking to herself that all this stress made him lose some of his muscles. Poor thing.
Then she grazed his hair… those a bit rough but still somewhat fluffy, so curly—
As soon as Wendy reciprocated, Stan reached for her hair… those nice, silky, curly—
Wait.
Curly?
Stan scrubbed his teeth for the fourth time that morning, staring into the bathroom mirror with the hollow eyes of a man awaiting execution. He could swear the artificial taste of cherries still lingered on his tongue.
There was no doubt about it. Who in their right mind wore distinct, sickeningly sweet cherry lip balm? Bebe, Wendy’s best friend. It had to be Bebe. She always smelled like cherries so much it was hard to even stand next to her sometimes.
And now his life was officially over. Stan pulled on his brown jacket absent-mindedly. How could he be so stupid? Bebe was, like, at most an acquaintance to him. At the very end of the list of people he usually vibed with in his class.
But it didn’t matter, no? He had to confess to Wendy at school today, take his punishment, and live out the rest of his days as a disgraced outcast. A fucking cheater.
He groaned into his hands, then picked up his keys. He headed out, looking like a kicked puppy.
Across town, Wendy sat at her desk, frantically tapping her pen against a lined notebook. The biology had been finished, so she had time to deal with this bullshit.
Kenny? Too tall, wavy hair. Too busy on the dance floor.
Clyde? Straight hair, spent the night crying over Shakira. And Bebe.
Cartman? Too fat. And not a good kisser.
She scanned all those names of boys from her class.
Just one made sense, no matter how much she hated this conclusion.
Kyle.
It was mathematically undeniable. Who else had hair that ridiculously wild and tightly curled? And those arms… definitely too lanky to belong to Stan. Senior year stress did strange things to people, because Kyle normally wouldn’t kiss her. Like, never. But he must have mistaken her for someone else, and she, in her tired, dark-room confusion, had reciprocated. Simple.
But the guilt gnawed at her stomach like acid. She slammed her notebook shut, grabbed her backpack, and marched out the front door. There was no way around it—she would meet Stan by his locker, tell him the devastating truth, and accept the immediate destruction of their relationship with dignity.
Stan sauntered through the school’s main entrance, hovering along the lockers, looking pale like a ghost. He hated the fact that Bebe had escaped the room as soon as the kiss ended, because if she hadn’t, he could live in a safe bubble, believing that maybe, just maybe, it had been Wendy. But now his only hope was that his girlfriend would jump out with a camera and tell him she had curled up her hair for a stupid prank.
Because that was what Wendy Testaburger would do.
He sighed heavily and stopped by his locker to quickly take his things and find her.
Wendy power-walked through the corridor, hoping it would minimize the chances of talking to anyone before confronting Stan. And perhaps also to hide how much her legs trembled.
Luckily, no one dared to approach her, and she managed to grab her boyfriend tightly, tucking him away into a more secluded place. She hated what was going to happen—Stan would shout at her about being a bad person.
Because that was what Stan Marsh would do.
She clenched her fists, closed her eyes, and allowed the heavy words to slip from her lips.
"Stan, I did something terrible—"
"Wendy, don't hate me, it was a mistake—"
They looked at each other with dumbfounded expressions.
‘’What?’’ And asked, of course, in unison.
‘’Well, um, okay, ladies first…’’ Stan mumbled.
‘’No, no, I’m… a firm believer in equal rights.’’ Wendy muttered.
Then they stood there, one rocking back and forth on his heels, one hopping from one leg to the other. In silence. A very long and a very uncomfortable one.
‘’Um, so, I might have kissed… Bebe.’’ Stan utters, then quickly added. ‘’But it was dark, and I was sure it was you and—!''
‘’It’s okay, Stan, it’s fine!’’ Wendy said, definitely too loudly.
‘’It is?’’ He sent her a look that seemed as flabbergasted and suspicious. A mix of sorts.
‘’Yeah… because I think I kissed Kyle.’’ She barely managed to choke out. ‘’I also had no idea it wasn’t you.’’
‘’Oh.’’
‘’Yeah.’’
‘’Sooo… how about—?''
‘’Forgive and forget?’’
‘’Yup.’’
‘’Sure.’’
And they smiled brightly at each other. Each of them thinking ‘huh, it was this easy.’
Even when Bebe and Kyle approached them, it was super easy.
‘’Hi, how are we feeling after the party?’’ Wendy chirped.
‘’Because those drinks from Kenny were strong, let me tell you.’’ Stan crooned.
Then they shared a rich-people laugh that made Kyle and Bebe exchange worried looks. Had their friends finally lost their minds?
‘’O-okay, what is going on here?’’ Bebe asked, her voice a bit raspy, probably from the alcohol.
‘’Yeah, are you, uh…’’ Kyle chimed in, crossing his arms, obviously uncomfortable with the setup. ‘’Are you okay with what happened?’’
Wendy and Stan nodded, a bit too eagerly.
‘’Yup! Completely!’’ She huffed out with a smile.
‘’I mean, things happen, right, babe?" He accompanied her, already heading towards his class and dragging Wendy along.
‘’Of course! Well, see you!’’ She agreed, and they disappeared behind the wall.
‘’Huh.’’
‘’Uh huh.’’
‘’Yeah, that’s not gonna end well.’’ Kenny muttered, materializing out of nowhere, already draped over Kyle’s and Bebe’s shoulders.