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The last thing that Kyle Broflovski was expecting tonight was a random call in the middle of the night. You know the phrase, “silent but deadly”? Kyle right now would rather have that then his phone repeatedly buzzing, despite the fact the phone was on silent mode, or whatever the fuck it was. Whatever it was that meant there was no ringtone. Who the hell keeps track anyways?
Despite his attempts to ignore the incoming call, dismissing it as just a scam risk or some shit, and just, oh, crazy idea; going back to sleep at… Shit, he didn’t know. Don’t ask him. Late in the night, nonetheless; with the bright moon shining through his window that he stupidly left the curtains open for. Great, now unless he could ignore the bright fucking moon, and pray that the caller would stop harassing him. Welp, there was no use in sleeping for him! Say goodbye, normal sleep schedule, your new waking time is…
Yeah, maybe he should check what time it is. Might as well get up and wear himself out a bit despite the asshole who was calling him harassing him to no end. Kyle let out a groan quietly and stared at the clock in front of him. His eyes readjusting to the now found consciousness that damned upon his body. After a few seconds of being tired as balls, he finally processed the following information; it was currently 2:47 in the morning, and some asshole was calling him. Great.
Since he was now up, Kyle blinked and rubbed his eyes, now shifting over to his left side to stare a little longer at the door, internally protesting to just wait it out. Though, against his will, Kyle reached for his phone and flinched at the bright light blaring in his face. He cursed at himself in a hushed tone, before he reopened his eyes to see the text blaring: “INCOMING CALL FROM:
SUPER BEST FRIEND <3
ANSWER IT?”
Any previous annoyance or frustration Kyle had had before melted away, shifting into confusion and, okay, annoyance still there. Glad to know they’re still in the running. The hell could Stan be doing up at this hour? Uh… couldn’t think of a clever joke for that one. But the fuck was he doing up? And why the hell didn’t Kyle remove that heart yet from Stan’s contact- if they found out, surely, they would flame their asshole senseless.
Kyle rolled his eyes and growled. Whatever. He’ll change the stupid contact name later, it didn’t matter. And on the topic of moronic, this better not be something stupid devised by his mediocorely funny best friend. What the hell could Stan want at this hour of the night? Didn’t seem like him to just be awake at night. They always claimed that they were so tired at school all the time, surely their plan once they got home was to sleep. Either way, Kyle felt obligated to answer it. It just… Felt wrong to not answer Stan. But if this was one stupid prank of theirs- god, he was going to let them have it in the morning. Not in a Cartman way, more like a ‘i am going to be mildly annoyed with you but can’t stay mad at you’ way. Something that only Stan had the privilege of. They were just… So likeable. Even when they were an ass, they were still just so confidently themselves. It’s what made Kyle-
Hell no, offtopic. Back to answering this call, yeah. Stan had not given up trying to call him, thank god, or, that could quickly turn into a “god damn it” depending on the circumstances he was about to be confronted with. Finding no more point in delaying his answer any longer, he pressed the small green button displaying on his phone.
When Stanley picked up the other line, it was briefly silent before an expected “hello?” came from Kyle’s phone. Pulling the phone to his ear and speaking softly, Kyle began.
“What’s up?” Kyle huffed grudgingly.
“Nothing much man, what’s up with you?”
“Oh I was just doing the coolest thing, Stan! You’ve got to hear about it! It was so fun, and exciting, and crazy-”
Kyle could hear the pure eagerness in Stan’s voice as an “yeah?” echoed through his ears.
“And it’s super new, and just soooo popular these days!!”
“And? And? What is it?”
“Ever heard of a thing called, I was trying to fucking sleep until somebody called me and disturbed my slumber, thus making me unable to sleep and answer the phone ? It’s been going around everywhere.” Kyle said through gritted teeth.
“Haha… Sorry, man,” Stan chuckled; the two of them both knew that Kyle wasn’t really mad at them, so they continued. “I, uh, wasn’t expecting you to be asleep.”
There was a brief pause of silence, and Kyle knew that Stan could feel his slow blink through the screen. Kyle spoke slowly. “ You weren’t expecting me to be asleep? ”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Stan Marsh, what time is it right now?”
“Huh?”
“What time is it, Stanley?” Kyle said, though annoyed, trying to make light of the situation and joke around with his friend.
“Uhh… I don’t know.”
Kyle stifled his laugh of amusement at Stan’s confusion. “The phone you’re holding, It has the time on it, yes?”
“...Correct?”
“What does it say, Marsh?”
“Uhm… uh, 2:50- oh, now it just turned 2:51.”
Kyle sighed heavily into the mic, sure that Stan could hear his frustration, and continued. “Why are you calling me?”
“Do I need a reason to?”
You better have 3 fucking reasons before you end up dead, Stan-
“For interrupting my sleep, uh-huh. Speak before the court.” Kyle grunted.
“Well, uh… I just wanted to talk to you.”
He took a brief pause before he felt a snarl growing up in his throat. Kyle swallowed it down whole, and instead, spoke dryly. “You can do it tomorrow.”
“Wait, no because-”
“Stan, I am going to bed.”
“Kyle, you just, please-”
“Goodnight, Marsh.”
“Kyle-”
Just as he lifted the phone from his ear and aimed towards the end call button, Stan’s shriek could be heard through the phone: “DON’T HANG UP!”
There was a pause. A concerned one, tension lingering in the air like a gunshot heard outside while home alone. That moment of brief silence, of worry, of fear of what was next. Terrified of your safety, but in this case, the worry of death was placed on Stan; his best friend in the whole world. He would hate to be in a world where Stan wasn’t beside him. He couldn’t stand the thought of the person he loved the most, the one he felt like he depended on to get through anything, no matter how grim or how joyous, being gone. Being hurt. Being in misery.
Kyle slowly lifted his phone back up to his ear, now determined at a new goal: to help Stan, with whatever it was that was going on. Fuck going back to bed, his best friend needed him right now. Slowly, speaking as if he were talking to a wounded animal on the side of the road, feeling his own voice shiver and crack as he spoke: “Stan?”
An awkward laugh was heard from the other line, forced and aching that made Kyle’s heart feel arched. “Shit, sorry about that. I don’t know what came over me.”
“What is going on, Stan?” Kyle suddenly blurted, internally cursing himself with the little build up to the question and lack of softness, instead laced with worry and a trembling unease.
“Nothing, nothing. Sorry, I don’t know what happened. You can go back to bed.” Stan reassured, though they did not sound too confident in their words themselves, just like Kyle’s doubt was injected into Stan and symptoms of the shot showed after a few hours.
“No, Stan, I'm fine. Are you?”
“Of course I am. I just, I don’t know, I haven’t been able to think straight-” Stan not-so-confidently said, before quickly elaborating. “-because of all these tests and exams coming up! Not much room left to sleep- fuck I mean- y’know to think!”
Kyle paused and considered his options briefly, before going with his gut before declaring to Stan, “I’m coming over, whether you like it or not. Sit tight.”, despite the objections of the other teenager on the phone before Kyle hung up and leapt off his bed.
Kyle hurried over to the door, creaks on the floor being heard due to the floorboards needing to be replaced after some… roughhousing, But mostly the old age of the floor! Yeah, nothing else. Nothing had gone on here. And it did not involve Stan and Kyle fucking around and it backfiring horribly, nope. What was he talking about?
Oh right, going to Stan’s. Since it was now… 3:01, according to his alarm behind him, in the morning, his parents were fast asleep. Because unlike him, they weren’t woken up by Stan Marsh in the middle of the night. Kyle, void of the feeling of irritation that he felt before, now all filled with perseverance to get his friend’s as quickly as possible and be by their side. In fact, the only thing that Kyle had put on since he had gotten out of bed was shoes to at least make it easier to run to Stan’s, which wasn't too far away, but either way, he wanted to get there fast. Not so quietly, praying he didn’t wake Ike or his parents in the process, he stumbled down the stairs and over to the door in some Terrance and Phillip pajamas, him and Stan still matching with their childhood show that brought many feelings of nostalgia for the two of them. Once Kyle and Stan grew out of their old ones (which was Stan first, and they will not let Kyle live it down that they grew first), Stan insisted that they both pick up new ones. Kyle remembered asking, ‘I still fit into mine fine, why for the both of us?’ And Stan’s shit eating grinning as they replied back, ‘All babies grow some day, Kyle!’
However, before Kyle was going to roll his eyes at the memory and grunt about how he wasn’t as short as Stan remembered him being (and remind himself that they are the same height now), he was out the door. He didn’t care about his parents’ wrath of finding out he sneaked out in the middle of the night, practically already hearing the lecture from his mom about how dangerous it is, Kyle couldn’t give less of a damn right now. Maybe he was just overreacting… But something in his gut was leading him over to Stan’s house right now.
Stan’s house was not too far from Kyle’s house as it always had been; still a short way from his house, but the more anxious he felt, the longer it seemed to have taken. Now, Kyle wasn’t a pro-athlete, but he considered himself to be a fast runner. Faster than Eric “Fatass” Cartman, anyway, which he could live with. But for Kyle’s standards, he was running fairly fast to get to Stan’s residence as quickly as possible. Yet, it still felt like universes away, like each step he took Stan was another galaxy away.
Despite how it felt like forever for Kyle to arrive, Kyle was there 2 minutes sharp. Though, his breath would have to pay the price momentarily, heaving and wheezing in order to gain his footing again. Kyle, in brief, thanked the lords that he didn’t have asthma like Stan did, and that the positions of the two weren’t switched, leaving Stan vulnerable to an attack. Regaining his composure after what felt like a hard run, he reached for the doorknob carefully. Though, he jerked back in realization that, oh, he forgot his fucking phone. Y’know, to text Stan to let him in. Maybe Kyle should’ve thought about what he was doing more before he instinctively flew out his home. Groaning, Kyle tried to turn the knob and throw the door open just to vent out his stupidity, at least for a couple of seconds.
THUMP!
Oh. Door was unlocked, it seemed, as Kyle was now on the floor of the Marsh’s living room. That was convenient. Guess he didn’t have to try so hard after all. Though, a little too convenient for someone like the Marshes. They weren’t the most responsible people, but they knew not to keep their doors unlocked in a town like South Park. ‘Tis was strange, if you pardon his use of fancy language (only to be used to mock Shakespeare, which Kyle loved to do). For the door to be unlocked, especially at this hour, it just didn’t seem to Sharon to…-
The snores of a middle aged, unconscious red-neck white man rang through Kyle’s ears. Which in fact, prompted Kyle to remember: Oh right. Randy.
Not like that piece of shit did any of his family as good. Not to Shelley, not to Mrs. Marsh, and especially not to Stan. How would anyone notice such a deadbeat father like Randy? Irresponsible, childish, fucking stupid … He wanted him dead. Not that he would ever tell Stan that, of course; not exactly a great thing to say to someone even if they despise their dad with all their guts. But Stan was aware, they weren’t oblivious, after all, especially when Kyle was angry.
Kyle lifted himself off the floor and shivered at the thought of all the nasty germs that were on it, especially a fresh alcohol stain on the floor. Lord, he might as well bleach his skin. To confirm Kyle’s suscipison, he looked over to his right to see a blacked out drunk Randy Marsh with several beers around him on a brown stained couch. He assumed it was his Bud Light, but snickered at the thought of Randy having shat his pants. Too bad Stan’s mom would have to tidy up her lousy husband’s mess in the morning. Maybe he should reach out to help her sometime…
Kyle glanced over to his left, to the bright TV being one of the only sources of light in the two-story home. And thank god for it, because without it, he probably would’ve tasted the floor like a dumbass to figure out where he was. Not literally, obviously, that’s fucking gross. You get the point he was trying to make, don’t argue. On a semi-low volume, a rerun of Hell’s Kitchen was playing. Kyle sneered. That guy was such an asshole. Just like Randy. Only difference was that Randy was never going to be anything other than a pathetic excuse of a human being; never doing anything important or valuable with his time on Earth.
Before he got himself too riled up with the thought of Randy Marsh, he made his ways towards the stairs stoically. If he were here for Randy, he would’ve done something by now (though considered drawing a dick on his face just to enforce his distaste for him). Randy didn’t matter when the person he loved the most was in misery. Not that Randy would care, anyways. Fuck, up the stairs he went before he punched him.
The hallway was identical to that of his own, at least in structure, as for most of the buildings in his block. Just a hallway with doors that lead to separate rooms. Furniture to distinguish all of them, but overall, same house, different formula. Though he knew where Stan’s room was by heart, to confirm where he was going (just in case he ended up in Shelley’s room and came out with a black eye), Stan’s room had always had his name in it in some fashion. Always changed, but something was always there. However, Stan was having a hard time choosing another one, so what was on their door was just a sheet of notebook paper that read STAN in messy letters. They never had the best handwriting. But it was charming. Kyle found it so fucking cute, for someone who acted as tough as Stan (tough as in not caring, Stan wasn’t some typical bad boy from a high school movie) to have such odd handwriting. It was grimy but readable. Good but also mediocre. He liked that. He liked just about everything about Stan.
Fuck that mushy shit about a piece of paper, he was going in. Kyle knocked on the door discreetly, aware of the fact that his previous not-so-smooth entrance was a complete fail in terms of sneakiness and could’ve easily woke any of the family up. That or he was just being paranoid. That was a possibility too. There was no answer, but also no objection. Kyle cautiously opened the door, greeted by the shine of Stan’s nightlight to help guide his way.
He spotted Stan curled up on his bed, stifling sobs and hugging themself tight. No blanket to cover themself with, as that had been discarded to the floor. Stan wasn’t wearing much; well, to keep them warm, not literally naked. Weirdos. Just some shitty shorts and a black t-shirt from as far as he could see. If it had anything on it, Kyle couldn’t confirm right now, as Stan was facing the other wall opposite of him. Kyle could hear quiet music coming from Stan’s phone, something they would do when he was particularly stressed and he listened carefully to what was playing.
“ My bedroom windows face the east
Clear skies, no blinds
It's filling up with heat
The nightmares I can handle
But it's getting hard to breathe
It's getting hard to breathe”
Kyle frowned and stepped forward, not wanting to startle Stan with his sudden appearance despite the warning he had given earlier. Instead, he kept walking ahead with silent steps to get closer.
“Yeah, I still had a good time
Though I spent the end of the night in the bathroom
Hugging the toilet
Like my best friend
Like I really missed it”
Seemed the lyrics were a little personal to Stan. It was personal to Kyle, it felt like Stan was speaking to him themself. Kyle was finally beside Stan and finally spoke up quietly. “Hey, dude.”
Stan squeaked and spazzed a little, jumping and sitting up to see Kyle. Stan appeared to soften at his features. “Oh. I didn’t expect you to actually… come. I thought my dad was up here to pull me into his problems again.” They joked weakly, though their voice sounded delicate. It broke Kyle’s heart to hear. He sat down beside Stan and gave them a tender look.
“Haha, sorry about the music,” Stan chuckled and listened to the song just a bit more. Kyle inspected the lyrics and stared at Stan with a sense of pity.
“I woke up soaked in sweat and daylight
It's almost one
The whole morning's gone to waste
I had so many things I wanted to get done
To make it worse
Fell asleep in my jacket over hoodie over shirt”
“Hey, don’t worry.” Kyle placed his hand on Stan’s shoulder with a petite smile. “I think… I like it, y’know? But I can’t help but feel…”
Stan elbowed him. “Hey, it’s not that deep, promise. I just wanted to listen to something. I don’t want to be alone with my thoughts.” He beamed. Any other instance of that smile, Kyle’s heart would’ve melted at his adorable-as-fuck best friend, but it made his heart ache with sorrow for the person he cherished the most try to mask their pain.
“Stan- I don’t, I don’t believe that.” Kyle uttered. “Stan, please, I came here to help you and- Stan, I just-” Kyle grabbed Stan by their hands, in which Stan seemed to stiffen as Kyle brought up their wrists. There, he saw something that only made him want to cry and hug Stan on the spot.
Kyle took a deep breath in and looked at Stan with a weak look. “Stan… Can I see-?”
“See whatever you want.” Stan stated simply. In response, Kyle slowly raised the wrists of his dear friend and turned around to take an extended look to verify what he saw. Several cuts lined, some old, some new. Some deep, some shallow. All in between. Though, many were bleeding to indicate they were recent.
“Stan- i’m so sorry-”
Stan was silent. Not a single word, not any breath could be heard from Stan. Not anything to indicate that Stan had heard him, or that they were even there. Stan didn’t look at Kyle, instead, off to the side. Kyle sighed. “I’ll be back, okay? I’m going to try and find something to patch you up.” Stan nodded and laid back down, not attempting to make any verbal response. It only made Kyle’s heart wrench for his dear friend more.
Kyle got up from the bed and made his way towards the bathroom. Y’know, still processing the whole thing he just saw… He had never seen Stan so… broken before. Curled up, hiding from the rest of the world, and when someone found them, back into the sun like nothing had happened. He had seen just about every side of Stan, being practically joined at the hip. Through his best and what Kyle thought was Stan’s worst. To them being the biggest asshole to the biggest sweetheart you’d ever met. Inbetween, at extreme sides of the spectrum, every emotion you could experience, Kyle had seen 12 times each by now, with 5 pop quizzes and 2 finals in between them. But he must’ve skipped a chapter… How did he not notice Stan’s suffering? How long had they been in this amount of pain, how many times without him knowing? He knew Stan definitely wasn’t the most mentally well, but…
Kyle quickly located some bandages in the shelf found inside of the mirror, clutching them tightly as if it was a lifeline and quickly made it out of the bathroom, back to the room where Stan stared down at the bed with little emotion, just the same as how Kyle left them. The music played softly, listening to the light hums of the music.
“So when you walk into my room
See the couch, ask me
"Is that where you sleep?"
And I say, "Yeah, I used to"
You say, "What do you mean?"
I say, "I stopped"
You say, "What for?"
I say, "I stopped falling out of my bed
When I started sleeping on the floor"
Kyle didn’t say anything upon his return, instead shifting focus to Stan’s damaged wrists with all sorts of scars and wounds. Kyle felt himself cringe and through gritted teeth, tried not to let out a whine from the awful sight. Kyle quickly yet gently started to wrap Stan’s wrists up after applying petroleum jelly he managed to pick up while on his mini trip to the bathroom. Though Stan’s breath hitched at the sensation, they didn’t make any objections nor asked Kyle to stop. After the bandages had successfully been wrapped around Stan’s wrists, they both sat in silence, letting the final verses of the song play out before they even dared to speak.
“I woke up soaked in sweat and daylight
It's almost one
The whole morning's gone to waste
I had so many things I wanted to get done
To make it worse
Fell asleep in my jacket over hoodie over shirt
I woke up soaked in sweat and daylight
It's almost one
The whole morning's gone to waste
I had so many things I wanted to get done
To make it worse
Fell asleep in my jacket over hoodie over shirt”
Stan broke the silence first, not expecting such a thing considering the circumstances they were in. Whenever the situation got a little too tense, Stan often resorted to going in their own little bubble, waiting for others to start the conversation and say what needed to be said. “Sorry about the music when you came in. And the mess. Wasn’t expecting many… visitors, you know?”
“Yeah, I get it. It’s fine.” Kyle reassured, trying hard to keep his voice steady and strong. “It is pretty late for anyone to come over… Luckily the door was unlocked, I wasn’t planning on hauling ass with a ladder to get into your room.” He flashed a weak smile. “I would’ve, though.”
Stan let out a teary laugh, coming out rather hoarse. Kyle felt that unstable smile fall just a little at hearing such a saddening noise. “I don’t deserve you. Kyle, just go. I’ll be fine.”
Kyle halfheartedly rolled his eyes. “Somehow, I doubt you mean what you’re saying.”
Stan let out a snort and turned away from Kyle’s gaze. “I shouldn’t have called you with my own pathetic shit. It was selfish of me, I’m sorry. You don’t have to stay.”
Kyle reached for Stan’s shoulder, though found himself stopping midway between, in case Stan didn’t want to be touched. “I want to stay, Stan, I want to be here for you-”
“I’ll only bring you down.”
“No, Stan- You wouldn’t ever do that, not when you need help.”
There was a silent pause from Stan, and Kyle didn’t feel the need to fill the silence with noise. For several seconds, all could be heard was the light buzzing outside and the occasional creak from downstairs. Kyle watched Stan closely, who still refused to look him in the eyes. Kyle, despite his mind begging for Stan to speak and not leave him in agonizing silence, he knew it was better for Stan to speak on their own. Eventually, the time flew by and Stan asked in a whisper, “Do you remember my tenth birthday?”
“Your tenth birthday?” Kyle repeated in thought. Kyle nodded once the memory relived inside his mind again. “Yeah, sure, I remember. That was years ago. What about it?”
“That’s when I started seeing shit. Everything was shit. All I saw was shit and I couldn’t pull myself out of it.” Stan continued onward. “It was the worst year of my life because it was the start of my downward spiral. I even thought everything I was saying was shit. I was completely alone. It felt like it, anyway.”
“You were never alone, I am and will always be here-”
“But you weren’t!” Stan cut off with a sharp tongue. “You- You abandoned me when I was in such a terrible state- you told me I was a bummer to be around, and- and you couldn’t be around me anymore because I was making you feel bad- that’s all I do, Kyle.” Stan broke, their sobs starting to break out that Kyle was sure they had been holding in for long. Kyle was quick to catch them before they let themself faceplant to the bed in sobs. “I’m so sorry, Kyle, for dragging you out here so late- I'm so sorry- y-you can leave- I’m such a shit friend to you. I don’t want to hurt you, I’m no different from when I was ten- I’m still that same pathetic, miserable fuck.”
Kyle wiped Stan’s tears and hugged them close, lightly humming in order to calm Stan down just a little. “Stan, I'm so sorry for how I acted that day. That whole time. I was just a kid but I never should’ve abandoned you… You’ve come so far from that birthday.”
“Far enough to where you have to take care of me like a child whenever I get upset.” Stan shook their head violently, and collapsed their body weight further. “You always have to come save my ass- all because i’m too fucking stupid to not going around cutting my wrists whenever I get upset.” Kyle felt himself whine. “You have to take care of me like a fucking baby- because- because-”
“Because I fucking love you!” Kyle heard himself suddenly yell. Before he could let the moment sink in and pause dramatically, he continued forward. “I love you so much, so fucking much and I want to make sure you’re okay because my love for you is far more than anything else in this world. I do everything not because I feel bad, or feel that I have to, or whatever other reason but because you’re my best friend and- and-” Kyle found himself lost for words, as if the words I love you were foreign to him. Stammering a few times with no progress on his mission, he cupped Stan’s face and tilted their chin so they could look each other in the eyes the whole time. “I’ll just have to show you.”
Closing the little distance between the two, Kyle kissed Stan with such gentleness that even Kyle didn’t recognize the feeling. It was soft, and it was just from pure love that Kyle found it so easy to nibble gently on Stan’s bottom lip and enjoy Stan’s small lips. The slight, gently tugging on Kyle’s upper lip that Stan did at just the right pace to drive him absolutely crazy. It was perfect. Kyle couldn’t describe it any differently. There was nothing wrong with the kiss. He wanted it, and based on how Stan was so willingly kissing him back, they wanted it too. Kyle, despite his lack of interest in women, had had his fair share of kisses in truth or dare and spin the bottle or whatever other games have you kiss someone. This, this was his own. It felt right, and it felt good, and it truly felt like he was in love and taking in every moment and not praying for it to end. Despite what Kyle wished could be his heaven forever, breathing still existed, and the two parted away to catch their breaths.
Kyle stroked Stan’s hair softly, an earnest chuckle came from Stan. “You don’t know how long I've been waiting for you to do that.” They leaned themself against Kyle’s chest and sighed. “I wish it was like in those disney movies, where a kiss saved the princess from herself with a kiss-”
“You are a princess.”
“Oh, fuck off.” The two of them giggled to each other. Stan continued. “But I know… That won’t happen with just a kiss. I won’t be healed.”
“Then I guess I’ll just have to stick around.” Kyle ruffled Stan’s greasy hair and gave their forehead a light peck. “You’re worth it, Stan. Even if you’re stubborn and sometimes you annoy the hell out of me, that doesn’t get rid of all the good things about you that outweigh all the negatives. I won’t leave you hanging, ever again. This isn’t one sided. You helped me through so much, too. Remember the list that the girls made? I was feeling really shitty over it and you never gave up in trying to make me feel better. May I go on?”
“No, I don’t wanna hear all your cheesy stories about me being your knight in shining armor.” Stan snickered and paused for a moment, then shyly looked up at Kyle. “Do you think you could…?”
“I’m not leaving tonight.” Kyle nodded, immediately understanding what Stan wished for from him. “Even if my mom chews me out, she probably won’t care if she knows I'm with you.”
Stan pulled the two of them down to lay on the bed, reaching for the blanket that covered them both completely with ease. “You’d take a Mrs. Broflovski lecture to hang out with little old me? Aw, I'm flattered.”
Kyle rolled his eyes and shifted closer to Stan. “Yeah, they’re not that bad once you get used to them. Tuning them out, I'm a master at it at this point. Maybe dad will talk her out of it.”
“Nothing can stop her, even your dad.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Kyle huffed. Tiredly, unaware of how much time had passed since he first got the phone call, felt himself longing for sleep to consume him. With Stan snuggled gently into his chest, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out long and completely calm despite all the prior drama. Before Kyle let himself fall asleep, he heard a soft “I love you” come from the dark. Kyle smiled. The answer shouldn’t shock most.
“I love you too.”