Well... Looks like I'm back.

Dragged Through

Nobody knew what happened to cause Stan and Kyle to walk through the doors of the school hand-in-hand on a fairly innocuous Monday. Rumours quickly flew around, but questions were met with dodging from Stan and icy replies from Kyle.

They hadn't seen the long months that had led up to that point.

Whispers were circling when Stan quit the football team without warning. He'd been on fire whenever he played for a year and he quickly lost count of the times people begged him to rethink his decision. It was Cartman who got them to stop, but that was just because he was fed up of people walking up to their lunch table.

Stan 's grades were rapidly falling, from B's to C's and now he was barely scraping D's. His mother had started of angrily telling him to get his head from up his backside to beginning to gently encourage him when she saw the difference in the way her son was acting. Staying in bed, not often leaving his room, not eating much, the permanent cloud that seemed to be hanging over his head.

Stan couldn't ignore the gnawing pit of emptiness that seemed to be lodged deep in his stomach. The gnawing pit of emptiness that seemed to swallow up every emotion, only allowing anguish and anger out. It didn't take him long to find his solution to the problem.

Kyle had taken that solution away quickly, by taking his bottle and tossing it. Anger, hurt and betrayal etched onto his face.

Kyle had been the one constant, the one thing that didn't change. Cartman and Kenny only really tolerated him because he and Kyle were still joined at the hip. But Kyle stuck around, he still hung out with him almost every day after school despite his own heavy schedule, they still sleepovers every weekend. They were still Stan and Kyle.

Kyle had to drag Stan out of bed and to school every morning, he had to drag Stan to his desk to do his homework and he did it all without a single complaint.

Kyle had never been a great source of comfort, he was always looking for solutions, instead of just being a shoulder to cry on, a person to vent to. But, for Stan, he made such an effort to just listen. Sometimes he tried to offer a solution, as was his own coping mechanism.

One night, Kyle had come over after Shabbat and saw Stan staring listlessly at the ceiling.

"How do you go on if nothing makes you happy?"

"Stan?"

"I don't think I can go on Kyle," Stan said, unmoving.

"Dude, what are you talking about?" Kyle's brow furrowed in confusion.

"I don't want to go on Kyle."

"Stan," Kyle crossed his arms, "You had better start making sense or…"

"It would be easier for everyone," Stan sighed, "If I wasn't here."

"Dude!" Kyle sprung from his position, leant against the doorframe, "Don't say things like that!"

"Mom wouldn't have to worry about me throwing my future away," Stan said, his voice emotionless, resigned to his fate, "About my complete loss of muscle mass."

"And offing yourself will fix that?" Kyle's voice was the complete opposite, his fear spilling into the room, "Moms worry Stan. Your Mom has no contact with your Dad and Shelly lives with her baby daddy in Arkansas. You think that dying will help her?"

"You wouldn't have to give up everything for me."

Kyle sat on the end of the bed. "Stan, that's just fucking stupid."

"Kyle, I don't think you get it…"

"No, I don't!" Kyle exploded, but strangely enough his voice carried no trace of anger, Stan just couldn't place what, "Do you not fucking get it? You're all I know! It doesn't matter what state of mind you're in Stan, whether you're happy, angry or fucking depressed! I will always be here, always be here for you. Seeing you like this hurts, I can't deny that, and maybe it stresses me out a little…"

"Exac…"

"But you not being here at all? That would hurt ten times worse, stress me out even more. You're the one pillar of sanity I can cling to, the one thing that's always the same."

Kyle finally turned to face him, tears shining in his green eyes, "Stan, best friends don't stay. Kenny and Cartman didn't stay."

"Kyle…"

"You don't know just how much you mean to me Stan. You're not just my Super Best Friend."

There was a heavy silence that lingered after Kyle's words.

Kyle pulled his phone from his pocket, "I need to make a call."

Kyle walked through to the bathroom and Stan allowed the air to weigh on him. He could place it, the tone in Kyle's voice.

Fear.

Sorrow.

Betrayal.

But underneath all that, only noticeable to people who knew the redhead as well as Stan did:

Love.

Stan moved for the first time since he got home from school, diving under his bed and rooting around until he felt the cold glass, he pulled out his bottle and was about to take a sip, feel the burning relief, feel the…

"Give."

Kyle stood with his hand out, looking more intimidating than ever despite his short stature and puffy eyes. The blazing green had never been more determined, more resolute.

Stan hesitated, causing Kyle to repeat himself more forcefully.

"Give!"

Stan reluctantly handed over the bottle and Kyle left the room again, from the sounds of it, he was going downstairs.

God, he was going to get it in the morning.

Kyle returned and Stan was still kneeling by the bed.

"Kyle… I…"

Kyle sighed, "I'm staying over tonight. I'm not letting you be on your own now. I'm not letting you try anything."

"Kyle…"

"I can't believe you'd even think of doing that," Kyle's shoulders hunched as he pulled out the pyjama pants he left at Stan's for impromptu sleepovers.

"Kyle!"

Kyle whirled around and felt Stan's lips on his own.

"I'm sorry Kyle," Stan whispered, "I won't do that. I couldn't do that, not to you."

Kyle swallowed.

"Please," Stan's eyes brimmed with tears, "Don't let me go Kyle, Don't leave me."

Kyle's eyes watered too, he took Stan's hand and knitted their fingers together, "I won't Stan, not now, not ever."

Stan looked down at their connected hands as another disappointed person walked away after not receiving an answer. He allowed a faint smile to touch his face.

"Dude," Kenny asked as they walked to the cafeteria, "What happened?"

Stan looked over with confusion.

"I haven't seen you smile in a long time."

Stan shrugged, feeling Kyle's hand holding onto his. It may have looked like they walking in line, but Kyle was really keeping him anchored, from slipping away. Kyle was the one pulling them forward, dragging him forward through the future.