Tired
"I'm home" Eric half groaned as he closed the door and walked heavily towards the couch before landing with a thud on it, face first and just remained there for a while, his arm dangling to the ground and his feet lazily struggling with each other to take off his shoes.
"Hey there. I knew I had heard a huge bear coming in" Stan chuckled and helped Eric take his shoes off and then kneeled on the ground beside his boyfriend. He would've wanted to sit on the couch but Eric's massive body was occupying it all "Tough day at work?" The black haired man gently rubbed Eric's back in a soothing manner.
"Fucking tough" Eric's growl was muffled by his face being buried in the couch but his purr at Stan's touch had been perfectly heard.
Stan grinned and started to rub his way down Eric's back until his hand landed on the brunet's ass which he squeezed a couple of times "Maybe I could light your day up?"
Eric's body tensed for a second and his hips moved slightly up responding to his boyfriend touching such sensitive area. But he lazily tried to swat Stan's hand away and grumbled "No… I don't wanna…"
The shorter man moved his hand back up and rested it between Eric's shoulder blades "Okay… Is it more of a Kyle day?"
"It's more of a 'leave me alone' day" Eric replied before turning his head to look at Stan and sighed "Sorry, I'm not in the mood now" Still he puckered his lips signaling Stan that he at least wanted his 'back home' kiss.
Stan nodded with a light smile and leaned down to kiss his boyfriend "Don't worry. I know how these days are. I'll go help Kyle in the kitchen, dinner will be ready in a while, you will have dinner with us right?"
"What kind of stupid question is that?" Eric grinned and puckered his lips once more, clearly not having enough with just one kiss. Stan rolled his eyes and snorted at his childish boyfriend and gave him another sweet peck on the lips before returning to the kitchen.
"Eric just got back? So late…" Kyle was cutting up a cabbage when Stan walked back into the kitchen.
The black haired man nodded while checking on the wok where he was frying some vegetables "Yeah, he looks exhausted"
Kyle finished with his cutting and put the cabbage into the wok where it started to sizzle with the rest of their food "I'll go check on him, can you take care of the rest?"
Stan nodded again and stroked the side of Kyle's hip briefly "Be careful, he's grumpy today"
Kyle sighed and smiled reassuringly to his boyfriend "He's always like that when he's tired. Don't worry, I won't rile him up" Stan scoffed and returned to his cooking while Kyle walked into the living room where he found Eric still lying in the couch and for a moment he thought the bigger man was asleep but he couldn't hear his characteristic soft snoring that he always produced when sleeping tired, so Kyle crouched beside his boyfriend's head and lightly stroked his chestnut hair "Hey. Are you too tired to greet me or can I have a kiss from you?"
Eric groaned and turned his head slowly until he looked at Kyle with a smirk "Work for it"
Kyle rolled his eyes and leaned forward to kiss the brunet "What happened? They made you stay until late again?"
"That and the fucking bus took forever to get here" Eric protested with a light scowl "And to top that I had to come all the way cramped in the seat because a fucking old hag sat beside me with like ten bags and all the time tried to put them over me, like if she wanted me to get tired of her and get up" The fat man scoffed "Tough luck, I wasn't going to travel standing just for that, I ended putting my arm between us and I could swear that the crone threw me a curse or something because she spent the rest of the trip murmuring something"
"Then you should sleep somewhere else tonight, at least until we're sure you're not cursed" Kyle chuckled and pushed on the side of Eric's belly, forcing him to lay on his side so at least he could have some space on the couch to sit on.
Eric grumbled but complied while huffing "I fucking hate the bus…"
"I know, but Stan needs the car to go to the farm" The red head replied as he sat next to Eric's big belly and caressed his side.
"Of course I know that but still I hate to waste so much time on the bus to then waste even more hours at that fucking low class job" Eric said as his hand travelled up and down Kyle's back.
"Why don't you quit it and look for something better?" Kyle asked. It wasn't the first time he had suggested that of course, Eric's complains about his job weren't rare at all.
"And how will I pay for this house and everything we need?" Eric rolled his eyes tired of the same discussion they had had at least ten times.
"You're not the only one who brings money to the house jackass" Kyle scowled at his boyfriend and slapped the side of his belly "Stan works a lot too and I'm working now too. I know that you work more hours than we do and have a better salary but still it's not like we depend solely on you"
"If I quit now how can I be sure I'll be able to get another job as well paid as this one?" Eric asked holding Kyle's hand against his body, to prevent it from slapping him again but also because he liked to feel Kyle's hand on him whenever he felt stressed out. Stan was usually better at comforting him but Kyle acted more sure and firm when he felt like this.
"You could start working on what you like for a change" Kyle relaxed his hand under Eric's and slowly caressed the warm skin of Eric's side with his fingers.
"Not everyone is as lucky as you both who get to work on what you always wanted" Eric rolled his eyes and then looked towards the window. He hated to feel jealous of his boyfriends' jobs but he couldn't help it sometimes.
"Being a librarian's assistant is pretty far from my dream job" Kyle scoffed "It's nice but I want bigger things for me and you know it"
"Ha, of course I know you like big things, otherwise you wouldn't be with me" Eric smirked at his boyfriend devilishly and then sighed "But at least it's something you enjoy. I wasn't made to be a waiter Kyle, no matter how fancy the restaurant is and how important I am at the place as head of the service staff…"
Kyle shook his head at the smartass remark by Eric and then nodded "Of course not. But I still don't get why you don't want to start working as a photographer. You're almost finished with your studies and all your teachers have praised your work and insisted on you to get started right now…"
Eric looked down and turned Kyle's hand so he could squeeze it briefly "Okay, you gotta promise you're not gonna laugh at this or rip on me or I'll fucking never again will tell you anything"
"Eric, we're not kids anymore and I love you" Kyle sighed a bit exasperated at Eric's reluctance to open up with deep things even after years of being together, although he had to admit that it was being easier with each day and he felt proud of him for this. The ginger squeezed Eric's hand reassuringly and smiled "You know you can tell me anything"
The bigger man nodded and returned the smile although his eyes betrayed some insecurity still "Well, the thing is that… I'm still not sure that my work is really that good… I mean, I'm the best in my class that's for sure because everyone else there is just a bunch of amateur new age hippies that want to use photography to spread their hippyism bullshit through it… But I want to be an actual professional at this and I don't know if I'm good enough for that"
"What are you talking about? Your work is amazing!" They could hear Stan coming closer. Eric blushed at having been heard and Stan just smiled at him and sat on the floor with his head beside Eric's "The session you made at the shelter was so good that it really boosted people's donations and you know that they're always asking me to convince you to do a calendar because they're sure it would sell more than well"
Eric couldn't prevent a sheepish but still proud smile at Stan's words. He was insecure of his work, even if he hated to feel like that, but his boyfriends' praises always manage to dissipate those doubts, at least for a while "And I will do it Stan, when I finish with college. I want to have at least a title before I start doing stuff like that"
"Why don't you propose something like Stan's idea but for the restaurant?" Kyle asked "You could do a catalog to update their web or something like that. So you would still be working there but at least you would do something you enjoy and not feel like you're wasting your time"
The large brunet thought for a moment and nodded slowly "That could actually work… And maybe I could make a little extra to save up for our end of college vacations"
"That's the spirit" Stan smiled at his boyfriend and moved a bit to give a peck to his round nose. Eric smiled at that and pressed his forehead to Stan's, closing his eyes and sighing content.
Kyle smiled at the cute scene and leaned down to press a loving kiss on each of his boyfriends' cheeks "Well, then on Monday we'll wait to hear how the proposition went with your boss"
Eric nodded and opened his eyes, smiling at Kyle and kissed him briefly on the lips "Okay. Now… I've been smelling something really nice for a while already… What are we having for dinner?"
"Chow Mein" Stan replied while getting up.
"You cooked Chinese food?" Eric asked really surprised "Since when you are up to doing something that elaborate?"
"You're not the only one who can do complicated dishes" Kyle rolled his eyes "And we wanted to make something elaborate and nice for a change since you always work your ass out in the kitchen on weekends for us"
Eric felt the familiar and cherished warmth in his chest that he felt whenever his lovers did something thoughtful for him, reassuring him that their love was sincere "Okay, I'm still hella tired but you really managed to better my day just now" He said with a big smile as he sat on the couch.
"Food always betters your day" Kyle retorted with a chuckle "Ay!" He protested when Eric flicked his ear.
"That's what you get for being a smartass jew" Eric got up and raced to the kitchen, both because he was hungry but also to run away from Kyle's retaliation.
Stan laughed at that and patted Kyle's back "Great job you did there. I was afraid we would have to settle with a dry Friday night and a grumpy and restless Eric in bed today…"
"Well, the food was your idea so it was a team job" Kyle smiled.
"The real team job will happen later…" Stan gave a teasing peck to Kyle's neck and followed Eric to the kitchen. Kyle chuckled and went after him, already savoring all the fun they would have that weekend.
***Disclaimer: I don't own the South Park characters or any of the brand names mentioned in this story. I don't own any of the songs mentioned on the story or used as chapter titles.