Note: My first ever fanfiction! There are a lot of pairings in this multi-chaptered story, however the main focus is Cryle [Craig/Kyle] with some smexy Bunny [Butters/Kenny] served on the side.
Disclaimer: I do not own South Park, I am simply using the characters and surroundings created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker for my own twisted purposes ~
"Old Habits Die Hard" by InsanityEpicdemic
Kyle was sitting in the cafeteria eating lunch with Stan, Kenny, Cartman and Tweek when Butters came rushing in. When he spotted the group he started yelling, "Fellas, fellas!"
"What is it, Butters?" Kyle asked.
"It's Craig! He got into another fight with a senior!"
"Again?" Stan rolled his eyes.
They were in their junior year of high school and lately Craig had been getting in to one fight after another with seniors and had won every time which, evidently, only served to piss them off even more. At times, these seniors would even gang up on him, but those never got far as a teacher would always break it up.
The group hurried outside and Kyle immediately laid eyes on Craig. A big crowd had gathered around to view the event and they were all cheering, supporting either Craig or the senior student whose name escaped Kyle's memory.
"Who is that?" Kyle asked Clyde.
"That's Jake Davis," Token replied. "Apparently he just got out of juvenile hall."
"I heard he was in there for 20 years!" Clyde said excitedly.
"Dude, there's no way that's true." Kyle raised an eyebrow. "Do the math."
"Whatever, man, shit's going down." Clyde shrugged and went back to cheering.
"I betcha he wants to reclaim his title of undisputed champion or something like that." Butters said.
Jake was throwing insults at Craig, earning louder and louder cheering from the mass behind him. When Craig didn't honour his efforts with insults of his own he started flexing, in a rather cliché way, as to show off his great strength.
Craig just kept his dark eyes on his opponent, completely calm and seemingly unaffected by all the commotion.
"What's wrong, Tucker? Got nothing to say for yourself?"
"He's afraid!" someone yelled.
"No way! Show 'im Craig!"
A moment of silence passed between the boys before Jake finally snapped and went on the offensive. He lashed out at Craig, throwing a powerful punch that might've knocked anyone else out, but to his surprise, Craig caught it all the while keeping his composure. Not missing a beat, Craig elbowed the other male in the gut.
Jake stumbled back as the crowd cheered louder. Kyle even found himself cheering for their friend along with Butters and the others.
"What, that's all?" Craig said flatly.
"Shut your fucking mouth, asshole! You ain't seen nothing yet." Jake spat angrily. "I'll bash your head in you sonuvabitch."
And with that they exchanged multiple punches and kicks, both trying to knock the other one out cold. At one point Jake managed to land a hit on Craig's jaw, making him falter momentarily before returning it with a blow that made Jake lose his balance, which gave Craig the opportunity he needed to defeat the senior.
"Yeah! Go Craig!" Clyde practically jumped in excitement as Jake Davis lay out cold on the ground.
"AAARGH! That was awesome!" Tweek twitched sharply.
"Totally!"
Craig seemed only slightly winded as he brushed off the single drop of blood lingering by the corner of his mouth. Just as he always had, Craig was wearing a blue jacket along with his trademark chullo with a yellow puffball on top. One would think he'd outgrown his chullo by now, alas, one would be mistaken. To be honest, no one in their year had really changed. Kyle still wore his orange jacket and green ushanka with his wavy red hair showing.
But before the victory celebration could even commence, a teacher intervened.
"What the hell is going on here?!" Mr. Garrison yelled. His eyes scanned the area and finally his infuriated gaze found Craig. "Craig Tucker! I should have known! Off with you to the principals office, RIGHT NOW!"
Originally, Mr. Garrison only had the educational degree necessary to teach in elementary school, but had recently earned a degree to teach high school classes. He claimed it was only because teaching older kids would be less of a pain, though most assumed he'd just missed his old third graders.
Kyle followed Craig with his eyes as the tall, black-haired male made his way back into the building. For a brief moment, his eyes locked with Craig's and Kyle could feel his heart skip a beat. He quickly looked away, not wanting to blush, and when he finally worked up the courage to face him again Craig had already disappeared into the school.
"Don't the rest of you have classes to attend?!" an enraged Mr. Garrison addressed the crowd.
As the students began to scatter a pained groan was heard from Jake who still lay on the ground, looking quite pathetic.
"And would someone take him to the infirmary?" he sighed before heading back inside.
"Ah that spoilsport..." Token sighed.
"Fucking asshole." Kenny exclaimed. His voice wasn't as muffled as it used to be, since they started high school he'd started showing more of his face, though his hoodie still covered most of it.
"Craig gets into fights like all the time, huh, fellas?" Butters said innocently.
"Told you guys Craig was more of a badass than Tweek." Cartman nodded in approval, only 9 years late and totally obvious.
As much as Kyle wanted to oppose his so called friend, he couldn't. There was simply no denying Craig's "badassery", compared to him, Tweek really was just an overly caffeinated kid.
"We should probably get to our class." Stan shrugged.
"Probably won't be long till he gets into another fight. Let's bring popcorn next time." Clyde said.
The group laughed casually as they headed back into the building.
Their last class was fairly short, history with Mr. Garrison, and as usual - fairly boring. Kyle was still an A+ student, but it wouldn't kill him to slack off once in a while. He found that what was going on outside, namely nothing, was far more interesting than the teachers lecturing. When the bell finally rang, Kyle let out a relieved sigh, collected his books and exited the classroom.
On his way out, Kyle passed the counselors office. The aggravated voice of Mr. Thompson, the school counselor, echoed through the empty hallway. A moment later, the door flung open and a blank-faced Craig emerged. He had bruises all over from his very recent fight, the most apparent one right by his mouth.
For a moment Kyle was very unsure of what to do. He just stood there, probably looking like an idiot, watching Craig turning his way.
Despite Craig's emotionless expression Kyle was pretty sure he saw some distress lurking behind those dark eyes and for some reason unknown even to himself, Kyle felt sorry for him. Sure, he was a badass, loved to flip people off and get into fights but come to think of it, Kyle really only knew him by his reputation. He'd heard rumours about him having a rough environment at home and he did remember Cartman once helped him get revenge on his parents back in 4th grade.
To say the least, the badass Craig Tucker intrigued Kyle, and more than ever he wanted to figure him out.
Suddenly he found his look being met by a darker one, a flat, cold gaze. Realizing he'd been staring, he swallowed awkwardly.
"Hey, Craig." he approached the taller male.
"Hey." he replied in that monotone voice of his.
Silence.
"Heading home?" Kyle asked as Craig started walking.
"Yeah."
Kyle glanced at Craig's bruises, finding himself at a loss for words. They rarely talked, after all, making the situation all the more awkward. Craig's jet-black hair rested neatly over his forehead, hooding his eyes. As if reading his expression wasn't impossible before.
"Shouldn't you visit the school nurse?" there was more concern in Kyle's voice than he had intended.
The raven-haired boy paused at that. Looking back at Kyle he measured him with his dark eyes and emotionless expression. With a simple motion, he had caught the redhead completely off guard and Kyle was unable to look away. He felt an uninvited blush redden his face.
Without breaking eye-contact, Craig fully turned to face Kyle.
"Do you care?"
"W-well…" this time Kyle couldn't help but look away. Craig was at least a head taller and he was standing so close, the redhead could've reached out and touched him, and God forbid, he wanted to. He didn't know why the raven-haired male had such an impact on him, but he did, and it was frustrating.
As Craig took a step toward him, Kyle found himself backing off until he stood with his back against the wall.
"Well, what?" Craig persisted, leaning in closer.
Gathering all the courage he had left, Kyle forced himself to meet Craig's stare. They were standing so close now that they were almost cross-eyed. Unable to control himself, Kyle practically lunged himself at Craig, attacking his lips with his own. The noirette let out a surprised moan into Kyle's mouth before realizing and taking control of the situation. He forced the redhead back against the wall and closed what ever distance there had been between them. Kyle felt his knees grow weak as Craig's stronger form was the only thing keeping him from falling. They explored each other's mouths and Kyle entangled his fingers in Craig's dark, soft hair.
When they finally parted for air Kyle could see the lust in those addicting, dusky eyes, a lust no longer dormant, a hunger released from its slumber.
"Yes," he finally answered under his breath. "I do care."