I've decided to give up on most beta readers. The time it takes for them to review is too long for my liking. No offense, guys/girls.

Kenny had always been one to hook up with anyone, anywhere, for any reason. He was free of almost every restraint that most people had. Although some people thought he was taking advantage of others who genuinely liked him, he had never once lied to anyone about his intentions. This time, however, he knew it was different. For the first time in his life, Kenny was in love.
It all started with recurring dreams, which soon turned to conscious thoughts, and, finally, general giddiness. Just hearing Kyle's name was enough to brighten his day, so, naturally, when Kyle asked to talk to him in private after school, Kenny smiled and nodded. Kyle had already told Kenny that he was gay shortly after he took Stan's place as Kyle's best friend, which made Kenny hope that maybe he had a crush on him, and was finally ready to admit it.

Just like they agreed, once the boys left school, they went straight for Kenny's house and locked themselves in Kenny's room. Kenny could feel his heart struggle against his chest, beating erratically. He couldn't keep himself from smiling, as he was too excited to hide his happiness. Kyle, however, ignored Kenny's attitude and just focused on saying what he wanted to say.

"L-Look, Ken, I don't usually... talk about this stuff, but... I don't know... I guess I trust you more than Stan."

Kenny's smile widened even more upon hearing those words.

"Trust is an important part in any relationship." he thought.

"I just need to get this off my chest, before I explode."
"What is it?"
"I... have a crush..."

"I knew it!"

"So... who's the l- guy?"

"I can't let it slip that I like him, or he might be too embarrassed to tell me... Asking who's the lucky guy might be just a little too much."

"...It's Stan."

Kenny's brain suddenly became overwhelmed with questions. Was Kyle lying? What if this was just a test of sorts? Or was he simply not what Kyle was looking for in a boyfriend?
Kyle noticed Kenny's hesitation and absent-mindedness, which also led to his own personal inquiry. He began to wonder if trusting Kenny was the right choice.

"Stan? Really?"
"Y-Yeah... Y-You won't tell anyone, right?"
"N-No; of course not!"

"I'd never do anything to hurt you."

"Thanks..."

Kenny's disappointment over Kyle's revelation was overwhelmingly obvious, even to someone as oblivious as Kyle. He couldn't figure out why Kenny was disappointed, but he wasn't overly concerned by it either. All that mattered was that he could confide in Kenny. It had been several years since Kyle told Kenny he was gay, and even longer since he figured it out. Back then, Stan was still his best friend, yet every time he approached the subject, he became too nervous and couldn't go through with it. He knew Stan would freak out, as he always did. With Kenny, however, it was a different story. One look at Kenny, and Kyle felt confident enough to do almost anything. He felt like he could tell Kenny anything, and he would never stop being his friend. If it weren't for Kenny's apparent inability to have a serious relationship, Kyle might have developed a crush on him instead.

"What am I saying? It's Kenny... Even if he could have an actual relationship, he's not my type... Although he is pretty cute..."

As Kyle focused on Kenny's appearance, from his bright blue eyes to his dirty blond hair, a smile began to appear on his face, which didn't go unnoticed by Kenny. Kyle's smile didn't fade for a while, prompting Kenny to ask what was going on.

"What is it?" asked Kenny, smiling nervously.
"I was just... Nothing."

"Right... That's not suspicious at all."

"So... Do you wanna talk about it, or did you just want to vent?"
"...When you say it like that, it sounds like I'm using you."
"Sorry... I didn't mean it like that."
"It's OK... But you're right; I just wanted to vent. I just needed to tell someone about it."
"Well, I'm glad you chose me."
"Who else? You're my best friend, Kenny."

Although Kenny's smile returned from hearing that, he felt uneasy about lying to Kyle. Deep down, he wished Kyle had never told him about it.

"Ignorance is bliss." he thought.

Reluctantly, Kyle continued to talk about Stan and his crush on him for several minutes, completely oblivious to Kenny's discomfort. Once he was done, Kyle went home, leaving Kenny to wonder why Kyle had developed a crush on Stan, rather than Kenny himself.

"Maybe he just doesn't like blondes..."

Nightfall. The sun was long gone, and the moon was high in the sky. The stars were covered by thin layers of clouds that barely let the moonlight shine through. The curtains in Kenny's room diminished its intensity further, but he was accustomed to the dark, having lived without light bulbs for the better part of his childhood. Kenny was moving around under his sheets, trying to fall asleep, when an idea popped into his head. What if Kyle saw something in Stan that he didn't see in him?

"What could Stan have that I don't? I'm nice; probably even nicer than him... I'm not ugly... At least I don't think so... What am I missing?"

Kenny tried his hardest to figure out the answer to the question that had been plaguing his mind since his conversation with Kyle. What made Stan so special? What was he missing? After a while, he felt that he was getting close to the answer; however, the feeling didn't stay there long, nor did he fully understand the answer yet, as he fell asleep shortly afterward.

As usual, he dreamt about Kyle, and nothing more. They were walking together, yet there were no buildings, and the sky was utterly empty – no sun, moon, stars or clouds – which made it impossible to tell what time it was. Every step the boys took made Kenny's vision blurry; imperceptibly at first, but as time passed, his vision became worse, to the point that he could barely see. At that moment, Kyle reached for his hand, and his sight returned to normal. Not only that, but everything that wasn't there before – the buildings, the street, the sun and the clouds – finally appeared.

"Thanks for walking me home, Ken."

Before going inside, Kyle leaned against Kenny, to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. Kenny instinctively put his hand on his cheek and smiled as he watched Kyle go through the front door. He didn't close it, however, prompting Kenny to follow him inside.

"Just the cheek? Well, I guess that's alright... for now..."

Kenny took a couple of steps in the direction of Kyle's front door, but it seemed to be moving away from him. He tried running toward it, with the same result.

"Hm..."

Just as Kenny was about to try a third time, he woke up. He put his hand against his cheek once again and smiled.

"That was nice, even if it was somewhat... less than what I expected... His lips are so soft..."

"Kenny! Breakfast"
"Coming!"

"Well, time to stop daydreaming about Kyle..."

Kenny smiled to himself one last time as he got up and rushed downstairs.

On his way to school, Kenny crossed paths with Kyle. Since his parents had moved away, the boys only got together during school hours. Ever since he had fallen in love with Kyle, Kenny often found himself wishing for more school hours, just so he could have more time with him. Kyle, on the other hand, didn't share Kenny's desire; not even if it meant spending more time with Stan.

"Hey, Kyle. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school?"

Kyle looked around himself and, realizing that he was nowhere near where he meant to go, tried to figure out what had happened to make him lose track of where he was going.

"I... I don't know."

"How does that even happen?"

"C'mon; I'll walk you to school."

"Do you think I'm a little kid or something?"

"...Thanks, Ken." said Kyle, annoyed by Kenny's phrasing.

In spite of Kyle's hesitation and tone, Kenny remained oblivious to his thoughts. His phrasing was a way for him to realize his most recent dream, even if Kyle didn't know anything about it (and probably never would). He was satisfied just by walking to school with Kyle, because he knew that was all he was going to get. He knew that he couldn't force Kyle to fall in love with him, nor could he make Kyle's crush for Stan go away. Spending time with Kyle was the best he could hope for.

During school, Kenny kept trying to stay next to Kyle, who in turn tried to stay next to Stan. Neither of them realized what the other was doing. Stan, however, was becoming annoyed by the way they almost danced around himself, yet he didn't say anything. He had been trying to ignore things that made him angry, for the sake of what few good friendships he had left. From his perspective, people seemed to overreact to him, rather than him overreacting to certain events. His unwillingness to consider any point of view except his own had resulted in the alienation of his friends, one by one, until only Kenny and Kyle were left. Cartman was also part of the group, until he moved away with his mother to another state. Stan was actually glad he lost that "friend", but the group was never the same without him. However, Kenny and Kyle weren't overly concerned about that. Neither one of them liked Cartman: Kenny because Cartman was always picking on Kyle, and Kyle because he was always being picked on. Stan was the only one of the three boys who thought the gap left by Cartman needed to be filled. He had tried to fill it with old classics, such as Butters and Token, but his cynicism drove them away. Cartman was the only one who could stand his nature, even if only because he took it out on Kyle afterward.
Stan knew that the major reason Cartman still bullied Kyle was because he felt the need to take out his frustrations after dealing with Stan, yet he didn't do anything about it. He just wanted things to remain as they were; to preserve the status quo, even if it wasn't working for anyone else.

Once school was over, and much to Stan's relief, each boy went his own way. Now that they lived in separate locations, he could take a much-needed break from interacting with them. Although Stan cared about his friends, every once in a while, he needed some time for himself; something his friends would never have understood. To them, the fact that he became bored with them meant that he didn't like them. Stan had tried to convince them otherwise, but he soon found that not talking about it worked even better.

"Alright; I'll see you guys tomorrow." said Stan.
"Same here." replied Kenny.

Kyle was so distracted that he didn't even hear anything his friends said, and simply nodded in agreement. Like Kenny, he had his own internal inquiry to resolve, although it was of a different nature. Whereas Kenny wanted to figure out what made Stan so special as to be worthy of Kyle's affection, Kyle wanted to figure out why he couldn't get Kenny out of his head. It was the reason he had wandered toward Kenny's house when he should have been walking to school, and why he could barely focus on what was going on around him. In fact, the only time he could focus on something other than Kenny was when he was thinking about Stan.
To try to get Kenny out of his head, Kyle started making a mental list of the many differences between Stan and Kenny. He tried to focus solely on the things that made Kenny worse, like his laziness and the fact that he didn't seem interested in a real relationship, yet he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to be him. To be free of restraint and conscience; to be able to act solely on impulse. To him, Kenny represented the ideal he had come to desire, after so many years of repressing himself: freedom.