Author's note: This is my first story on FanFiction and I'm pretty excited. My first two chapters are fairly short and meant to test the water a bit. If I continue with the story the following chapters will be longer. I appreciate any reviews and constructive criticism. I hope you enjoy it.

Deep Down You Always Knew

Chapter 1 - Not this again

"Shut up, you fucking fat-ass! You don't know what the hell you're talking about!"

"Don't you talk that way to me, you ass wipe! Hell, this is a free fucking country, I can say whatever the hell I want. And I'm saying that your brother had it coming!"

Stan could hear them fighting all the way down the hall. He hated when they went at each others throats like that. Every time they did he had to step in and separate them from each other, hoping that there weren't any teachers nearby.

He started running towards the noise.

"He's eleven years old, for fuck's sake! He was just walking to class! What the HELL were you thinking when you threw a fucking snowball in his face!" Stan could hear that Kyle was getting more and more agitated. The angrier he got the more he cursed. That was the way things worked. He turned a corner and almost ran into Jimmy who was watching Kyle and Cartman from a safe distance. Along with 20 other students. Jesus fucking Christ.

"Well, my dear Mr. Broflovski, let me explain it to you. I was thinking; one, he is a JEW, two, he is CANADIAN and three, he is your brother. All of these reasons made me reach the conclusion that he deserved it," Cartman smirked while counting the reasons on his fingers.

This was always the thing that pushed Kyle over the edge. Cartman's so-called 'logic' that always, according to him, completely justified his actions along with that smirk saying that he thinks he's better than everyone else. Everyone was a subject to his 'reasoning' and many people argued with Cartman on a weekly basis, but he always had it in for Kyle. Every single day.

Kyle snapped. He and Cartman were only a few feet apart when he went for him. His green eyes flashed with fury as if someone had just set them on fire and his mouth started spewing profanities so vile that even Cartman seemed surprised. He threw himself at Cartman but found that he was being held back. He turned his head and saw his best friend standing behind him with a tight grip on his jacket.

Kyle wanted to struggle but couldn't. First of all he knew Stan was stronger than him, but mostly it was the look in Stan's eyes that made him weak. Stan's clear, blue eyes, fixated on his own filled with compassion and anger at the same time. It was as if he wanted to say 'Dude, let this go. He's not worth the trouble you'll get yourself into. Don't be an idiot, you're smarter than this.' Kyle could feel the urge to punch Cartman in the face fading. Stan was right, it would be moronic to punch Cartman in school right in front of other students.

Stan stared at Kyle for a couple of seconds and then turned to Cartman. The fat idiot was grinning at them and started to chuckle.

"Well well, Kyle, aren't you glad that your super best BOYfriend came just in time to stop you. You're lucky there weren't any teachers here to see you assaulting poor little me. Actually, you're more lucky that I didn't break your fucking jaw 'cus that wouldn't look so good with that new dress you bought for date night," Cartman chuckled, clearly trying to get Kyle to charge at him again.

"Shut up, Cartman, and get to class. We all know that you're all talk. If Kyle actually went for you you would pee your pants and cry for your mum," Stan's voice was calm but firm. He wasn't scared of Cartman and wanted to make damn sure that son of a bitch knew it.

The surrounding students started to giggle and glance at each other. Stan's comment seemed idiotic to most of them since Cartman was at least twice the size Kyle was. Sure he was fat, but he possessed some raw strength that he had happily demonstrated when getting into fights with others. Kyle was very slim, almost skinny and didn't have any muscles worth mentioning. There was a rumour that he had a green belt in karate but he had never said anything about it, and so it was considered to be just hearsay. Needless to say that if the two of them ever actually got in a fight not many would put their money on Kyle.

At that moment the bell rang, signalling for everyone to get back to class. Cartman snorted and turned around, heading down the hall along with the other students. Without looking at them he shouted: "Bye, Kyle! Sorry our conversation was yet again cut short. I look forward to seeing you again, fag!"

Once Cartman had disappeared among the other students Stan let go of Kyle. Kyle brushed himself off, still shaking with anger. Stan looked at him. He was concerned. It wasn't often that Kyle let Cartman affect him this much.

"Are you okay?" he asked and placed a hand on Kyle's shoulder. Stan didn't like to see him this upset, nothing good ever came from it.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Kyle replied without looking at him, I.. I was just stupid enough to let him get to me this time. I'm.. I just got so fucking angry!" Stan still couldn't see Kyle's face but he sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

"What did he do?"

"I was outside with Kenny at recess, you know he doesn't like to smoke on his own. That dumb fuck. Why doesn't he just fucking quit?.. We were outside and saw a bunch of kids from junior high walking towards the bus stop and.. and.. and I saw Ike among them. But something was wrong, he wasn't wearing his glasses and his nose was all swollen, Kyle was so angry he was grinding his teeth, Ike said that some fat asshole nailed him in the face with a snowball at lunch. He had been crying, man, I could tell! The snowball broke his glasses and made his nose bleed and that fat piece of shit started LAUGHING!"

"Hey man, calm down or your head is going to explode," Stan grabbed Kyle by the shoulders and shook him.

"Okay..Well I could only think of one person shitty enough to do something like that. So I went to find that tub of lard and confronted him. He laughed in my fucking face, dude! He said Ike started crying like a little pussy. Told me he's a little piece of shit trying to cheat his way through school because 'that's what dirty Jews do'. I couldn't fucking take it!"

Stan looked at his friend. Kyle had always been a great older brother to Ike and was always looking out for him. When Ike got to start junior high one year early Kyle was bursting with pride and was more than happy to help him with his homework. Stan was almost a bit jealous of the way Kyle cared for Ike. Shelley had never been much of an older sister, they had mostly just stayed out of each others' way and now that she had gone off to college they barely spoke at all.

"Kyle, you know Cartman is only doing this to get to you. He must be jealous that Ike is doing so well in school and knows how much you care about him that he figured he could get two birds with one stone, Stan turned to face Kyle, You're so much smarter than he is, Kyle. Don't let him get to you."

Kyle looked at Stan and smiled. He looked relieved, Stan's words seemed to have helped. Stan had always thought Kyle had a beautiful smile. It was a warm and genuine smile that showed his perfect teeth. A smile suited Kyle a lot better than a frown. It made Stan smile too.

"Thanks for stopping me before, Stan. And thanks for cheering me up now. You're a true friend,"

"You're welcome, Kyle. You know I'll always.."

"Always what?"

"Never mind. Now let's get to class before miss Ronaldson starts busting us for being late,"