Cartman groaned as he set down his last box of belongings into the small living room in an apartment, a bead of sweat rolling down his back. His back hurt from carrying all of those boxes up the stairs and the door, but he didn't dare complain. As he pushed the large cardboard box into its place against the wall, he looked up through the window to see his mother waving at him, smiling happily, but sadly. He hesitated a moment, before he decided to wave back with a little smile.
Upon seeing him wave back, she became even more enthusiastic before she turned and headed for her car slowly. Cartman watched her go, his hand that had been in the air coming to rest on the sill of the window. As she pulled out of the parking space, he let it sink in that he was gone, out of that house with her, out of his group of friends that he used to hang out with, and most importantly, out of South Park.
The thoughts made him nervous, but also extremely happy. This was it. He was going to college, getting a side degree and a major degree- both in different passions of his. He was going to make it somewhere, he was going to make sure of it. His college was only a few blocks down from this apartment, which had been why he picked it. It was also roughly fifteen minutes away walking from a University. He wasn't sure why the two different post-secondary schools were so close to each other, but he was sure it had something to do with the University's dropout rate, or maybe their 'plans' to attract students to them. Either way, it made finding an apartment hard if you weren't living on campus. He'd been lucky enough to snag one with his mother's help… but there was just one little problem.
Cartman frowned at the window as another car pulled up, recognizing it instantly to be that of the Brovfloski's. He'd recognize the tacky vehicle anywhere. That was right, Cartman had to room with none other than Kyle.
He hated it, hated it so bad that he had almost decided that it wasn't worth going to the college that he had wanted to go to, but his determination had ended up making him stubborn. It had just happened to work out this way. It was an ideal apartment for both of the buildings, and neither boy could afford an apartment on their own… so it made more sense to room together.
Once Kyle stepped out of his father's car he looked up at the window of the apartment he was going to be living in while attending his university with an odd look on his face. Today was the day he started his new life away from home and on his own. He was so nervous and excited that he wasn't sure what to do with himself. "Oh I'm so proud of you Kyle!" Sheila said in an excited manner as she got out of the car as well and it caused Kyle to smile as well.
Both of Kyle's parents were proud of him, he knew that, and in a way he was proud of himself as well. It wasn't as though he was the first person in his family to go to college, but he had managed to graduate with the grades he had wanted and had gotten into the college of his choice. Now the only thing he had left to do was do well in his new classes and he would be set, but first he was going to have to survive his roommate.
Green eyes caught sight of Eric Cartmen as they scanned over the apartments windows again. He had grown up around Cartmen and he had hardly been able to stand him at times, but now he was going to have to live with him and he wasn't sure what was going to happen. His mother had tried to talk him out of it, had tried to find him another place to stay, but after everything was done they had found that rooming with Cartmen was the better option. Kyle had stressed about it for a month now, worrying about how he was going to get along with his friend and tormentor, but he wasn't worried now. Kyle had decided that as long as he could avoid any prolonged time with Cartmen he would be fine.
"I'll help you carry your boxes up." Gerald said as he opened the trunk of the car, snapping Kyle out of his train of thought. "Yeah thanks." Kyle said with a smile as he walked over. He almost wanted to prolong the unloading of the car because as soon as they were finished his parents would be driving back to South Park and leaving him here all alone. The prospect was almost scary, but Kyle was sure that he would adjust to it in time.
Kyle watched his parents drive away with an odd look on his face. He knew they wouldn't be too far away but it was still further than he was used to. With a sigh he went to turn around and start unpacking when he heard one of the doors in the apartment open. "Decide to show yourself Cartmen?" Kyle said, not being overly mean or anything, but simply trying to make conversation. For right now, Eric Cartmen was the only person he knew here, so he might as well try to be nice. Well more agreeable than nice.
Cartman had been waiting in the room that he had claimed for himself while he heard Kyle and his parents shuffle around, talk, and lay down boxes in the living room like Cartman had done. Normally, he would find it a challenge that the other's parents were here. He'd lean his head out the door to make Mrs. Brovfloski uncomfortable and purposely try and make them fret, but something had held him back a little.
He wasn't sure why exactly, but when he first heard them coming up the stairs, he had felt a little strange and ended up wandering away into a room with a box, moving his own things around while he tried to distract himself. Of course, he had finished unpacking the box rather fast since it hadn't been all that big, and ended up waiting until the he was certain that his parents had left.
He creaked open the door and hesitated a moment before he began to walk out. Before he even made it to the same room as Kyle, he halted when he heard him call out to him. He wasn't exactly sure how to take what the other said, wanting to take offense to it since it made him sound like he'd been hiding, but he decided to just ignore it, slowly continuing to walk and standing in the door way, folding his arms over his chest as he looked at the other.
It was worse than he thought.
This entire day he had been fretting over the fact that the other would be arriving, but he'd had no idea how it would be just seeing him. Seeing the Brovfloski and knowing that he was trapped with him for the longest amount of time made him feel as though he'd been beaten, and he could already feel how exhausting things were going to be, and he'd only just laid eyes on him.
Cartman raised up his camera and took a random picture of Kyle standing there, not even really taking the time to actually aim it right before glancing down at it, frowning to himself at the image that stared at him back.
"You're uglier in pictures."
Kyle gave Cartmen a flat look after he snapped the picture. It was pathetic, but that was the nicest greeting he had ever received from him. "Then why take a picture at all fat ass." He said, a little irritated but not angry like he would have usually gotten. As much as he liked getting into fights with Cartmen, he didn't want to start one on his first day here. Kyle shook his head before he turned to grab one of his boxes. He'd start by taking care of his things that wouldn't be going into his room so he could avoid his roommate later and just stay in his room to finish unpacking.
"So, what are you going to school for?" Kyle asked, making a last attempt to be nice as he took a box into their kitchen. His mother had packed him a bunch of food and cooking tools so he wanted to get that put away first since some of it needed put into the fridge. Normally he wouldn't have asked Cartmen a question like that, but he hadn't gotten a chance to talk to him before they both moved. In fact, after they had graduated they had both avoided each other for the most part.
Cartman continued to look at the picture before he turned his camera off, setting it on the little table lining the wall that his mother had brought up for both him and Kyle to use. He turned to open up one of his own boxes, trying to figure out exactly where he wanted everything before he finally began to pull things out of it.
"What's it to you?" He asked evasively, turning so that he could set down a few things into the room again. He raised his voice. "I don't want you stalking me to my classes." He snorted to him.
"Like I would Cartmen." Kyle responded as he opened the fridge and set the couple bags that belonged there inside it. "And I was just curious, you don't have to get all snippy about it." He said as he closed the fridge and moved onto the cupboards. He should have expected to receive a sarcastic remark from Cartmen. Kyle never got a straight answer out of him so he had no idea why he even bothered to ask him anything or why he continued to.
"Besides, aren't we going to separate schools? That should at least ease your conscience about my supposed stalking problem." Kyle said, being a bit sarcastic back. It was hard not to fall into his old habits with Cartmen.
Cartman shrugged to himself as he came back out to open another box, rummaging through it in the living room. "It wouldn't surprise me if you still found a way to. I'm just being cautious." He said dryly, glancing up at the other since he could faintly see him around the corner in the kitchen. "I know that you're going for law though, at that University." He said as he pulled out a couple of knock knacks that had decided to bring. He glanced over them thoughtfully before putting them back and looking for a more useful box to put away.
"You're mom practically told the entire town." He recalled it with a little scowl. The woman had been treating it as though she was the one who got into the school, flaunting it to every person who would listen. Cartman had overheard her even boasting to his mom about all of his hard work and how it'd pay off and how unbelievably proud she was of him. She had kept saying that she always knew that he would do well and that she couldn't have been more proud of her son. It'd made Cartman sick. ..Even now, just thinking about it made him a little angry. He decided to try and focus on things to move around in the living room since he was already there.
"Yeah, sorry about that." Kyle said with a little bit of embarrassment as he remembered exactly what Cartmen had been talking about. His mother could definitely be too much sometimes and she had proven that point yet again when he had gotten accepted into his university. Kyle had been so embarrassed as he watched her go around and brag to anyone who would listen. He had tried asking her politely to stop but she had just smiled and said that she was just so proud of him and that she wanted everyone to know. Kyle had stopped trying to get her to stop after he finally got her to agree not to brag to his friends parents since not only was he catching hell from other students but even Stan. At least Stan had been playful about it all.
Remembering Stan made Kyle frown. He was really going to miss his best friend. Stan had gotten into college too, but he was half way across the state from him now, so the only time he was going to get to see him would be on holidays or summer break. Not getting to see Stan was probably going to be the hardest part about moving for him.
"Are you going to miss South Park at all?" Kyle asked Cartmen after they had been silent for nearly a half an hour. He had been walking through the living room on his way to the bathroom when he stopped to ask his roommate. The realization had just hit him that he wasn't really going to miss his hometown, just the people in it that had made it home to him and he was wondering if that was normal. Sure, Cartmen wasn't the best person to ask and try to judge the normalcy of his own answer off of his, but it was all Kyle had.
Cartman nearly snorted at the question as he was already on his last box. Did he miss South Park? What kind of question was that? "Of course I'm not going to." He said in a matter of fact tone, though he paused in the middle of rummaging to actually think about it. Naturally, Cartman hated South Park, he hated everyone in it. He wasn't in the least bit interested in going back. Even though he had hung out with the group a lot, he really didn't think it was going to bother him that he wasn't going to see Stan and Kenny for a long while. In fact, he would prefer that he not see Kyle too, but sometimes fate just decided to work like this. …He supposed that he would miss his mom, but he didn't really want to admit that out loud. He had been weary moving here and away from her, he'd never gone without her. For the longest time, she'd been all that he'd had, and he wasn't keen on being alone. …Sure, he'd been lonely before, but he'd never been all on his own before, and this time his mother wouldn't be there for him.
Cartman hardly realized that he was zoning out until he realized that Kyle was still looking at him in the living room. He blinked out of it and continued rummaging, his eyes not raising. "I hate that fucking place, and everyone in it. It'll be hard to drag me back there."
Honestly, Kyle should have been expecting that answer from Cartmen. He knew that he hated all the people in South Park, so he naturally would hate the town as well. Maybe that was what Kyle had needed to hear though. Maybe he had asked Cartmen because he knew he would say that and it would make him feel better about not missing his home town. "Do you have anywhere you want to move to?" he asked, not realizing that he was trying to have a conversation with Cartmen.
Cartman paused again when Kyle asked him yet another question, finding it awkward. He'd never actually held a civil conversation with the other, and it was beginning to weird him out how he kept asking him his opinions and questions. His dark chocolate eyes slid over to him and gave him an odd look. He noticed the box that was still in Kyle's hands and noticed how he was looking at him curiously. It made him feel all sorts of strange and weird. He covered it with a flat glare.
"Just unpack your shit so we can establish house rules." He said dryly, cutting their conversation short a little rudely as he turned his attention back to his last box.
When Cartmen cut him off it snapped Kyle out of his unease. He gave his roommate a flat look before he left the room and went about unpacking the last of his stuff. He should have known better than to try and talk to Cartmen anyway, nothing good ever came off it. Kyle should just stick to his original plan and avoid him to the best of his abilities. It would be hard at first, but once they both started their classes he was sure that they would hardly ever see each other. Maybe he could even forget that he had a roommate if he didn't see him enough.