Okay so this is my first ever fanfic. It will most likely be an atrocious and epic failure, but I had an idea I was excited about for a multi-chapter Style and thought why not finally write something myself. Please review to let me know if I have enough of a tiny hint of talent to make it worth continuing this, and any constructive criticism is always appreciated. Future chapters will probably be a bit longer than this, I'm sort of testing the water with this one.

Also, I'm English, so although I've tried to use American English and use Americanisms for the sake of realism, there may be some English sounding things in there that I missed (do you call them Englishisms? Lol). Anyway here comes the story, and like I said, please please review.

"FINAL WARNING"

Kyle read the angry title, written in large red font at the top of the letter. He let out a resigned sigh and placed it on the growing pile on his kitchen counter.

"Two weeks overdue!" read the next letter. That one went straight in the trash. Eventually, when the last of the mail had been sorted, Kyle slumped down onto the sagging couch; this was not how his life was meant to turn out. A college drop-out, enormous debts and constantly being harassed by banks, electricity and gas companies for overdue payments. He had gone to Harvard for Christ's sake, and was planning to be a top lawyer before he was thirty. He had forgotten completely about his selfless childhood act, to take on the debts of all of South Park in order to get them to spend again and save the economy. Halfway through his course at Harvard those debts had reached the critical point, as his parents could no longer afford to help him (they had moved into a smaller house with barely enough room for the pair of them and Ike, and Kyle refused to take a dollar more from them for his own mistake). Despite working two jobs as well as studying, Kyle simply could not keep up. He had dropped out, gone back to South Park and begun working full time in the new call centre just outside of town while juggling a job at Shakey's Pizza. Mindless, endless work for almost no pay, it wasn't far from being slave labour.

A gentle knocking forced him to snap out of his self-pity. He pulled the door open and smiled.

"hiya Kye, was just heading out for lunch, want to join? It's my treat." Kenny gave him that imploring, almost full-on puppy dog expression, that despite now being 23 and sporting unruly stubble he had never lost the ability to pull off.
"alright...fine. Cheers Ken." It was charity, something Kyle would never normally even consider accepting, but for some reason he didn't mind taking the offer from Kenny, probably because of all the times when they were younger that it was Kyle giving Kenny the free meals. That and the fact that Kenny never took no for an answer.

They walked pretty much in silence, but the comfortable silence of good friends. Kyle ordered a plain Margarita (it was the cheapest thing on the menu and he didn't want to abuse Kenny's generosity). "and I'll have the Spaghetti Carbonara please" The blond boy grinned as their menus were lifted by the waitress. The small Italian that had sprung up not long after Kyle had left Harvard, and it was Kenny's absolute favourite place to eat, a step above Shakey's anyway. He had never left South Park, as everyone had sort of expected, but he'd got himself a job at the hardware store and had been promoted to assistant manager through sheer hard work. He was earning comfortably more than Kyle, even with both of his jobs.

"So Stan is coming back this weekend, you excited?" Kenny asked.

"yeah, I can't wait, it's been 3 months since he was last here!" Lies, lies, lies. Kyle put on his best 'excited face' but he was pretty sure it wasn't fooling anyone. The last thing he needed now was the emotional turmoil that Stan would inevitably bring with his occassional, inconsiderate visits.
"I still can't believe he's got a well-paid business job already, the lucky fuck" Kenny laughed. That was supposed to be me, Kyle thought, and then quickly chastised himself for being so selfish.
"It's okay to miss him, dude" damn Kenny and his mind reading powers. Kenny reached across and grabbed Kyle's hand. He was the only one Kyle had told about what had happened with Stan before they left for college.
"I'm just not sure I want him to come back, I don't need that again, not right now..." the red head stared fixatedly at his pasta as he said this, as if somewhere in its tangle of curls it held some kind of solution to all this.
"We both know that's not true." Kenny retorted, with a wry smile.
"...I know."

x

Stan sat with his ear buds in listening to his 'chilled' playlist on shuffle. He had given up trying to sleep on this long-haul flight, as even in business class his long 6ft 2" frame made leg room tight at best, and he couldn't get comfy. On top of that, the all too familiar buzz of anticipation and nervousness at the thought of returning to South Park was beginning to build in his stomach. He had assumed that putting distance and time between himself and his hometown might leave him less concerned with the place, and with his old friends, but the opposite had proved true. Whenever he had to spend a long stint without visiting he found himself thinking about them all more and more, and life in New York with a junior (though handsomely paid) corporate role was not proving to be everything he had hoped. Instead of feeling involved and finally having a great social life, the big city left Stan feeling more alone than ever, and distant from the people he cared about most. There was even some distance between him and Kyle. He pulled the chord of his buds out of his phone and into the TV embedded in the seat in front of him, choosing some awful family comedy and turning up the volume. His body gave an involuntary shudder, even though it wasn't at all cold on the plane, as if it was a response to his attempts to silence his depressing thoughts.

The flight was uneventful, Stan's favourite type of flight, and when he took his phone off flight mode he couldn't quite supress a laugh at the text he received from Kenny,

When does your big important business flight for big important business people land, corporate ass-kisser? - Kenny

haha. I'm just in NY, waiting for my connection to Denver. Are you still picking me up from the airport or will you be at work, hiding in the storeroom using a wrench as a makeshift dildo? - Stan

That's not a bad idea, I hadn't thought of that ;) I'll be there. Might bring your boyfriend along if he's not busy - Kenny

Sure thing homes - Stan

'homes'? oh god you better not be back in that Latin phase haha - Kenny

The casualness of his reply masked Stan's real thoughts. This is the longest he has been without visiting - the best part of 6 months - and he was more worried than ever that things would be weird between him and Kyle. They had been a little weird ever since...that conversation...but they had always muddled through. Now Stan was starting to feel like maybe Kenny was the closest friend Kyle had and not him, and that was something that, despite the awkwardness, he really didn't like. Hopefully he could use this break to show Kyle they were still super best friends; he had taken all his holiday for the year at once, which was almost a month, and he hadn't told anyone yet. The fact that he still hadn't managed to shake off that tingling feeling whenever he thought about Kyle had nothing to do with it, Stan thought. He just needed to see his super best friend again, because he missed his company and he was pretty sure – at least he hoped – that Kyle had missed him too, even if he seemed less willing to put in the effort of regular video chats and phone calls that Stan tried to keep up. As he boarded his second flight of the day a sinking feeling was starting to build inside Stan, that maybe a month back with Kyle and Kenny wasn't such a great idea, or things would be awkward, or different, or maybe – no, calm down. He needed to stop letting himself get so worked up. Despite the fact that he kept telling himself he was seeing his oldest and best friends, and there was no need for any nerves or anxiety, Stan couldn't help but feel odd about this trip, as if it was somehow more significant than a trip back home should be. Even the way he thought about it told him something, he still thought of South Park as home, not New York where he had spent most of the last 2 years. He was going home.