"Damnit…" Kenny growled as he sliced open his index finger.

"You cut yourself again? Here, I'll go get the first aid kit." Kyle murmured softly to him. Kenny nodded silently as he ran off. When Kyle got back, he pulled out a needle and thread; he was going to give him stitches.

The blonde boy held out his finger and Kyle gently grasped it and got to work with the needle. Kenny would've flinched, if it wasn't for the fact that he was used to this shit happening to him.

"Why is it always me, Kyle?" he asked quietly, watching the other boy's careful stitch work.

"That's a question we all ask ourselves at one point or another, Kenny. Sometimes we just don't get an answer. But, look on the Brightside, I know it sounds cheesy, but it works on occasion." The redhead responded with a soft, caring, motherly smile. It warmed Kenny on the inside, but the advice didn't really help.

"But the Brightside looks black and white…" he mumbled.

"What does that even mean?" Kyle asked laughing. He didn't know that Kenny was serious when he said that.

"Nothing." Kenny said lowly, he was a little hurt that Kyle didn't think deeper about his statement. Oh well, Kyle didn't have to look so deep sometimes. Most of the time he knew what was on Kenny's mind and how to respond or make him feel or how to help him. It seemed that Kyle was amazing in every way, and that was what made him grow so close to Kenny and what made Kenny so attracted to him.

Quiet filled the room for a minute or two. So much so, that one could hear the lone clock ticking from the other room. Kyle wasn't a huge fan of silence.

"It's late, should we finish off that cake?" Kyle asked, growing uncomfortable with the newfound silence, his eyes trained upon Kenny's wound while he spoke. That was how Kenny had even gotten his finger sliced open; he was cutting a slice of cake from his birthday cake. It was a little late for his actual birthday, but he was glad that Kyle made it up to him for delaying it.

"Maybe later. We can save it for tomorrow."

"Okay." That was when Kyle finished up with Kenny's finger and tied up the loose end. Kenny nodded approvingly and thanked Kyle smoothly. That silence threatened to stir once again in the room, and Kyle definitely did not want that, but he had run out of things to say. Kenny had moved on to put everything back where it belonged, and in doing so, undid his brand new stitch around his finger. Kyle gasped when he saw the blood begin oozing, and quickly ran over to help out the unfortunate blonde.

"Now I've come undone just so you can stitch me up." Kenny chuckled, Kyle smiled sadly and once again tried to repair his friend who seemed to be falling apart at the seams all too easily these days. He truly felt bad for Kenny, and wanted to do whatever it took to help him when he needed it.

He especially needed someone right now, and Kyle was the only one who was there for him, as usual.

"This damage seems to suit you…" Kyle whispered, Kenny silently agreed. He was always getting hurt, and whether it amused people or brought sorrow to their core, he didn't know or care, as long as they noticed he was gone. That was all he wanted.

Although, he would want Kyle to be sad if he died… and never came back. That's when he would care.

"Heh, it does unfortunately."

"If you're going down, then I'll go down with you." Kyle said, out of the blue.

"And what does that mean exactly?" Kenny inquired.

"Nothing…" Kyle said with a secretive smile written across beautiful features.

-Baby,-

It was the late afternoon and Kenny and Kyle were at Stark's Pond. And although they weren't old enough, Kyle had somehow gotten a hold of red wine and shared the bottle with Kenny. Kenny was used to drinking, sometimes he would sneak his father's cheap drinks when he wasn't aware. His dad would never notice because he isn't that bright anyway.

There were people walking by and Kenny poured Kyle and himself a drink into separate glasses that Kyle had also brought with him. They were going to toast, but toast what? Kenny wasn't sure either.

"Let's toast the bitter end and the best mistake of our lives." Kenny said.

"What do you mean? What does that mean?" Kyle pondered aloud. Kenny knew Kyle was dating Cartman, but he didn't care. He was spending enough time with Kyle to count as a secret lover, didn't he? Kyle didn't even really want to be with Cartman. Cartman just kind of forced it, even though he pretends to be nice and changed, Kyle can see right through that evil man and yet still pretends to believe him.

"Well, I'll start off with the biggest mistake of my life: Not telling you how much I love you, Kyle Broflovski. That's my biggest mistake. The bitter ending is this." He kisses Kyle softly and gently and all too briefly before pulling away with uncried tears hanging just below the surface of his eyelid. Kyle just sits shocked, not knowing what to do, people were walking past and saw what he did. One of the people who saw was Clyde. He made a promise to Cartman to be his little rat and say if Kyle was cheating on him. Now Clyde had bolted off running.

"Kenny! You keep making messes and turning heads! And the worst part is… you know it! You know what you're doing!" Kyle was furious now, and he snatched the now empty wine bottle from Kenny and aimed to smash it against his head, but missed and it landed on the stitch that he had made what felt like a long time ago. Once again, and rather obviously, it came undone and Kyle felt immediately guilty for bursting out like that in public and on a close friend of his.

"Kyle…" Kenny began apologetically.

"No… I'm sorry Kenny. Here, come with me, I'll fix it, who cares what Cartman does anyway? I can only be happy if he breaks up with me anyway. It's fine." Kyle guided Kenny to his house by his open wound. When they got there, he goes back to the familiar gesture of sitting down and closing up opened, bleeding skin.

"Now I've come undone just so you can stitch me up." Kenny stated, like he did every other time. Kyle smiled at the nostalgic feeling of it. He loved reliving romantic moments anyway.

"This damage seems to suit you." Kenny smiled.

"It suits me emotionally just the way it does physically." He whispered.

"If you're going down, then I'll go down with you." Kenny still didn't know what it meant, but when he got home and went to bed that night, that was the only thing that echoed through his head in that soft, angelic voice of Kyle's. The kid just wouldn't get off his mind.

-Take-

The next day, Kenny showed up to Kyle's house and saw that he had bruises and scrapes and little mistakes all over his body. Kenny wasn't surprised but was at the same time because he knew that it was Cartman's doing, and he knew there was nothing he could do but try to keep Kyle happy.

Even though the Brightside still looked black and white.

"Kenny, areyou haunting me? You're the haunting, the kind that I never saw coming. It seems like you're always on my mind now. Ever since the Stark's Pond incident, I don't know why, you've just had this… affect on me. It's different from before. And I'm not sure how to describe it." Kyle, Kyle, Kyle. So clueless, so unaware. Naïve. Kenny smiled regretfully, he didn't know what to say. But he knew it would come to him.

"Kyle, if I go down, then you're going down with me. Right? That's what you've been saying this whole time whenever I split my finger open? That's what you meant? When I die, you'll be so hurt that you'll die with me? Like a Romeo and Juliet Effect? Is it like that?" he asked, desperation flooding his voice and body. Kyle stared at him with wide eyes and realized what he was talking about.

"Y-yeah… I guess that's what I mean. Remember what you said the other day? Well, I think I love you too, Kenny." He stated, looking up at him with a tearful gaze.

"Then, I'm sorry for what I said before, and how it was the bitter end. It isn't the bitter end, it's only the sweet beginning, right? It's not the biggest mistake of our lives?" Kyle was lost now, he didn't know, he wasn't sure.

"It's not what you said, it's just the way you said it. It was never what you said, but I can't forget this. It was the wording that stung, not the actual meaning. I love you, Kenny McCormick, and I don't know what to do about it."

"For starters, how about we kiss?" the blonde offered, Kyle smiled and leaned up to kiss the blonde boy slowly. Kenny's heart was racing so fast he didn't know what to do. It was so fast in fact, it sort of… hurt. And that's when the blonde haired boy dropped to the floor. Kyle cried out, for the incident was a very much unexpected one. He was surprised at first, to say the least, but then it struck Kyle that Kenny could very well be dead in his arms. He whipped his cellular telephone from his pocket and dialed nine-one-one with a shaky hand.

Everything blurred together from there. But Kyle looked down at Kenny's inevitably dying form with wide eyes as Kenny spoke his last words.

"Can you hear me?"

"Yes, Kenny." Kyle could only whisper.

"Good, I've got a gut feeling… A gut feeling that you will be the death of me, Kyle Broflovski." The unfortunate boy smiled crookedly before all life left him and he became heavy.

"KENNY!" Kyle screamed, heart broken, shattered, and destroyed. The ambulance had just arrived, but there was barely anything that was short of hurting Kyle that would pry him from the dead Kenny's body. They took the both of them to the Emergency Room. Kyle left Kenny's side only when he went into check if there was anything that they could do.

But of course, there was no hope… There was no definite way to bring him back.

-Your time-

"Stan… I feel it again… I think Kenny's here." Kyle shivered, though it wasn't cold outside. It was Kenny's spirit for sure. It had been visiting Kyle almost everyday since he died. Today was the fifth year that marked Kenny's permanent death. They were separated until Kyle himself had died. And even though Kenny's spirit's presence sounded and felt peaceful, his intentions were not at all.

"Really? I wonder if he can hear us…" the blue eyed boy wondered aloud.

Every time Kenny's spirit was around Kyle. He would get hurt, or pushed, shoved, harmed in some minor or even major way. Stan was always a bit defensive of this. But Kyle told him not to worry because he had made a promise that he was not able to keep to Kenny.

"You don't deserve this, Kyle. He shouldn't be doing this to you if he loves you; loved you. He should let you live and be patient." Stan would always say it loud enough, thinking that Kenny could hear. Or rather, thinking that Kenny would listen.

Ignoring Stan, Kyle stepped forward and allowed the frustrated dead boy push him and shove him and punch him until he fell. Stan was right at his side in an instant. Kyle knew that Stan was what he needed, but Kenny was what he wanted.

Stan walked Kyle to his house and once they got there, they stared hollowly at the premature dug grave that was right beneath Kyle's bedroom window. Nobody in the house had bothered to cover it up with dirt. But snow was beginning to fill it in.

He rushed Kyle faster into his house. But Kyle fought to stay outside alone a little longer. He looked into the grave and saw a hint of blue eyes. They were much darker than Stan's, so much less inviting, but Kyle loved them all the same. More so, even.

Kenny held out his hand. Kyle smiled.

"You're the ghost that's digging my grave." And he stepped inside…