"Oh come here, I'm going to miss you." She said after another moment of silence. She hugged him, and they stayed like that for a few moments before she sighed and pulled away, facing forward once more and resting her head on his shoulder. "Friends forever?"

"Friends forever."


Stan stood in front of his dorm room door. This was it. He turned around and looked at his bare room one last time before sighing and turning back to face the door. He placed his hand on the handle and turned it.

"Honey..."

'Oh great,' Stan thought to himself as he dragged his bag and suitcases out the room, shuddering as the shutting of the door echoed in his mind. 'Mom's going to cry...' Sure enough, his mom pulled him in to a tight embrace and he could feel her body shaking with the tears.

"Mom, you're gonna get my gown all wet..."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She sniffed and pulled back, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. "You look so handsome! I'm so proud." She looked as if she could burst out in tears again at any moment, so he tread lightly.

"You look good too, mom." He smiled and she gave him a watery grin, taking some of his luggage and gesturing to Shelly to do the same, who only protested a little bit.

Once the bags were safely locked in the RV, they were silent for a few moments, standing awkwardly. Sharon stepped forward and readjusted Stan's cap.

"Honestly, Stan, anyone would think you were brought up by wolves..." She mumbled as she fussed over his appearance. He huffed in response.

"Let's just go, the ceremony is quite a way from here and I want to be early..." He decided not to carry on with what he was saying, he wanted to be there early just in case Kyle showed up. He didn't want to see him in the crowd and actually nearly cry on stage, as hard as it was for him to admit that he would get so emotional over the sight of his super best, and what it would mean to him.

Eventually, they reached the gathering of other students. He made his way over to the building where he knew his friends would be waiting, but only one other person was there as early as he was.

"Stan!"

"Fuck face." He acknowledged with a smile, giving Mark a manly hug. "Others not here yet?"

"Clearly." He was about to answer back to that, scowl already set on his face, when his mom and sister caught up to him. "Hi Miss Kimble." Mark greeted her with a smile.

"Hi, Stan's friend!" She smiled awkwardly, it would take her a while to get used to not being called Mrs Marsh anymore.

"Mom, this is Mark." Shelly scoffed, remembering their conversation from the other day.

"Well it's nice to finally meet you..." Stan stopped listening then, he had turned around and spotted a familiar bush of wild red hair. Without another word, he ran over to it.

"Stan!" The redhead barely got his name out before being pulled in to a tight bear hug.

"Kyle! You came!" He was grinning wildly, refusing to let go. Kyle said nothing, for now, and just returned the strong hug. "I missed you, man." Kyle laughed.

"It's only been a few weeks..."

"I know, but, I mean... I just missed you being around all the time." He was still smiling as Kyle managed to pull himself away.

"Let's leave the sentimental bullshit until AFTER you've graduated." He smiled back, just as ecstatic to see his friend, though he was better at hiding it. "But yeah, I missed you too... Dude, are you actually going to cry?" Stan sniffed.

"Leave it, I'm a man, I don't need to talk about my feelings."

"Gay man," He corrected. "So spill it, Marsh." He grinned.

"Ugh, I thought we weren't talking about this 'sentimental bullshit' yet? ... But, I'm just glad you're here, it means a lot to me and whatever... Plus it's not like I want to leave this place..."

"Ugh, boys." Stan turned around to see Marcie walking over. "Glad you made it, Kyle!"

"Wouldn't miss it."

"Gaaaayyyy," she laughed. "Mike, Natalie and Sam are here now, wanna come back over?"

"Yeah, I'll be over in a minute."

Marcie just smiled and held up her hands, walking away.

"We're not going over to your friends?"

"I just want some time alone with my best bro, can't I have that?"

"Not if you're gonna start crying all over me, this suit isn't mine."

"Dude, how could tears ruin a suit?" Kyle just ignored the question and started walking slowly in the direction of Stan's friends and family. "So, Facebook's given you the day off?"

"Yeah. I don't have to work 24/7 you know. And like I said, I wouldn't miss this."

"Right," he was silent for a moment. "So not looking forward to having to move back in with my mom." Kyle just smiled, deciding to save his next surprise for the end of the day. He had already talked to Sharon about it, and she was in on the secret too.

"Who would?"


After the ceremony, they all took photos. First, Stan and his mom, then his sister joined in, then it was Stan, Marcie, Mark, Mike, Sam and Natalie with their arms around each other, huddled together in to one photo. Then it was Kyle's turn to get in a photo.

Stan put his arm around his friends waist, and Kyle did the same.

"Stan, smile!" Sharon shouted from behind the camera, and Stan gave her a pained smile.

"Hey, Stan."

"Yeah?" He turned to face his friend next to him, noticing just how close they actually were to each other when they almost bumped noses.

"We're going to be room mates."

"What?!"

"Say cheese!" Stan instantly cracked the biggest smile yet, beaming brightly in a photo he would keep forever, one that would always remind him of this moment. Once the photo had been taken, he pulled away from Kyle slightly.

"Room mates? Where, how... What?"

"I got my own place, and it's a two bedroom apartment. You didn't honestly think I was just going to let you move in with your mom right after college, did you?"

"Woah, Kyle, this is awesome! But, I don't have a job..." Sharon decided to jump in to the conversation at this point.

"That's alright Stan, I paid your share of the rent for the next few months so you have time to find one. Consider it your graduation present."

"Mom? You were in on this?" She just smiled back at him and said nothing more.

"It's in Seattle, so I'm not going to expect you to pay more than you can afford..."

"Seattle... Woah..." It was taking a while for it to all sink in, he was still not able to believe it. "When am I moving in?"

"Today, if you want..." Stan turned to his mom, looking for her opinion.

"You're an adult now, Stanley, you can figure this one out for yourself."

"Alright, today!" He smiled at Kyle and hugged him. "We'll be super best room mates."

Once all the photos had been taken, he excused himself and went over to where Marcie stood with her family. He pulled her away slightly to talk to her in semi-privacy.

"Hey, remember that time we were coming home from that party when we first started here, where you tried to kiss me, and I climbed up on to that bull statue to prove how gay I was?" He laughed at how stupid that sounded, but in his drunken state it made perfect sense at the time.

"Yeah, and then we got caught and you almost fell off!"

"Yep! One of my proudest moments," he was silent for a moment. "You sure you won't miss this?"

"Of course I will, I'll miss being around all my friends, what I meant yesterday was I won't miss the place or the classes or anything like that, just the people and the things we did... Ah, Kyle, hi!" She smiled at him over Stan's shoulder and Stan turned around, smiling too.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"No, just remembering the time Stan almost put himself in hospital one night."

"The bull incident?"

"The bull incident." Stan confirmed with a nod and an amused grin.

"Have you told her you're moving in with me?"

"Oh, sweethearts!" She put on a sickly sweet voice, placing a hand on her heart. "You've finally hooked up, oh babies I'm so proud of you." She laughed at Kyle's face, she would tease Stan a lot like this, so he was pretty much immune to it. Kyle, on the other hand...

"Is this girl smoking something?"

"No, she's just always like this."

"Right..."


"You sure you don't want me to stay with you until you have gone through?" Sharon asked as she pulled out Stan's last suitcase from the RV.

"I'm sure, mom." He took the bag from her and placed it at his side, releasing the handle so he could hug her. He didn't want to drag out their goodbyes if he didn't have to, it would just make it even harder. Sharon pulled back from the hug and sniffed, on the verge of tears again.

"Be safe, call me when you get there... I'll miss you." She kissed him on his cheek as a tear found it's way out.

"Yeah, dick, I guess I'll miss you too..." Shelly said, and Stan stood awkwardly facing her, not sure if he should hug her or not. "Come here, idiot." She solved the problem for him and pulled him in to a brief, but still emotional, hug.

Once all the hugging and crying had passed, Stan and Kyle picked up all the luggage.

"Well, I think we should go now." Stan mumbled awkwardly, shuffling his feet.

"Oh, alright... Bye, sweetheart!" She kissed him on the cheek one more time before letting him go, crying as she watched him walk away. Once they reached the entrance of the airport, Stan and Kyle watched sadly as the RV drove away.

"Well, you excited?" Kyle asked, and Stan wiped away a single tear.

"Hell yeah, dude!"


Wow, I'm updating faster than I thought (a chapter a day? I was thinking more like a chapter a week) xD but as this progresses I'm finding myself wanting to see what happens next, like I'm reading it myself haha. Still have no idea what's coming next, didn't know until part way through this chapter that they would end up being room mates lol. Next chapter should reveal what they both studied, and the plot should hopefully start to form 8D