A Gift From an Angel and a Virgin In a Stable (Prologue to the Prologue of the East Coast Arc)

Every Christmas Eve, the high school holds a last minute Christmas Bizarre which is designed to raise money for school clubs and local charities. Thankfully this Bizarre has transformed over the years into a community tradition for the whole school, which means that attendance is always high and a lot of money is raised for all the various fundraisers.

Yet despite Eric being the one who has been showing his Jew all the marvelous things about Christmas, It was actually Kyle who suggested that they visit the Christmas Bizarre that day.

"You've never been to the Christmas Bizarre Eric? That surprises me! Even I came last year." Kyle quipped as he entered the gates into the football field where the Bizarre was held.

"Meh… I never had the desire to actually go." Eric admitted, following Kyle close behind as they entered the first aisle of little shops, "I usually bought my mom's gift by now and it's not like I had the friends to go with in the first place." He puffed in amusement, knowing how pathetic that sounded but knew that Kyle would get a kick out of it anyway.

Smiling a sad smile, Kyle suddenly felt a tad mischievous as he glanced up at Eric with a teasing look to brag; "I sometimes forget how much of a loser you were before you started to date me…" he brought up his hand to vainly flip his hair.

Scoffing audibly, Eric screwed up his face in pseudo-disgust as he shoved Kyle away from him while grumbling, "Thanks fucker…" he stomped further down the aisle as he heard Kyle laugh from behind.

"Anytime." Kyle exclaimed, knowing what would get Eric to come back to him as he called out, "Well I don't know about you but I'm hungry, wanna go get something to eat?" he suggested, watching as Eric stopped dead in his tracks as he smirked to himself in pride.

Glancing both ways down the aisle, Eric started to walk back to Kyle as he informed, "Well I know for a fact that the Karmichaels have a booth, and if we go to them they'll probably give us some Lebkuchen for free…" he continued to look for the right booth as he passed Kyle on his way towards the second aisle of shops.

Following Eric down the second aisle as they passed by some of the other food huts, Kyle perked his brow in interest as he asked curiously, "Lebkuchen? What are they?" he finally caught up with Eric as he felt his lover's arm bring him in closer as the larger boy explained, "Icing covered gingerbread cookies, I'm almost positive that they'll have sugar free ones." He finished as soon as he spotted the little German looking hut.

"Ah! There they are." Eric let go of Kyle to rush over to the entrance, butting in front of a few people in the process. Once in front of the line, the enticed brunet began to look at the selection of cookies they had to offer as Kyle embarrassingly joined him at his side, "Idiot, you couldn't wait?" the redhead commented as a voice arose from the other side of the counter.

"JA! Es bringt mich nichts mehr auf die Palme, als Leute, die sich vordrängeln Eric!" Friedrich yelled at him from behind the counter as he handed a disgruntled woman her half dozen.

"Halt den Mund Gör! Ich bin nicht hier für dich." Eric snapped at the younger boy as he peered into the back, "Ulla! Wo bist du?" he called out, knowing that she was probably helping Anke cook.

They both could hear some rustling from the back as Ulla suddenly emerged from their little makeshift kitchen, "Oh hey guys!" she called out, rushing to the counter as she leaned in to greet her two warme Brüder**, "Long time no see!" she cheered, darting her arm out to grasp at Eric's ringed hand as she finished, "I trust that you're both well."

"Quite," Eric gripped Ulla's hand in response, smugly peering down to Kyle as he boasted, "Showing Kyle Christmas has definitely been a treat for both of us." He looked back to Ulla as he cut to the chase, "But another amazing treat would be some of those Lebkuchen that Frau Anke makes so well." Leaning down to Ulla's level, Eric looked directly into her eyes as he grinned a suggestive smirk, "Mind hooking us up?"

Letting go of Eric's hand, Ulla harrumphed as she turned on her heel to head back into the kitchen, "Yeah… for a price." She called back, prolonging their wait as she sneakily gathering her specially made Lebkucken for her two boys.

"I'm sure you and I can arrange something…" Eric dared to call back in a seductive tone, Kyle quickly responding with a slap to the head much to the larger boy's amusement.

"You wish." Ulla laughed as she walked back up to the counter, "Here you go cheapskates." She handed Eric his pack and Kyle his own sugar free half dozen as she added, "At least spend your money on a good cause."

"Thanks Ulla, I'm sure we'll find something." Kyle responded as he started to walk away with Eric attached to his hip, the brunet turning around to shout, "Fröhliche Weinachten." Before giving his friend a parting wink as they made their way to the other shops.

Once Kyle saw Eric give Ulla that little knowing wink, he sighed loudly before snidely suggesting, "For god sakes, you guys should just fuck and get it over with. Lord knows you both want to…" he jabbed, sick of their obvious sexual tension as he stomped away from a beet red Eric.

Trying to make up for his transparency, Eric quickly pondered over how he could win Kyle back as he suddenly spoke without thinking, "Think of it this way Kyle, she might come in handy one day for that very reason." He concluded, realizing what he just implied as brought up his hand to cover his shocked expression.

Kyle nearly tripped over himself as he too realized what Eric just insinuated, "Did you just suggest what I think you just suggested?" he blushed visibly just as a mother with a screaming baby coincidentally walked past both of them as they both looked to the squirming bundle in her hands.

Awkwardly looking back to each other, Eric brought his hand up to rub the back of his head as he quickly diverted, "Nevermind… hey isn't that Kenny?" he flung his hand back down to point at their friend across from the aisle as he gathered Kyle's hand to pull him over to where the blond was standing.

"Ken!" Kenny heard a familiar voice call to him from his left as he turned his head to see who it was, seeing a very determined Eric charge towards him with a flailing Kyle in tow.

Cracking an amused grin, Kenny faced his two friends as he responded, "Hey guys! How's Kyle's first Christmas coming along?" he watched as Kyle brushed himself off while shooting Eric an annoyed look.

"Pretty good," Kyle responded in irritation, eying Eric like a hawk as he continued, "a couple bumps but all in good nature, I guess." He crossed his arms, looking at Eric quite skeptically as the larger boy quickly changed the subject. "Hey what's this booth?"

Not quite understanding why his two friends were acting so weird, Kenny confusedly looked back to the booth in question as explained, "It's the St. Jude's Booth, I was just thinking about going inside." He contemplatively shoved his hands in his coat pockets.

"Oh you mean the sick kid's booth?" Eric puffed a callous laugh, Kyle aggravatingly jabbing his side with his elbow.

"Yeah," Kenny responded dryly to his asshole friend, turning his head to continue his explanation to Kyle who would be empathetic enough to follow, "All proceeds go to children in need this season, and if you donate 10 dollars you get to make a prayer doll and hang it on their collective Christmas tree."

"Prayer doll?" Eric quirked an eyebrow incredulously as Kyle just rolled his eyes before directing his full attention back to Kenny to hear the rest.

"Yes, Prayer Dolls." Kenny closed his eyes in irritation as he opened them back up to speak calmly to Kyle again, "They have different craft materials inside, and you can make a doll of someone you want to pray for – a long distance family member, a friend in need, a sick person, or a person who is already dead." He turned to point at the massive tree positioned behind the tent, "You attach a prayer to the doll and at the end, a mass is held and all of the dolls are collected as their prayers are read off anonymously." He returned his hand to his pocket as he finished his spiel.

"Well that's nice," Kyle finally commented, looking over to his blond friend as he added, "I haven't really done anything generous this season yet." He brought out his ten dollar bill he brought with him.

"Yeah neither have I, that's why I was thinking that this should be who I donate to this year." Kenny too reached into his pant pocket to retrieve his fist full of change.

"Eric, do you want to go inside?" Kyle suggested, hoping that Eric actually had the heart to go through with this despite being quite cynical about the whole thing not a minute ago.

"Es ist mir egal." Eric sighed as brought out his own twenty.

"Okay then, this is where we'll go." Kyle confirmed as he handed the guy at the door his ten, Kenny going next as he dumped his change onto the counter before following Kyle down the first row of tables. Yet as soon as the guy started to count Kenny's change, Eric slipped the guy his twenty, waving his hand which signaled that he did not want anything back.

Kenny and Kyle were at their own little table working on their respective dolls with Eric not far from where they were sitting. Kenny knew immediately who he would be making his prayer doll for, but Kyle actually thought about whom in particular he should make his doll for. There were a couple of people who he knew needed his prayers: his sick aunt in Connecticut, Christophe who he ultimately owed his and Eric's life to, the members of his Synagogue who have gone through so much this fall. But as he looked to the black twine that Kenny was using, Kyle suddenly thought of another person who he then understood probably needed his prayers most of all.

Making work on his little doll, Kyle solemnly collected two midnight blue beads for eyes, black twine for his hair, jean scraps for pants, and some red cloth for his little shirt.

Kenny was already done with his doll's face by the time he spied across the table to see who Kyle was making, and lo and behold as he looked at all the little materials Kyle had gathered for his own doll, Kenny suddenly realized that they were in fact making the same person.

Kyle's long face gave this away even more than the selected material did. So with a sad smile, Kenny shook his head to call out to his friend in a bittersweet voice, "Are we doing the same person?"

Quickly looking over to Kenny's doll, Kyle noticed that his doll too had black hair and midnight blue eyes, "You're doing Stan too?" he asked, not sounding quite as amused as he resumed gluing his pants on.

"Yeah, he's pretty beat up." Kenny replied, pursing his lips as he finished his doll making, "I know a prayer can't fix everything he's done but, it's something you know?" he perked up to see Kyle still brooding over his little Stan doll, almost depressed looking as he asked gingerly, "Any reason why you decided to choose him too?"

"I've," Kyle started to concoct his answer, not wanting to sound too bent out of shape over the whole thing but certainly knowing that Kenny might be able to help him sort his feelings, "been thinking about what Henrietta told me when we talked at the Pour House." He began, adjusting one of the beads on his little Stan doll's face. "About how he was the rose that needed to be cut?" he added, looking up to see if Kenny was following. Watching his friend nod patiently, Kyle looked back down at his doll as he finished placing the other bead across from the other, "And I've been thinking that maybe I was a little harsh on him." He drooped down towards the table as he adjusted his black hair on top of its head, "I guess he had my best interests at heart, but the way he handled it… it was heartbreaking to me!" he raised his voice, peering up to his friend with hurt eyes as he gripped onto his Stan doll cathartically.

"I know Kyle," Kenny broke eye contact as he reached out to cup the hand Kyle was gripping the Stan doll with, "He still hasn't forgiven himself for it either."

Releasing the doll under Kenny's hand, Kyle allowed for Kenny to carry his hand away from the doll while folding his fingers into his palm, "It's not that I necessarily want to forgive him, it's that I want him to move on and prove to himself that he can be independent too." He looked back up to Kenny to see if he agreed, the blonde still looking away as though he was pondering his response.

However as Kenny furrowed his eyebrows in understanding, he suddenly darted Kyle a determined look as he exclaimed, "Well tell him that!" he dripped Kyle's hand slightly harder before releasing it, scooting his chair out from the table as he spoke up again, "I'm already done, but I encourage you to gather your thoughts and talk to him very soon." Reaching out to grab Kyle's shoulder, Kenny spoke directly into the redhead's dulling emerald eyes as he smiled, "If anyone can save him Kyle, you can."

Looking down at his partially done Stan doll, Kyle regained some of the fire in his eyes as he responded with confidence, "I won't save him," he shook his head, "That won't help him at all." However as he shot Kenny a confident smirk, he closed his eyes preemptively as he finished, "But I might consider giving him the push necessary to get him started on saving himself." He opened his eyes to finally reveal his ferocious malachite's.

Patting Kyle shoulder, Kenny gave Kyle his own confident smirk as he cheered, "Coming from you, that may just work- Good Night Kyle." His sky blue eyes twinkled ever so slightly as he turned around to hand his doll on the tree.

"Thanks Ken, Merry Christmas!" Kyle called out to his departing friend, laughing slightly as he watched Kenny turn around with an excited expression to reply for the first time, "and Merry Christmas to you too Kyle!"

Getting back to his doll, Kyle finished his last touches to the little Stan doll until all that was left was his mouth. Kyle didn't really know whether to make his doll frown or smile, it seemed like a simple decision but to Kyle - whether this doll was happy or not actually meant something significant to him. Therefore as Kyle looked to the piece of loose-leaf which he was supposed to write his brief prayer on, a wave of determination overwhelmed him to the point that as he grabbed the pen to his left, he knew very well that this prayer was not going to be brief.

No. This wasn't even going to be a prayer, and it certainly wasn't going on any tree. This note was going to go to one person - one person who needed to hear these words more than any other person on Earth.

Finishing his last sentence in a slow and meaningful scribble, Kyle held back a sudden wave of grief as he carefully penned in his signature at the bottom.

Looking over to the tree, Kyle hurriedly pocked the note before walking down the aisle, stopping at the tree as he gazed over all the other dolls carefully pinned to the branches. Each one holding a hope, a wish if you will, and this season was just magical enough that maybe a good portion of those dreams might come true.

Suddenly seeing Kenny's Stan doll, Kyle had the urge to carefully flip open the note to see what his friend wrote down.

"May you find true happiness one day."

Kyle smiled, knowing that his own wish was a little more complex than that. Hanging up his own smiling Stan doll directly next to Kenny's, Kyle closed his eyes as he bowed his head, silently communicating his own prayer as he folded his hands into one another.

"You really believe that your prayer will be answered just by wishing it?" a voice suddenly called out from behind, Eric revealing himself next to Kyle as he scoped out a place to put his own Prayer Doll.

Kyle hummed knowingly "No," he responded, gripping the note in his pocket as he smiled back up at his lover with hidden incentive, "But I've got a Plan B."

"Good." Eric half listened, placing his own prayer doll tall above the tree as he turned around to walk out of the emptying tent, "Let's go home."

Glancing sideways at the departing brunet, Kyle turned his head as he perked up from where he was standing, "I've got to stop by my house to take care of some things, is that okay?"

"Sure, I'll tell my mom to stop by." He responded, stopping when he realized that his Jew was still standing by the tree.

Kyle noticed that Eric was looking at him inquisitively, so with an upbeat voice Kyle assured, "I'll be right out, I'm not quite done." He looked to the ground in preoccupation.

"Okay, I'll be right outside." Eric responded with a sigh, changing his voice to a more impatient tone as he whined, "Don't take forever though, its fucking Christmas Eve! We've got presents to shake!"

"Okay okay, I'll be only a minute." Kyle replied, watching as Eric completely left the tent before whipping his head up to curiously glance at the doll that his lover pinned up. It was slightly out of reach, but as Kyle stood up on his toes to grasp at the little thing, he finally felt it fall into his palm as he crashed back down on his feet, finally able to really look at the doll in his hand.

It was an ugly little thing, with half a head of hair and a huge smile across its face. It had a black shirt on with what looked like a cut out of a skull glued to the front with green patched up pants. What was most curious about it though were the little feathers glued to the back of it which Kyle guessed to be wings. Finally grabbing at the note attached, Kyle unfolded it with incredible interest as he eyed down the message.

"you told me that I needed to save you, so I hope I did.

please be in a better place."

Furrowing his eyes in bewilderment, Kyle wasn't allocated much time to ponder over the note as he heard his lover call out from the front "KYLE! COME ON! The Christmas Bizarre is closing! We don't want to get locked in!"

"Coming!" Kyle quickly placed the doll back on a random branch, glancing back at the happy little angel girl on the tree one last time before running outside to join his lover.

"Okay Kyle, are you sure you don't want us to wait for you? You know you have enough meds back at my place, you really don't need anything else do you?" Eric asked as he watched Kyle open the door to step out into the cold night, staring at Kyle's undecorated house displeasingly – noticing it was the only house on the block without any sort of festive quality to it. Hanukah came and went and so did the Broflovski's decorations.

"I just need to talk to my parents real quick," Kyle answered, thinking of an excuse as he lied, "about… school. Yeah, I didn't do so well on this one final and they've been meaning to talk to me about it." He added on as he cautiously peered back to Eric, hoping that was convincing enough.

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you!" Eric unwillingly complied, but then crossed his arms as he grunted, "But don't let them kill your Christmas boner…"

Kyle just rolled his eyes as he began to close the door, quickly hearing Liane lecture from the front "Eric, do you have to talk like that on Christmas Eve?"

Watching as the car departed from his front lawn, Kyle broodingly looked up to his house as he scowled at it displeasingly. Not because it was undecorated, but because it reminded him about how much his father was against his relationship with Eric – even a month after he informed them of their engagement. Liane eventually got over it, thankfully, but his father still bore that judgmental stare. Kyle didn't even talk to his mother anymore; she was essentially a shell of her former self anyway. He had no idea why, but he had a feeling that she was still in denial about the whole thing.

He hated being in that house, and he couldn't remember the last night he actually stayed there.

He'd been practically living at Eric's since the Christmas party; Liane cooking him special meals and even doing his laundry for him! He even had his own set of chores there! Thinking about how much Eric's house was like his new home, Kyle suddenly had the need to return back as quickly as possible.

But he had something to do first.

Leaving his estranged house, Kyle ran down the block in a path he memorized many many years ago. Once he was nearly there, he slowed his pace as he approached the all too familiar house. 2001 Bonanza Street.

Dear Lord, it's felt like years since he'd been here.

Eying the mail box, Kyle took the note from his pocket, making sure that the side that read "Stan" was face side up before he opened the small door to reach inside, carefully placing it in the empty container.

Once his task was completed, Kyle sprinted the rest of the way back to his new home, humming a song in his head as he merrily ran down the familiar street, crossing Eric's front lawn as he opened the front door with his own key.

"…Bluten sich am Ufer leer!" he finished the song, closing the door behind him as he excitedly looked to the illuminated Christmas tree… all the presents now underneath of it in a wild array of pure awesomeness.

"Kyle," A delicate voice sounded from the couch.

Kyle whipped his head around to see Liane laying on the couch in her Christmas night robe and reading glasses, watching as she set her book down on the coffee table as she resumed, "I wanted to let you know before the big day tomorrow that Eric actually told me to sacrifice half my Christmas budget that I normally spend on him so that you could have just as much Christmas presents as he does tomorrow."

Glancing back over to the presents, a warm rush enveloped Kyle completely as he smiled brightly at the brightly colored room, "You… both really didn't need to do that." He glanced back at Liane sheepishly, seeing her own warm smile as she slowly got up off the couch.

"Nonsense," Liane replied, walking over to where Kyle was standing as she reached out to touch the boy's warming cheek, "You've done so much for him that I owe you more than this. You know now that he's a changed person, completely, thanks to you." She gently took her hand off Kyle's cheek, gazing over at the tree as she continued, "That's why I worked overtime these past couple of weeks, I ended up making enough to double my Christmas budget," she smiled back over to Kyle, "So now both of you have the normal amount."

Kyle's eyes lit up drastically as Liane finished her statement, "Eric will be so thrilled!" he exclaimed, "Lord knows how much he loves this Holiday."

Hearing that response, Liane perked her brow in interest as she questioned down to the boy next to her, "How have you been enjoying it? I know he's been working so hard for you…"

Shrugging his shoulders, Kyle humbly responded while shoving his hands into his jacket pockets, "I've honestly been having a great time, but…" Kyle rolled his eyes in embarrassment as he bit his lower lip, "I've really been waiting for tomorrow."

"As everyone else is," Liane laughed, getting to the main reason why she stopped Kyle, "but Kyle, one more thing before you go upstairs…"

Kyle peered up to Liane questioningly as the woman inhaled a deep breath.

"Because Eric's grown so much these last couple of months," She began to explain, cautiously looking down at Kyle as she got to the point, "I decided to go out on a limb and buy him a very special present this year… do you mind, helping me with it tomorrow?"

Smiling up at her, Kyle's face brightened up as he assured, "Sure anything!" but his curiosity got the best of him as he then asked predictably, "What is it?"

Liane smiled contently, leaning into Kyle's ear as she whispered the answer.

German-

"JA! Es bringt mich nichts mehr auf die Palme, als Leute, die sich vordrängeln Eric!" – Yeah! My biggest pet peeve is when people cut lines Eric!

"Halt den Mund Gör! Ich bin nicht hier für dich." - Shut up, I'm not here for you…

"Fröhliche Weinachten." – Merry Christmas!

warme Brüder - Literally "Gay Guys", it's slang but... lol