"PDAs Mean a Lot Now"

Kyle x Stan, college

It was midnight at the campus hookah bar. Stan and Kyle sat together on one edge of the wrought-iron table, and around them were Wendy, Craig, Token... an assortment of people who had happened to be awake. They were the only people on the veranda, which was strung with Christmas lights.

Kyle flexed his freezing fingers in his pockets. At this point he was too cold to say anything, but Stan was having one of his on nights, which were always entertaining. He was cracking up Wendy and Craig and Token. It had been a fun night. None of them seemed to mind that he and Kyle were sitting together. At this point Kyle was pretty sure everyone knew they were gay, but nobody had ever mentioned it, least of all the lovebirds themselves.

Then this happened. Stan was laughing (his warm, deep laugh) when he turned and caught Kyle smiling at him. On impulse he leaned in for a kiss.

Kyle automatically tilted his mouth away, shocked, and just in time: he could feel Stan's nose against his own. For a second, neither of them could move; Kyle was too surprised, and Stan just didn't know what to do. Then, realizing how awkward it was to watch someone reject their boyfriend's kiss, Kyle leaned forward and gave him a quick peck and they both pulled away. He couldn't seem to speak or even think, so he just stared off speechlessly in the corner.

After a second, Token asked Wendy about something else, and the conversation moved on. Then Stan touched his arm and said, "Hey, come talk to me a minute?" Kyle blushed but got up with him.

They stood alone by the dumpsters. Knowing how embarrassed Kyle got anytime anyone knew he had feelings, Stan said, "Hey, sorry to so obviously pull you away from everybody so that we can discuss this like a couple homos, but if I don't say this, I won't be able to think about anything else all night, so. I'm sorry about the kiss."

"Stan, stop."

"I should've asked you before we came what you'd be comfortable with."

"It's not that big a deal."

"Kyle, a lot of people are uncomfortable with that. It's okay, I understand. I won't do it again, all right?"

Stan really wouldn't be able to think all night unless he was forgiven, so Kyle swallowed his pride. "All right," he said. "All's forgiven." Then he leaned in for that slow kiss, satisfying Stan had wanted at the table.

When they rejoined the group, Stan's energy and charisma had come back full force.

They walked alone back to the dorms, and Kyle felt himself tense a little when Stan took his hand. The street was safely dark, but then again it was also busy with other students. Worried that after the kiss earlier he would come off like an asshole if he yanked his hand away, he nervously lifted Stan's hand up to his chest, then let it fall again. Stan didn't let go.

"Sorry," Stan said, stroking Kyle's hand with his thumb. "Am I pushing my luck?"

Kyle was afraid someone walking by would say, "Faggots." But he didn't say so. "It just feels performative," he admitted.

A girl walked right by them, and Stan let Kyle remove his hand. But after she had passed, he felt Kyle's fingers find his own again. He was touched.

"It just feels like a small act of defiance," Kyle continued, like there'd been no interruption. "And hand-holding shouldn't be about defiance. It should be about hand-holding. You don't feel that way?"

Suddenly Stan stopped walking, and Kyle turned to look at him questioningly. Stan put his hands on Kyle's shoulders, then slid them up behind his neck... then pulled him in and kissed him. Kyle got so tense he shook and tried to pull away, but Stan wouldn't let him. Then Kyle felt Stan's tongue on his lips, and he opened them on instinct. Immediately Stan's tongue was in his mouth, giving him reassuring, slow caresses. Gradually Kyle relaxed. He felt that those butterflies in his stomach and that familiar stirring in his pants; he wrapped his arms around Stan and pressed close so he could feel it too. Somebody passed by, with no comment.

Then Stan pulled away. "Mm," he said, smiling. "I can taste the strawberry."

Kyle swallowed, speechless again.

Stan continued, "Now we've got that defiance out of our system..." He offered Kyle his hand. "Feel better?"

Kyle found himself grinning like an idiot, like he had after his first kiss.

They walked back to the dorm, fingers threaded together. Stan kissed the back of his boyfriend's hand. Kyle couldn't stop giggling.