CHAPTER FOUR

Stan's eyes fluttered open, adjusting quickly to the darkness. His mind was still a little foggy with sleep, but he knew some sound had woken him, and he wanted to know where it had come from.

He had been dreaming of Kyle. They had finally been together, able to hold hands in school, able to kiss whenever they wanted, without worrying about someone seeing, or someone walking into the room, dissing them, degrading them...

And then a soft thud had woken him.

Coming to his senses a little more, he noticed the vast amount of vacant space beside him. He considered for a moment that Kyle had gone to the bathroom, but when he rolled onto his side he saw Kenny was gone too.

A soft growl brought his attention to his bed.

At first, he thought Kenny must be sleepwalking again, and he was leaning over Stan's bed like he would lean over some girl. But when Stan squinted through the bars at the bottom of his bed, he could clearly see a green hat, barely clinging to a head covered with auburn curls...

Stan could only watch in horror as Kenny's hand travelled over Kyle's upper body, and Kyle didn't do anything to stop it. He seemed to be enjoying it, arching his back and groaning softly as Kenny caressed him. Kenny chuckled at him, stroked his face, before leaning in and kissing Kyle passionatly, moving slowly from his lips and onto the exposed skin of his chest and stomach. Kyle moaned, push Kenny's head further and further down. Kenny chuckled again and began to pluck playfully at the waistband of Kyle's pants.

At the sight of this, Stan's body unlocked just as suddenly as it had frozen. He growled and staggered to his feet. Kenny jumped back from Kyle, his wild and guilty eyes turning to the bed. Kyle sat up. Tears filled his wide green eyes when he saw that it was Stan who had disturbed them.

"Stan..." He whispered. But there were no words. There were no words to convey his guilt, his confusion. In that moment he was truly disgusted with himself. Here he had everything he had ever dreamed of, most importantly Stan himself, and he was risking it all for some cheap thrill with Kenny, who everyone knew was a whore. He had been blinded by his greed, had been flattered that Kenny had seemed to like him so much. And now it had ruined everything. He knew that now.

But he just couldn't come out and say it. Couldn't admit that ever since he hit his teens he had known he was gay, maybe even longer than that. But that's when he had admitted it to himself, and also admitted that he was in love with his then best friend, Stanley Marsh.

"Stan..." Kenny echoed Kyle, but rather than hurt he sounded almost...relieved. Stan wasn't Kenny's problem, although he felt bad for leaving Kyle to deal with this. But this could have been much worse. Butters could have woken up and seen him with Kyle, and that would have broken his sweet little heart. Kenny thanked God that this wasn't the case.

Stan looked from one to the other. He watched as Kyle's tears began to spill over, feeling tears of his own well up in his eyes, but he refused to cry. He was strong.

"Just go." He told them. He looked at Kenny, unable to look at Kyle anymore, unable to believe he would do this to him. "Both of you, just go."

Kyle slid over the side of the bed, standing on shaking legs. He watched his bare feet drag along the carpeted floor.

"Wana come back to my place?" He heard a voice whisper in his ear. He looked up into Kenny's big blue eyes and shook his head, unable to muster any feelings he had previously had for him. The excitement was gone; they had been caught.

Kenny was a little hurt, but unbothered by the situation. He pulled on his jeans and stuffed his slippers into his pillowcase. Then he picked up Butters' little blue night bag. He locked eyes with Stan, who raised an eyebrow but said nothing, before leaning over Butters and hefting him up into his arms.

Stan and Kyle watched as Kenny, carrying the still sleeping Butters, marched proudly into the hall and down the stairs.

Kyle turned to Stan, finally tearing his eyes from the carpet in order to look upon his boyfriend. He noticed the tears glistening in his eyes, but didn't mention them. Instead, he said: "I'm so sorry."

Stan shook his head. Right, left, dead centre. Then he turned and dropped back onto the matress. It looked rather empty with only Eric and himself in it.

"Goodbye, Kyle." He said in a dead voice that only made the tears running down Kyle's face flow faster. Kyle said nothing more, instead turning away and following Kenny's path down the stairs.

Kenny trudged through the snow. He was still carrying Butters, who remained asleep despite the freezing air swirling around them. Kenny wanted to hit himself. Why had he taken Butters with him? Now he had to face him without the distraction of Kyle or Eric.

Kenny reached down for the emergency key hidden beneath a plant pot outside the Stotch's house. The plant was fake, which was why it stayed so green in this frosty hell hole.

Kenny carried Butters up to bed. Only then did he begin to stir, but Kenny shushed him, removing his jeans and cuddling beside Butters once more. He soon quietened, and Kenny fell into a troubled sleep.

Kyle had been nowhere near as organised leaving Stan's house, and was wandering in the snow in his soaked pyjama bottoms, no shirt, and his orange coat. His tears had frozen on his face, but fresh ones formed everytime he pictured Stan's dead expression as he watched Kenny leave the room.

Kyle eventually reached his house, freezing. He noticed dazedly that he was not wearing shoes, and his bare feet were red and cold-looking. He let himself in, not registering his actions, and tramped upstairs to bed.

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Boo-yah, another very very short chapter finished with (: next chapter is gona be very very delayed. I'm going away for a wee while (: should be about two weeks...I'll leave you in suspense...