CHAPTER SEVEN – Two Conversations
Butters nodded and Kenny dialed Kyle's number. "Hey Kenny."
"Hey Kyle…what's up?"
"Where are you guys?"
"We just got to Butters' house a few minutes ago." Butters was standing next to him making faces, and Kenny had to stifle a laugh. "I was gonna help him move some furniture around or whatever he wants to make this place more his."
"Cool. Me and Stan were wondering, if you guys weren't busy, we could bring you two some lunch? You know, like kind of a housewarming gift."
Kenny said to Butters, "Hey, they want to bring lunch over…would you like that?" Butters nodded happily; Kenny whispered, "You're sure, right?" He nodded again, and Kenny said into his phone, "Sure…sounds great guys."
"We're just pulling up to Bennigans, so we'll be there in like half an hour. You two want your usual?"
"Butters, you want a Chipotle burger?" Butters was standing with his head cocked at an angle, tongue sticking out, one hand wrapped around his throat, the other over his head imitating a hangman's noose.
"Yes, Kenny," he croaked as if he were choking, and Kenny laughed and turned away because Butter's antics were about to send him into hysterics. "Yeah Kyle, two of those. And thanks!" Kenny hung up, and then turned around to face Butters, who was now standing there looking perfectly normal.
"Butters, what in the blue ball fuck was all that about?" He was still fighting a laughter breakdown.
Butters blinked; he could work those eyes of his to look angelic when he wanted to. "What in the blue ball fuck was all what about, Kenny?"
"Uh huh. Those faces, and you looking like you're hanging yourself."
Butters smiled. "I was trying to get you to laugh, so Kyle would think we were doing something else."
"That's what I thought. You'll have to try harder next time."
Butters grabbed his hand. "No…because next time they call, I may really be doing something else." This time he took the initiative, leaning forward to give Kenny a quick peck on the lips. They both looked dazed when he moved away again.
Butters pulled on Kenny's hand. "May I show you around sir?"
Kenny grinned at him. "Sure." Butters led him to the kitchen, then showed him the garage, never letting go of his hand. "This remind me," Kenny said. "Those wire cutters I used last night came from in here, and they're still outside; I'll bring them in later." They went back through the house, and Butters led him up the stairs to show him his room. Kenny was glad their friends were coming over; he wanted to grab Butters, kiss him, and lay down on the bed with him and start fooling around...but he also knew that wouldn't be right. What was coming later seemed too important to rush. Butters had said he could stay as long as he wanted; they had plenty of time. His room was very sparsely furnished, just a single bed (which was perfectly made), a nightstand with a lamp, and a dresser. There were no pictures or posters on the walls.
"See, I want to fix my room up nice," Butters said. "I want glow in the dark stars, and some posters, maybe a black light—"
Black light, Kenny thought. Perfect house warming gift.
"—and some sheets with the Denver Broncos or something on them."
"What about your parents' room, Butters? It's probably a bigger room…wouldn't that be nicer?"
"Hey, you know I didn't think about that! This is my house now, isn't it? I can do anything I want!"
"Darn right. Let's go take a look."
Butters led him back down the hall to the master bedroom. There was a king size bed, which wasn't made; a comforter was just thrown carelessly across the top of it, the pillows making untidy lumps near the headboard. This room had its own bathroom, plus a walk in closet. They stood holding hands in the middle of it, looking around.
"Gee whiz," Butters said. "They always made me make my bed before I can go anywhere!"
Kenny laughed. "I think they left in kind of a hurry, Butters."
Butters was still staring at the bed. Then he looked at Kenny for a moment, squeezed his hand, and looked at the bed again.
"Uh huh…we'll break that in later, Butters." He smiled and squeezed Butter's hand. "Tonight's going to be special."
"I know it will be, Kenny," Butters said softly, squeezing his hand back. "It's going to be real special…and you were right: This is my room now."
They heard a car pull into the driveway. "It sounds like they're here. Let's go see if they need help."
They went back down the stairs, no longer holding hands, and went out the front door. Stan was just getting out of his car, Kyle standing on the passenger side holding four Bennigan's to-go boxes. "Hey fellas," Butters called cheerfully as they walked up to them.
"Um, Stan?" Kenny said, looking down. "You're getting a flat tire, dude." He was staring at the rear left tire, which was looking soft, obviously low on air.
"Aw, shit. I am." Stan looked frustrated.
Kenny looked at them; they were both wearing nice clothes, clean jeans and shirts, an old football jersey on Stan. "Looks like you guys were going somewhere later," he said. "If you want, I'll change that for you after lunch, so you don't mess your clothes up."
"Ah, thanks Kenny. We were gonna go to the mall later; that'd be great."
"Well, that's all set, then!" Butters said, taking two of the dinner boxes from Kyle. "Let's go eat!"
Butters and Kyle headed toward the front door. Stan hung back with Kenny for a moment, and when they were out of earshot, Stan whispered, "Hey, we're not cock blocking you or anything, are we?"
Kenny laughed. "Ha, no. A couple hours from now, maybe. But no, you're fine."
"You two will make a good couple," Stan said as they walked inside. They sat around Butters' dinner table to eat; Butters made a show of setting the table, putting out plates, napkins, and silverware, talking about how he wanted to fix up the house while trying to be a perfect host. It was a nice meal; Kenny admired how easily Stan and Kyle interacted together, touching each others' arms when they were laughing about something. Butters would sometimes reach for his hand under the table and link their fingers together between bites of his burger.
When they were finished eating, they sat talking for a few minutes, and then Kenny said, "Maybe we should go get that tire changed."
Outside, Stan opened his trunk and took out his jack while Kenny pulled the spare out and set it next to the flat tire. He started to set up the jack and then stopped. "Hey, Stan?"
"Yeah, Kenny?"
"Um…let me ask you something, okay? It's kind of personal…but what was your first time with Kyle like? I mean, I don't need to hear about every thrust or anything, but…that was his first time, wasn't it?"
"Yeah…" Stan looked pensive. "You thinking about Butters?"
"You know it. It's gonna be his first time too…I don't want to mess it up."
"You care about him, right? I mean, you're not just—"
"Oh fuck yes, I care about him. Starting from the moment I saw him inside that dog house. It…tore my heart out to see him in there like that." His hands were shaking suddenly, and he fumbled his cigarettes out of his pocket and finally got one lit, almost dropping his lighter. Stan was looking at him sympathetically. "All I could think of was getting him out of there and someplace warm." His hands were still trembling as he took a deep drag from the cigarette. "I wanted to go in his house and beat the shit out of his dad until he gave me the key to that collar…but he wouldn't let me. I haven't been more than ten feet away from him since about midnight last night. You and I have been out here for two minutes and I miss being with him already. He's so…" Kenny paused, unsure of how to finish that thought and amazed that he'd said so much already. "I don't even like to cuss around him anymore. He told me I could live here!-and even though this is happening so fast and it seems crazy, I want to stay…and help him move furniture, or whatever he wants me to do. Jesus, someone shut me up." He took another drag from his cigarette and looked down.
"Aww…you got it bad, don't you?" Stan was smiling now. Kenny just nodded. "Well…you guys are going to be fine. I mean…I guess to answer your question, our first time…we were just getting started, you know, and of course we were nervous. We ended up laughing. I said something, I don't really remember what, but then the next thing we knew, Kyle was cracking up and then I was cracking up, and our first real hug wasn't us kissing or trying to cuddle. It was us hiding our faces in each other's necks trying not to laugh so hard we'd wake up the entire neighborhood."
"Aww…that's really sweet." Kenny said grinning and looking up at Stan.
"But then, one of us kissed the other, and we stopped laughing at once. And then…everything we did was just perfect. I don't know what you guys will do…but if you care about each other, it'll be perfect too. You should see how he looks at you when he knows you're not looking. Like you can walk on water or something."
Kenny nodded. He started to jack the car up. "Thanks, Stan. Um…he said something pretty cute earlier." He told Stan what Butters had said about Tweek while he was cutting the collar off his neck. Stan laughed at that, and Kenny continued, "but then…when I told him that if I had found Tweek, I would have just given him my coat and waited for the cops, I swear I saw a tear in his eye. It was like he was amazed that no one else would have put him on their back and carried him a mile to get warmed up." He knelt down and started loosening the lug nuts. "And I'm like, how could anyone not do that for him?"
"Yeah." Stan was looking at him with what might have been admiration. "You care about him. You guys are going to be fine. In fact, this is probably going to be the best night of your life…at least until tomorrow night." Kenny smiled, and Stan watched him work for a minute. Soon, he had the lug nuts off and in a neat pile next to him. "Say, um…this may be the only advice I have. It's something I read on the internet…so you know it must be true, right?" Kenny grinned. "But it really makes sense…it said that when you look at someone naked for the first time, you should look them in the eyes first. It sets them at ease, or something."
Kenny nodded. "Thanks, Stan. I'll remember that." He pulled the flat tire off, put the spare on and replaced the lug nuts, tightening each one carefully. A few minutes later he was done, the flat tire and the jack stowed away in the trunk. "Be sure to get that tire fixed right away. You don't want to ride around without a spare."
"I will." They started walking toward Butters' house. "Hey Kenny, can I give you like ten bucks for changing my tire? You didn't have to do that."
"Ah, nah Stan, you don't—" Then he thought of something. "Hang on, actually." He dug into his pants pocket and pulled out some crumpled bills. He had eighteen dollars. "You guys are going to the mall later, right? You know that poster shop near the food court? Could you take that ten and this—" He handed Stan the money from his pocket. "And get me a black light? He said earlier he wanted one, and I thought I'd get him one as a house warming gift."
"Sure Kenny," Stan put Kenny's money in his wallet. "Did he want anything else?"
"Yeah, he said he wanted posters and glow in the dark stars. If you have any money left over…I don't know if they have velvet black light Hello Kitty posters there, but if you see anything you think he'd like…"
"Kyle and I will both get him something too." They were at the front door. Stan grinned. "Ah…do you want us to drop it off this evening on our way home?"
Kenny laughed and rolled his eyes. "Um…No. Tomorrow, or just the next time I see you will be good." They grinned at each other and walked into the house.
0-0-0-0-0
Butters looked out the window, watching Kenny work on Stan's car. Kyle had helped clear the table and was coming back from the kitchen. They stood together, watching the two work outside.
"Hey, Kyle?" Butters said. He seemed nervous, trying not to rub his fists together. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, Butters."
"Ah…the first time you and Stan were…together? What was that like? I mean, not all the squishy stuff, but…were you scared?"
"You bet I was," Kyle replied immediately. " But I also knew everything was going to be all right. I mean, it was me and Stan, you know? We kind of handled it the way we handle just about everything: We laughed about it. We were laying there together, and neither of us had the slightest idea what we were doing. I asked him if he had any thoughts, and he told me that he had left his copy of How to Have Sex With Kyle Broflovski For Dummies at home—" Butters giggled hard at that, putting a hand to his mouth. "Yeah, see, that was my reaction too. We both ended up laughing so hard it was a wonder we didn't wake my parents up. And then he kissed me, and I'll never forget that kiss. We stopped laughing right after it…and then we just did what felt good to us. And it was the most amazing thing I've ever done." He smiled. "At least up until then. And if the two of you care about each other half as much as it looks like you do…you guys are going to be great."
"Ah, that's so…I really like him a lot, Kyle!"
"I know. I'll tell you something, Butters. I know he cares about you, too. The first time we talked on the phone last night, when you were asleep? He said that he wasn't going to let you go back to your folks to be hurt any more. It wasn't until after he said that that he said you didn't want to go either. I think he would step in front of a bus to save you, dude."
Outside, Stan was laughing at something that Kenny had said. They had both noticed how long they'd been out there; Kenny could have had the tire changed five minutes ago, and he still wasn't finished. "You want to bet there's two conversations going on about this?"
"Hah…you think?"
"I wouldn't be surprised." Kyle put his hand on Butters' shoulder. "You guys are going to be great together. I'm really happy for you, Butters."
Butters looked shyly at his feet. "Aw, thanks, Kyle."
