Kenny's POV

Ugh… Everything hurts. I can't believe that Stan does this to himself, I've even seen the amount he chugs. Ow… Why am I even thinking right now? Let me pass out again.

"Oh good, you're up." I hear a voice from behind me. I groan and curl in pulling the blanket on me over my head, wrapping it around me and shielding myself from the sunlight I'm starting to notice around me.

So from I tell, I'm not at the bar. I'm at the house, on our couch with a blanket over my head. I remember Bebe and Clyde

"So… I didn't kill myself last night." I conclude oh-so-brilliantly as I deal with the relentless throbbing in my head.

"Nope, wouldn't have a hangover if that happened but you came pretty close." I soon recognize that the voice is Kyle's and he's in scolding mode. Oh boy. "Hell, you probably would've if Bebe and Clyde didn't stop you."

"Did they say anything?" I ask with my head slighting poking out of the blanket cocoon.

"Other than the mumbling that came outta your drunk ass mouth? No. So are you gonna start talking?" Kyle asks a more aggressive tone with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "I can't speak for everyone but you don't retort to that shit unless it's serious, so what is it? What's the damage? And how do we help you?" He punctuates every question with a finger raised to count and a glare that's supposed to convince me to confess.

"Nothing's wrong. There's no damage and you guys aren't helping shit." I hide my face beneath the blanket as I pathetically try to reassure them. Maybe if my voice didn't sound so whiny from the hangover…

"K-Kenny, we're t-trying to help." Tweek pipes in from behind Kyle.

"Yeah, you're freaking Tweek out." Stan adds, slightly closer to Kyle and trying to calm Tweek down.

"Listen I know you guys mean well, but you can't help me with this one."

After hearing that, Kyle turns to the offensive. "Don't you pull that shit on me, Kenny. We've been watching out for each other for over 13 years now. I'm not gonna let you kill yourself over whatever the hell this is."

"I wish I could die!" I cry out without thought, "At least Karen would've been better off."

"What're you talking about? Karen'd be devastated if you stayed dead." Tweek asks in confusion.

Kyle looks impatient with his foot tapping against our wooden floor, finally he gets tired of my silence and pulls out his phone, "Kenny, last chance. If you don't tell us, I'm calling Karen and asking her-"

I immediately cut him off with the most threatening growl I could conjure in my drunken slur, "Don't even finish that thought, Broflovski."

Kyle just gives me a smug smile as he waves his phone in my face and asks, "So are you talking or not?"

I know Kyle isn't really taunting me with this but it's enough to make me snap and spill everything. "Fine, you wanna know so bad?" I ignore the cracking headache as I shout angrily, "Have you noticed that I haven't been out late until recently? Have you even heard me practice? No, of course not. Because the club found a better, more trendy DJ and kicked me to the curb." After my outburst, all that's left is the shocked expressions on my friends and the sounds of my panting, trying to regain my breath and composure. I never really told anyone this, well not when I'm sober at least, I'm probably sure I've spilled my share of drunken woes to the bartenders.

"But… what about your job at Harbucks?" Tweek asks.

I shake my head with an empty chuckle, "Ha, you kidding me? 10 bucks an hour barely covers for my life here, what about Karen?"

"She's got a job too, Kenny." Kyle argues, "You don't have to shoulder all of it. She can sell her apartment and stay with Ike and my parents, there."

"I'm not gonna let her spend her money on me. If she sells the place, it better go to her college funds" "Don't you get it, Kyle? She's my baby sister, it's my job to take care of her, and if I can't do this then what good am I?"

Kyle just crosses his arms and sighs, "Fine, I get that. But even if you don't tell Karen, why keep it from us?"

"What can you guys do about it? I can't expect you guys to pay for me. I lived that life as a kid and I'm not scoping down to that again."

"So how much does Bebe know?" Stan suddenly breaks his silence.

"Huh?"

Kyle then joins in, "Yeah, you asked how much Bebe told us, no one that drunk remembers what they said. Plus, Charlie said that you've been talking to Bebe a lot."

"She saw me when I was out job hunting and she just bought me lunch and just promised to keep it to herself." I explain, "She's been helping me cover more ground but nothing's gonna pay as well as that job with my shitty ass qualification."

"Is that why you've been so out of it? Charlie's been going nuts about how distant you've been."

Oh… Charlie. I've been so obsessed with my own problems that I didn't even think about my princess. God, I'm just horrible.

"I didn't mean to hurt her." I let my head drop sullenly, "All I kept thinking about was where to find another job that pays. I feel so worthless around her, she's this strong-willed spirit that keeps fighting and… I'm getting drunk and crying like a pile of shit. Why'd she fall for a useless mess like me?"

"Kenny, you need to pull yourself together. Charlie needs you more than you know, so don't call yourself that. Go talk to her and explain everything to her, she'll understand."

"No!" I exclaim, but the look in Kyle's eyes are telling me that he's not letting that happen. "Fuck, I know I gotta but give me some time."

"Fine." He relents but I can still see the rage from me wanting to hide it. Stan notices that and pulls his boyfriend away. I don't want to be here right now. Since my hangover died down some time during our argument, I get up to the kitchen and get a glass of water.

I gulp the water down in one shot as I gather my bearings. I check my phone and I notice a few missed calls from Charlie and Bebe. I know I promised Kyle but I really need to figure out how to tell her that, so I decide to call up Bebe first. "Hey Bebe."

"Oh good, you're not dead. I'm assuming Stan and Kyle took care of you last night."

"I guess so…" I take a breath before telling her, "So, they know now."

"About the-"

"Yeah." I confirm it as I massage my temple, "They weren't happy that I hid it from them."

"I didn't say anything to them, but Kyle was the smarter one among you boys. I told you that you should've just came clean."

"Maybe. Thanks by the way, for not telling them."

"No problem." She says with a slight smile in her voice before dropping to a more serious tone, "So what now?"

"I don't know but Kyle thinks I should tell tell Karen and Charlie."

"I know you probably won't want to tell Karen but you gotta tell Charlie. She's your girlfriend, she should know."

"I just wanna be perfect for her. She's been through so much and she deserves so much more, both her and Karen. But how could I give them that when I can't even take care of myself?"

"You're overreacting to this, Kenny. You've always done the best you could, believe me." She reassures me, "But I'm with Kyle on this one, miscommunications are a curse in relationships. I don't want you to distance yourself from Karen and Charlie when they just want to help you. I can't let what happened to us happen to you two."

"Now you sound just like Kyle." Fuck, now two of the smartest people I know are telling me to just fess up, if only it's that easy. "I'll get to it, I just need to work up the strength. Fuck, I don't remember anything being this bad since I had to tell Karen that Santa was gonna skip our house again." I say.

But part of me doesn't know if I could do it, could I really look into her sweet brown eyes and tell her that the boyfriend she adores isn't as amazing as she hoped. I can't imagine how she'd react without my own heart breaking.

"Are you gonna tell her too?"

"Maybe, I'll try the next chance I get to talk to her." With that, we say our goodbyes and hang up. I turn around and see Tweek jittering as he stands by the doorway.

"Umm hey, K-Kenny."

"So I'm guessing you heard everything."

"M-more the end part, I g-guess." He looks like he's about to snap from all those nerves, he probably thinks I'm mad at him for eavesdropping.

"Hey, don't go back now Tweek. Sue worked really hard to get you to stop stuttering."

"Y-Yeah." He takes a moment to recompose himself before continuing, "Yeah. Sorry about that."

"It's OK. So you disappointed in me too?" I ask, ashamed.

"No. I just wish I could help more." He answers earnestly, "Kenny, you and Kyle did so much for me to help me with my anxiety. Maybe I can ask the manager to give you more hours at Harbucks-"

"Don't even think about it." I stop him before he finishes that sentence. "You need the job too."

"I have my scholarships and I can ask for my parents to cover for me until I find another job."

"You're not Kyle, Tweek. Your scholarships don't cover enough and don't you remember why you didn't want your family to pay for you? You said you wanted to prove that you'd finish school on your own. Besides, working there gives you experience you needed."

"For fuck's sake Kenny! Stop being so stubborn!" He shouts and I reel in shock. Tweek doesn't swear much, compared to me or Kyle he'd be considered a saint.

So hearing him say that just crushes the last remains of my pride and I feel more vulnerable than I'd felt in a long while, "I can't help it, buddy. It's in my nature."

"So there you two are." I hear Stan walking into the kitchen.

"Hey Stan. Where's Kyle?" I ask him.

"He's on the phone with his mom. I figured it's best if he wasn't in the house for that, who'd have thought that redheads were such firecrackers." He says that but I can see a glow of endearment in his eyes.

"He's a little ball of fury, all right." I laugh behind our Jewish friend's back, "That temper of his got us into more trouble than it's worth, but he wouldn't be Kyle if he didn't have Shelia Broflovski's short fuse."

Almost like magic, Kyle shows up and bumps into us, "Oh good, you're all here. Because I have some riveting news from my Ma." He rolls his eyes and says in the most sarcastic tone I've heard him use.

"What's she planning this time?" I ask, prepared for the worse.

"Well you'll get to see Karen soon enough. They're coming to visit us and she wants to have dinner at the house."

Stan's POV

I drive up to the hospital that Dr. Nixon told me about, the one she works in. I'm supposed to meet her in her office. "Hello Stanley." She greets me as I past the receptionist.

"Just call me Stan, Dr. Nixon." I shake her hand in response, following her into her office.

"Then you can call me Francine, like your sister does."

"OK then, uhh… Francine." I stutter awkwardly at the request, "What're we gonna talk about?"

"Let's start with the basics, like your childhood and your life, before moving on to your relationship with your sister. Remember, you can tell me as much as you want and you can tell me when you don't feel like talking about it."

"OK, things were a little hectic a few days ago but they're calming down a little." I start to remember about the whole Kenny argument and their freakout when they found out that Kyle's family would show up tomorrow. "My life's been crazy since I was taken from South Park, but after living with Kyle, Kenny and Tweek for almost 8 months now and having them back is probably the best thing that happened to me in my fucked up life."

"Why'd you call your own life fucked up?"

"Because it is what it is, my life was a train wreak before I met Kyle again." I pinch the bridge of my nose as the memories of that miserable phase of my life starts replaying in my head. "I was a heavy drinker by the age of 12, my mom was hardly ever home and my sister treated me like her personal punching bag. To this day I still need a shot of whiskey to function, I've reduced it but I hate that I still need it. Kyle caught me drinking it when I first moved in and I lost my shit, I never want him to see me like that again."

I expect a reaction out of her, but she just nods understandingly and jots down on her notepad, "How was your school life in Denver?"

I scrunch up my brows trying to remember it, "It was a blur, up until I got into music. I just did what everyone expected me to do: become a jock, sleep with girls, survive high school. It's weird that the thing that saved me was my guitar, one of the thing I brought with me from South Park."

"Sounds like music really helped you through it."

I smile at her words. In a sense I guess so, it was a huge part of my childhood after all. "It's given me a goal and an outlet. My channel and my friends supporting me with my career really help to want this dream to be a reality."

"Has your sister heard your music?" She suddenly asks and I feel that small smile on my face drop.

"I don't think so… I didn't really play until I got out of rehabilitation center. Shelly didn't talk to me anyways and… I didn't like being out of my room when she was home, I didn't want her to take away the last part of me I had left then." I wring my now sweaty hands together at the memory, Shelly coming home with a slam on the front door and me dodging away from her. I'd try not to be in the same room as her because her violence tendencies got much worse once we moved. I shake the memory out of my head, trying to focus back on the present and on Francine's words.

"Shelly mentioned your alcoholism, apparently it took a toll on everyone."

"I didn't know what happened then, it was all a huge mess in my mind. I only remembered my mom crying and the few times I was sober that year. Kyle told me that he was the one who found me like that and told my mom about my drinking problem. The look on their faces…. I really hurt them. Kyle even ran away from me because of my stupid addiction." I grimace at the thought of poor Kyle finding me that day, the day he told me about it he looks so broken up about it that I don't dare to imagine how Kyle reacted that day.

I soon realize that I've been going on and on about my shitty alcoholism instead of what Francine called me here for. "Sorry, I'm supposed to be talking about Shelly."

"No, no." She shakes her head, letting out an aura of motherly comfort. "While Shelly is my patient, your story and experience matter just as much. I need to know things like this and how you dealt with them so that I can help Shelly see how wrong her perception of the world and you really are."

"Yeah." I let myself relax, suddenly I hear my phone ring and I jump out of my skin. Damn I thought I muted it. "Sorry about that, I gotta take this."

Francine raises an eyebrow, probably at how rude I'm being now but she lets me take the call. "Hey Z, what's up?"

"Hey Stan, I'm just calling to see if you wanna meet under the bridge. Mom and Jeff have been arguing like crazy and I need a moment to out for a while."

"Sure, but I'm a little busy right now so I'll text you when I'm done."

"OK, see you then." I hang up again and I check my phone to make sure it won't ring this time. That's weird… It's already on 'Silent'. Huh, must've been a glitch.

"Who was that?" Francine asks as I sit back down.

"An old friend I met a while back. He wants to meet up."

"Hmm…" She lingers on it a little before moving on, "OK then, let's get back on topic. What was Shelly like in your memories?"

Without another thought, I say the first word that comes to me, "Intimidating. She… she was a monster. She threw a piano on me, set me on fire and beat me up on a daily basis, and that's just when I was in South Park." I recount all the pain she put me through from as early as the age of 8. "It got so much worse after my parent divorced. The only thing that made it better was that I was usually drunk off my ass by the time she kicked my guts out. And this-"

I fidget a little before removing my shirt and showing her the scar on my shoulder, "This was from my 16th birthday. I used to be so self-conscious about it but at some point I stopped caring about it being there… Until Kyle saw it and asked me about it. I felt so exposed to him when he touched it and that was the first time in a long time that I feel like I should hate Shelly for what she did but I just felt numb. I just felt horrible that Kyle had to see it. He looked like he was blaming himself for that…"

"It seems like a lot of your memories about Shelly tend to either be a blur from that alcoholic phase or life-altering events like her attacking you that day."

"I don't hate her anymore, because I think I just don't care about her anymore. The reason I kept her outta jail was because Mom would've been heartbroken and… I know she wants us to be a family again, but I don't know how to let Shelly into my life again, let alone be my big sister."

"What if Shelly'd been willing to make an effort?"

I take a moment to think about that. Shelly and me? Acting like loving siblings? Just the imagery is uncanny to me. "I seriously doubt that, you can try. I don't know what to feel anymore when I just feel nothing when I think about her."

"OK." She accepts the answer nonetheless and walks me out of the hospital, "Thank you, Stan. This will definitely help, I really hope that you two can get along."

"Maybe." I shrug as I head toward the carpark. I pull out my phone and call Z, "Hey Z, sorry about earlier. I was talking to someone to help Shelly. I'll meet you under the bridge in 10."

"Buy me an extra six pack then. You owe me that much." With that he hangs up. I roll my eyes but I do stop my car at a nearby convenience store to get 3 packs of beer before heading to the park.

I go under the bridge to find Z already there, locking his bike and and kicking the pebbles under his shoes. "Hey Stan, you got the beer?"

I raise the bag I brought with me and I put it on the ground before tossing him a can, "Should I be concerned that I've become a dealer to a minor?"

"You keep asking me that, but I didn't buy the beer I'm holding." He takes a big chug but suddenly coughs and sticks his tongue out in disgust, "Ugh… this shit's nasty. Ever heard of Blue Moon?"

"Make your own damn money and you can do it." I pull a can out of the pack and follow his lead, taking a huge swig, "Sorry if YouTube's Ad revenue ain't enough to cover for a good pack of booze."

"Meh, it'll have to do." He shrugs and he keeps drinking the shitty beer, "So what's up with your sister lately?"

"Well Mom said she went mute lately and Dr. Nixon thinks that she can 'correct' Shelly to be nicer." I scoff, "What a joke, if it's that simple I shoulda done it when I was ten."

"Damn, talk about confidence."

"It's not that I don't want to have hope, but everything I know proves it's hopeless."

"And you once believed that you and Kyle would've never been friends again, now he's spending nights in your bed." He reminds me before mischievously winking at his innuendo.

"Shut up." I blush, "We never went that far, Kyle's way too shy to- Wait, why am I telling you this?"

"Aww, guess I asked too soon. I should've waited for a few more." He chuckles as he reaches for his second drink.

"I swear, you're as bad as Kenny."

"Well I gotta hear something good to lighten up the mood, home's been so shit lately and I don't want to be there when it'll crash and burn." He laughs before the laughter dies out into a tense silence, "My stepdad's never around, Jeff's being such a dick to me and I've never seen my mom cried so much. I don't even know what to do anymore."

"Z…" I try to reach out and comfort him but the alcohol must've let all that pent up rage out.

"I hate that bastard! I hate Jeff! I hate that he made my mom go through this shit! I thought marriage was supposed to make people happy, that the vows were supposed to mean something. 'I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love and honor you all the days of my life.' Ha. Bull-fucking-shit. He fucking left us, he quit his job and he lost his stocks. He fucked us all over and left us…" He screams angrily into the space around us before I hear slight sobbing and a few hicks in his breath, "Losing Dad was hard enough, Mom didn't have to go through it again. Why? Why am I so useless? I can't even protect her."

"Zac, stop that." I turn him to face me and my heart aches at the sight before me. A young boy broken over by the family he tries to help protect, so broken over that I see tears pooling around his cyan eyes. I look him in the eye and continue in a comforting tone, "You're not useless. You'll get stronger, you're gonna be her hero, OK? It's a hard time for her and your mom's gonna need you to help hold everything together. You've gotta calm down and step up, they need you."

"OK, OK." Z takes a deep breath before taking the can with his twitchy fingers, "I gotta take it together. Fake it till I make it, right?"

I notice his fingers still in the shape they were before, but I decide not to bring it up tonight, "Uh-huh…"

We say nothing more and keep going and going, I feel my body getting up to buy what feels like my tenth pack of beer but I soon notice that everything's dark. "Oh shit, is the sun gone?" The words come out of my mouth in a drunken slur.

Z's no better off, barely being able to stand without wobbling over, "Aww how long've we been drinking?"

"I lost count after the fourth pack. We've gotta get back." I stand up and fish for the car keys in my pocket, "I'll drive you back, you're too drunk to go home like that."

"Well you ain't gonna drive either. No cops gonna believe that." He giggles absentmindedly, but the small part of my sober mind knows that he's right. My hand still trying to find my keys, but I somehow pull out my phone instead, which give me an idea.

"I'll call Kyle." I announce as I clumsily unlock my phone and hit Kyle's speed dial. As soon as I hear the line go through, my boozed-up mind takes over. "Heyyyy Ky~"

"Jesus, dude." He exasperates, it sounds like I woke him up. "Are you drunk?"

"Nooooooo." I frown at the apparent disapproval in his tone, "I'm not alone, I'm with Z."

I hear him sigh through the phone. "Where are you two?"

"I'm under the bridge." I answer, hoping Kyle'll connect the dots.

"Is it that park near your apartment? Got it. Stay put, Stan. I'll be in there in 10 minutes." I hear him say as I hear fabric rustling around. I smile at the urgency he's showing.

"Mkay, babe."

"Ugh…" He groans at the pet name I know he hates, "I'll let it slide once. See you in a bit."

Kyle's POV

I wake Kenny and Tweek up to help me, there's no way I'd be able to take care of Stan and some drunk kid with him, and drive at the same time. I quickly explain the situation and we get into my car. We soon arrive at the park Stan mentioned but I don't see him yet, or the bridge. "Where are they?" Kenny asks as he looks around with me.

"I don't know, Stan said they were under the bridge that they hang out." I say before spotting a bridge over a large pond. We head over there and I see Stan passed out on a bench and a mountain of beer cans under the bridge. Dear Moses, Stan. How much did you drink?

Kenny and Tweek offers to clean up the mess there while I take care of the bigger 'mess' currently snoozing on the park bench. "Stan." I gently shake him, "Stan, wake up."

"Mmm… Kyle?" He moans as he opens his eyes ever-so-slightly, letting me catch a glimpse of those drowsy sapphire blue eyes.

"Bingo. C'mon, sleepyhead. Let's get you home, you're in for a hell of a hangover in the morning." I pull him upright into a sitting position but he just slumps over to his side and rests his head on my shoulder with no intention of getting up, on his own at least.

"Ky, where's Z?" He asks groggily.

"Z?" Oh yeah, that kid who hangs out with a lot. Stan said he was here too. I look around before getting up and letting him lean on the backrest of the bench. "Wait here, I'll look for him."

He nods and I start looking for a young boy. But after a quick search around the area, I don't see the signs of anyone else here now besides us. I go back to him and let him know, "Stan, I don't think he's here."

"But he was just here…" He looks around confused and worried before huffing and crossing his arms like a petulant child, "Fucking kid, I told him not to bike home drunk."

I sigh at his immature gesture but I get why he's so worried now. "You can try and call him once you sober up." I pull him off the bench, letting his lean on me while I struggle to keep the two of us balanced "OK, up we go."

"Kyle… I don't know what to do. He's hurting." He says, distraught.

"Shh… Stan, you're too drunk right now. We'll talk about it later, OK?" I pet his head and murmur to him gently. I can't focus on getting him to the car like this and being a good listener for his problems.

But Stan seems to have taken it the wrong way. He frowns and asks, "Are you mad at me?"

"What?" I look at him in confusion, "No, I'm not mad."

Stan doesn't seem convinced, "You're not smiling. I like it when you smile, your eyes shine and you look so cute."

I blush at his drunken adoration. Goddammit even when he's drunk he knows how to turn me red. "Shut up, you dick"

We make it to the car and using one hand to fish out my keys take a little more time, but I manage to unlock the car and lightly sit him up in the back seat.

"No one's smiled around me for a while now." He sounds even sadder as he continues, "My mom, Shelly, Z, even you."

"I'm not upset." I lift his face up to let him see the small smile on my face himself, "See?"

That seems to work as he sighs contently, snuggling against my chest like a little puppy, "Mhmm, I love you, Kyle."

My eyes widen once those three words reach my ears. Did he just say he loves me? I know he's drunk but did he mean it? Should I say it back? "I…" I open my mouth to try and say it back, but I couldn't make the words come out. "I know, Stan." I respond pathetically, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

I leave him to rest in the car as I go out to find the others. They're still under the bridge, almost done with cleaning up all the cans there. I go over and help them with what little there is left. "Thanks for helping me, guys." I thank them as I take the bag of cans sitting on the side to the trash.

I guess that happened earlier is clear as day on my face, since Kenny just looks at me and asks, "What's wrong, Kyle?"

"Nothing, just worried about him."

"OK, when you wanna talk, you know where to look." He pats me on the back. I'm kinda grateful he's not making me tell him, I'm regretting being so harsh on him when I asked him about his unemployment that day now.

"Thanks. I just hope he'll be fine by the time my parents visit."

"God, you make it sound like you're introducing him to your parents for the first time." Tweek remarks.

"Yeah, it's not like you two were practically married since the day you met." Kenny joins in, laughing at my anxiety.

"Ha ha." I roll my eyes at my friends' reactions, "I can't help it. You know my Ma, she means well but she'd strap Stan to an electric chair to interrogate him."

"She wouldn't do that, Stan's probably the only person who'd put up with you." Kenny once again informs me.

"Again, funny." I deadpan. "Maybe that's your calling in life."

"Comedian? Meh, if Adam Sandler's a comedian after all those shit movies, maybe I should try." He strokes his chin laughing before calming down to continue, "Kyle, you and Stan work perfectly together. I've never seen you happier than after Stan showed up again, and I'm sure he'll say the same. It's cheesy as hell but you two just work."

"We make life bearable for each other." I smile at the thought, only to let it drop once I remember what happened earlier, "I still haven't gotten over my problems, he just told me he loved me and I didn't even say it back."

"Well it's not like it's gonna matter since he's drunk, he probably won't even remember it in the morning." Tweek says.

"Yeah, but what if he says it again and means it? It's bad enough that my problem's stopping me from properly enjoying my relationship with Stan, but now I can't even say 'I love you' to him yet."

To cut off my rambling, Kenny comes up next to me and tosses his arm over my shoulder, "My dear Kyle, no one's forcing you to profess thy loveth to him. Now at least." He says with a fake Shakespearian voice that makes me want to laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of it and punch him for mocking me like that.

I slap his arm off of me and glare at him playfully, "Man, if blood stains weren't that bad to get rid of…"

We quickly finish up the work before heading back with Stan sound asleep in the backseat and me watching over him. He keeps trying to get closer to me and somehow manages to rest his head onto my lap. The three of us manage to get him into his room before they head back to their own rooms, leaving me alone with my sleeping boyfriend. As I get up from the side of the bed, he starts to groan and wince. I think he's having a bad dream, because he starts jittering and sweating. I lightly hold his hand and whisper repeatedly to him, "It's OK, Stan. It's just a dream."

He starts calming down as my thumb strokes his knuckles, only now do I notice how badly they're twitching and spazzing about. I take a bold move and kiss his knuckles before placing another kiss on his forehead. He smiles again and he seems a lot more relaxed, I feel better about it but now I'm not sure if I should leave his side. At some point, my body feels too heavy and I drift off the sleep.

"Hey son, how've you been?" My dad greets me with the rest of my family behind him.

"Pretty good, Dad. Hey Ma." I let them in and greet them each with a hug.

"Hello bubbi, you look thinner, have you been sleeping alright? You look exhausted"

I yawn a little as I remember why. Waking up that morning showed me that it was a terrible idea sleeping like that, because my wakeup call comes in the form of a sore neck and an aching back. But I wake up in time to help get everything ready in time for my family to arrive. "I'm fine. Don't worry."

"OK then. It's wonderful to see all of you boys again, especially you Stanley." She lets me go and turns to Kenny and Stan, Tweek is in the kitchen preparing the food for our dinner. Hearing her address Stan like that sends shivers down my spine. God, I hope he'll make it out of tonight alive.

"Didn't you say there were a few more of your friends joining us tonight?" Dad asks.

"Yeah, Sue has some last-minute work to do and she offered to be Charlie's ride so they'll be a little late."

"Alright then, how about you give us a tour of the house, Stanley?" Ma asks. I cast Stan an apologetic gaze to which he smiles in response.

"Umm sure." He puts on a charming smile and leads my parents throughout the house.

"Mom's going to fucking destroy him." I hear Ike say from behind me.

"Thanks for the obvious, Ike." I groan, much to his chagrin

"Ahem." With that, Ike's smug smile suddenly drops and his face pales as he turns to face Kenny.

"Oh- err, hey Kenny."

"Yeah, hey." Kenny replies with a stern look.

"Kenny, don't be mean." Karen scolds him.

"I can't help it, you're my baby sister and it's my job to be your guardian angel. Remember?"

"I know, and you'll always be my guardian angel. But Ike's been helping me out too." She simpers by Ike's side.

I pull Kenny off to the side and ask, "So do you want to tell them tonight?"

"Might as well, seeing how both of them will be here."

"Just rip the bandage off, it'll be over faster that way." I advise him. Suddenly I hear the door knocking, which must be Charlie and Sue. I inform everyone as I get the door, "I got it."

I open the door and I take one good look at them before I stilt at the sight before me, "Hey girls- Oh Jesus Christ! Charlotte, what the fuck are you wearing?" Sue's dress fine, with light blue jeans and a jacket that reminds me of the one she wore when we first met, but Charlie's a whole different story. She's wear a tight and revealing purple dress that looks like something for strip show than for a dinner party, she's also wearing some stilettos and her braided black hair rests on her left shoulder. She came to meet my family… dressed like that?!

"Let me alone." She crosses her arms defiantly.

"Believe me, both me and her aunt tried." Sue sighs dejected at her friend's behavior.

"Are you kidding me?" I cry out. "My fucking family's in there, you can't just wear this!"

"Well this is my last-ditched effort to get Kenny to love me again."

"Charlie, I-" I look at her and I see someone unstable, this isn't the sweet and level-headed Charlie Baxton I knew, this is someone driven to the wall by her own thoughts. I sigh but say, "You just need to talk to Kenny. He'll explain everything."

"He better." She scoffs as I let them in.

"I'll try and keep her tamed, Red."

"Thanks Sue." I take a breath, trying to keep everything together before saying to everyone, "Well, everyone's here. Should we get to dinner?"

Everyone starts heading for the dining room and they all notice that Charlie's outfit and their reaction ranges from surprised to confused, especially Kenny's. Stan takes the seat next to me and whispers, "Dude, what the hell is she wearing?"

"Every reason why I want Kenny to just tell her about what happened."

We say nothing more as we dig into the food Tweek prepared. Tweek isn't much of a talker but he does love seeing people enjoy his food, even if he doesn't accept the compliments.

"So, Stanley. How're you and Kyle getting along?" My Ma asks.

"Great actually, Mrs. Broflovski. I didn't think I'd see him again in Boulder but I'm really glad I did."

"Oh, no need to be so formal." She chuckles at his answer, probably giddy at the fact that I have my first boyfriend, "And I'm sure Kyle's lucky to have you too, he hasn't had dated since high school."

"Ma!" I exclaim in embarrassment, even though everyone at the table already knows that.

"So." Ike cuts in, saving me from dying from shame. "Mom, have you met some of Kyle's other friends? The one with blue hair and silver eyes is Sue and the other one is-"

"Oh yes, I've heard about you dear." Ma turns to Charlie, "You're Charlotte, right?"

"Yeah, Charlotte Baxton. It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Broflovski. Your son really helped me out when I needed it."

"My bubbi is a wonderful boy, too bad he isn't into women otherwise I think you'd be a fine match for him too." I choke on my food as she says that. What's she thinking?

"Umm… I'm already with someone." She scratches her head awkwardly as she glances over at Kenny who looks just as perplexed. "But thanks, I guess."

"I've heard about your case, Charlotte." Dad says, "Kyle asked me about it and I'm glad that things ended for the better."

Something my dad said must've triggered her because she goes completely still and answers with a soft, fragile voice, "With all due respects, Mr. Broflovski. It doesn't feel that way." She stands up from the table, "I need to be excused for a while."

We watch her leave in silence. I kick Kenny's leg and just mouth to him, "Go." He nods and takes off after his girlfriend.

After the two of them leave, Sue speaks up to lighten the mood again. "So… your mom calls you bubbi?" She asks me.

Ma perks up at the question and answers delightfully, "Oh yes, it's a name I called him when he was just a toddler. It made him laugh all the time."

"That's cute, should I start calling you that instead of Red?" She winks playfully.

"Don't even think about it." I warn her.

"Aww, but Kyle." Stan coos, "It definitely sounds a lot better than 'baby'?"

I look up at him and shout in shock and repulsion, "Oh hell no, dude! My Ma calls me that." Everyone laughs at my reaction, irking me as I slouch down my chair. Stan wraps his arm around me and gives me a quick peck on my temple, surprising me since my family's right there in front of us.

Suddenly the house echoes with Charlie's screams, as she marches to the front door. "Shut up! I can't believe you."

"Charlotte, just listen to me." Kenny trails after her, trying to explain.

Charlie spins around to face Kenny and glares at him. "No! How can you be so selfish? Everyone always decides what's best for me, why don't I get a fucking say at this?!" With that, she walks out the door and slams it on her way out.

All of us are left in shock. I've never seen Charlie so mad, even during the trial case against her dad and family. Sue runs out after Charlie while I walk up to Kenny's frozen figure and demand answers, "What the fuck did you do?!"

"I… I told her, and then I broke up with her."

"What?!" We shout in disbelief.

"Wait, what's going on?" Karen asks, "Kenny, you loved her!"

"I do, but I can't give her what she needs."

"Oh bullshit, don't you pull that shit on me, Kenny McCormick." Karen suddenly explodes.

"Karen?" Kenny looks at her, completely taken aback by her outburst.

"You're the best brother I could ever ask for but I hate how you can be sometimes, you put up a fake smile and take everything in silence. I hate that, I hate that you don't trust us enough to help you."

"It's not that!"

"Then what is it?" She pushes on.

"I'm supposed to take care of you, both you and Charlie mean so much to me. I just want you two to be happy." Kenny explains, trying to defend his actions.

"So why'd you think breaking her heart was making her happy?"

"Because-" Kenny starts but Karen immediately cuts him off.

"Don't you dare say you think she could do better. Because then she's right, you're selfish. You're selfish enough to not care about what she thinks to feed your own insecurities." Soon the rage in her eyes die down, leaving nothing but a pained and crush look in those sky blue eyes. "That's not the big brother I know."

What Karen said must've struck a chord with him. He just sits down on the couch with his hands over his face, "What've I done?"

I turn to my parents and apologize to them, "Sorry about tonight but I think it's better if you guys leave for now. I'll meet up with you guys for breakfast before you go home."

They nod in agreement, Ike approaches his girlfriend and asks, "Karen, do you wanna stay?"

"Could you, Karen?" Kenny asks with a bit of distress in his tone, "I-I have a lot of things to talk to you about."

She nods at Kenny's request and kisses Ike goodbye, "I'll see you back at the hotel, Ike."

Everyone else leaves the house, leaving me, Stan and Tweek to lament over what just happened. "What a mess, dude." I sigh as we clean the house up.

"We'll try talking to Kenny and Charlie tomorrow after meeting up with your folks."

"I was hoping tonight would turn out better, that we'd knock off two problems in one night. But I think I made things worse. Some fucking help I turned out to be."

"You couldn't have known how Kenny handled it, I didn't think it was bugging him so much that he'd break up with her over that."

"I should've… I'm a psychiatrist. I should know, right?"

"Kyle, you said it yourself. You're a psychiatrist, not a psychic. You couldn't have known."

"Maybe." I sigh for what feels like the twentieth time tonight.

"Well, on a scale of one to ten, what do you think your parents think of me?" He jokes, trying to cheer me up. And I have to say it's kinda working.

"They probably want you to marry me on the spot."

He looks at me in mock shock, as he pulls me into an embrace, "Woah there, why don't we take it slow?"

"You're such a dork." I roll my eyes but let myself be coddled, "Thanks by the way, how do you do that?"

"What can I say? I'm your style, I just understand you." He kisses the top of my temple as he rest his chin on the top of my green ushanka. Just like that, he shelters me from the pain around us. I know what we have to do and I know that we have to be there for Kenny and Charlie. But tonight, I decide to selfishly shut out the rest of the world and just wonder how Stan manages to keep me sane.

A/N: This is the point where the drama part of this story really starts kicking in. Hope you guys are ready because it's not gonna slow down until we reach the end.

I'm not gonna lie, this chapter is hard. Not just because it's long but because I had to make changes and rewrites to so many parts. One of the concerns I have for this story is that it'll turn into an angst story, that's not what the original drama was. Despite all the issues they talk about, at it's core it's a romantic comedy. So keep that in mind.

I have received a guest review by the name of Mizukithepanda, about Charlie's character and I want to address some of the points they made. First of all is Charlie's treatment and body. I would like to state that I never suggested that Charlie underwent any kind of treatment in the earlier chapters, because of her family's reactions to her transgender identity. She only started hormone treatments recently after living with her aunt Francine, who has the financial capability to fund it. As for her looks, I always envision Charlie as a feminine looking boy. You know how some anime characters who are established to be boys can still look like girls, intentionally or unintentionally. That was how I see her. Plus, she's still 16 and she's still going through puberty so changes in her body are still going. Lastly, the aspect of her abuse backstory. Anyone who has seen the drama itself would know that Charlie is based on a patient in one of the earlier episodes, a young man who underwent a sex change to become a woman and because of that, she was constantly getting beaten up by her family. I was mainly following the story of that patient and expanded upon it to make her into her own character.

It is true that I do not truly know what transgender people go through and I know my representations aren't perfect, but I am trying with the amount of research I do for Charlie and I have taken your criticism to heart. It's too late for me to change Charlie's entire character halfway into the story and I'm sorry if I offended you.

That's all for now, as always feel free to check out the drama this story is based on, "It's Okay That's Love" by SBS. Please let me know what you think, reviews and comments make my day.

Take care, Loves. c: