Shelly's POV

I hear a light knocking on the door and I see Mom's head through the doorframe for the tenth time today. "Shelly, dinner's ready." She says. I nod silently and leave my room. She has been popping in every now and then, I haven't spent much time outside of my room, I don't know why but everything just feels pointless after that night. I rub my sore eyes, I probably have black bags underneath them. Even though I've been lying in bed, it feels like I haven't slept in weeks since Francine told me…

Second chances are short of supply. Use it wisely.

I walk out into the room, letting my body carry me to the dining room while I keep thinking about it in my head. A second chance… What would I do with something like that? What do I want to do with it? I always compared myself to that turd and I've practically devoted my life to beat him and put him in his place. But I never really thought about what that means, if he's dead then I can never truly surpass him. He'll always be remembered and I'd be painted in red for killing their 'idol'. I can't take him out, so what? I'm just destined to be overshadowed by him?

No. I'm not gonna let that happen.

I just need to figure out my next move.

In my thoughtful trance, I knock into something near the staircase. I snap out of it and focus on the thing I bumped into. I notice that it's Francine with Mom by her side, "I asked Francine to join us tonight, is that OK?"

Now she asks me? Thanks, Mom. Shows how much you care about my fucking opinion. I don't say any of that and just nod.

"Hello, Shelly." Francine greets me, but I do nothing but acknowledge it and sit on the couch in the living room.

"She still not talking much then." I hear her talk to Mom.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice her forlorn frown as she sighs, "No, I don't know how to help her."

You know, I'm still here and I can hear everything, Mom.

I turn around, facing forward again when I notice Francine looking over at me. She asks, "Sharon, can you give us a moment?" A moment of silence pass before I hear Mom's footsteps going into the kitchen and I see Francine talking a seat on the couch, "Shelly, I've talked to your brother and I've learned some interesting things. We've talked and the thing is that he just claims his life's fucked up. He didn't say his life is perfect, far from it. But I can see he sees what you're jealous of, but I don't think he understands why you're jealous."

"Of course he wouldn't understand." I scoff, turning my body away from her.

"What do you mean?"

"Someone who has things just work out in his favor wouldn't understand it."

"Well his alcoholism didn't work out in his favor." She reminds me.

"Yes it did! At the end, he still got what he wanted. Mom gave him all the time of day and took care of him, his 'best friend' came back for him. And look where he is now!" I scowl, "No matter what he did or what goes wrong, he gets his happy ending. He drove us out of South Park, but he's the one who still has his friends with him; He nearly drank his life away and that stressed the hell out of mom, but he's the one with a bright shiny future and endless love. He had the audacity to act like he's lost and hopeless when he's gotten nothing but praise and adoration. He even has a fucking boyfriend and no one said anything about it. He's the only one who'll get a perfect ending no matter what he does."

"Is that what you think?" She asks me sharply, "You know the story of Cinderella, people don't get 'happily ever after's without sacrifice and suffering. Can you name one moment where he didn't have to deal with hardship?" I nearly laugh at her air quotes, if the turd isn't happy enough.

"How about now?" I retort, cringing inwardly about how childish I sound right now.

"Your brother is lucky, I agree." Good, at least she acknowledges that. "But even he's not as happy-go-lucky as you think. Even if it's not as strong, his alcoholism still controls him. He's trying to fight against those chains. He's still working for his success, he took a chance and waited for his love to be returned. Nothing was given to him without patient, risk, and effort."

I open my mouth to argue but Mom interrupts us for dinner. With that, I clamp my mouth shut and head towards the dining table. I pick at the baked fish and potatoes on my plate while Mom talks to Francine, daring a glance to check on me every now and then. I feel like I should be mad at her still for doing this to protect her son, but… he's not here. She doesn't need to act like a concerned parent, what if she actually is worried about me?

Well, even if she is, she's too late. Who does she think she is, deciding when to love her children? It doesn't matter because she still chose Stan first. I'm still second rate to that twerp.

Nothing's changed. Who cares what that wannabe doctor said?

After we finish dinner, Mom asks me to show Francine out. Before she leaves, she turns to me and says, "Remember Shelly, not everything is rewarded and not everyone could be as lucky as Stanley. But nothing'll happen if you don't even try." She smiles as she walks out the front door, "My door is always open, Shelly. When you're ready to take the first step, come see me."

I close the door, once again thinking back to tonight. I honestly feel bad for her at times, she keeps treating me like a puppy who needs to be lived, but what if that puppy keeps running into the street? I don't deserve that kind of patience. She should've just let me go, like Stan and Mom.

I begin walking towards the staircase, prepared to shut myself from the world again. Suddenly my gaze turns to the kitchen, I see Mom slaving away at the dishes, using every last ounce of her depleting energy to scrub the grease from the pan. I start noticing things I never cared enough to pay attention to, like how her back is hunched over like it's been sore for years, or how I'm noticing strands of her brown hair turning grey, or how lonely this image I'm seeing is. I've been in prison and pushing everyone away while Stan's out there. She was once one of the beauties of South Park, men at her work probably clambered over her but yet she's still alone, cleaning the dishes.

But nothing'll happen if you don't even try

Well, time to put it to the test. Without giving my brain a chance to reason, I walk into the kitchen and start washing the plates in the sink when Mom steps away from the sink to put the pan away. She looks at me in shock, before that shock turns into happiness and endearment. I say nothing, struggling to get this stubborn stain off.

"Here, Shelly. Try doing it like this." Mom says as she takes the sponge from my hand and, like magic, gets the stain off the white porcelain plate. She smiles as she hands it back to me, drying the dishes I wash.

I still don't know if what I'm doing is right, my brain definitely disagrees. But the smile on Mom's face convinces me to stop listening to it for once.

Stan's POV

"Cut!" I winch as I hear Cartman's sudden screams through the booth, "What the fuck, Stan!"

I take off my headphones and roll my eyes as I mutter a half-assed apology, "Sorry."

Cartman rubs at his furrowed brows and he oh-so-kindly reminds me, "Stanley, I paid good money for this studio so you can record your songs for those fucking producers so get your head outta your ass and put in some goddammit effort."

Sue, who's standing right behind Cartman, gives him a good slap on the back of the fatass's head, "Good money? I charged you 27 bucks to use this for the whole day."

Cartman growls but he knows it's true. We don't have a lot of budget left and when Sue offered me the option of using one of the radio booths as a recording booth for a pretty cheap price, Cartman jumped it like a second serving of dessert.

"Shut up, bitch." He growls to preserve his pride, only to cower when he sees the furious glare in her silver grey eyes. I snicker at the sight before me. Only Sue could make one of the most sadistic boy in South Park submit with one look.

He bite his lips and relents, "Fine, I take back the bitch comment." He then turns to me and starts yelling again, "But sing like you mean it, man! Those producer want something by the end of the month."

"Let me talk to him." Sue says before hitting the Mute button and walking into the booth. "So rookie, I'm assuming you're still sour over what happened at the dinner."

"I just don't know how to help Kenny. Even after Karen's speech, he's still convinced that he's gotta be good enough for her to get her back. Kyle has been furious at Kenny since."

"What." I tense as I hear the anger dripping from Kyle's voice, the poor spoon in his hand looks like it's about to bend, "I thought Karen set you straight last night."

"Yeah, I know I'm being selfish when I broke up with Charlie. But what's done is done, she probably hates my guts now, if I could die she'd probably be the first one with the knife." Kenny shrugs, trying to sound nonchalant about it, but Tweek and I can see the guilt and fear in his eyes, "So I might as well do what I promised, either way I'm not gonna be worth standing by her if she's the one taking care of me."

"You fucking kidding me?!"Kyle yells, slamming his hands onto the table and disrupting the breakfast on it, before getting up and grabbing his book bag at the door, "I'm done, talk to me when you got all this macho pride shit outta your ass."

That was a few days ago, Kyle still refuses to talk to Kenny and Kenny certainly isn't in a rush to fix things. I've had to pull Kyle away from beating the shit out of Kenny so many times that even I'm starting to wish Kenny would just get over it.

God, I really need to stop thinking like Kyle.

I snap out of my thoughts as Sue leans against the wall behind her, "Charlie didn't say a word after I found her that night. All she did was cry and cry. I had to bring her home before she dehydrated."

Hearing that strong kid get so torn apart, it feels worse than seeing her in bruises and sleeping on a cold metal bench.

Sue seems to notice this and reassures me, "Well hopefully we can get them to talk at least, they probably won't wreak my party. Kate and the crew worked so hard on it."

"I don't know if they'll even show up now."

"Well then, make them show up. Nothing'll be solved if they stay apart moping." Sue says, pacing around the small booth to think of a plan, "Charlie probably won't shut out Kyle so Kyle and I'll work on Charlie, You and Tweek get Kenny to meet us there."

I nod, that makes sense. "Ok. Everything's just so tense now. Like the calm before the storm, you know?"

"I get what you mean. Just try and keep your mind off of it, like umm," She ponders for a moment before asking, "What's your plan for the summer?"

My mind seems glad for the topic change because I start spewing out everything "I think Kyle's gonna be taking a few course in the summer but I've been planning on-" I immediately cover my mouth with my hand to stop myself when I realize I'm about to spill my entire surprise that I've been keeping to myself for weeks now. "-something… so I'll probably be working until then to save up the money."

Despite not getting everything out of me, Sue still seems delighted by my confession. "Man, Red's one lucky kid."

"I intend to keep it that way." I promise before nearly begging her to reveal anything to Kyle, "Please don't tell him I have something planned. I wanna surprise him."

Sue mock-zips her lips and promises me, "These lips are sealed."

"Yo, Stan. You ready to start again?" I roll my eyes again at Cartman's whiny tones, but talking to Sue does help. I feel a little lighter now. Sue casts me a look of concern but I smile to let her know I'm good. She reads me and returns the gesture as she exits the booth.

I grab my guitar, that's resting on the side, and put my headphones, giving the two a thumbs up, "All set, Cartman."

"Kenny… It's been two weeks by now. You still haven't told us." I tap my foot impatiently as Kenny eats from day-old cereal he found in the fridge. How it was there or whether it's safe to eat are beyond me.

I look around for support, but Tweek's busy baking something with so many strawberries I swear he must've robbed a farm. Kyle's probably in his room with his homework but I doubt he's up to talk to Kenny now. I groan at the situation I'm in. Sue's party is in a few days and I've been prodding Kenny for an answer since the day I got back from recording. All I need is for him to come, even if it doesn't fix things between those two. Watching him like this is infuriating enough, he's gotta get his life back on track.

"Look, I'm too busy working that day, Ok?" He deadpans before deciding his soggy cereal deserves more attention than what I'm trying to do for him now.

"You can miss one night shift at a gas station. C'mon, I thought you loved to drink and have fun."

"Yeah, I love going out and having fun with my friends and girlfriend." He swirls the spoon in his hand around like a ruler, "Problem is one of those friends is furious at me and my girlfriend just got an 'ex' attached to the title."

"Kenny, you know Kyle doesn't mean it. He's just upset." Tweek comforts him as he puts his creation into the fridge.

"I know, and why shouldn't he be?" Kenny groans as he just drops his head onto the table, "I know I'm wrong but I can't bring myself to face my princess."

"If you won't do it for that, do it for me. Sue's friend, Kate told me that this is a great chance for me so I think I might do it." Tweek mentions, leaving me and Kenny with eyes wide as dinner plates.

"Really?" Kenny asks with pride. I'm just in shock that Tweek's actually gonna do it, not that I thought he wouldn't but damn.

"Y-Yeah and I could really use the support" He looks Kenny right as he says, "from all my friends."

Kenny falters a bit before nodding, "All right, Tweekers. I'll be there, you better have that girl hanging off your arm by the time we leave that party." He playfully punches Tweek on the shoulder and I'm starting to see parts of the old Kenny back.

"Great. See you on Saturday." I leave Kenny and Tweek be as I hop upstairs to let Kyle know, "Ok, Kyle. Tweek and I managed to get Kenny to come. Now all we need is Charlie and they can finally talk it out."

"I won't count on it." He scoffs, not taking those green eyes away from his laptop

I walk up behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist and pulling him out of his seat, "Kyle, have some sympathy." I whisper behind his ear.

"He doesn't deserve it." He stresses as he turns around, turning our back hug into an embrace, "That dinner was a chance for both of them to talk like adults and he had to go the lone hero route and break her heart. Charlie can't take that with the way she is now."

"I know, but his heart's in the right place. You have your issues with your anxiety, you should know that you can't make those thoughts stop." I remind him. Hell, even I have that problem.

"That's not the same! I try to deal with my anxiety without hurting anyone else. That's… why we took so long to get together, remember?" He defends himself strongly before his voice softens near the end.

"Yeah, I remember." I reply, and those few weeks were the most agonizing moments of my life.

"I'm sorry, by the way, for making you wait like that. I've been working on it." He reaches for the sides of my face and pulls me into a deep kiss. Too shocked and immersed in pleasure to care, I let my redhead take control. It feels like an eternal before he breaks the kiss, he guides one of my hands to his neck and bubbles with pride, "See? I'm not shaking or sweating anymore."

I notice that and I can't help but feel proud about his accomplishment. But I know what he was trying where he's going with this. "Kyle…"

"My point is I want to get over my issues so I can be with you, so I keep trying." Kyle starts ranting, and really I rather not have to deal with that today. Better give something else for those lips to do. "Kenny has to do the same. I'm not saying it's easy but-" He cuts his rant off with a surprised squeal as I dip my boyfriend almost comically.

"I get what you mean." I answer as he looks up at me with a heavy blush covering his whole face and those green emeralds. Man, I could lose myself just staring at them. Without breaking eye contact, I capture those lips with mine and we start kissing much heavier than we did the first time, leaving the two of us breathless by the time I pull us up. "By the way, I'm so glad I get to do this whenever I want now." I smirk as I lean in for another one.

"Slow down there, Romeo." Kyle stops me with his hand in front of my face and an amused smile, "If I had to guess, I'm probably at the 60% mark. I'm not quite ready for that yet. Besides, I'm not that big of PDA."

"Fine with me." I smile mischievously. After I lock the door and close the curtains, I slowly walk back to Kyle, gently leading him to my bed. My hands restlessly roams beneath his shirt and I start peppering light pecks at his neck, "But now that we're alone, I'm gonna enjoy this." I grin against his neck before I devote the rest of my night to the boy in my bed.

Kyle's POV

"Hey Sue." I greet her as I get into her car. Now that Stan and Tweek took care of one of them, it's up to us to settle the other one. Since our classes end at the same time, she offered to drive us there and drop me off back home afterwards.

"Sup, Red?" She greets me from the driver seat, "You ready to do this?"

"I guess. I just hope she'll listen."

"She's gotta calmed down by now, it's been two weeks." Sue assures me with optimism and determination, "How's Kenny doing?"

"Who cares?" I cross my arms irritably at his name, "He's not the one going to Charlie's house right now."

"Kyle, that's not really fair to Kenny."

"I know. I know, Stan told me that too."

"Did he also leave those marks there to remind of that 'talk'?"

"What?" I exclaim as I pull down the razor and look in the small mirror there, finally seeing what I dread to see, my bare neck and Stan's little 'love marks' decorated all over my neck in plain view. "Aww shit…" I facepalm myself so hard.

I can't believe I didn't notice that my shelf was missing, I rushed out of the house that morning with only that scarf as my coverup. I must've lost it somewhere and I went through all my classes looking like this.

"Here, Kate left her makeup kit in the back of my car." She offers while she not-so-subtly laughs at my embarrassment. "See if you can find something to cover that up."

I reach to the back to find the case and open it up. "Thanks." I mumble as I look through for something to hide the marks but it's hard to tell what'll work when my face is still red from shame.

"So what's it like?"

"Huh?"

"You know, dating Stan? You two haven't said much about your relationship and Kate couldn't even get much outta Stan." The car stops at a red light and she takes the opportunity to find a concealer for me. "I know Stan hasn't publicized his relationship with you but I know a ton of girls are gonna be jealous of you." She winks as she tosses the concealer into my hands and starts driving once the light changes again.

"Well, he's just amazing." I praise as I apply the makeup over the bruises, "He's confident but so damn corny. He's gentle and patient but he can be pretty aggressive and overprotective."

"Must've been pretty aggressive to leave those on your neck."

"But the best part is that he can be so imperfect too." I can't help but smile at the thought of him, "He spaces a lot and stutters like a kid caught doing something he shouldn't. He stops being this perfect icon for girls to drool over and he turns back to that dorky 10 year old I called my super best friend."

"Wow, that's the kind of love people write and dream about." Sue sighs in an over-the-top fashion that makes the both of us laugh and the cars next to us look over at us like complete morons.

"I used to envy couples like that. Butters and Charlotte, Kenny and Charlie." I admit, "They had problems but they tried to make the best of it and help each other, together."

"You always mention about Charlie's problem but you never said what that really is."

"It's not my place to say it, all I can say is that she's really depressed and I'm not sure what'll happen if she keeps going down that road."

She nods in understanding and doesn't probe me for more information, we soon arrive at the Nixon residence and we knock on the door.

Dr. Nixon opens the door, seemingly surprised at our presence but glad nonetheless. "Hello, Dr. Nixon." I greet my mentor.

"Hello, Kyle, Sue. I'm guessing you're here for Charlie." She greets us. We nod and she lets us into the house, "She's been in her room since you brought her home that night. I couldn't even get her to talk to me."

"Thanks, we're gonna try and set things right." With that we walk up to Charlie's room and knock on the door. After hearing a muffled 'Come in', we enter to see a dimly lit room with dresses and pillows sprawled all over the floor, Charlie is sitting on her bed with her head resting on her knees as she seems to stare aimlessly at something in front of her.

"Hey, Charlie." I enter the room cautiously.

She tears her gaze away from whatever it was and gives us a smile like one you'd see on a wax statue, carved and lifeless. "Hi, guys."

It hurts me to see her like this. Her hair, which was in a braid, now looks like a raggedy worn out rope and her sweet chocolate eyes look as lifeless like mud after a rainstorm. She looks terrible and seeing her like this makes me even madder at Kenny.

Despite that, I suck it up and force a smile like she is, "How've you been?"

"Better, I guess." She shrugs before asking, "How's Kenny?"

Again, hearing her care about the son of a bitch that hurt her like that just sets me off. "After all that, you still care-" I almost let my short-temper get the better of me before Sue puts her hand on my shoulder, stopping me from blowing up, so I just bite my tongue and tell Charlie what she wants to know. "He's been a zombie, half the time I doubt he's even there when I'm yelling at him. He just keeps apologizing but he won't do shit until he's convinced he can take care of you again."

"That sweet fool." She smiles sadly, shaking her head. "He doesn't need to do that, I'm not worth it."

"Charlie, don't you give up too." Sue encourages her, "You want to be with Kenny, right?"

"Of course, I love him. But this did give me a chance to think about it, maybe things happened for a reason. As much as I love him, maybe we just weren't meant to be?"

"What is this? Romeo and Juliet?" I sigh, "Charlie, you fought against you fate multiple times. You don't give into destiny. Why start now?"

"Kyle… Is this what it's like?" Charlie suddenly asks me in a timid tone, "To be scared of the idea of falling in love again?"

That question catches me off guard, Sue looks at me hoping I could take over and give her the encouragement she needs. I take a deep breath before starting, "Charlie. I know it hurts, love definitely takes a lot more than it gives. But when it gives back, you savor those sweet moments. When Vivi broke me, I never wanted to trust someone with myself like that again even though I knew that Vivi was the issue. I knew it but it didn't help my recovery process. I simulated the idea of being in love with someone for so long and I convinced myself that I'd be fine living with my anxiety. But I was making excuses, all I did was fantasize and let myself be jealous when I saw couples looking like their lives were so complete. I almost let my anxiety control my life, I almost let her win." I state grimly, but then I continue with a small smile, "When I actually took a chance with Stan, I've made more progress in a month than I had in over five years. Kenny's a selfish jerk but he'll come around, you can't give up." I reassure her, "You're strong, Charlie. I've known that since the day we met, so keep pushing, and keep growing. Make him regret that he ever thought of letting you go."

"It's funny you keep saying how strong I am, but that night… I wasn't strong. I was ready to give up everything. You saved me. Aunt Francine gave me a home and support. Kenny showed me love. I'm not strong. I didn't do anything, if it were just me I wouldn't even be here."

"No one said you had to do it alone." I remind her.

She returns her gaze back ahead of her and says, "Kyle. Look at that mirror and tell me what you see."

I follow her gaze and tell her what I see, "I see us. Or mainly you."

"Ever since I got home that night, I've looked at that mirror and for the first time in a long time, I didn't recognize the image looking back. The girl I was so happy to find within me, my true self, was replaced by this hollow, prissy doll." She clenches her blanket in her palms in frustration, "That wasn't me, I don't know who I am anymore."

"You're Charlotte Baxton-" I start before I get cut off by Charlie angry cries.

"And who's that? Tell me that, Kyle. Who am I supposed to be?" She asks forceful as she points to the image in the mirror in disgust, "Because that face in the mirror, that spineless actor who couldn't even stand up for himself, he should've been long gone by now!" She screams, getting all her emotions out before quieting again into a hollow shell, "I can't believe after all this time, I truly believed I could start over. That I could leave behind what my family did to me." She mumbles into the blanket she pulls up to her face, "I'm too broken to love anyone."

Hearing her say that last part makes my heart stop, suddenly I look over at the figure on the bed and it isn't Charlie anymore. It's me, 13 year old Kyle Broflovski crying over a shattered heart. I realize then that we stand no chance to change her mind.

"Come on, Charlie-" Sue tries again, not willing to admit defeat until I stop her. "Sue. That's enough." She relents and steps behind me, "Take care, Charlie. You're still welcome to come to the party if you feel like it."

We tell Dr. Nixon about our failed attempts, but she just comforts and thanks us for trying. After we get into Sue's car, she interrogates me on the spot. "Kyle, what did you do that for?"

"Believe me, she'll put herself in a really dark place right now. We can't pull her out, but we shouldn't keep egging her." I explain, "I know from experience."

"So what're we going to do?"

"Dr. Nixon will watch over her. We've done with we can for tonight."

We still make a few phone calls but neither of us want to sound too pushy with the way she is now. Sadly, we still couldn't get her to show up by the time the party starts. The four of us get into Stan's car since he's gonna be our driver today, we pull up at Styx and Stones. Not the best place for Kenny to be since they fired him, but Sue's friend, Kate, who apparently works as a bartender there got a good deal to let us use a booth for the party and she didn't really account for any bad associations we might've had for this place.

"Hey girls." I wave as we spot Sue and Kate, "I see Charlie isn't here."

"Kenny's not looking too lively either." Stan adds. Kenny rolls his eyes at us and wanders over to the bar.

"Look, tonight let's just forget about it." Sue puts her arms around the two of us, "It's a party, we'll refresh then re-strategize. I'm gonna ask Kate to watch the drinks for Kenny and I purposely asked the DJ to take a moment off." She informs us.

"You got it?" Stan looks at her in shock, seemingly knowing something the rest of us don't.

"Yup, found it in a pawn shop not far off campus." She declares proudly before pulling out a large case she manages to hide behind the veils. With one look, I recognize what it is. It's Kenny's old DJ equipment, he mentioned that he sold it off a few days after they fired him. I can't believe she found it.

"Damn Sue, you're a wizard." I exclaim in awe.

"That's what I've been saying." Stan smirks at my reaction.

"I got my ways." She winks before pulling the two of us onto the brightly blaring dance floor, "Now c'mon, this is my party and I'm gonna get everyone to leave here party high!"

Stan and I start dancing and enjoying ourselves, making up for the first time we were here. After a few drinks, even Kenny seems to have loosen up and actually takes Sue's DJ request, playing sets and leading the crowd like he loves to do. I gawk at Sue's bold and vibrant dance moves while Stan and I rest in the booth, "Damn, she's a real party animal." I shake my head in amusement as Tweek tries to keep up with her.

"You just knew? I knew the first time she brought me here."

I hum in agreement as I finish my Rum and Cola, "I'm sure Tweek's happy to finally dance with her sober."

"He's come a long way. By the way, he mentioned that he was gonna ask Sue out."

"He did? Wow, way to go Tweek." I smide with pride, I wonder if he's gonna actually do it. He did spend most of his time perfecting it-

My attention gets pulled as the music stops at an unexpected arrival. "Evening poppet." I feel a chill going down my spine as I hear that disgusting voice echo through the quiet club. Sue seems frozen in shock for a moment, then she takes charge and grab Jake's arm, pulling him into our booth with the rest of the crew following us.

"What are you doing here?" She growls.

"You have a party with your crew and close friends, I figured I should make an appearance." He answers with a wicked grin, obviously amused by Sue's anger. "Aww don't be mad, everyone at the station knew about it."

"And you should've known you weren't invited."

"Look, I might not be your favorite person-" He starts before being interrupted by Sue's snarky remark.

"Did telling you that 27 times finally get it into your thick skull?"

Despite that, he still continues firmly, "-But I do want you." He announces as he pulls a white lily out of the coat he's wearing, "How about it, poppet?"

Before Sue can say anything, a loud shout steals all of our attentions, "Wait!" Tweek screams, soon realizing that he not only has Sue's attention but everyone in the booth's as well. He takes a few deep breaths and mutters to himself, "Ok…Ok, you can do this." Once he's calmed down, he looks up again, straight at those striking sliver eyes. "Sue, I know I'm not charismatic nor talented. But I do like you. "

"Excuse me, I'm in the middle of-"

"You shut up!" Sue silences Jake instantly before urging Tweek in a softer tone, "Go on, Tweek."

Tweek nods and gulps down his nerves before continues, "I-I love the way you act, I love how supportive you've been to me and I love the way you make me feel, like I'm the top of the world and like I'm confident enough to take on anything. And I spent the last few days making you this." He pauses, looking around nervously for the box he brought with him.

He grabs it and opens it gently, presenting the gift inside. It's a strawberry mousse cake in the shape of a dome. It's made with spiral rolls and strawberries that are positioned so that the whole cake looks like a bouquet of roses.

"I know how much you love strawberries so I created this myself for you." Tweek simpers as his body trembles with nerves. He looks at her while giving her the cake, pleading with his eyes. "I'm not asking for much, just give me a chance."

Sue looks in awe at the cake in her hands. She puts the cake down on the table, turning to Jake. Tweek looks dejected at Sue's actions, believing that's her choice, before she takes the lily and slaps him with it. "Sorry, Jake. You had your chance years ago." She chides at Jake before turning to Tweek and hugging him.

Tweek looks shocked by her actions, looking over at the three of us cheering for him then looking back at the blue-haired girl hugging him. "Really?" He asks in joyful disbelief.

"Don't act surprised. You're the one who asked me out." She muses at her new boyfriend. We're all cheering happily at the new couple until we notice Jake cackling, clapping his hands in a slow, mocking manner.

"Well played, Tweek. You beat me at my own game." He declares with a detestable yet somewhat elegant manner. He walks up to Sue, causing both her and Tweek to tighten the holds they have on each other. "I supposed now comes the aftermath." He says as he pulls out a white envelope from his coat and hands it to her.

"What's this?" Sue asks, inspecting the envelope.

"My resignation letter." He smiles bemused as he watches Sue's face stiffen, "From this point on, I'm no longer working for BC Live."

"What?!"

"Turns out an online show producer saw me on BC Live and wants me to host their new entertainment segment. Seeing how my schedule won't have time for this anymore, I figured I'd at least end it formally."

"Y-You can't leave!" Sue stammers as she breaks out of Tweek's hold to confront Jake. "Not on such short notice! How the hell am I gonna find a replacement so soon?"

"You'll figure it out. You're BC Live's fearless leader." He shrugs apathetically at Sue's frozen figure before turning to Tweek with a smirk, "As for you, Twitchy. That was my end of the bargain."

"You didn't say you'd do this!" Tweek cries.

"I said I'd leave her alone. You got what you wanted." He finishes and starts walking towarad the exit. He turns back at us, looking at Sue as he gives her a final bow before leaving, "Good luck, poppet."

As the doors hang shut, Sue finally collapses onto the floor, having lost all the strength in her legs. Tweek rushes to her side, "Sue…"

We all witness it all in shock until we hear the sound of Sue hitting the floor. We snap back to reality and rush to help her back on her feet. "What just happened?" She asks blankly before scowling angrily at Tweek, "What did you do?"

I feel my blood run cold as I hear the venom in her voice. Stan always said that no one should even make Sue mad but judging by the expression of Stan and almost everyone in her crew, no one has seen her like this before. I can't imagine how Tweek's feeling now.

Tweek is obviously shaking under Sue's accusation, he struggles to stutter out a coherent answer. "I-I made a b-bet with Jake to get h-him to leave you alone, since I k-know he's been bugging you and-"

It doesn't take much for Sue to make the connection with what happened tonight and figure out what's going on. I can see her glare harden as her mind clicks everything in place. "Leave."

"Huh?"

"Leave. The party's over." She says coldly "I can't believe you, Tweek. I thought you were different."

I couldn't take it anymore. I push up to the front to defend poor Tweek. "Sue, you can't seriously blame Tweek for this."

"Blame him?" She laughs hollowly, shaking me and Tweek to our cores. "He'll be lucky if that's all I do to him. He got rid of our host, how are we gonna keep going? Stan can't do it because his work schedule's full too. Most of the other radio DJs aren't nearly as popular, or as captivating as Stan or Jake. You have basically destroyed the one thing I worked my butt off for." She points sternly at Tweek, making him shrink with every sentence.

I guess Kenny couldn't take it either, he walks over to use and adds, "He was just trying to help, you should've seen him standing up to that asshole."

Again, it doesn't take long for Sue to make sense of it all. "Wait, you knew about it? All of you?" She glares at all four of us

"Stan didn't know anything about it. It was just the three of us." I quickly defend Stan, I can't let him take the hit for something he didn't know about.

"And I thought we were friends." She shakes her head in disbelief, "Who the hell asked you to butt into this?"

"I-I'm sorry." Tweek mutters, he looks like he's about to fall apart.

"Yeah, me too." She says as she starts walking away.

I soon notice Tweek's breathing becoming more and more erratic, he's trembling and his hands are covering his mouth and he looks like he's trying to find some part of reality to grip onto. I can hear muffled screams from behind his hands. I quickly turn to Stan, "Stan, go get my bag and start the car. Tweek's having another episode."

Stan nods and rushes out the door to get what we need. Kenny and I hold Tweek to make sure he doesn't run off again like the last time but we shoo everyone else away from us and pull him towards the door. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sue looking worryingly at us, she takes one step towards us before backing away into the crowd behind her.

Luckily after the first time, I have started carrying some sedatives around. I was hoping I'd never have to use it though. Tweek eventually calms down before he starts sobbing. I feel so bad for him but there's nothing I can say right now. We reach home and go back to our rooms without another word. I begin to drown myself in my studying, trying to block out everything that's been happening. Before I go to bed, I go back to change the candle and pray that everything will work itself out. It has to.

I hear Stan's door opening but I make no attempt to run back, "Kyle, how long did you know about this?" He questions me.

"Since the beginning." I confess.

He pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration, "You've gotta be- Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think I had to, this was between them."

"Goddammit, Sue's gonna be impossible."

"She can't stay mad for long, can she?" I ask, suddenly worried about how Stan's going to handle Sue like this. She's not gonna take it out of him, is she?

"No. That's the worst part. Sue doesn't let her emotions out like you do, she keeps them in and works herself crazy, and coincidentally the whole crew. She doesn't like surprises like these, she likes having a sense of control over a situation."

"God, everything's just getting so fucked up." I groan.

"Yeah, try not to think about it too much. I'll try talking to Sue when she's ready. I'm sure she'll listen to reason." Stan tries to assure me but even I can sense the obvious uncertainty in his tone.

I don't push it though and give him a kiss before heading back into my room, "OK, night Stan."

A/N: I warned you guys, the drama ain't stopping and we're just getting started. Next time, we're going to have a little timeskip and we'll see what surprise Stan has in mind for Kyle.

I know some people are going to be confused so I'm going to state it here now. Charlie isn't confused about her gender identity again, she's confused on who she is. She knows that she's supposed to be a girl but she doesn't know what she's supposed to do now.

There is a picture of the cake Tweek made on my version of this story on AO3, unfortunately I can't put the link on this site. It's from a magical girl anime that I watched as a kid and it's a very special symbol in the series and I'm glad to be able to use it in this story.

55 reviews! Holy shit, thank you all so much who reviewed this story. It always makes me so happy to see how much people like the story c:

Anyways, 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.