"Eric," Kyle rolls his eyes, looking across the room at the boy. "If you're not going to do anything, I'm telling the teacher you didn't help. We didn't plan this sleepover for nothing." Kyle says sternly, though Eric doesn't so much as glance up from his phone. Growling, Kyle throws a pencil at him, watching it fly through the air and hit him square in the face. Eric flinched, dropping his phone.
"Goddammit, Jew! Fuck off!" Eric shouts, picking up the pencil and flinging it right back at Kyle, who puts his hand up to stop the wooden stick from poking one of his fucking eyes out.
"Fuck off and do some goddamn work, freeloader." Kyle says.
"Oh, I'm the freeloader? Your whole religion is centered around freeloading!" Eric laughs with mirth, watching as Kyle stands up, his features morphing into something angry.
"What the fuck are you even talking about, you absolute numb-brained idiot? My religion is NOT centered around freeloading!" Kyle glares.
Eric snorts, not realizing Kyle is seriously angry, and says, "Yeah, sure, fucking frugal bastard."
"Fuck you! Shut the fuck up!" Kyle gets up off the bed and begins to walk forward, but Stan grabs his wrist, stopping him in his tracks.
"Dude, calm down." Stan says, eyeing him nervously. Kyle has been really angry these past few weeks, for whatever reason. Stan couldn't remember any of Eric's stupid comments riling Kyle up like as much as they have lately in a long time, as he usually took the comments in a stoic fashion, or jokingly fought back. This however was not a joking manner.
"Fuck off, I'm going to kill him! He puts me and my religion down all the fucking time! I'm sick of it!" Kyle snarls viciously, and Eric looks as shocked as Stan feels. Unlike how it used to be, Eric was only joking when he said cruel things to Kyle, because he knew the boy could (usually) handle it, How it changed from the pure malice from a dirty-mouthed fifth grader, to the joking sarcasm of an eleventh grader, no one knew. But the point stands that it was joking, and Kyle knew damn well he wasn't serious…. He must, right? Eric cared about them… maybe not on like, normal people levels, because he was a little fucked in the head, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that it was meant to be meaningless banter.
"Kyle, stop!" Stan stood up to restrain his boyfriend, holding his arms behind his back as if he was about to cuff him.
"Jesus Christ, Kyle. What the fuck is wrong with you?" Eric asked with a look of confusion spread across his face.
"My people…" Kyle started, but realized how ridiculous he was being when he took in the look on Cartman's face. "My people aren't cheap and frugal, Cartman…." Kyle's voice was calmer now, and he just looked sad instead of angry.
"Well, you're fucking nuts, man." Eric replied in a low voice. He couldn't even remember the last time Kyle had actually bantered back with him instead of just acting like he had sand in his vagina... probably a couple of weeks ago in Mr. Lynch's room…. Has it really been that long? It felt like just yesterday Kyle had called him 'semen-breath' and Stan and Kyle made jokes about being together… which was fucking weird. Not that Eric had anything against homosexuals, no matter how much he made insensitive jokes and said 'that's so gay.' It was the fact that the two boys were practically brothers, for God's sake, It would be like incest. Gross.
"I'm… sorry." Kyle says, taking a seat back on the bed beside Stan.
"Do I need to get my phone out and record this moment AGAIN?" Eric grins evilly.
"I apologize all the fucking time to you, dickwad." Kyle grumbles, pulling his papers back into a neat little pile.
"Sure you do, Kahl, sure you do." Kyle lets out an obviously fake laugh, a 'har-har' escaping his throat, but there's no bitterness in it, so both Eric and Stan count it as a win. Kyle's never happy anymore. It makes one wonder what could be wrong… especially Stan, who stays awake late into the night thinking over all the possibilities.
After a moment of silence they all go back to their project, even Eric. They work well into the night, as it's due that Monday and it's currently Saturday night. It's two in the morning before they all go to sleep, and Kyle looks so tired it isn't even funny, though Stan thinks it's pretty cute to see Kyle's head slowly sink down only for him to snap it back up the next second.
oOo
"That rocked dudes!" Kenny says excitedly, high fiving Stan and slapping Kyle on the back.
"Yeah, and it's all thanks to me." Eric says proudly while Stan snorts.
"You mean Kyle." He corrects, and Eric punches Stan in the arm.
"Eh! I helped!" Eric says while Kyle looks at him incredulously.
"Don't fucking hit him!" Kyle all but shouts, albeit more jokingly than seriously, reaching over to the middle of the group to flick Eric.
"It's not like it hurts." Stan laughs, ignoring the heated glare he receives from Eric for the comment.
"Whatever." He grumbles as Kyle laughs at his misery. There was a time when Stan would have laughed too, but he had SOME level of respect for Eric (regardless of whether or not he was a complete dick), Kyle on the other hand...? Well, Kyle may or may not still hate Eric… it was hard to tell.
"Admit it," Kyle chirps, "I'm the best." He smiles, but the look of joy slowly vanishes the closer the group gets to the cafeteria... no one notices.
They all pay for their lunches and then take a seat at their usual table. Unlike the total clichè that was every teen movie and T.V. show ever, their school had no specific tables for specific people, there was too much diversity for cliques in this day and age, after all.
Sitting down, Kyle winces at the smell of Tacos coming from each of their trays. God, he was starving. He'd worked off 500 calories the night previously, and all he had yesterday was two pieces of unbuttered toast... so, didn't he deserve a little something?
'No.' His mind tells him, but his stomach says otherwise, grumbling loudly.
"Someone's hungry." Stan laughs, elbowing Kyle in the ribs, which he didn't even notice felt more prominent than before, as Kyle had worked off a good 8 pounds so far.
"I'm-, I'm not hungry, just... gassy." Kyle lies, refusing to look at any of them. The lie may have been embarrassing, but the boys thinking his fat ass was hungry was even more so.
"Stay away from me, then." Kenny laughs, lifting his taco to his mouth and taking a big bite. "So, what was the inspiration behind the project on Wally Lamb?" Kenny asks, and Kyle jumps at the chance to distract his friends from the fact that he isn't eating anything by talking about the project.
"Well," he starts, pushing his trey away from himself subtly before continuing.
By the time the bell rings, signalling the end of lunch, he has spewed off more facts than what was even in heir project, and the table is looking at him with looks of either unenthusiasm, bemusement (mainly Butters), or awe at his in-depth knowledge and memory.
"Dude, I wish I was half as smart as you are." Kenny whined as the group made their way to the garbage with their trays of trash, half (or completely, in Kyle's case) eaten food and utensils.
"Oh, come on Ken, you're super smart! Don't put yourself down." Butters says happily as he comes up behind the group. Kenny rolls his eyes and smiles, while Butters gasps. "Are you really gonna throw out all that food, Kyle?" He asks, just as Kyle pushes the flap to the garbage in.
"Uh… well..." he groans internally. Leave it to fucking Butters to say something about his eating habits, right before he was about to get rid of the fatty evidence. "Yeah, I was so busy talking I forgot to eat." He laughs nervously.
"Think of Marvin." Kenny says.
"And poor people like Kenny!" Eric roars with laughter at the look on Kenny's face and pushes Kyle's tray into the bin, watching the food fall into the darkness within the square bin. "Oh come on, it was funny, you guys!" He says more seriously.
"Whatever." Kenny says, throwing a worried little glance in Kyle's direction, ready to say something. But by the time he opens his mouth, Kyle has already run off, following after the students making it to their next class. Kyle had AP Chemistry, which none of them had, so he stalks off alone. Kenny sighs.
oOo
"Kyle, my man, my main man." Eric says as Kyle comes out of his last class of the day.
"Oh, for the love of-" Kyle rolls his eyes, "what?" He asks viciously. Whatever Cartman wanted, he didn't give a fuck about it.
"Um, first of all, rude. Second of all, you said you'd tutor me and Kenny in math today, remember?" Eric says as Kyle pulls out his phone and checks the date.
"Shit." He growls, "where's Kenny?"
"He's getting his stuff from his locker, I think."
"You think?"
"Yeah, that's what he said when he fuckin' ran off a minute ago, so I came to find you." Eric smiles, "because I knew you'd forget." Kyle groans at Eric's words and begins to walk away, not in the mood for Cartman's shit.
"Eh! You're still tutoring us, Right?!" Eric yells down the hall over the clamour of students. Kyle turns back, only for a second, with a look of resentment on his face,
"Meet me at my house whenever you assholes are ready to waste my time!" He shouts back, and after at least a full minute of standing and staring at the spot where Kyle had just walked off from a minute ago, Kenny comes running up behind Eric.
"Hey," he says "where's Kyle?"
"The jerk-off forgot."
"Forgot? He never forgets…." Kenny ponders this for a moment, taking in the exasperated look on Eric's face. He's about to ask what pissed him off so much, but Eric speaks first.
"Yeah, well he's been acting really fucking strange lately, hasn't he?" Eric rolls his eyes and begins to walk down the nearly-now-empty hallways.
"Can I catch a ride with you?" Kenny asks, and Eric snorts. "You've got two feet and a heart-beat, walk." He says, and Kenny makes a frustrated sound, picking up his phone. He opens his contacts and taps on Stan's number.
"Hello?" Stan's voice says from the other end of the phone.
"Hey, are you- have you left the school yet?" Kenny asks.
"Uh, no, I'm at my locker." Stan replies.
"Great, can you give me a ride to Kyle's place?"
"Sure dude, meet me at the entrance of the school." He says.
It takes a minute or so to make his way out of the school, and when he does he spots Stan sitting on a bench sitting just outside of the doors.
"Hey man." Kenny says, watching the blank expression on Stan's face morph into a smile, and if Kenny thought it was weird, he didn't say anything about it.
"What are you doing going to Kyle's?" He asks as they walk to Stan's car.
"Tutoring." Kenny responds, hopping in the passenger side's seat and Stan in the driver's.
"...Nice." Stan replies distantly. Great, it seems as though there are two people in his friend group acting weird, one depressed and angry all the time and the other simply depressed. Kenny opened his mouth, but before he spoke he chose his words carefully.
"Are you good, dude?" He asked Stan who didn't so much as glance at him as he pulled out of the school's parking lot.
"Yeah… it's just, you know… Kyle." He mutters, and Kenny stares at him in confusion.
"Did something happen between you two?" Kenny questions, eyeing him wearily.
"He's been weird lately, haven't you noticed?"
"I mean, yeah. I think the whole school has." Kenny jokes, trying to lighten the mood. Stan sighs, mouth forming a straight line, Kenny guesses he doesn't see the humour in it as Stan begins thrumming his fingers against the wheel. "Sorry, um… yeah. I've noticed. He seems really angry."
"Yeah, he keeps snapping at me for no reason." Stan says, and Kenny nods solemnly.
"Same here." He agrees. "It's weird, huh?"
"Yeah, I've got no idea what's going on. And for some reason…" Stan pauses, then huffs, "I don't know if I should be telling you this…" Stan says, the thrumming of his fingers quickening in pace.
"I Promise I won't tell." Kenny smiles sadly.
"He just… I don't know, maybe it's not a big deal."
"What?"
"Well, he absolutely refuses to take off his shirt during… you know…" Stan says awkwardly as Kenny stares at him uncomfortably.
"Oh God…" Kenny groans, and Stan looks at him out of the corner of his eye.
"What?"
"I'm just… picturing it." Kenny says then laughs nervously. "You know, up until two weeks ago, I never pictured you two as anything but best friends… it's weird."
"Yeah…" Stan says, then, "So what do you think is wrong with Kyle?" He asks, wishing to steer the conversation back into less awkward territory.
"No clue… maybe… he's just- I don't know, maybe it's just a phase. Parents not paying enough attention, a little brother annoying him, grades slipping… I'm not saying that's the case, just that it could be any number of reasons. But yeah, probably just a phase."
"And the whole 'no-taking-off-my-shirt' thing?" Stan pondered.
"Don't know, man. Probably just a little self-conscious. I mean, you did kinda make fun of him for putting on weight that one time." Kenny says.
"Dude, I totally forgot about that." Stan smacks his hand over his face.
As he drove he thought back to that day, not thinking much of it. There was no way one stupid comment would cause Kyle to be so angry all the time… right?
oOo
"Hey Kyle, what's up?" Stan smiles, kissing his boyfriend on the cheek before the other boys came in, neither of their best friends knew about them dating, and they'd like to keep it that way.
"Hey, nothing much." He responds happily as Stan takes the seat beside him on his bed. They chat for a moment before Eric and Kenny make their way up the stairs, down the hallway and into Kyle's room. Immediately Eric takes notice of the chips and energy drinks in the corner of the room sitting on Kyle's desk.
"Aw dude, awesome. Can't wait to mow down on that good shit. Tonight's gonna be the best sleepover fuckin' ever." Eric grinned. "My mom doesn't let me buy energy drinks anymore."
"Probably for good reason. You definitely don't need all that sugar, you're hyper enough already." Kyle laughs, knowing that Eric got real sugar-high when he drank or ate too much sweet stuff.
"You know, you don't look like you exactly need too much sugar either," Stan cackles as Kyle looks at him curiously.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kyle laughs nervously and Eric rolls his eyes and makes his way over to the make-shift snack table.
"Your shirts have been looking a little tight lately, is all I'm saying" Stan grins, and Kyle hides his hurt with a smile. Nothing else of the kind is said that night, and no one notices that Kyle is especially quiet throughout the night.
What Stan doesn't know is that this comment got Kyle thinking, got the cogs turning in his head. He's always been self-conscious about his appearance, ever since the list in grade 5. But... was he fat? Was Stan hinting that he didn't like his body anymore? He thought he'd be able to fix it with a good diet and exercise… but when that failed, he turned to starving himself. Little did anyone know this would lead Kyle down the path of a disorder. A disorder which would not be easy to fix.
All thanks to one comment. A comment coming from what very well might have been one of the most important people in his life, and he didn't want to lose that person… no matter the cost.