My only experience of Bunny is as a side-pairing in Kyman stories, but for my personal head-canon they are fluffy as fuck so I apologise for any nausea they may cause.

"He's doing it again," Stan hissed.

Wendy looked back over her shoulder as they all walked to Stark's Pond, Kyle at the rear tilting his head and glancing sideways, hushed speech drowned out by the crunch of crisp snow. "He's fine, Stan. He's just 'talking to Cartman'. Don't get so worked up."

"But he's so… committed to it. If he's not careful he'll actually BE committed." Stan hiked up the box of fireworks under his chin as they began to slip through his arms. Whose bright idea was it to go on foot anyway?

She nodded slowly. "Maybe you're right. He needs a distraction of some kind. I've been talking to Heidi these last few weeks…"

"How fun for you," he scoffed.

"Don't be mean, Stan. Anyway she's really moved by how affected Kyle is." Wendy twirled a lock of her hair around in her fingers. "I think she's got a bit of a crush."

"So?"

"So I was thinking about setting them up."

"I don't think Heidi is his type," Stan said with a sheepish laugh, not wanting to out his best friend. "Besides she'll only remind him of Cartman even more. And vice versa."

"That might he helpful. Therapeutic. There's no harm in giving them a push. I'll talk to her."

Stan sighed. Once Wendy got an idea in her head it wasn't worth wasting the effort trying to dissuade her. The two of them were heading the parade of friends; Wendy's girlfriends followed with Butters and Kenny straggling behind, and finally Kyle not-so-discreetly chatting with Cartman.

"Can't believe I almost killed Kenny."

"You bastard," Kyle chimed in naturally. "Not surprised though. I don't think he's ever had that much money in his life."

"What do you think he'll do with it?"

Kyle swung his arms happily. "I heard him telling Butters he might go to college now. Isn't that great? But now they're together he probably won't live with us. Kinda spoils my plans a little."

"What plans?"

"Oh," he turned pinker in the harsh breeze. "I sort of had an idea of… no, it's really fucking stupid."

Cartman cocked his head. "Who am I gonna tell?"

"Okay…" Kyle inhaled deeply and began to rattle off, "I thought that me, you and Stan were all going to live together in college, because we're all going to SPU because we think the name is funny. We'll spend the first year on campus but the other years in a shared apartment. Kenny was going to mooch off us because he's Kenny. Then he'd probably get a job as a roadie like he's always wanted and hardly be at home. Stan would always be at Wendy's and then eventually he'd move in with her after college and by then we'd be tied to our jobs and just sort of stay where we are because it's easier and…" He suddenly stopped, Cartman almost bumping into him, and gazed ahead. "It doesn't matter now, does it?" mumbled Kyle.

They'd arrived at the pond. Cartman considered Kyle's scenario silently; the two of them left alone in their apartment, ordering pizza for four and having to eat it by themselves because they'd been bailed on as usual. Shuttling to and from work and hanging out with each other in the evenings because their work colleagues sucked and there was no-one else. Them growing closer from the situation by necessity.

Pretty much what was already happening.

Except there was a thick layer of something else enveloping them. Cartman realised that to make plans like that, Kyle must already have…

"Kyle!" Wendy called, waving him over. "Want to help set up the fireworks?"

"Sure," Kyle shouted back, leaving Cartman behind on the slight hill. He hung around the others as they built a small campfire for toasting marshmallows, whilst Stan, Kyle, Wendy and surprisingly Heidi went as far away up a larger hill as possible for safety. Along with Kenny and Butters was Bebe having tagged along with Heidi: who invited herself much to Wendy's chagrin. Heidi had some strange conviction that she was like a widow and entitled to be anywhere and doing anything that revolved around Cartman. Well whatever, he didn't hold much of a grudge against her. She was just annoying as hell. Probably why they went well together.

Kenny and Butters seemed to be trying to out-cute each other as they shared a marshmallow and coy kisses. "Ugh, really not helping," Cartman muttered, wondering how a marshmallow from Kyle would taste.

Heidi flicked out her hair animatedly. "This one time, Cartman bought me a teddy bear. Well, he won it from a claw machine. Actually a little kid won it and he took it when he wasn't looking but it's the thought that counts!"

"Uh-huh," Kyle sighed, not even trying to sound interested. Hearing about Cartman's romantic adventures with his ex-girlfriend was not helping his mood. He checked the last of the fuses from their batch of rockets and gave Wendy the 'all-okay' sign. "Listen, Heidi, there's no suave way to say this but I need to go take a leak."

"Oh sure," she smiled with a shrug of her shoulders. "I'll be waiting for you."

Of course you will. He smiled back, albeit painfully, then wandered off, and just as he considered going back down his bladder hinted that he actually did need to pee. Mid-stream he heard the crack of a twig. "Hello Cartman."

"Here we have the answer to an age-old question – does a Jew piss in the woods?"

"You'll get a better view of the fireworks back down by the pond."

"This view is just fine."

Kyle tucked himself away from prying eyes with an exasperated huff and leant against a dry part of the tree.

Cartman folded his arms with a self-satisfied smirk. "I was thinking about what you said earlier and I have just one alteration to your domestic plans. If we're going to do the whole Joey and Chandler thing, I want twenty cats."

Kyle shook his head, folding his own. "You can have five."

"Fifteen."

"Five."

"That's not how you haggle, dumbass."

"I'm not haggling, I'm putting my foot down. Five."

Cartman's arms tightened around his chest. "Then I agree to four girls, one boy, and none are spayed or neutered."

"No way! We'll have hundreds then."

"Duh, that's the point."

He laughed, light as the ring of a bell. "You can have one boy and one girl and they can have one litter."

"Sweet." Cartman let his arms fall in suggested submission and observed Kyle in an anxious study. He mirrored the action, trying to gauge their next move.

"Kyle?" They jumped at the sound of Heidi's apprehensive voice. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, er…" Kyle broke into a sweat at having been caught talking to himself again. The whole town would know he was crazy at this rate. "Nothing. Just. No, nothing."

She moved closer and shushed him. "It's okay, Kyle. Wendy said you've been pretending to talk to Cartman?"

"Something like that," he gulped down a nervous wince as she hung off his arm.

She looked around enthusiastically waving one hand out in exploration, wriggling her fingers. "Is he here? Hi Cartman!"

Something dark rumbled deep inside Cartman when he saw her press up against Kyle. His wings flexed out with a soft creak. "Sarcastic bitch."

"She's not being sarcastic, shut up, dude."

She giggled, "That's exactly what he'd say! You're very good at this." Her large eyes bored into him intensely and she soothed a tender hand up his chest. "It's okay, you know? I miss him too." Cartman's eyes clouded grey when she leant up onto her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around Kyle's neck. "We could miss him together."

A wing swung out and slammed into the tree behind them and a pile of snow doused whatever sparks might have been kindling.

"Cartman, what the fuck?!" Kyle spluttered and brushed the snow from his body.

A pouting Heidi combed the snow from her own hair, "Don't be ridiculous Kyle, you can't blame Cartman for that."

"Yeah I totally didn't do that! It was these stupid fuckers." Cartman jerked a thumb towards his back for extra emphasis. "Glad they did though – Who the fuck do you think you are kissing my ex-girlfriend?" he snarled.

"You're just pissed because you can't," Kyle snapped back.

"Oh real nice, day-walker, fuck you!"

Kyle hung his head guiltily. "Sorry, that was uncalled for."

"Fucking right it was. And why the fuck would I want to when I've…"

"When what?" Kyle stopped de-snowing himself, stared past Heidi at the self-conscious blush Cartman wore.

He scoffed, "Whatever. It's like you said before, it doesn't matter." Cartman turned on his heel and stormed off back down the hill.

"Cartman? Jesus, Cartman!"

"Kyle…" He felt a slender hand in his. "Maybe you need to see some kind of professional. We're worried about you. Especially Stan."

He shook his head. "Come on, let's go back to the fire, get dried off." Hopefully Cartman hadn't run off again and would be down there, waiting.

Kyle groaned at the sight of Butters and Kenny giggling at their conjoined marshmallows, having accidentally melted together over the flames. "See, they're meant to be together, just like us, Bee."

"Aww Ken-Ken," Butters mumbled into Kenny's nibbling lips and even though he hadn't eaten for weeks Cartman was fairly certain he was going to hurl. Not that it was completely their fault. Kyle was currently cosied up next to Heidi on a log drying themselves in front of the fire and the sight was making fury churn his stomach. More so when he realised where his jealousy was directed. He hadn't signed up for this shit.

Heidi whined softly, hugging Bebe's coat that she had kindly lent to her tightly around her body. "I'm sooo cold."

Kyle patted her back as platonically as he could hint to Cartman. "There, there," he squeezed out, looking back at him alone on the small hill. He did seem remorseful, or at the very least sorry for himself. And his wings did have a mind of their own, Kyle had seen that firsthand. More importantly he was desperate to find out what Cartman had started to say.

But he was getting worn down chasing after Cartman all the time.

"Ky-el," Bebe sang, reaching over Heidi and bopping him on the nose with a stick, "want a marshmallow? They're kosher."

"No thanks… You know what, I think I'm dry enough. I'm going to go back to Stan and Wendy before they start the show."

"But your jacket," Heidi began, gesturing to the soaked garment draped across another log. "You'll freeze."

"I'm fine, really." The girls could only watch as he stubbornly wandered off.

Bebe waved a marshmallow in Heidi's face. "How about you?"

"Oh, sure. Sounds good." She poked a hand out from the coat and took the speared treat, held it beside Bebe's over the campfire. Cartman rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment then inspiration struck. He crept up to them. Reaching out he gently nudged their marshmallows closer.

"Shit!" Heidi snapped and tried to pull them apart, goo dripping into the flames.

"Don't worry about it," Bebe laughed. "Have them both. I'll make another one."

"Well…" Heidi took a bite, "we could just share." The amber glow of firelight did nothing to disguise Bebe's flushed cheeks. She wrapped her fingers around Heidi's and brought the proffered marshmallows closer. They were still giggling when Cartman walked away to find Kyle.

Next chapter:

It was a bit ridiculous, nonchalantly talking to Stan whilst the winged ghost of their dead friend was wrapped around his body.