A/N: I just realised I could've combined this chapter and last chapter together to make a longer chapter but... oh well. I promise the next chapter will be longer! Or maybe we'll just pretend that chapter 3 was split in half and this is the second part? Anyway, I hope you enjoy and thank you for reading! I'd love to know your thoughts!

Something was wrong with Eric, and it was all Kyle's fault.

He had rolled out of bed that morning, his alarm interrupting his sleepless obsessing, exhausted, and angry, and nauseous. He barely ate, could hardly focus on anything except that dream, on Kyle's smug voice, and lovely scent, and stupid face he wanted to kiss all over... but he was determined that, even if his thoughts were bubbling over with feverish fantasises and fretting, he would be cool on the outside. Calm, chill, nothing out of the ordinary. But seeing Kyle sitting shotgun in Stan's car on the way to school made his skin flare, his stomach knot, his words vanish from his throat, cowering and submissive like he had been in that damn dream.

He tried not to look at Kyle, not talk to him, not rile him up, which was easier said than done when he spent most of his day in Kyle's company, when talking to him was one of his favourite things to do. He felt like an addict, denying himself a gradual withdrawal and going straight to cold turkey. There was no worthy substitute to Kyle after all, no other high could compare to it. It was startling, how much thrill could be found in Kyle - annoying, self-righteous, gorgeous Kyle. Eric was crumbling without him, his ears pricking up at the sound of his voice, his eyes drawing to him even if they prompted his awful fever - sweaty palms, racing heart, clenching gut. The worst thing was, Kyle was noticing, and Eric's gaze would often snag on long, contemplative stares that he wasn't sure Kyle wanted him to see.

He was this close to going home sick, but running away felt like admitting defeat, fleeing would surely prompt a reaction from Kyle. It would be the type of thing that would make him come over to his house, nag and lecture him, and maybe suggest that playing the game wasn't such a good idea if was going to make things weird between them, and there was no way in hell Eric was going to let Kyle take that away from him. But because Eric's day couldn't get any worse, they had gym class which meant being stuck in a room and watching Kyle undress, a bittersweet purgatory if there ever was one.

He thanked whatever God still gave a shit about him that the locker room was as crowded and boisterous as usual, and for Kenny to choose the locker next to his. Eric had hung back from the locker room initially, gathering the courage to step inside and still debating making a run for it. He hoped that when he finally got inside, Kyle would be changed into his gym kit, but he had no such luck.

Eric had greeted Kenny with a terse nod, opening his locker and peeling off his jacket when his eyes wandered the room and saw Kyle chatting to Stan, annoyingly aloof. God, were Eric's eyes just fucking magnets to him? He could feel his skin start to flush as he stared, but his oblivious classmates were an emboldening partition. He watched as Kyle lifted the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it over his chest, giving taut, lean muscles a chance to stretch, and revealing milky skin, and shoulders dappled with freckles, and God, how Eric wished he could go back to a few days ago, when he didn't give a fuck about a shirtless Kyle.

Kyle soon glanced at him, and Eric was smart enough to whip his head away. His heart was pounding in his ears, his cheeks were on fire. He scowled, and slammed his locker shut.

"Hey... " he said, giving Kenny a shove.

Kenny frowned at him, eyebrows knitted together.

"Let's bail. I can't deal with this shit today."

Kenny blinked, nodding as he considered Eric's invitation.

"Okay..."

Soon, Eric was sat under the bleachers with Kenny, shivering and breathing in his second-hand smoke, wondering why he ever thought this was a better alternative. It seemed like no matter where he went his mind would drift away to thoughts of Kyle, anxious, and angry, and full of daydreams. Perhaps he should've suggested they go anywhere other than the place he kissed Kyle only a week ago, a kiss as frosty as the grass beneath them. But Eric was remembering the moment quite differently now. In his revised memory, Kyle had grabbed him, pinned him up against the fence with a loud rattle, shoved his tongue in his mouth, and his hand down his pants...

"Dude, are you actually gonna talk to me at some point?" Eric snapped.

"What? Sorry, I guess I was just enjoying the silence."

Eric huffed, and rolled his eyes.

"Lame. You're, like, the worst person to ditch with."

"Who else is gonna ditch with you? I didn't have to come with you today."

Eric made a bigger show of rolling his eyes, pulling a face like he was sick of Kenny's shit.

"Sorry I'm denying you the public humiliation of jogging around the gym and having to stare at Clyde's dumpy ass-"

Kenny glanced Eric up and down, and snorted.

"Dude, like you're one to talk..." he took a drag of his cigarette. "Besides, Clyde's got a cute butt."

"Nah, Token's is better.." Eric was smiling now, finally starting to relax.

He remembered why Kenny was always the one he ditched with, who he went to when his thoughts were all jumbled, because he could talk to Kenny about anything. Kenny just listened, a non-judgemental wall who Eric could throw all his pathetic, personal shit onto and know it would stick.

"Hey, let's play fuck, marry, kill," Eric proposed. "Gym class edition."

He saw Kenny smirking around the cigarette in his mouth. Even if Eric had never told anybody he liked guys, he had no problem talking about them with Kenny. Eric had no idea what Kenny's sexual orientation was either, other than he'd definitely had sex with at least four girls in their grade and could appreciate the male form too.

"Fine... Craig, Tweek, or Clyde?"

"Hmm..." Eric tilted his chin as he considered his choice. "Fuck Craig, marry Clyde, kill Tweek. You?"

Kenny nodded.

"Fuck Clyde, marry Tweek, kill Craig."

"You really like Clyde's ass that much?"

"Well, the only way I'm gonna hit that is in a hypothetical scenario. I'll take what I can get."

"Okay, okay, I've got a good one... Butters, David, or Token?"

"Shit, that's a toughie..." Kenny muttered. "I'd have to say... fuck David, marry Butters, kill Token."

"Dude, what? You'd kill Token, and marry Butters?!"

Kenny shrugged, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"I think Butters would make a good husband."

"And Token wouldn't?" Eric replied, still incredulous. "He's rich, how could you not make him your sugar daddy?"

"So let me guess, you'd fuck David, marry Token... and kill Butters?"

Eric scoffed.

"Yeah, easily."

"At least we agree on one thing."

"David is super hot?"

Kenny nodded, face stern and serious.

"Oh, the hottest guy in our grade, definitely. Alright, it's my turn... Stan, Kyle, or Kevin?"

Eric choked on the lump in his throat, but tried to swallow it down.

"Uhh... I guess fuck Stan, marry Kevin, and kill Kyle," he replied, as quickly as he could.

"Wow... really?"

"Yeah?" he replied, sharp and tense. "Stan's cute in an average sort of way... what, you want me to fucking show you my workings?"

"Dude, chill, it's just..."

"What?" he snapped.

"I'm a little surprised..." Kenny chuckled, before his smile faded and he arched an eyebrow at Eric. "You would really kill Kyle?"

Eric balked at the possibility. In his younger, more naive days having no Kyle in his life certainly seemed like a fulfilling fantasy, but he soon learned better, and despite all his bravado the very notion of Kyle being unceremoniously taken away from him, ripped out of his life with nothing he could do about it was a frightening one to consider.

"Well... I don't... in a hypothetical scenario, yeah, I would! Not having to listen to his bitching everyday would be a fucking blessing..."

Kenny didn't respond, and Eric was unsure if he convinced him or not. He sighed.

"Just seems a shame, that's all..."

"Why?"

"Well, because..." Kenny stopped, sighed again. It was a shorter exhale this time, like he was carefully considering his response. "Yeah, your marriage would probably be doomed from the start, but you two would be like fucking animals in the sack..."

Eric blinked, and he wasn't sure if his sudden flushing was due to embarrassment or... intrigue. When he fought with Kyle he poured everything he had into it, and afterward his throat would be scratchy, and his body would burn and thrum with adrenaline. He could feel all of that radiating off Kyle too, and there was something primal in that. Snarling and seething, they most likely looked far from human. In the game, unabashed and inhibitions forgotten, it was a more potent hit, and they could claw at each other, bite at each other, with growls, and howls, and screams. Could the impossible middle ground be even better? Eric couldn't even consider it, so he pushed it out of his mind.

"Seems like you've thought a lot about this..." he murmured.

Kenny shrugged.

"Not a lot, it's crossed my mind from time to time..." he was looking at a random spot out of the corner of his eye, tongue prodding at his lip before he looked at Eric and asked: "Have you ever thought about it?"

"What?!" Eric yelped, hating the sound. "No! Why would you even think that, Kenny? We hate each other!"

"Hate sex is hot, man. And you're, like, obsessed with each other! Come on, you haven't even thought about it onc-"

"No, I haven't!" Eric cut in, hoping the firmer he said it, the more convincing it would sound, so maybe then even he would believe it. "Jesus, is this all you wanna fucking talk about?"

"Dude, I'm just saying-"

"Well, don't! It's never gonna happen!"

Kenny raised his hands in defence.

"I know, man, we're just talking here-"

"Seriously, Kenny, I'm done," Eric muttered, voice dark and low. He couldn't bear to look at Kenny, so he stared at the grass. "I don't wanna talk about it anymore."

"You don't even wanna hear my answer?"

"No, this was fucking dumb..."

The beat dragged on in excruciating silence, and would do so forever unless they broke it. Eric rolled his eyes and huffed.

"Fine, go ahead."

"Kill Kevin, marry Stan, and fuck Kyle..."

Eric's whole body stiffened, and there was a familiar sour feeling spreading across his chest, of wanting to cling to an intangible something. He looked up at Kenny, who had put out his cigarette and was rolling another one, indifferent, like a prick.

"What?" he asked innocently, and it made the fact Eric was glaring at him even more mortifying. "Is there a problem?"

Eric narrowed his eyes at him.

"No..."

Eric couldn't even pretend he had better things to do when he got home from school. He jogged up the stairs, went online and simply stared at the corner of the screen for any kind of notification that Kyle was online too. After half an hour, he got hungry and wandered downstairs for some food, made the usual, perfunctory small talk with his mom and returned to his room. After two hours his skin was starting to crawl with dread, and with nothing else to do he instead listened to the warring voices in his head. Pathetic paranoia versus insistences he was fine, and it looked like pathetic paranoia was winning. What was Kyle doing? What was taking him so long? What if he was bored of this? What if it had got too weird, and Kyle couldn't do this anymore? But Kyle would tell him that, wouldn't he? He had a right to know... could he ask him all these questions without coming off like a freak? Nearly three hours later he was simmering in anger, and hurt, and humiliation. He entertained petty daydreams of making Kyle wait, seeing how he liked being denied, but he had been waiting too long to then suddenly settle for a night of abstinence.

He nearly leapt off his bed when he saw that Kyle was online, and accepted his invitation to play with shaking hands. His tooth grazed his lip, trying to contain his smile as he selected Amber as his character. His stomach once wringing with worry was now fluttering with excitement.

He was soon stood in that familiar alley again, with Kyle right in front of him. There was no time for coyness, or pleasantries. He grabbed Kyle's shirt, smashing their lips together. Eric twisted the material, pulling Kyle towards him and their mouths separated with a huff when Eric's back met a cold, brick wall. Kyle kissed him again, pressing their bodies flush together. Eric shivered when Kyle's hands slipped under his shirt, cool palms on hot skin.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Eric asked in between kisses.

"I had Debate today. It ran a little longer than-"

"Whatever," Eric grumbled, not really caring. "Just fuck me..."

Kyle didn't say anything else, just crashed their lips together hard enough to make Eric feel dizzy. His eyelids fluttered when Kyle shoved his tongue in his mouth, and his hand squeezed his waist. That unusual, deep warmth that he had never experienced outside the game was returning to him now, hot, and hazy, and stealing his breath. He whimpered, nails dragging across Kyle's skin when he shoved his hand between his legs. His thighs twitched, he had become so sensitive to Kyle's touch now. One brush of his fingertips against his skin made his whole body prickle, then melt. He broke their kiss with a sharp, sultry gasp when Kyle slid his fingers along his opening and stroked his clit.

"Shit..." Kyle whispered, pulling back only slightly to study Eric with dark eyes. "You're that wet already?"

Eric was still blinking his eyes open, breaths threadbare and quivering when Kyle's hand was still in his panties.

"I've been waiting for this all day..." he murmured, face growing hotter with his confession.

Kyle nodded, leaning in to kiss him again.

"Yeah..." kiss "me too..."

They parted again, and Kyle pulled his hand out of Eric's underwear. They were both panting, staring at each other with lidded eyes. Eric suffocated a moan when he watched Kyle suck the wetness off his fingers. The sound of his fly being unzipped never sounded sweeter.