"In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine." — Maya Angelou

Mended Hearts.

Part I.

•

It was early March, with sun shining brightly above some of the still remaining piles of snow that had been surrounding the small podunk mountain town for well over six months now. The temperature, although pleasant enough for what could be considered the end of winter, still hadn't been high enough to convince any reasonable person or child in South Park to switch their winter attire for something that was more suited for a warmer climate – well, at least those people and children with what could be considered a fairly normal way of thinking for an otherwise crazy little mountain town.

The children of South Park, although used to spending a good chunk of the year surrounded by thick piles of snow and freezingly cold temperatures, definitely appreciated whenever the March or April would roll around, as that would usually be a telltale sign of spring coming just around the corner and the days getting warmer and longer, thus making it more bearable and enjoyable for spending time outside.

And two kids who definitely weren't an exception to that tradition, were Stan Marsh and Kyle Broflovski, the everlasting duo of super best friends who were now both eleven years old and a part of the fifth grade class that had still been taught by Mr. Garrison; which had been pretty much to the chagrin of just about every single kid in that class and their parents, of course.

Since they had both decided to make the most out of yet another sunny day of the week, the two fifth graders were now sitting on the shore of Stark's Pond, enjoying the nice early spring weather and soaking up some much needed sun rays after what had been a long period of gloomy and crappy winter days. Like usual, they talked about everything and anything, skimmed stones in the nearby pond, cracked jokes that were mostly targeted towards a certain fatass and simply enjoyed being in each other's company – all in all, a pretty standard thing for the two of them.

Despite them being best friends for as long as they could both remember and going together through so many crazy adventures over the past eight years of their friendship, Stan and Kyle did sometimes have differing opinions on certain things and wouldn't refrain from having heated arguments about those very same things.

And one of those things, as well as one thing that the green-hatted boy sometimes just couldn't wrap his head around, was his best friend's on and off relationship with their fellow classmate and the primary cause for Stan's queasiness whenever he was around her, Wendy Testaburger.

To Kyle, Stan and Wendy's relationship seemed to be a weird cycle of the raven haired girl breaking up with her boyfriend for possibly the umpteenth time over the pettiest of little things and him doing his usual routine of listening to some below mediocre songs about broken hearts and broken relationships, followed by the two of them ignoring each other for some time and then magically getting back together after the dust had settled.

And unsurprisingly, Wendy had dumped Stan yet again, with the Jewish boy finally having enough of his best friend's sulking and an overall mopey attitude for the past three weeks, so he decided to drag him out of his house over to Stark's Pond for some well-needed heartfelt talk between two best friends.

The gingerhead, despite knowing the predictable outcome to each and every one of Stan and Wendy's breakups, had still tried to knock some sense back into his best friend's head and had gone on to explain that the entire back and forth in his relationship with Wendy just wasn't worth it anymore – even though Kyle knew very well that the raven haired boy would just do the complete opposite and continue his relationship with her regardless.

''But dude, you don't get it.'', the Jew groaned out in sheer frustration yet again, picking up a large round stone from the ground and skimming it perfectly across the pond. ''I feel like I'm sounding like a broken record at this point, but I don't think you should get back together with Wendy anymore. Whether you wanna' hear it or not, you guys are getting on a lot of people's nerves with your whole on and off thing.''

Scoffing at his best friend's choice of words, Stan simply shrugged his shoulders in defense and threw his own stone perfectly into the pond as well, smiling triumphantly as he did so.

He knew that his best friend was probably correct about his relationship with Wendy, but Stan was quick to brush it all off and claim that things between them were eventually going to work out. He, however, hadn't been in the same boat when it came to admitting one of the key problems that had led to their breakup going on for an unusually long period of time now – well, at least unusually long for what could've been considered Stan and Wendy's standards.

So, instead of still keeping it under the wraps, the dark haired boy had finally decided to come clean to his best friend and admit why he might've not given the amount of effort he would usually give when it came to reconciling with his ex-girlfriend.

''I haven't spoken to Wendy for almost two weeks now.'', Stan said with a nervous chuckle, shoving his hands inside his old brown coat that was starting to get a bit too small for someone who was eleven, almost twelve years old.

Chuckling in an unsurprising disbelief, Kyle shook his head and yanked another stone into the pond. ''Seriously? And you're wondering why the hell she won't speak with you?''

''Well, I thought that could be a reasonable solution – to give her enough space and time to think about everything. And that she would eventually come back around, just like she always does.''

''But did she give you a reason for dumping you? I don't think you've mentioned it yet, so I'm curious.''

''Not really, but I think it has to do with me apparently going back to my old ways and not having enough time for her, despite seeing her in class every single goddamned day.'', Stan explained, before running a hand down his face and letting out a sad sigh.

''I think it's for real this time.'', he admitted further, grabbing and throwing yet another rock as far as he could into the pond. ''I don't know what else to do to win her back. There are only so much romantic performances I can do at her front lawn, before she gets pissed off even more and starts throwing things at me.''

''Dude, what am I supposed to tell you? This is like, the fourth time she's dumped you in the span of a month.'', Kyle replied. ''When will you guys realize that this entire back and forth thing just isn't worth it? It's been annoying the ever-living crap out of everyone! Not everyone has the balls to tell you that, but I sure as hell do, because you're my best friend.''

''Really Kyle? Such a supportive friend, aren't you?'', rolling his blue eyes, Stan didn't necessarily want to admit that his best friend was mostly always right, especially when it came to the dark haired boy's relationship.

''Hey, I'm just telling you the truth. It's not my fault you're not listening to everyone around you saying that yours and Wendy's relationship just isn't healthy. I think you guys breaking up for good could only prove to be beneficial for both of you. I mean, you guys can always stay friends, can't you?''

''That's easier said than done when it comes to Wendy.'', the raven haired boy said, before being suddenly cut off by the sound of his phone pinging. ''You know that she's not the easiest person to deal with it, especially when it comes to our relat – ''

Pulling the phone from the back pocket of his jeans, Stan's bright blue eyes widened in surprise as he read the text message and the name of the person who had sent the very same message. His mouth instantly went dry, as he re-read the message a couple of times, just to make sure that he indeed hadn't been hallucinating.

Wends❤️: hey, I know that we haven't talked for some time, but do you wanna meet up at the park near my house? I have to talk to you about something super important:)

''It's Wendy. She wants to talk to me about something super important.''

''Oh great.'', Kyle said sardonically. ''Are you guys gonna' get back together again or?''

''I don't know, but I'll fill you in on everything. See you later dude.'', Stan replied as he got up and ran towards the spot where his and Kyle's bikes had been parked, rushing to climb onto his bike as fast as possible and ride off towards the spot where he and Wendy would usually meet up.

The dark haired boy offered his best friend a small wave, before climbing onto his bike and cycling towards the same park that had been his and Wendy's meeting spot pretty much since their reconciliation after the whole skankhunt42 shitshow had ended a couple of years ago – the very same park that had borne a fair amount of special memories and milestones for the raven haired couple, such as having their first real kiss, having a bunch of cute little dates and meetings there, cuddling and snuggling underneath the old spruce tree whenever the weather would get a bit chillier…

And the closer he was getting towards the park, the more Stan could feel his heart wanting to leap out of his chest at the said memories, not quite in the mood to let go of them just yet and not knowing that that would probably be the last time he would get to meet up with Wendy at their little special place.

Wendy was sitting on one of the benches in the park that was relatively close to her house, seemingly lost in the thoughts that were related to the news that her parents had delivered earlier that day, thus effectively sending her into a whirlwind of confusing thoughts and emotions about her future in the small mountain town.

The raven haired girl knew very well she would have to tell Stan the news sooner or later, despite them not being on speaking terms for the past several weeks and spending most of the time away from each other.

However, she still cared a great deal about her ex-boyfriend and thought that it just wouldn't be fair of her not to tell him the fact that they weren't going to be classmates once the sixth grade would roll around.

But before she could get tangled within her own confusing thoughts even more, Wendy was swiftly snapped out of them by a very familiar, delightful voice.

''Hey.''

''Hey you.'', the dark haired girl said, flashing Stan one of her cute smiles, which had always been enough to make the butterflies in his stomach go berserk and as if he was going to become queasy at any given moment.

Although over the past two years he had gotten significantly better at controlling his vomiting tendencies whenever Wendy was around, Stan had to admit that he still had some trouble keeping the content of his stomach at bay, and judging by the fact that he had been getting more and more nervous ever since receiving the text message from his ex-girlfriend, he just hoped that his puking wasn't going to make an appearance today.

''I saw your text message.'', Stan recalled, choosing to stand instead of sitting down next to his ex-girlfriend. ''What did you wanna' talk about?''

''Well, I'm kinda' in a hurry, so can we keep this short and sweet?'', Wendy asked, feeling the faint blush creep across her cheeks at the fact that her ex-boyfriend was standing so close to her.

''Kinda' like you?'', Stan smirked slightly, not wanting to miss out on the opportunity to tease his ex-girlfriend and say something super adorable that would definitely make her cheeks go redder than a tomato.

''Stan, stop it.'', the pink beret bearer scoffed, trying to ignore the growing redness in her cheeks and the fact that her ex-boyfriend's cheesy, yet cute attempt at being romantic actually had some effect on her.

''So, what did you wanna' talk about?'', Stan asked as he sat down on the bench next to his raven haired counterpart.

''Well, I'm moving.'', Wendy said, glancing down at the feet for a few brief moments, before locking her chocolate brown eyes with the blue ones of her ex-boyfriend.

''What?'', swallowing thickly, Stan let his ex-girlfriend's words register in his head for a few moments, before trying to muster up a proper response and hope that Wendy was just trying to pull some pretty damn good prank on him. ''A-are you serious?''

''Yeah.'', she confirmed, eliciting a nervous chuckle. ''I'm moving in, like, four months.''

''To where?''

''Tampa.''

''Tampa?''

''Yeah, and you know that my mom's side of the family lives there. My grandma, aunts and uncles, cousins – pretty much everyone. My parents both got job offers and we're moving there in a few months' time.'', Wendy confirmed.

''Well, that came completely out of left field…'', Stan replied, still in utter disbelief.

''Believe me, I had the same reaction as you.''

''But that means I won't be seeing you anymore…''

''Well duh, Captain Obvious.''

Stan ran one hand down the side of his face and stood up from the bench, trying to collect all the thoughts that had gotten scattered inside his brain. ''Okay, but what about the two of us? Haven't you given any thoughts about us maybe having a long-distance relationship?''

''What do you mean 'us'? As far as I know, I called it quits. It's over, done, el finito.''

''So, you haven't given any thoughts about us having a long-distance relationship?''

''Jeez Stan, we've been barely able to keep a normal relationship going.'', Wendy replied back, folding her arms across her chest, with a look of displeasure starting to creep across her face. ''What makes you think we would be able to do it by living in different states, way across the country and miles apart from each other?''

''Don't you care about me anymore?'', Stan shot right back.

''I still do, Stan. I truly do, but is it worth maintaining our relationship if we are going to break up almost every single month, and then get back together every single month too?'', the raven haired girl retorted, trying to bring Stan back to his senses. ''I have to be realistic for once, no matter how much it hurts.''

''Now that's just fucking fantastic, Wendy.''

''Well, if it makes you any happier, you are one of the first people to know this. I don't think I would be telling you the news if I didn't care this much about you.'', she said, before trying to offer something as an olive branch.''We can still keep in touch, if you want to.''

''Duh, I obviously want to!'', Stan said, almost feeling a bit annoyed at her question about him still wanting to keep in touch after her move to Florida. ''Don't you want it as well?''

''I don't think I would be suggesting that if I didn't want it. We can always be friends.''

''I'm okay with that.'', he smiled softly, trying to subside the feelings of anger within him even more. ''I'm just worried you're going to forget about me and everyone else in South Park after some time.''

''Oh Stan, I certainly won't forget anyone here. That's the least I can promise you, okay?'', she smiled softly, getting up from the bench and palming Stan's cheek with her yellow glove. ''Besides, I'll most likely visit South Park during the holidays and the school break.''

"Goodbye, Stan."

Now shoving her hands inside the pockets of her usual purple coat, Wendy turned around on the spot and started walking back towards her house, but not without glancing over her shoulder one more time in the direction of her ex-boyfriend. She frowned and let out a slightly disappointing sigh, seeing Stan get up on his bike and ride off in the direction of what Wendy presumed to be his house.

''Maybe someday, somewhere, we will have another chance for us.'', she sighed as she continued walking towards her soon-to-be former house, fiddling with the shiny piece of jewelry dangling from her wrist. ''Maybe…''

The said piece of jewelry was a beautiful, silver charm bracelet that her ex-boyfriend had given her for their three-year anniversary. It was a simple piece of jewelry, decorated with tiny heart-shaped chains hanging from the bracelet, with one of the charms having the letter 'W' engraved into it – the very same bracelet that had flooded her brain with tons of memories of her and Stan.

Those same memories that had just kept on reminding her that getting over Stan wasn't exactly going to be child's play, no matter how much she would try to convince herself and think otherwise.

•

''What do you mean with this whole 'we are moving back to South Park' crap?'', the teenage girl scoffed in pure disbelief, crossing her arms across her chest. She could feel her blood boiling rapidly with each passing second, definitely not helped by the fact that her parents didn't seem to think that the whole situation about them moving back to their previous hometown was as serious as she thought it was.

''Well, you know how we have been flying out to Colorado over the past few months?'', the older raven haired woman asked, exchanging a quick glance with her husband who sat right next to her. They both had a slightly worrisome look on their faces, taken aback by the angry reaction their daughter had after being informed of them moving back to the podunk mountain town.

''Yeah, and?'', Wendy raised a curious eyebrow, unsure what to say anymore after her parents had basically forced her to stop studying for a very important Advanced Chemistry exam that she was due to take next week – and only for her to be left in a state of complete shock after finding out that she would most likely move back to Colorado and finish the last two years of her high school education there, instead of Tampa where she had been living for the past six years of her life.

''Well honey, we bought a new house in South Park and we are moving back there in August.'', Vanessa explained gently, hoping that her only child would eventually calm down and try to understand her parents' perspective.

But so far, it had been to absolutely no avail.

''And when were you planning to tell me this?'', the raven haired teenage girl said as she rested her chin against her free hand now, feeling even more annoyed than before.

''As soon as you would be done with your Sophomore year, but since we were done with buying the house way sooner than we had originally anticipated, we decided to tell you now.'', Sean explained, exchanging a quick glance with his wife and giving her hand a comforting squeeze.

''Great, fantastic.'', Wendy replied sarcastically, rolling her brown eyes. ''How do you think I'm feeling about all of this?''

''Well, how do you feel?'', the ginger-haired man asked.

''Dad, I'm obviously not okay about this! I don't think I need to remind you how tough it was for me when we moved the first time around, and how much I had missed my friends and the fact that I wasn't going to see them every day anymore.'', Wendy immediately retorted. ''Besides, I've wanted to finish high school here, go to college and then maybe move back to Colorado! Maybe.''

''But you will get to see your friends aga – '', Vanessa tried explaining further, before being sharply cut off by her daughter.

''Mom, I'm very well aware of that.'', the teenage girl said. ''But, as if we haven't been traveling to South Park for holidays and during the school break almost every single year since moving here. I still keep in touch with everyone – Bebe, Tweek, the girls!''

''Maybe you should've taken into consideration my feelings before you decided to go ahead with the idea of moving back. You're not making this any less stressful for me, alright?'', Wendy continued further, before pinching the bridge of her nose and letting out a faint groan.

''Honey, I know you're super upset and angry at us right now, but you have to understand where we are coming from – I got offered a position to work as the deputy district attorney in the Park County district attorney's office, while your father got a pretty good job offer at Hell's Pass Hospital. Those were, frankly, opportunities that neither of us simply couldn't say no to.''

''Well, I do have to give you kudos for actually waiting until I'm done with my Sophomore year.'', Wendy admitted, realizing that she definitely must've overreacted at her parents' announcement.

''I don't think making you switch schools in the middle of the school year would be such a good idea.'', Sean said, feeling a bit more relieved upon seeing his daughter's facial features finally softening.

''Okay, so we are moving back to South Park in a few months' time and you still haven't told anyone there about it?''

''Well, people there saw us buying a new house, so I guess pretty much everyone at this point knows that we are moving back. South Park is still a relatively small town, so news travels pretty damn fast if you ask me.'', Vanessa recalled further.

After finishing dinner with her parents and discussing a few more details about their upcoming move to South Park, Wendy did eventually calm down and started to feel a bit more relaxed about the whole situation.

She knew that face-timing her blonde best friend would instantly bring a smile back to her face, as she even started to think about what would Bebe's reaction be once she would hear the news about her best friend moving back to South Park after all those years of living in a different state and on the completely opposite end of the country.

As she plopped down on her comfortable bed, Wendy reached forward to grab her phone from the nightstand and unlocked it, eventually opening the FaceTime app in order to call Bebe.

And after a few rings, the dark haired girl's face lit up as soon as her best friend picked up and popped up on her mobile phone screen.

''Hey girl!''

''Hey!''

''You're alone, right?''

''Yeah, why do you ask?''

''Well, firstly, I've wanted to talk to you about something super exciting. And secondly, do I need to remind you about what happened the last time I tried to face-time my best friend? I could hear Kenny loud and clear in the background!''

''Oh Kenneth…'', Bebe giggled. ''Well, you're lucky. He left my house about twenty minutes ago.''

''Anyway…'', Wendy rolled her eyes, desperately wanting to cleanse away the mental image of her best friend having 'friends with benefits' type of a relationship with the school's resident playboy. ''I have something super exciting to tell you!''

''Oh, what is it?''

''You'll hear it, but only on one condition – if you promise that you're not going to babble it out to anyone? I want to tell the girls a bit later.''

''I'm all ears! Spill it!''

Barely being able to contain her newly found excitement, Wendy giggled and twisted a strand of raven black hair between her fingertips.

''Well, let's just say that from August and onwards, you'll be seeing me much, much more frequently.''

Hey guys!

I'm really excited to start writing my newest multi-chaptered Stendy fanfic, as I've had an idea for this story in my head for quite some time, but just never got around to actually getting my shit together and start working on this fanfic.

Mended Hearts was actually supposed to come out way later in the year, but since I've fallen into a rut with writing out the storyline for another multi-chaptered Stendy fanfic (which doesn't even have a title yet, lmao) and because I haven't had too much inspiration to write anything new, I decided to get the ball rolling with this story instead.

This is definitely going to be at least twice the length of The Key to My Heart, judging by the storyline I've written so far and what I plan on doing with this story in the future – while that story was fluffy and cutesy in its own way, this fanfic is going to be more mature though. :)

Some quick housekeeping things:
- Updates should be twice a month at least, but depending on the amount of time I will have to work on this story, it's quite possible that I might do just one update per month.
- Rating of the story will eventually change from T to M, simply due to more mature themes present in later chapters (sex, drinking etc.)
- This story is also cross-posted on AO3, just in case you prefer reading stories there instead of over here.

I really hope that you guys will enjoy this fanfic, and of course, do not hesitate to leave your comments/critiques/questions/etc. down below!