-4-

That night…

Kyle was getting ready for bed in Stan's room whilst Stan brushed his teeth in the bathroom down the hall. Kyle looked around, he'd never noticed before but amongst all the football gear, trophies and stuff, Stan had a lot of pictures of the two of them.

Kyle walked over to Stan's desk where there was one of thee two of them with their arms over each other's shoulders with Niagara Falls behind them. Kyle remembered that trip well, it was one of his favourite memories. That was the last time he and Stan had shared a room, and that was the part he remembered well. Both sets of parents had been sharing a different two-bed room down the other end of the landing. Since there was no room for the boys with the parents, they got their own room. This suited them just fine. They could sneak out to the games arcade downstairs when their parents weren't around, they could stay up as late as they liked, and watch what ever they wanted on TV.

Kyle concentrated at Stan in the photo. When they shared a room, Stan did something that he only normally did alone, he slept naked. He only did that with people he "trusted" or when he was on his own. That didn't really bother Kyle, In fact, he quite liked it. It was a summer trip, So Stan was sleeping on top of the sheets, the bed was right next to Kyle's, so all he had to do was look over to the sleeping boy next to him, and he'd see Stan's perfect body Just lying there whilst his mind was somewhere else.

"Hey, I remember that trip. Didn't you nearly fall right down into the falls moments after that picture was taken?" Stan Said, coming up behind Kyle and seeing his staring at the picture

Kyle jumped out of his skin, nearly dropping the picture on the floor. He regained control and held onto the picture frame "Didn't you nearly push me?" Kyle asked with a hint of humour in his voice as he placed the picture frame back down on the desk.

"Not intentionally" Stan said, sitting on his bed and removing his socks

"Yeah, sure" Kyle smirked as he stripped down to his boxers and got into his bed

Stan smiled as he watched Kyle. 'God I want to take those boxers off him' he thought. As he removed the rest of his clothes and threw them in a heap on the floor, before turning off the light, and turning on the TV for them to watch as they lay there in their beds.

They lay there for a few minutes watching the show on the TV, Not having a clue what it was, but watching it anyway then Stan piped up "Kyle?" he asked

"Hmm?" Kyle replied

"Can I ask you something?"

Kyle turned in his bed to face Stan "Sure, Stan."

Stan twiddled his hands under his duvet cover, keeping his eyes fixed on the TV screen "Just for arguments sake, lets say you found out someone you'd known most of your life was…you know…gay. What would you do?"

Kyle knew something was up straight away. He'd known Stan for a long time, so he knew when Stan was trying to get an answer to a question that he wasn't actually asking "I dunno. I wouldn't be mad if that's what you mean. It's not my business if someone else is gay, so why would I have a problem with it either" Half way through speaking, he began to realise what he thought Stan was getting at. Kyle had been questioning his own "straightness" for nearly a year now. 'Oh shit dude, he thinks I'm gay!' Kyle thought to himself, starting to get a little panicked. 'Ok, calm down Kyle, if he asks you, then just tell him the truth, that you've been wondering that about your self for a while now'

Stan breathed a silent sigh of relief "That's good to know"

"That's good to know?" Kyle repeated

'Fuck!' Stan thought. He looked over and saw Kyle just lying there, watching the TV 'Good, maybe he wont figure it out' "Oh well…you know, I was just wondering if you minded that kinda thing"

"Nope. Not really" Kyle replied

'oh the hell with it, I'm gonna give it a try anyway.' Stan thought. "So…what would you tell them if they told you that they thought they might be in love with a guy The he had known pretty much his whole life, and that he was possibly the reason he and his girlfriend split up?"

"I dunno, You know I'm no good with…" something clicked in Kyle's mind. He suddenly realised that the gay one Stan was talking about WASN'T Kyle, it was Stan. That probably meant that the friend Stan was talking about was him. His voice changed to a softer pitch "…this kind of thing." He finished.

'Crap!' The butterflies returned to Stan's stomach with such intensity that he was nearly sick. Throwing up over the person he loved wasn't something he had done in a long time, he'd come close to it, but never this close. 'Damn it! He's worked it out! You IDOIT, Stan!' He scolded himself. He glanced over at Kyle who was just staring at him before turning over to face the wall, and pulling the covers right up to his face.

Kyle stared blankly at his friends back. 'It must be. It must be me. Thank god for that.' he thought. Kyle slowly and silently got up out of his bed and walked over to Stan's bed.

"I think I love you, Kyle" Stan was crying, his whole body was shaking, although he tried to control it at the same time as trying to control his crying…neither of which seemed to be working very well. He felt a draft, but thought nothing of it, There was a heating vent right under his bed, so he felt the draft from that a lot. The he felt something else, something he wasn't expecting. He felt the mattress move, like someone else had got into the bed beside him, then he felt Kyle's arms around him. "What the…?" he said through his tears as he turned over to face Kyle who was smiling softly.

"It's ok" Kyle ran his hand through Stan's hair. He decided there and then that, if that's what Stan wanted, he was going to give having a boyfriend a try. He he'd had feelings for Stan for a while now, but hadn't realised them until just now. Hearing Stan basically confess his love for him, made him feel on top of the world. He kissed Stan softly "I think I love you too, Stan" He said softly.

Stan buried his head against Kyle's chest; Kyle just held him, cuddling him and kissing his forehead whilst gently stroking Stan's Hair.

Stan quickly stopped crying and wiped his eyes with his hand, then wrapped his arms around Kyle, never wanting to let go of him. "I thought I'd screwed up. I thought you'd never want to speak to me again." He said quietly.

"What made you think that I'd ever do that to you?" Kyle asked, smiling at his new boyfriend.

"I don't know, Kyle. I'm a football player, not Friod. I'm not as smart as you, how the hell would I ever know what you were thinking?"

"Smarts have nothing to do with it. But I guess you're right."

Stan yawned, closed his eyes and rested his head against Kyle. They held each other gently, resting their heads on each other's shoulders and slowly fell asleep, their lives changed forever.