Oh wow. Sorry for making you all wait so long... hrm, I must've lost track of time...

Actually, I've been hopping around fanfictionnet, dropping a few stories here and there. If any of you read Digimon, I've got an action story going on there. Also, in South Park, I have another StanKyle fic, which will actually lead into KyleTweek! Please read it. It's my next major project after the Faith-Hope arc I'm doing, and I'll be there (in case you wonder where I'll disappear to after this).

Author profile updated with (current - halted - abandoned) projects. Go check it out to see your favorite story's progress!

Anyway, I'm really happy that this story is doing so well. All my other stories are like... freaking horrible in reviews. I'm going to be jumping between South Park and Digimon, though I'll have you know my true heart rests with south Park. Yay.

Things were beginning to clear up, so it seemed. Stan found it easier to concentrate in school once more, and the pain of Clyde's death was starting to fade away. It was still there, both he and anyone around him could tell. But it wasn't something that hindered him from living his life anymore, and that had been a good result.

Another good effect had been that Cartman was being pulled out of class more often. Every day during Stan's American Government class, a green slip of paper would always get Cartman out of class and leave for the main office. Even though Stan wasn't sure what it was about, he still held hope in his heart that it would regard the horrid crime he had committed. He hadn't yet told anyone about what had happened, and Stan was hoping that the week or two of Clyde's body in autopsy would reveal the occurrences without needing his help.

Stan, Kyle, and Kenny began to hang out more often. It had originally been to comfort Stan, even after the funeral. But as days passed it seemed that hanging out wasn't such a bad idea. They would spend the first few hours doing homework, and then after they would turn their attention to anything they could possibly think of.

That day, the first Tuesday after the funeral, the three were at Stan's house. Bodies spread along the floor, books piled in a circle, and pencils scattered everywhere, the three boys were set on doing homework. They had been working on their personal essays that Mr. Absenence had assigned weeks before, an assignment that they had all procrastinated on, even Kyle. Their teacher despised typed work, and prefered everything written, which gave them the ability to work on the assignment together.

"What do I believe in?" Kenny asked as he tapped his pencil on the paper. It was a rather odd concept; there were many things that Stan said he could believe in, but when it came to actually writing an essay about it he found it difficult.

"I'm gonna right about human equality," said Kyle. "About how Jewish kids aren't any different that Catholic kids and stuff. It'll probably suck though."

"At least you have something to write about," Stan said, staring at his own blank paper. "I'm pretty much screwed."

"You're not alone," said Kenny. Then, after throwing his pencil against the floor, he added, "man, I hate this essay!"

"Just write..." muttered Kyle, beginning to stain his paper with lead marks. "Just choose something you strongly support."

"Like how wonderfuly my boyfriend is?" Kenny whispered, grinning madly. Kyle smiled, punching the boy lightly on the arm.

"Of course, though I'm not sure how Cartman would like that,"Kyle said playfully. Stan merely stared from where he was, reflecting the same smile. It wasn't that he wasn't happy for them, just... it seemed weird. No, Kyle being with Kenny wasn't weird. He had seen it for almost three weeks, at the least, and it really didn't matter to him. It was just... that feeling. That desire that wished it were him.

"You never know," said Kenny. "I could give my lovely serenade while he's down at the office again," Kenny said, causing Kyle to go red.

"Serenade?" Kyle asked disbelieving. "I'd like to see you try presenting an essay in a sing-song manner."

"Oh I will," said Kenny. He smiled, and almost immediately Kyle followed suit. It was seemingly contagious, though Stan didn't seem to catch on. The whole ordeal was torturous, tantalizing almost... It had been a good thing that Kenny and Kyle had stopped, because even though Stan felt like he wouldn't do anything it was quite possible that Stan would explode.

"So, back to the essay," Stan said, redirecting the focus to their homework. For the next while the three wrote their hands off. Lead began collecting on the side of their hands, fingers began to hurt, and brains stopped working. Stan found a hard time writing his essay; he knew what he wanted to write about, he knew what he was going to say, but... being able to write it would be the problem.

"Done!" exclaimed Kenny, dropping his pencil down. Both boys gaped at him incredulously as he stood up and stretched. "I think I'm going to go upstairs and get something to eat. Stan, is that fine?"

"Of course," muttered Stan, "but how...?" But before Stan could finish the boy bounded up the stairs. Stan was partially glad that his parents weren't home from work yet; he'd hate to see his mother's face when she saw Kenny's face dug into their leftovers.

"I hope he really didn't write his about me," said Kyle, frowning. He craned his neck over to see what was written on his page. "Nope, of course not."

"Wouldn't have mattered," muttered Stan quietly. "He's not even in our class."

"Oh," Kyle said. "I didn't even think about that." Stan only nodded, looking down on his paper. He had only written half a page, seeming absolutely pathetic compared to Kyle's. Kyle seemed to notice his inefficiency at writing, and peered over to see what he was writing about. Panicking, Stan withdrew his paper, holding it to his chest.

"Don't read it," Stan muttered, cheeks turning red.

"Aw, come on," Kyle protested, but Stan kept his face straight.

He shook his head violently. "No, dude!"

"At least let me help," said Kyle.

"Nah dude, you can't help without looking at it, and I don't want you to." Kyle hung his head in defeat. Smiling, Stan returned his paper back to its formal position, deciding to keep it face down. "Oh no," Stan added, seeing the new pout that Kyle had taken up.

"I'll show you mine!" said Kyle, freely handing his paper. Stan shook his head defiantly, and after that Kyle had just given up. There was a moment of silence, before... "Is Kenny still up there?"

"Yeah," said Stan. "I hope he's not eating my whole kitchen. Sure, he doesn't eat. But that doesn't mean we don't either..." Stan stood up, raising his arms in the air to stretch. Kyle followed suit, and soon both boys were on their feet.

The idea had suddenly occurred to him that he was with Kyle alone, in his basement. Stan laughed at the thought; it had sounded quite dirty, and, like the teenage boy he was, there were many things he could do right now. Kenny was only upstairs, but...

"Stan?" asked Kyle, and Stan was brought back to reality. Nah...

"Let's go see what's taking him so long," said Stan, but as he went Kyle did not move. Stan stopped in his motion, not even taking the first steps up the stairs. It felt awkward enough going up the stairs with someone watching him; he didn't want to feel watched.

"Stan?" The voice of uncertainty. Stan gulped.

"Yeah?"

"Remember what I said to you... that day... before you...?" Stuttering. Uneasiness. Those feelings seemed to jump between the two a lot.

"Of course," Stan said, biting his lip. Somehow, just somehow... everything seemed to turn back to this...

"Well... I wanted to say sorry for that," said Kyle. Stan looked at him curiously, not knowing what he meant; Kyle gave Stan a clearer answer when he inquired. "I didn't mean to sound harsh and stuff..."

"Oh," was all Stan could say. He backed upward into the stairs, ascending the first step. "So everything else..."

"I still mean," said Kyle. "Just... not in such a harsh way..."

"Oh," said Stan again. And then, realizing that it was old news and that nothing could be done to change it, he smiled. "Let's go find Kenny."

"Stan..." Kyle muttered, but Stan stopped him.

"Let's go," Stan repeated, and he pulled Kyle upward.

- - - - - - - - - -

Unlike Stan's predictions, however, Kenny had actually been found sitting in Stan's room, using the Internet. Stan was under the assumption that Kenny didn't have the Internet, though he had never actually tried figuring out for himself. He was on a sports website, checking scores for some particular game. Stan and Kyle merely say down on Stan's bed, bored out of their minds.

"You finished?" Kenny asked, and both boys shook their heads.

"We wanted to see what you were doing," said Kyle. "You were taking too long, and Stan thought you were eating out his kitchen."

"Come on Kyle," Kenny muttered, and Stan could almost see a smile curl up at the corners of his lips. "I'm dating you. I wouldn't eat anything out without your permission."

"Sick, dude!" Stan exclaimed automatically, and the three laughed. Stan enjoyed these moments - the three friends laughing and enjoying themselves - and even though he wished he could've had these moments with Clyde he knew that there was no changing that now.

"What game?" asked Kyle, peering over Kenny's shoulder.

"Cows," replied Kenny. "Still undefeated."

"That's pretty good," said Stan, also peering over his shoulder. "Hey, notice Craig and Token haven't been playing the last few games?"

"Weird," muttered Kyle. "Aren't they one of the better players? Why'd coach sit them out?"

"Probably missed practice," said Stan. He sighed, returning to his bed. "That's pretty weird too."

"I dunno," concluded Kenny, closing the window. He got up from his seat, neatly tucking in Stan's chair. "We should go to the movies."

"Huh?" Stan and Kyle said in unison.

"You know..." Kenny reiterated slowly. "...Like that place where teenagers watch movies?"

"I dunno," said Kyle. "Maybe." He thought about it for a few seconds, and then he spoke again. "On second thought, I have to finish a government outline..."

"We didn't have one," Stan said quickly, but he was merely shot down by Kyle.

"Advanced Placement," Kyle replied. Kenny sighed.

"You have to go though!" Stan said, joining Kenny's side. "If you don't go then Kenny and I will go alone..."

"...And you have no idea what we may be doing..." Kenny added, even adding a wink. This seemed to catch Kyle's attention, and the boy's attention span immediately sprang back up.

"No way dude!" Kyle said, eyes widening. "Now I'm definitely going!" Stan doubled in laughter, and Kenny gave him a pat on the back. Stan hadn't been sure how he had been able to pull that off, especially since Kenny wasn't the one on his radar. But then... there might have been ulterior motives... though Stan questioned how someone could have ulterior motives without knowing about it.

"And we're getting there... how?" asked Kyle. Kenny shrugged.

"Walk?" he suggested, and with grumbling from the two they both agreed. Stan went over to his closet to change his clothes, since he was still in his school clothes. After changing into shorts and a t-shirt he turned around, looking for their expressions.

Kyle had definitely been staring at him. Stan raised his eyebrow curiously, and as soon as Kyle realized Stan had caught him he hung his head and turned a dark red.

"Erm..." Kenny muttered, looking towards the boy. "Kyle, what-"

"Sorry," Kyle whispered, clearly red from embarrassment.

"Kyle-"

"Don't worry about it Kenny," said Stan, but Kenny didn't listen to him.

"Kyle, what's-?"

"Nothing," said Kyle, and suddenly he drew him into an embrace. Stan felt his insides churning again, though he knew that it clearly would not be a good time to mention that feeling. Inside he felt bad; Kenny obviously suspected something, and it had all been because Stan caught Kyle looking at him. It's not like he was trying to ruin Kyle's relationship... or was it the whole "ulterior motives without knowing" concept?

"Kyle, all I was gonna ask you was what movie you wanted to watch..." Kenny explained slowly. Oops.

"Oh," was all Kyle could say. Kyle's expression quickly changed, laughing at his own stupidity. "Well then, I don't know. We'll find out when we get there!"

"Lead the way!" Stan added playfully, and he started a march. Kenny laughed, and he joined in, marching out of Stan's room. Stan continued to march, though he was waiting upon Kyle. Kyle looked at Stan for several seconds, with worry on his face, and though he proceeded he did not march.

"Down the stairs!" Kenny said, and the three made their way down the stairs. They walked out the door, and as Stan turned to lock it he felt a tapping on his shoulder.

"What I wanted to say earlier..." Kyle whispered. Not this again...

"Look," said Stan, raising both his hands up. "I don't really mind about what you-"

"I just wanted to say..." interjected Kyle, "...that you really haven't wasted your chance..."

"Oh." And as Kyle picked up a march toward Kenny Stan was left to ponder on the front porch. He still had a chance... but what was Kyle implying? That he hoped for Stan to try and win his heart? Or that Kyle didn't mind if Stan still wanted to hopelessly try?

One thing was for sure. As he rejoined the others he began formulating things in his head. And in those plans, he was aware of the ulterior motives behind what he would do.

Uh, wow... chapter 25? It's getting harder to write. YES I mean less motivated. BUT WE'RE ALMOST THERE! So... keep the reviews up, give me some helpful pointers, tell me reasons why I should continue, etc. The old stuff.

And get my brain working!

-Zakuyoe.

PS: My author profile... check it out...