A/N: Yes, I'm sorry, it's been so long since I've updated. Been busy with school and work, and other fandoms have been distracting lately. I am determined to finish this story though! So thank you to those who have been sticking with me, and of course, thanks to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/followed and even you silent lurkers that don't say anything. I do appreciate it! This chapter is a bit short… only about 3,000 words, but the next one will be pretty long, so it makes up for it!

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Best Friends Forever

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Chapter 4

Something Special

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It has been a week.

An entire week, and Kyle still hasn't said more to me than meaningless, short answers that bare no value in response to anything that I've said to him. Like a bagger asking if you want paper or plastic at the store, and you giving no more than a monotonous, short answer in response. Not that you would expect an elaborate, friendly answer in that situation, but that's the point, Kyle and I are more than just that – fighting or not, I'm still his friend, he should at least treat me like I matter to him just a little.

But I suppose that's too much to ask right now. He's still mad at me and I feel like shit because of it.

I stared at him in the school courtyard, his green hat and the fiery red hair poking out from underneath it making him stand out like a beacon. He was there, chatting quite happily amongst a group of people – Adrian, Cartman, Butters, Craig, Token, some other kid I don't remember the name of – his other friends I suppose, since I was apparently so different now.

I felt my face burn and my stomach twist in mild anger as I watched Adrian affectionately place his hand on Kyle's shoulder – a gesture Kyle did not pull away from. Instead, he laughed amicably at something that blonde asshole had said. Why is he acting that way? Kyle should not be hanging around that guy, he's nothing but bad news. I may have made a lot of mistakes in my wording the last couple of weeks, but I was right about that at least.

"Why don't you just try talking to him?"

I snapped my eyes away from Kyle to fixate on the light, cerulean ones of Wendy, her brows tilted in a look of concern as she stared back at me.

"You don't think I've already tried that?" I responded, far more snidely than I had intended. I'm not trying to take out my frustrations on her, but this whole situation is just so… frustrating.

She glared at me momentarily in response before her expression softened and she sighed, moving her hands to fumble with the mismatched buttons on my jacket. I probably did look like a mess this morning, I wasn't taking as good of care of myself as I normally did… "I know you have." She mumbled as she absentmindedly re-buttoned my jacket. "Don't take it out on me though, I'm trying to help."

I simply groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration. "I know, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be acting like a dick towards you Wendy. I'm just frustrated, Kyle and I never fight like this."

"It's alright, I feel the same way when Bebe and I fight." She patted my chest as she finished her work, tilting her head upward to meet my gaze and smiling sweetly. "It's been a week right? Maybe he's calmed down a bit since then, it can't hurt to try again."

Perhaps she's right. As much as I hate to agree with Cartman, he's not always too far off when calling Kyle a 'PMSing girl'… Not that I think Kyle's a girl or anything, but he certainly has a temper like one on their period. Now that I think about it, it generally does take Kyle a week or two to calm down when he gets amped up about something. Maybe he is over it now… I heaved a sigh. "Alright, alright, I'll give it a shot."

"Good." She nodded at me, affectionately rubbing my arm. "I admit, I'm not always happy with the amount of time you and Kyle spend together. But, you're his best friend, and there's something special about those kind of relationships."

Right, something special. It's true though, there's no one else I would have wanted to spend my childhood growing up with.

…

"Dude, so Red… man, she's amazing dude!" Kenny spouted out, his words practically laced with sexual excitement… That whore. "I've never met a girl that can go as many rounds as her. And the way she sucks dick, oh man I could watch her all day!"

This has to have been at least the fifth time this week I've heard Kenny ramble on about Red. I can't say I've ever seen Kenny be this into a girl before… it was weird.

"Shut the fuck up Kinny, you poor piece of shit," Cartman suddenly snapped at him, his brows creased into an annoyed scowl and face tinted red. "No one wants to hear about how many diseases you've picked up."

Kenny's eyes flashed with daring amusement as he looked towards Cartman, his expression taunting. "What's wrong? Jealous you're still a virgin and I'm not?"

"I'm not a virgin." Cartman spoke quickly, although the way his eyes quickly darted away easily showed that he was lying. "I get laid way more times than you guys, you just haven't seen my girlfriend cause' she's online."

"Oh, I see. She's riding your virtual dick on a daily basis then?" Kenny egged on, a smirk firmly plastered on his face and Cartman's face flushed deeper in agitation. "I can't say that sounds as fun as the real deal."

I chose to stay out of this one, like always – whether it be Kenny vs. Cartman, Kyle vs. Cartman, or hell, anyone vs. Cartman. It was such a common thing. The sounds of shuffling and talking in the hallways during passing period easily drowned out Cartman's heated response… not that I was paying much attention anyways. I found myself distracted when I finally spotted Kyle in the hallways, his bright green ushanka hat plainly visible amongst the masses of people. I felt my brows crease into a scowl when I realized that he was chatting with Adrian, who was playing himself off as if he was some movie Romeo like a fucking douchebag.

Kyle was standing with his back against the lockers, casually leaning against the metal and clutching his books to his chest as Adrian loomed over him, his blonde hair dangling loosely in his face. He was leaning against the lockers with his elbow in a way that reminded me of what those cocky guys in movies do when they're trying to hit on a girl. I felt a shiver run down my body in disgust on seeing him acting this way to Kyle. And, it bothered me even more that Kyle didn't appear uncomfortable in the slightest, he appeared relaxed and his lips were curled into a content smile. I don't get it. Why was someone as bold as Kyle tolerating this?

Either way, I needed to talk to Kyle anyways… and I wasn't about to let some rich, foreign asshole take advantage of my best friend. "I'll see you guys later." I mumbled to Kenny and Cartman, who were still bickering, as I began to make a beeline towards Kyle.

I could have sworn I heard Cartman make his usual jeer about me 'needing to make up with my girlfriend' as I walked away, but I didn't give a shit. It was just Cartman. I strode up to where Kyle was standing with determination, and I saw his expression crease into a scowl when he noticed my approach… and it hurt to see that, more than it probably should have.

"Stan…" Kyle began, his tone warning and posture instantly becoming stiff and defensive. Is he really still that mad at me?

Adrian turned to face me as well, his lips curling into a falsely friendly smile that I could see right through. "Hi Stan." He greeted in mock cheerfulness, his accent coating his voice. "Thank you again for helping me in the gym the other day, I do appreciate it. I was just talking to Kyle about his karate practice, and my it does sound fun! He was even nice enough to invite me, isn't that just wonderful?"

"Right… that's great…" I couldn't hide the scowl that formed on my face at this, it was hard enough to hold back the growing urge to punch this pompous asshole square in his pretty little face. "I actually was hoping to talk to Kyle alone. Could you give us a moment?"

I felt Kyle stiffen up next to me at this and Adrian quirked an eyebrow at me. "Oh? Alone you say? How interesting…" Adrian replied, his tone was almost taunting. "Well who am I to intrude on your… relationship. I will leave you two wonderful people to it." He smirked at me before glancing at Kyle and winking. "I will see you later Kyle."

"See ya…" Kyle mumbled out as the blonde began to walk away - well, more like swaggered away. That fucking pompous asshole, he just did everything that was humanly possible to get under my skin. The moment he was out of earshot, Kyle's eyes flashed dangerously at me, his stance firm and defensive. "What do you want Stan?" He bit out.

"I…" I began, uncomfortably rubbing the back of my head. I didn't quite know where to start. I let out a sigh. "Listen Kyle, those things I said to you last week and all the shit I did last week… I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking straight and I shouldn't have acted like such a dick to you."

Kyle simply stared at me for a moment, his brows creased into a scowl and anger shone briefly in his eyes before his expression suddenly began to soften and he let out a loud, aggravated sigh. "I'm sorry too…" He mumbled quietly. "I want to be mad at you because this shit keeps happening with you, but I can't stay that way. You're my best friend… you mean a lot to me."

I felt my stomach do a slight flutter at this, and I didn't quite understand it, but I did feel happy. I mean a lot to him… well, I suppose I should, I am his best friend after all… he means a lot to me too.

"I just… it frustrates me with how things have changed from when we were kids." Kyle continued, shuffling uncomfortably. "I mean, you've become well, you. Stan Marsh, the popular, good-looking star football player of South Park High. Everyone fucking loves you. And I'm just your nerdy best friend that Wendy thinks is trying to steal away you away from her."

Good looking? I don't know why – because yeah, people often told me I was attractive – but it felt strangely satisfying to hear it come from Kyle's mouth.

"That's not true," I stated matter of factly in response. "You're practically the smartest person in the school, and I fucking know you could take me down in a fight. Don't sell yourself short, dude." Kyle smiled lightly at my compliments, and I swore I saw a small blush creep onto his face. Maybe it was just my imagination. "Want to come over and hang out tonight?" I offered.

"What about Wendy?" Kyle quickly asked.

"She said she wanted to spend some time with Bebe and the other girls tonight," I responded, shrugging nonchalantly. "I could really use some help with my Algebra homework too, I don't get it at all."

Kyle stood there silently for a moment, seemingly pondering my offer. His posturing had relaxed considerably though, thank god for that. It was fucking awkward to see Kyle appear uncomfortable around me. "Okay, sure."

"Great!" I beamed at him. "I'll text ya later, okay dude?"

…

"So you divide by 316 on both sides to isolate the X, and then you times by 4, and then…" Fuck, I hate algebra… just math in general, it tedious and it's not useful. Not to mention Mr. Garrison sucks at teaching it. "You know what, fuck it," I exclaimed, throwing down my pencil. "I don't get it."

Kyle simply laughed at me. "It's not hard, you almost got it," he began, pointing at the paper. "Look, you just need to finish isolating the X by multiplying by 4 on both sides, and then it just simple order of operations."

I scoffed at him. "Maybe it's not hard for you," I sighed, leaning leisurely back into my chair. "Let's take a break and play GameSphere or something, I can finish this later."

"Stan…" Kyle warned, he knew well of my tendency to procrastinate.

"It's fine, I promise I won't put it off too much longer," I reassured him. "I just need a break."

Kyle simply sighed at me. "Okay dude, your choice"

"Hey, so do you wan - Oh, hey Sparky! C'mere boy!" I called out when I spotted the familiar bulky form of my dog sniffing around outside my door.

At my acknowledgement, Sparky looked in our direction, ears perking up and tail beginning to wag before bounding excitedly towards us. I grunted slightly as jumped into my lap and attempted to lick my face… this dog was delusional, I love him to pieces, but he does still think he's a small dog when that is clearly not the case. Kyle was chuckling in the background at my futile attempts to push the exuberant canine off of my lap.

"Hey Sparky!" Kyle called out, prompting him to finally jump off of my lap to go see Kyle, rolling over lazily onto Kyle's feet as he begged for stomach rubs. "Aww, yes you're a cute boy! Yes you are!" Kyle cooed out in his best baby talk voice, Sparky groaning contently from the belly scratches. "Haha, do you remember that whole 'red rocket thing from when we were kids?" He laughed and I felt my face flush slightly at the embarrassing memory. "What a mess that was. Hilarious when our parents found out though."

I forced out a chuckle, awkwardly scratching the back of my head. I can't say I was too fond of the memory of when I accidentally jacked off my dog. "Yeah that was a mess," I replied. "We were kids though, we didn't know any better."

We sat there in silence for a few moments, Sparky's over-excited pants the only sound to be heard as Kyle continued to scratch his belly while he rolled around on the ground. No 'red-rocket' this time though, thankfully. His curly red strands of hair were dangling loosely down over his forehead and sinewy muscle laced his arms, which was made clearly visibly when he flexed during his motions to rub Sparky's belly. He claimed today that our appearances were one of the things that were separating us as friends, but I don't know what he's talking about… he's not bad looking at all… for another male that is.

"So…" Kyle began, breaking the silence and snapping me out of my thoughts. "I heard that Kenny finally has a real girlfriend."

I chuckled lightly. Kenny? Yeah right. "I wouldn't necessarily call it that. Although he really has been into Red lately… I can't even imagine Kenny ever settling down with someone though. There is Cartman and his whole 'online girlfriend' thing though."

Kyle simply scoffed at this. "Yeah right. Fatass is lying. He just wants attention."

"You never know. There could be a girl out there that actually wants Cartman," I laughed.

"Doubtful. I'm certain every girl alive would sooner date a rock with a dildo attached than Cartman." Kyle replied rather scathingly, his hatred for Cartman quickly flaring even in this short conversation about him. "Adrian claims that he saw Cartman propositioning a prostitute the other day, and even she turned him down." He laughed.

"Well, Cartman is also 17 dude, a bit young for a prostitute." I laughed awkwardly, Adrian's name-drop causing me to stiffen up just a little. I hated that guy so much, and I hated the fact that Kyle was friends with him. I wanted to know… I really wanted to know the nature of their relationship… "So, Kyle… about Adrian…"

At this, Kyle's eyes immediately narrowed in on me in suspicious caution. "What about him?" He bit out shortly.

"Just, what do you think about him?"

Kyle stared at me for a moment, holding his suspicious expression before finally relaxing and sighing. "He's nice and fun to hang out with, plus he has good stories about his time in France." I opened my mouth to respond, but Kyle cut me off. "And if you're referring to the fact that he hits on me, I already know," He stated plainly.

At this my jaw went slack. What? He already knew? What the hell. "I… ahh… yeah…" I stumbled out, unable to form coherent words.

"I'm not an idiot, Stan." Kyle stated, his expression neutral. "I can tell when someone is obviously interested, just like Bebe was in our sophomore year. And the fact that Adrian likes dudes is written all over him."

"Wait, wait. You knew that Bebe was crushing on you? What the hell dude? Everyone thought that you were oblivious to all of it. I told Wendy that you didn't want to date Bebe because you didn't understand relationship shit yet." I exclaimed, rambling off my words as soon as they hit my mind. I can't believe it… "Why didn't you want to date her? She's one of the hottest girls in school." Although, I honestly didn't want him to date her at the time either…

Kyle simply shrugged. "I wasn't interested in her. And before you say anything, no, I'm not interested in Adrian either."

It made me oddly happy to hear Kyle say that… "So why the fuck do you hang around him then? Doesn't the flirting get annoying?"

"Like I said, he's nice and I don't want to hurt his feelings by rejecting him, he doesn't have many friends here yet. I mean, you hang around Kenny a lot and he flirts all the time."

Yeah, not with me though.

I don't get it, but I didn't want to antagonize him further after we just made up.

"Right, okay dude." I resigned.

"Anyways, we should finish your algebra homework, isn't it due tomorrow?" Kyle said, moving to stand back up from his kneeled position next to Sparky, who was now passed out on his back and snoring quietly.

I groaned. Fuck that homework. "How about we play our GameSphere game first?"

Kyle sighed before standing up straight and grinning confidently at me. "Fine, if I win, you're finishing your homework with no more breaks."

I returned his grin. "You're on."

…

To be continued…