Ever since that stupid list was made back in elementary school, Kyle was always a bit self-conscious about his looks. He didn't believe he was good looking. It had come out that the list had been rigged, and he had, in fact, been higher on the list; however, this knowledge didn't change Kyle's low opinion of his looks. Even after returning from camp, his self image hadn't changed much.

When his friends had first seen him after camp, Kenny had insisted that he had become hot. Kyle didn't believe him. When Stan showed the signs of being attracted to him, Kyle had turned a blind eye. The idea had seemed so ridiculous that he hadn't even given it a second thought. And now that Cartman was restating what should have been the obvious, Kyle realized for the first time how blind he was.

"Kyle, he's ATTRACTED to you, and he doesn't know what to do."

His low self-esteem in regards to his looks didn't want him to believe it, but all of the signs pointed to it. Stan was attracted to him. It was hard to believe.

Why would he be attracted to him?

Kyle then reflected on what Cartman had just said. "… 'Mega-sexy'?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow and looking at Cartman.

Cartman cleared his throat awkwardly, and Kyle could have sworn his cheeks flushed. "I might be understating your hotness level a bit when I say 'mega-sexy.'"

Kyle snorted.

"No, seriously Kyle. You've always been the hottest guy I've known."

"N-no way…"

"Seriously."

Kyle's face felt like it was on fire. That was probably the most embarrassing thing someone had ever said to him. It felt good, even though he felt uncomfortable at the same time.

"I-I think you're hot too," he stuttered.

It was Cartman's turn to snort. "Yeah, right. I'm the fattest kid in school."

"You are not. You're not as big as you were when we were growing up. Besides… I like you the way you are."

"You're seriously attracted to me?"

"Yes." They locked eyes, and Kyle smiled. It was now or never. "I think you're super awesome."

"Same here."

Kyle inched a bit closer to Cartman, and he took the hint. Soon, they were kissing, and it felt just as great as it did the first time. Kyle wrapped his arms around his neck, pulling him half on top of him. Cartman touched him gently, as if afraid of hurting him again.

Kyle felt that no matter how shitty things were, they would get through it. Together, they would get through it.

-.-.-.-.-.

Kyle could sense the tension in the air, but that was to be expected. Hell, he was tense himself. He had told them about the meeting that morning, and none of them had been happy to attend. However, all of them had shown up, which was the important thing. Kyle knew that meant that they were willing to band together to deal with the problem at hand.

"Ok," he began. "So we all know why we're here."

"I object to Stan's presence," Cartman announced grumpily.

Kyle pursed his lips, glancing at Stan who was glaring at Cartman. "Cartman, we talked about this last night."

Cartman grumbled but said nothing further.

"Wendy?" Kyle turned toward her. She was sitting next to Stan, both of them sitting as far away from Cartman as possible. They had taken over an empty classroom. Kyle was sitting on the teacher's desk. Cartman stood grumpily to the side, and Stan and Wendy sat in student desks. "Why don't you start?"

She cleared her throat, tucking a black strand of hair behind her ear. "The school is slowly becoming divided over this fad thing. There are officially three groups. One group is for those who support redefining the self. They think that they can suddenly chose who they want to be. The opposing group believes that people should just be who they are. They don't think that people should decide to arbitrarily change personalities. The third group consists of those in the school who are undecided. Now, I propose that we are a fourth group. We don't think that people should pretend to be someone they aren't just because society has dictated their roles."

Kyle nodded. "The bullying problem has slowly been getting worse. The factions are starting to gather and form leaders. Butters got beaten up earlier today, and had to be sent home. I caught a glimpse of him – it wasn't pretty."

He glanced at Cartman. Cartman gave him a look. Kyle sighed.

"It has even spread amongst us. I've been attacked a few times because I was the one who started this fad."

"What?" Wendy gasped, and Stan sat up a bit. "Kyle, that's horrible!"

Kyle shook his head. "I'm not saying it to get sympathy. I'm just telling you so you know the situation. But the bullying isn't just the anti side. The pro-change side, I guess is what you could call them… they have started getting violent as well. Stan?"

"The problem has started to spread outside the school. In fact, almost the entire town has already decided what side they support. I watched the news last night, and it seems that the mayor is really concerned about what's going to happen. She made a special announcement, begging people to respect others decisions on how they want to live their lives, but I don't think it made much of an impact."

"Ok." Kyle pursed his lips, studying all of them. "It's time we do something. We can't just sit around and watch our town self-destruct. I started this mess, and by god, I'll finish it. But I need everyone's help. I think if all of us band together, we can put things back to the way it was. In order to do that, we're going to have to put aside our differences. We're going to have to actually forgive each other for the shit that's been going down."

"I already told you my opinion on that matter," Cartman stated unapologetically.

Kyle sighed. "Ok, so Cartman is going to have to be the exception, but that's not so out of the ordinary anyway, right?"

"I can live with it, if that's what you mean," Stan muttered.

"Ok. So… I have a plan, at least until we formulate an actual course of action. In order to understand the situation more, we're going to have to get inside the minds of both of the groups. Stan, you're already friends with those guys who are in the anti-change group."

"We really need to find less-gay names for these groups," Cartman complained. Kyle ignored him and continued.

"I think that you should continue to be friends with them, and pretend that you're one of them. It shouldn't be too hard, because you definitely agree with their ideas. You'll tell Wendy everything that they say, and she'll report back to us. We are going to keep pretending that we aren't talking. If anyone sees you socializing with me, then your cover will be completely blown. If you need to talk to any of us, we'll do so outside of school." He took a deep breath. "I will infiltrate the opposing side. I don't agree with them at all; however, the students will easily buy that I'm on that side. They will buy it more than any of the rest of you. Wendy – I'm hoping that you'll try to convince students who are undecided or those who refuse to get involved to join our cause. We need to get as many people willing to stop this war before it actually happens. Cartman is going to be our activist outside the school. He's going to be openly advocating our side. He will also be communicating with the mayor.

"For now, I think this is our best plan of attack. If Wendy and Cartman are unsuccessful, Stan and I will be able to tell immediately. We'll also be able to report to the others if our groups are planning anything. If things start escalating, we'll have to come up with some other ideas."

"I think this is a good plan," Wendy commented. "Do we start tomorrow?"

"Yes."

Stan nodded. "It sounds good to me."

"The only thing is we're going to have to limit interaction during school. Now, Stan – that shouldn't be hard to stay away from me and Cartman. However, you and Wendy are going to have to distance yourselves a bit. She's going to be actively advocating against both groups, so it's a conflict of interest."

Stan and Wendy looked at each other, and then nodded. "I think we can handle it," Wendy replied.

"In turn, Cartman and I are going to have to do the same." Kyle looked at Cartman, and the other boy was scowling deeply. However, they had talked about it last night, so Cartman didn't complain.

"That shouldn't be too hard either, should it?" Stan questioned.

Kyle quickly answered, since Cartman looked like he was going to reply. "Cartman and I have been getting along rather well lately."

Stan blinked. "Oh."

"Don't act so surprised," Cartman grumbled angrily.

Kyle pursed his lips. A part of him wanted to tell Stan about him and Cartman, but he also realized that it wasn't just his decision to make. He also realized that due to his old friendship with Stan, he naturally wanted to share intimate details with him. However, due to their recent fallout, that wasn't necessarily an option anymore; at least, not yet.

Besides, despite what happened last night, he still wasn't exactly sure how to label his relationship with Cartman.

"So, does anyone have any questions?" Kyle glanced at each of them. No one said anything. "Ok. So, we'll communicate mostly through text messaging, and if we need to meet, we'll set up a meeting at someone's house. Even around town we should try to be careful. If anything comes up, we should tell the group. Even if it seems insignificant, share it."

"Got it," Wendy answered.

"Alright. Well, I guess I'll see you all around."

Kyle slid off the desk, glancing at Cartman. "You coming over tonight?"

"Yeah…"

"I'll meet you there. I'm going to talk to Stan for a second."

"Fine, but don't do anything stupid."

Kyle rolled his eyes, shoving him playfully. "Go. Hey Stan! Before you go, can I talk to you for a second?"

Stan blinked, and glanced at Wendy. She smiled and kissed him gently on the cheek. "I'll see you later, OK?"

"K…" She waved at Kyle and slipped out of the classroom.

Kyle took a deep breath. They were alone. Kyle wasn't really sure if talking about it was really the best solution, but he was sick of missing his best friend. In fact, the whole situation was getting on his nerves. Kyle had never been an incredibly patient person, and he was ready to fix their friendship once and for all.

"So… I was talking to Cartman," he started, leaning against the teacher's desk and staring at his shoes.

Stan didn't say anything, and just waited.

"He… said that you weren't disgusted that I was gay. Is that true?"

"That's what I told you, but you didn't believe me," Stan sighed, crossing his arms across his chest.

"I know…. I'm sorry, Stan. I just… couldn't believe the alternative."

Stan looked uncomfortable, but Kyle simply continued.

"I know that this whole fight thing has been… well… it ruined everything. But I don't want it to ruin our future friendship, Stan. You and I were always best of friends, and I hope that somehow we can work past this."

"Kyle, I know what you mean, but… I don't know. Things are…"

"Weird?"

"Exactly."

Kyle thought about his next words carefully. "Stan… are you attracted to me?" He peeked up to study Stan's reaction.

Stan looked embarrassed yet slightly ill. "N-no way," he stuttered, and Kyle immediately could tell he was lying.

Kyle bit his lower lip. "Stan, it's ok if you are. It's not like I'm going to expect anything, or judge you."

Stan was shaking his head. "Kyle, I… I don't know if I'm comfortable with this."

"With what? Talking?"

"Yeah."

He had thought about what he was going to say all last night. Once he had come to terms with the idea that Stan was awkward due to attraction, Kyle immediately knew what Stan's dilemma was. And he knew that as Stan's best friend, it was his job to tell him.

"Ok… Then we won't talk about it. Just… well, I know we've been, well… shitty. But despite everything, I want you to know that you can still tell me anything. Just know that I'm here if you want to talk. But Stan… for what it's worth, I know you love Wendy. And seriously dude, you're good looking, but I'm not interested in you like that. And, I think despite any weird attraction you feel, SHE'S the one you want to be with. I mean, I'm sure you still look at some girls and think they're attractive, but that doesn't change the fact that you LOVE Wendy. So this shouldn't be any different."

Kyle only hoped that he had said the right thing. He missed his best friend.