He stood in his doorway, trying to decide if he should sleep in Stan's bed or not. It seemed like an easy decision, but then he remembered how drunk Stan had got and thought it best to stay with him, just in case he ended up choking on his own puke in the night. He made a face at the thought as he got in to his pajamas and turned out the light, getting in to bed and hoping that wouldn't happen.
"Good night" he whispered, and Stan just mumbled back in his sleep.
"Uuuuggghhhh..." Stan groaned as his eyes slowly fluttered open, allowing him to see a tiny portion of the room he found himself in. Only a moment later, though, his vision was invaded by a concerned looking Kyle.
"Hey there, sleepy Stan" Kyle said quietly, almost certain that Stan's head would be too sensitive to take loud noises.
"Kyle?" he mumbled, half his mouth blocked by the pillow. "Where am I?"
"You're in my bed. Here, I brought you some water and tablets..." Stan just nodded at that and sat up slowly to take the tablets, deciding he would figure out what was going on later. "I hope you don't make a habit of this, I might be your super best room mate but there's only so much I can handle" He laughed quietly.
"Nnnn..." He nodded, slowly remembering how he came to be in this strange room. "Oh yeah... We moved in together." He smiled weekly, looking down at the cup of water that he was nursing.
"So you remember now, huh?" Kyle smiled back at him, moving to sit at the foot of the bed. Stan just nodded, saving his energy for his slow recovery. After a while of silence, Kyle decided it was okay to leave Stan alone and so he left and went in to the kitchen to make breakfast, making sure to shut the bedroom door in case the smell of food made him throw up.
As his body set about recovering, aided by the tablets, his mind wandered. He remembered drinking a lot of wine the night before, and he decided to backtrack from there. They had been celebrating moving in together, just after arriving from the long flight from Florida. He groaned quietly in realisation, a sudden change had happened in his life once again, and it was common knowledge by now how much difficulty Stan had accepting change.
He had learned at ten years old that change was inevitable, and it didn't always have to be a bad thing, but he did sometimes wish to regain his old innocence, where life was amazing every day. Back then he had no worries, had a whole family. At college he was just starting to feel comfortable again, back in a routine, surrounded by a new family when suddenly it got flipped upside down once more.
He would be forever grateful for Kyle's offer, and he certainly didn't regret accepting it because he wouldn't know what to do with himself if he didn't have his friend by his side. But he always had a hard time adjusting to change, good or bad, so he supposed this was to be expected. He just hoped he would be able to slip back in to a new routine and feel comfortable again in this new life they were going to build.
A considerable amount of time later, Stan felt well enough to get up and walk about, so that's just what he did. He got up slowly from the bed and called Kyle's name as he walked out the bedroom, then made his way to the kitchen.
"What's cookin' good lookin'?" He laughed tiredly, smiling as Kyle turned around to put the food on to one plate.
"Scrambled eggs, and you're just in time" he handed the plate over to Stan, who thanked him and sat at the breakfast bar to slowly eat it. "I checked the internet, apparently eggs are good for hangovers so..." he said, gesturing to the food. "I thought just plain eggs would be boring"
"You're the perfect wife" Stan said seriously between bites. He watched Kyle's face innocently, waiting for a reaction.
"Damn right I am"
"And I'm the perfect husband?"
"Nope, you're the kind of husband who gets drunk all the time and expects his wife to clean up after him"
"You wouldn't have me any other way" he grinned up at him, finished with his food.
"Whatever" he tried, and failed, to hide his smile as he took Stan's plate away and put it in the sink. "Wanna go to South Park today?" He asked, changing the subject.
"What? South Park's like... A thousand miles away from here"
"You forgot already?" he lightly smacked Stan's shoulder and laughed quietly, Stan just looked back at him blankly and he sighed. "There's a place called South Park not far from here, a neighborhood that used to be a town" Stan was silent for a moment.
"... Oh yeah! Yeah let's go check it out"
"That's what I...! Yeah, whatever, let's go"
It took, as Kyle had guessed, about twenty minutes to drive there. However, it took them longer to find a place to park but eventually managed to secure themselves a spot just outside the community center.
"Well... This place is certainly a lot different than our South Park" Stan concluded once he got out the car and looked around. In front of where they were parked was a large, fenced field (a playground, apparently, though it was deserted and nobody was playing on it) and to their right was the community center. "Although it looks just as boring, if nothing else..."
"Yeah, but it is just a neighborhood, not a town" Kyle was a little disappointed that there didn't seem like there was much that they could do, but he decided not to lose hope just yet. "Let's walk around a bit, maybe we'll find something going on" he smiled, and Stan just nodded and followed him. They turned left out the parking lot and walked down a few streets, Kyle keeping track of each twist and turn so they didn't get lost, and commenting about how nice or how ugly the houses were until they reached a place called Duwamish Waterway Park.
"Oh this looks kinda nice" Stan smiled, glad to finally find somewhere nice where they could relax and eat the food that they had brought. He made his way across the stretch of grass and sat down on the bench, facing the river. "Kyle, get your hot ass over here!" he turned around and grinned at Kyle, his arm now resting on the back of the bench.
"I'm coming!" He shouted back, grumbling as he pulled the lunch boxes out his bag. "Here you go, your highness" Kyle bowed as he passed the box to Stan, who just laughed and took it.
They ate in silence, looking out at the river as the ducks flew over, rushing to get to the bread that a family was throwing in to the water from the opposite side. Every now and then, Stan looked over to Kyle and smiled, the smile growing slightly wider when Kyle turned to him and silently returned it. Kyle subconsciously inched closer to Stan and, unbeknownst to either of them, they both slowly gravitated towards each other as though nature was pushing them together.
Kyle noticed it first when their legs touched, but he thought nothing of it until he felt Stan lean against him, relaxing and letting his whole weight slump against the currently tense form of his best friend.
"Stan?"
"Yeah?"
"What the hell are you doing?" He asked calmly.
"Leaning on you"
"I can see that"
"Can I not do that?"
"Well, no, it's just a bit..."
"Go on Kyle, say it"
"Gay?"
"Duh. But you're my best friend, I can be gay with you if I wanna be, your problem is you just have to relax and get that stick out your ass, dude"
Kyle was silent for a while, but Stan didn't show any signs of pulling away. With a huff and a sigh Kyle gave in, put his arm around his best friend's shoulders, and relaxed.
"See" Kyle could practically hear the smile in Stan's voice. "It's just like when we were little, how we used to cuddle at Stark's Pond"
"Ugh" Kyle made a noise of protest. "We did not 'cuddle' at Stark's Pond, we just... Comforted each other in sad times, like that time when Chef left"
"If you say so"
"I do say so!"
"You're right"
"Damn right I'm right"
"You're the boss"
"Absolutely, I'm the boss" Kyle said in a serious tone, but then realised he had just referenced that crude internet song. He decided not to acknowledge it, hoping Stan wouldn't notice. There was about half a minutes silence, and Kyle thought he had got away with it, when...
"Okay, so take us through a day in the life of the boss" Stan sniggered.
"Stan, I swear to god..."
"Well the first thing I do is..."
"Stan-"
"TALK TO CORPORATE!" Stan shouted loudly, causing the family feeding the ducks on the other side to freeze in shock at the sudden outburst.
"Stan!" Kyle almost screeched, shoving his friend off him. "You ruined it now, no more cuddling!"
"I thought you said this wasn't cuddling"
"Grrr!"
"Alright alright, you're so easy to wind up, I can kinda see why Cartman always got off on it"
"He did not get off on it"
"If you say so"
"I do say so"
"You're right"
"Damn right I'm... Hey! We're not starting that again"
"Party pooper" Stan said dejectedly, taking the last bite of his sandwich. Kyle just sighed and finished his own sandwich, thinking for a moment before nudging Stan. "Hm?" He looked up at him.
"But the look in her eyes said... I need a friend" Kyle began, and Stan grinned at him causing him to smile back. If this was going to make his friend keep smiling then to hell with embarrassing himself in public.
"She turned to me, that's when she said it"
"Looked me dead in the face asked cash or credit and I-"
"JIZZED IN MY PANTS!" They both sang together, and Kyle was grinning too by that point. The family across the river threw them dirty looks and walked away but, this time, Kyle didn't care. All he cared about was that beaming smile that sat perfectly on his friends face.
They got back to the apartment in the evening, just the right time for dinner.
"I'll make dinner tonight, Kyle" Stan offered, making his way to the kitchen.
"Why?"
"Because you made breakfast, and lunch, and you drove us to South Park, so I need to pay you back somehow"
"Well, if you insist"
Stan decided to make spaghetti bolognese, and he even poured them a glass of wine each to make it seem more Italian. He had suggested putting a candle in the middle of the table too, because he wanted to be romantic like Cassanova, but then Kyle told him Cassanova was a sex pest, not a romantic, and Stan decided it wasn't a good idea after all. Stan washed the dishes too, and this time Kyle decided not to question it. Instead, he just put some music on and poured himself another glass of wine.
"If you get drunk, Kyle, I'm not getting drunk with you, not this time"
"Nah, I'm back at work tomorrow, so this is my last glass"
"Alright... Mind if I change the station? This song is shit"
"Sure"
Stan put the dishes away and walked to the stereo in the living room, changing the radio station a few times. He frowned when he couldn't find anything good, and walked into his bedroom to hunt through his bags (which he hadn't unpacked yet) to look for his CD collection. He picked one out and put the CD in to the CD player part of the stereo.
"Michael Bublé?!" Kyle asked, surprised.
"Yeah"
"That's... I didn't know you liked his music"
"Well, this album was an early graduation present from Marcella, so I haven't had it long"
"Wow... You know she's totally in love with you, right?"
"No?"
"Well, just listen to the words!"
Stan was silent for a moment, doing as he was told.
Come on and cry me a river
Oh cry me a river
I cried a river over you
I cried a river over you
"... That means nothing"
"Sure it doesn't"
Stan just shrugged and changed the track, trying to ignore the fact that Kyle was probably right. Stan smiled when his chosen track came on, and he began to sing along.
"All I do is dream of you the whole night through... with the dawn, I still go on, dreaming of you" He sang, starting to sway to the music. "Dance with me Kyle!"
Kyle was about to protest about the gayness of dancing together to a love song, but he realised it didn't matter in the comfort of their own home. So with only a moments hesitation, he made his way over to Stan who happily took his hands and began twisting and swaying.
"You're every thought, you're everything, you're every song I ever sing" he pulled Kyle closer slightly. "Summer, winter..." he grinned, knowing what was coming next. "ZADODOBABADADIZA and spring!" Kyle laughed and decided to really let loose here, this wasn't a serenade, this was just a celebration with his friend, he had nothing to be scared about. Soon enough, he was leading the dance around the living room and singing just as loudly as Stan, smiling just as wide.
"All I do the whole day through"
"Is dream of you!"
They continued dancing for the rest of the track but, as Kyle had suspected (and worried), the next song was a slow one. He didn't say anything, he thought maybe he should, but he couldn't get his lips to form the words. Stan was going through a similar problem too, deciding which was more awkward; having to pull away and make some sort of excuse, or continue dancing. They were both too late in making a decision, though, as their bodies decided to sway slowly together before their rational minds had a chance to catch up.
Throughout the duration of the whole song they refused to look at each other, but they also refused to be the first to pull away. It was almost like a game. Stan kept his head hovering above Kyle's shoulder (which was now a lot closer to his chest), and Kyle just turned his head to the left to look at the wall next to him. He could feel the soft fabric of Stan's t-shirt against his cheek, and he wasn't sure how that made him feel. Whatever it was, it was scaring him.
When the song finished, Kyle cleared his throat and slowly pulled away, still refusing to look at Stan. With a simple goodnight, he left the room and went to bed, leaving Stan alone in the middle of the living room.
Took a bit longer to get this chapter finished as I spent a lot of time deciding where I'm actually going to go with this story. But I finally know what's going to happen now, yay!
