Drowning in Darkness
Chapter 9: Flowers are for Pansies
Stan was ecstatic and almost couldn't have been happier, except for one thing: he had been such an ass to Kyle, he'd chalked his super best-friend's feelings up to him being confused and that they weren't real, now that Kyle remembered everything he knew his feelings were real.
Why am I such a dumbass? Stan scolded himself. I did the right thing though; I mean what if it really was just confusion? I'd have had my heart broken. Well, nothing's stopping me now. I have to do something romantic, thought Stan, knowing full well that it would more likely than not end up being cheesy, not that he really cared. He was sure Kyle wouldn't either.
He fixed himself an early lunch in the kitchen then flicked on the TV. Not much was on, some old Terrance and Phillip re-runs, but nothing really other than that. He bit into his sandwich and contemplated what he'd do to express his love for Kyle.
Kyle went home, re-thinking the events of the past week as he walked. He couldn't believe he'd expressed his love to Stan and probably fucked a lot of stuff up. There was hope yet; Stan had said that he had to think about some stuff, though that could be good or bad. Kyle hoped to Moses it meant something good.
When he got home he casually told his mom and Ike that he had his memory back.
"Oh buhbee that's great!" Sheila smothered her son with a suffocating hug and littered his face with kisses.
"Kyle's back!" Ike hugged his older brother.
"Yeah Ike, it's good to be back." Kyle was filled with so much joy to see and remember his family that he momentarily forgot about the Stan predicament.
He circled the house, happy that everything was so familiar and warm. He ended the house tour in his room and plopped down on his bed, exhausted. He'd gone through a tone of emotional turmoil in the past week. He closed his eyes and for precious moments he was swimming in a blissful half-waking state.
Then he slept. He slept and he dreamed. He dreamed of Stan.
Stan! Kyle woke with a start and glanced over at his now-familiar alarm clock, it was nearly 3:30pm. Did I really sleep for that long? The time slipped away from Kyle, not that he minded, now he felt rested and kind of hungry.
He went down to the kitchen and saw a note on the kitchen table, it read:
Kyle,
gone grocery shopping. Be back around 4, maybe earlier.
xoxox Mom
Kyle grabbed some Cheesey-Poofs from a cupboard. Munching contentedly, he strode into the living room, jumped up on the couch, and flicked through the channels to see if anything good was on, no such luck.
After lazily flicking through almost every channel, he heard the doorbell ring. He wondered if it was Stan, he hoped it was. Rushing off the couch and to the door he opened it revealing-
-His mother.
"Oh, hi Mom." Kyle heart sank as soon as he realized it wasn't Stan staring back at him.
"Kyle honey, could you help me bring the groceries in?" Sheila asked as she struggled with an armful of grocery bags.
"Yeah sure," Kyle replied and slipped his boots on to go out and grabbed some bags from the car.
When Gerald got home he was of course thrilled that Kyle had his memory back and was himself again, maybe even more so than Sheila had been. He had his own –more secluded- way of dealing with his son's memory loss; he had mostly kept to himself and done a good job at hiding how much it was tearing him up inside. But life was good again and the older Jewish man reveled in his family's happiness.
Stan thought about what to do for a while. Then he thought some more, then he went downstairs to eat dinner and that's when it hit him. He gasped so fast and suddenly that he almost choked on the bite of supper he just placed in his mouth.
"I know!" He exclaimed after coughing a bit.
"Know what, Stanley?" His mother casually inquired.
"Oh," Stan blushed slightly, realizing he had interrupted supper with a spontaneous outburst of gleeful expression, "uh, nothing. Just something I figured out… Can I be excused please?"
"Finish your supper then you can do whatever you want," Sharon stated and bit a piece of broccoli off her fork.
Stan hastily shoveled the remains of his supper into his mouth and rushed from the table.
"Hold on there mister," Sharon called as her son was opening the front door, "Remember that you have school tomorrow so don't be out too long."
"Sure Mom, I'm just," he paused for a second, "going to Kyle's". He walked out the door and into the crisp air that nipped his face.
Kyle heard the doorbell ring moments after he put his dishes on the counter to be washed. His heart sped up; maybe this time it would be Stan.
"I'll get it!" Kyle called as he ran for the door.
When he opened it he saw nothing or no one. Some dumb fucker played a- oh. He paused mid-thought as he noticed a small bouquet of red roses. He blinked and stared dumbly at them for a moment before bending down to pick them up. There was a tag on it that read:
I love you more than I have ever loved anyone ever before.
-Stan
Kyle's heart fluttered as he clutched the sweet smelling roses to his chest. He read the note over and over, still not believing it. It made his heart sing every time he read it. On the way to his room Kyle grabbed a vase and filled it with water to put the roses in. He stuck them on his dresser and stared dreamily at them for a while before he decided to happily return the favor to Stan.
He rushed out of the house with just enough time to tell his mother that he was going to Stan's house. She didn't question her son as he flashed passed her and out the door into the biting cold. He noted that the sun was still in the sky, but it wouldn't be long before it started to disappear. He had to act fast if he planned on watching the sunset with Stan.
There was a small floral shop in town –no doubt the same place Stan had gotten the flowers for him- which he had run to all the way from his house. Out of breath, Kyle slowed to a walk and opened the door. He didn't need to look for long to find a bouquet of roses. He walked up to the cashier to pay.
"You wanna put anything on a tag, hon?" A sweet, older lady asked with a wrinkled smile.
"Yeah, um," Kyle thought for a moment what he would put. "I want, 'Meet me at Stark's Pond. Love Kyle'," he confidently and determinedly told her as he picked the twenty dollar bill out of his pocket and then another twenty when he realized the half-a-dozen roses cost a considerable amount more. Not that he really noticed how much money he was spending; all he could think of was Stan.
"You got y'rself a girlfriend little dear?" The old lady's smile broadened.
"Not exactly, but I would like him to be my boyfriend."
"Aww, well isn't that just sweet," she cooed without missing a beat.
Smiling, she took the money and wished him good luck.
Kyle rushed again across town to Stan's house, put the flowers down, rang the door bell, and ran away.
Stan had been half-expecting this and smirked at the sound of the door bell.
"Get the door turd." Shelly's eyes didn't move from the TV as she ordered her younger brother to answer the door.
"Yeah, sure thing!" Stan jumped eagerly from the place on the couch next to his abusive sister and hurried to the door.
Opening it he was happy to see that he was right. He got slightly giddy when he read the note from Kyle, but didn't let it show too much. He read it again and again until he realized that maybe he should go meet Kyle.
He ran up to his room to put his flowers on his bed before he left so that no one would find them and read the note.
"I'm going to Kyle's," Stan said, passing his mom as he fled quickly down the stairs and towards the door.
"But you were just at Kyle's. Why did you come back if you're just going over again?" Sharon pried and stopped her son before he could get to the door.
"I left something here and… yeah," Stan trailed off as he slipped past his mother and out the door.
Stan made it to Stark's Pond in no time to see Kyle sitting on a bench facing the sunset. It had just begun its daily decent through the sky that was now a fiery orange. He stopped for a moment to admire his little kosher boy basking in the glow of the complimenting sky colours.
Kyle turned when he felt he was being watched and his expression softened when he saw Stan. He motioned for him to come sit with him and Stan obliged.
They were both rather awkward at first, blushing when their eyes met then quickly looking away. Stan didn't stand for this for long and wrapped Kyle in a slightly awkward embrace and kissed him lightly on the lips. Their gazes locked and their gloved fingers intertwined.
They kissed again, this time with more confidence and passion… and tongues. Stan un-locked their fingers and wrapped his arms around Kyle's back, stroking him lovingly.
They reluctantly broke away and stared lovingly at each other for a while, resting their foreheads on each other's before Kyle said, "I love you and I am never going to let you go. It's kind of funny that my memory loss was what dragged my confession out of me." He chuckled quietly.
"I'm glad it did." Stan nuzzled his love and watched the sun slip behind the mountains and bathe them in a comforting darkness. And in that darkness shone the light of their love.
A/N: BAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH shamefully cheesy, terrible ending, for that I am sorry, as well as the chapter title which was a sinfully lame pun. I wasn't entirely sure how to end it, so I think that's what spawned the terribly cheesiness of it… yeah, so I like reviews if anyone feels like being supper nice and reviewing :D