A/N : Hey people! Umms I just wanted to say before you read this, I was writing under the impression that Kenny did not have a little sister . I made up Jessi McCormick all on my own. So if she doesnt fit the description you had in mind for his little sister then im sorry. Other than that i will just let you read now! Thanks so much for reading, please leave a Review!
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"It hasn't even been a month!" Kyle protested, continuing his side of the argument as he uselessly pushed against his raven-haired partner.
"Aw, c'mon Kyle it's been at least a month. You love me don't you? Don't you want us closer?" Stan pushed on, refusing to allow his boyfriend freedom despite his constant attempts at getting free.
"Of course I love you!" Kyle said, pain aching at his chest for some strange reason. "Its just, too soon for this kinda stuff Stan. Please try to understand my-"
Stan huffed loudly, cutting Kyle off in mid apology and plopped himself on the bed next to him. "Why don't you want to get closer to me…?"
Kyle sighed and sat up, re-buttoning the last button on his already unbuttoned shirt and faced Stan. "It's too soon for that kind of stuff man… and were 16."
"Me and Wendy didn't wait a week before we started hav-"
Stan paused in mid thought, realizing he was talking out loud and shut himself up. Facing Kyle, whose face was obviously flushed, Stan opened his mouth to speak.
Nothing came out.
"I really don't care what you and Wendy did Stan." Kyle explained, face turning an even brighter shade of pink at the mention of Wendy's name.
Stan noticed Kyle's face getting brighter but couldn't quite figure out if it was from anger or embarrassment…or both.
Kyle resisted smacking his boyfriend upside the head and simply clenched his fists. "First of all, I am a guy Stan. Not a girl. Second, I am not Wendy! So stop acting like you know all about relationships and how they work just because you fucking dated her for a year and a half!"
Kyle was burning at this point. He had just about had it with his boyfriends constant know-it-all comments on relationships before Stan leaned in expertly, getting on Kyle's nerves, planting a small kiss on Kyle's cheek.
Kyle flushed automatically and his eyes shot up immediately at the blue-eyed boy in front of him. "Calm down Kyle, jeeze." Stan said, fake concern filling his voice as he attempted another kiss.
Kyle shook his head rapidly and pushed Stan away, succeeding this time and knocking the boy on his side.
'Unbelievable.' Kyle thought.
Stan fell to his face on the bed as Kyle shot up, looking back at his raven-haired boyfriend's shocked face before darting for the door. "Kyle!" He shouted after him, stumbling on the random objects laying around and cursing himself for not cleaning up earlier.
Kyle had already ran a good portion of the way to the front door before being pulled back by a hand colder and noticeably larger than his own. He sighed and tugged back on his arm in attempt to get away, but was cut off yet again by his boyfriend's cold lips on his own.
"Mmph" Kyle replied, shaking his head and pushing Stan away from him for the second time in the past 5 minutes. Stan refused, only deepening the kiss and holding Kyle closer to him.
They stayed like this for a good few minutes before Stan released him, taking in a silent and much needed breath.
"Don't leave." Stan warned breathlessly, brushing his hand under Kyle's hat and knocking it onto the floor and releasing his boyfriend's dark orange hair. "If you leave, I don't know what I might do."
Kyle sighed. This wasn't the first time he had tried to pull the self-pity card.
Ever since he went gothic-emo-pussy in the 4th grade he has tried using his self-mutilation from back then to persuade people into getting him what he wants.
Kyle knew better.
"I need time alone Stan." Kyle began, yanking away from the raven-haired boy and landing against the door overdramatically. "Just leave me alone."
Stan sighed and peered at the red head as he reached down for his green signature hat on the floor.
Leaving Stan's house behind him, Kyle headed out into the cool mountain air, feeling Stan's eyes beating on his back.
Kyle and Stan had had fights before, sure. They had been best friends -super best friends- for years now, only recently had they began actually dating. So naturally fights were bound to happen once in a while.
No one is perfect.
Kyle had known he liked Stan as more than a friend for a while, a couple of years at least, but he never thought Stan felt the same. Stan always had Wendy and Kyle always had no one. That's just how it was before the break up.
Kyle found himself hanging out with Kenny, Cartman and Butters more often since Stan was always out with Wendy, and became slowly closer to them, to Kenny and Butters at least. Cartman was still the bane of his very existence.
At one point Butters and Kenny began dating, throwing Cartman on a rampage about his hatred towards fags and how he would never talk to ethire of them again. Which was a lie -of course- since everyone besides the oblivious blonde knew he had it bad for Leopold Butters Stotch.
Eventually Butters and Kenny broke up, despite some resistance on Kenny's part, and realized that they were just too good of friends to date.
Butters quickly moved on to Cartman, thus leaving Kyle and Kenny to hang out all the time.
Kyle didn't mind this though; he actually really liked hanging out with Kenny, a lot. Aside from Stan, Kenny was his best friend, and now that Stan was his…boyfriend…Kenny had actually secretly become Kyle's new best friend.
"God damn it." Kyle muttered to himself in frustration.
Coming to a halt at Starks pond, Kyle sighed and sat at a familiar bench to his right. He sat in complete silence and listened to the small waves over the pond in front of him and stared at his lumpy reflection over the water, reflecting over the fight.
"You and Stan go at it again?"
Kyle jumped a little as he opened his eyes from his thoughts, immediately relaxing and nodding when his brain caught up with the voice speaking to him.
Kenny had always been famous for showing up at exactly the right time with exactly what to say up his orange sleeve, ready to go when someone was upset or having any kind of problems in their life. It was his gift.
Kenny smiled sympathetically and sat beside the boy on the bench, placing his arm carefully around him and rubbing his shoulder comfortingly.
"You know, all this fighting isn't healthy. I hate seeing you like this all the time."
Kyle hung his head. "He just…he doesn't get it! No matter how many times I try to explain it to him, he just comes back an-"
"Kyle." The blonde hushed, pulling the hood from his orange hoodie off his head with his free hand and exposing his nearly shoulder-length, layered blonde hair.
Placing his hand on top of Kyle's, which were neatly folded in the red head's lap, he rubbed the smaller, warmer hands beneath his own gently. "Its okay, don't need to yell. I'm the only one around."
"Sorry…" Kyle sighed. "I didn't mean to yell."
"Its ok." Kenny smiled, continuing to rub Kyle's soft hands with his thumb.
It was silent for a moment as the two boys sat beside the pond, various birds and insects could be heard all around them as the sun just began to fall, a few clouds making the pond a deeper shade of blue than before.
Kenny felt Kyle shift awkwardly under his arm and sigh. Kenny held him closer and smiled. "Ya know, if you ever need some one to go to-"
"I know, of course I will come to you. I always have. You're the only one who actually cares to listen to me anyway."
Kenny nodded, turning away for a moment.
Kenny didn't dare to talk about his real feelings towards the red haired beauty beside him. He didn't want to cause any drama or get in the way of Kyle being happy with Stan in any way. He had, on a few occasions in the past, tried to show Kyle his feelings but he never noticed. No one ever really noticed Kenny. It was his job to notice everyone else's problems, and while he was good at it and loved helping people, he sometimes wished that someone would be there for him when he needed help or comfort.
"Kenny?" Kyle asked quietly, looking up at his blonde friend. "Are you okay? You…got really tense all the sudden."
Kenny shook his head, flying out of his thoughts and landing in reality again. "Oh, yeah! I'm fine!" Kenny lied, flashing the boy beside him a big 'Kenny grin.'
Kyle narrowed his eyes to peer at the taller boy through his curly locks, something he noticed only Kyle and Craig could successfully pull off –on anyone else it would be laughable- but from Kyle or Craig it was undoubtedly creepy. "What's wrong?"
Kenny shook his head again and formed an even bigger smile, if you could believe it possible, squeezing Kyle in a side arm hug.
Sure he was lying, but he wasn't about to babble on about the real reasons he was tense now was he?
"Okay…" Kyle said, dropping the conversation and began standing to his feet. "I think I should get back to Stan's now. He is probably cooling off about now, maybe I can talk to him."
Kyle smiled and removed his arm so Kyle could easily stand to his feet and gathered him in a meaningful hug. After Kyle broke away from the hug he smiled –a sad sort of smile- and turned in the direction of Stan's house.
Kenny watched as Kyle walked down the sidewalk towards the school area where Stan's house was. He couldn't bring himself to look away from the red haired boy until Kyle had completely vanished from sight.
Damn Kenny loved that boy.
As soon as Kyle was gone, Kenny stood and began walking in the direction of his own home.
Kenny hated where he lived. The only real reason he didn't just up and leave –taking up the livelong life of a hobo on the streets somewhere- was his little sister.
Kenny and Kevin, Kenny's older brother, had pretty much raised themselves as kids and didn't have much growing up. Then when Kenny's mom decided to get pregnant again and had a little girl, Kenny knew the same thing was bound to happen to her. Once the kid was born Kenny imminently took responsibility of his newborn sister and had been taking care of her ever since.
As Kenny approached his neighborhood, he hopped over the train tracks and faced his house to the left, immediately hearing the fighting begin in his house.
"Kevin! Get yer ass off the couch an' make somfin' uh yer self! Don' be a god damned loser like yer father!"
Kenny sighed and stuck his key in the hole reluctantly and pushed the stuck door open with his shoulder.
"The hell did you just say 'bout me?" A voice shouted from the other room.
"I said you were a loser. What? How you gonna argue?"
"Hi to you too." Kenny muttered, sure no one heard him as usual.
Kenny walked past the usual three-way fight and mindlessly down the stairs towards his –and his sisters- room.
"Kenee!"
Kenny was greeted warmly -as usual- by Jessi as soon as she heard his footsteps hit the stairs. Kenny made his way to his bed and slumped down with a huge sigh, un-zipping his orange parka and letting his hood fall down. The room was fairly small, for a basement, and literally was probably not even the size of the average bathroom in a normal house. The walls were painted a strange shade of dark green that kind of reminded Kenny of Kyle's hat.
Picking up Jessi, Kenny formed a smile to his exhausted face and placed her on his knee. "Hey Jess. How was everything at home today? You alright?"
"Yeah, they weren't too bad today." She replied in a casual tone. "I just stayed down here most of the time until you got home, just like you said."
Jessi smiled; it made Kenny sad to hear his 3-year-old sister talking about hiding in the basement so…casually.
Before Kenny had a chance to say another word, his cheap cell rang "Beethoven's Symphony" in his pocket.
It was Kyle, he remembered, as the memory of the curly read head changing his ring-tone to Beethoven and saying it would make him smarter if he heard it more often, replayed in his mind.
Frankly he still didn't understand Kyle's logic on that one.
Quickly shaking the memory from his head, Kenny answered his cell, remaining calm and cool despite the look on his face. "Hello? Kyle?"
"Um…Hey Kenny." Kyle breathed through the phone speaker, barely audible but sounding relieved that he had picked up.
"A-Are you okay?" Kenny stumbled, noticing the pained tone in Kyle's voice. "You sound like you've been...crying?"
"Who is it?" Jessi asked curiously, poking Kenny's leg repeatedly for an answer.
Kenny patted her head and squatted to her level, putting his index finger to his lips.
She smiled knowingly and made the same 'shh' motion, pulling her smaller finger to her smiling lips.
"I-I'm really sorry to bother you Kenny, but something happened and...i really don't want to be alone right now."
"What's wrong Kyle?" Kenny asked alert. "What happened?"
The line was silent for a moment before Kenny heard a static noise on Kyle's end.
"It's Stan." Kyle replied shakily, sparking Kenny's attention. "I'd like to talk to you in person Kenny…if that's okay."
Kenny froze. What in the world could have happened in the hour he and Kyle had parted? It wasn't like Kyle to ask for help, usually Kenny had to pry information out of him before he would say anything. "Of course you can Kyle, you don't need apologize for asking." Kenny said sympathetically. "I'll be at Starks Pond in about 15 minutes, is that okay?"
"Thank you, Kenny." Kyle replied quietly.
Kenny hung up the phone and re-zipped his jacket, letting out a huge sigh. What the hell did Stan do?
Standing to his feet, Kenny propped up his hood and glanced down at Jessi. "Jess, you going to be okay by yourself for about an hour?"
Jessi looked up at Kenny with those big blue eyes of hers and huffed, putting her hands on her hips in a way that would give cheerleaders a run for their money. "I guess so...but why cant I go with you Kenee?"
Kenny sighed and began to explain before being interrupted by a glass-shattering crash from upstairs.
"Christ…" Kenny murmured, picking Jessi up in his arms. "Fine, you can go. I am not about to leave you here alone with this all going on."
Shaking the fear out of her terrified eyes, she smiled and hugged Kenny tightly. "Yay!"
"Just please promise me you will be good, alright?" Kenny added firmly, locking his oceanic blue eyes with her smaller crystal-like ones.
Jessi nodded and made a serious face. "I promise."
Kenny allowed himself a small smile and headed back for the stairs.
Reaching the final step, Kenny glanced around the corner of the wooden door-frame that separated the basement from the rest of the house. Kenny could see from the safe distance that the fight had ceased momentarily and the only person left in the room was an exhausted Kevin sprawled out on the couch with woolen blanket covering only his legs as he took a huge gulp from his off-brand beer.
Kenny proceeded around the couch and towards the front door, quietly reaching for the doorknob and just about getting it unstuck before being stopped by Kevin's voice.
"The hell are you takin' Jessi?" He asked sternly but with no real concern in his voice as he continued to watch TV.
"Out." Kenny responded bluntly, shrugging his unoccupied shoulder and opening the door, allowing the cool air to rush inside their unheated house.
Kevin yanked the blanket by his feet over his shirtless body, wincing as the freezing cold air hit his bare skin. "Whatever, close the damned door!"
Glancing at Jessi, who had her face buried into his jacket, Kenny gladly obeyed his brother and slammed the door shut behind them.
"I'm sorry." Kenny muttered, tightening his hold on Jessi the tiniest bit.
"Why?" She asked, genuinely curious. "Whats wrong Kenee?"
"I'm just- I'm sorry you have to grow up like this. It's not fair." Kenny clarified, shaking his head.
"K-Kenee, its okay...Please don't be sad!" Jessi squealed, putting her tiny, cold hand on Kenny's cheek. "As long as I have you here with me...thats all I care about!" she smiled, quickly removing her tiny hand and hugging Kenny tightly.
Kenny smiled slightly and hugged her back.
"One second." Kenny murmured in her ear, standing her to her feet on the sidewalk.
"Kenee?" Jessi asked, looking up at her brother as he quickly took off his bright orange parka and slung it around her shoulders, encouraging her arms through the arm holes and zipping it up around her.
"I forgot your jacket inside..." Kenny explained, shaking the dirty-blonde strands of hair out of his eyes and straightening out his black t-shirt.
"But Kenee...you'll get cold!" Jessi protested, rubbing the jackets warm hood next to her frozen-pink cheeks.
"I'll be fine." Kenny smiled reassuringly, picking up Jessi again and walking in the direction of Starks Pond, unconsciously holding her a bit closer to himself for warmth.
Kenny opened the gate slowly with one arm, other occupied with Jessi, and walked into Starks Pond.
Setting Jessi on her feet, Kenny reaching for her hand and started scanning the nearby benches for Kyle.
"Who are we looking for Kenee?" Jessi asked, peeking her head around Kenny's leg to peer up at him.
"Kyle." He replied simply.
"We're going to see Kyle? Yay!" Jessi shouted, quickly looking up at Kenny apologetically and covering her mouth with both hands."Sorry." She mumbled through her fingers as Kenny held up the "shh" symbol again.
"We aren't here to play alright?"
Jessi nodded, glancing around and pointing to a nearby tree. "Isn't that Kyle, right there?"
Kenny's eyes shot up and moved to look at the huge willow tree not 5 feet from where they were standing.
It was Kyle!
Somewhere in the far back of Kenny's mind, he recognized this tree. He remembered that this was the tree that he and Kyle had talked underneath numerous times before.
Kenny spun on his heels and squatted to Jessi's height and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Okay Jessi, this is very important and I need you to listen to me."
Eyes wide, Jessi nodded and placed her smaller hand over Kenny's.
"I need you to stay right here while I go talk to Kyle, alright?"
Jessi gave Kenny a hug and sat down where she stood. Kenny smiled and proceeded to Kyle, who had his head down, knees folded in and arms wrapped around his legs as if giving himself a protective shell.
"Kyle?" Kenny asked, sliding down the tree and putting his arm around the red haired boy.
Kyle jumped at the touch but immediately relaxed and turned his head away. "Hi Kenny."
Kenny glanced slightly a few feet away at Jessi, who was still sitting obediently where he had left her, and returned to Kyle. "Kyle? Please look at me. Whats wrong?"
Kyle shook his head slowly. "I-I cant show you my face."
If it wasn't already obvious, Kenny could now see that Kyle had been in tears.
"Why not?" Kenny asked curiously, shaking Kyle gently with his arm around him.
Shaking his head again, Kyle sighed. "It's Stan." He replied again, in the same quiet voice he had on the phone.
"Stan..." Kenny muttered to himself defensively, unconsciously clenching his fists. "What did Stan say to you?"
"Its not...so much what he said." Kyle whispered.
Kenny shook his head, removing his arm from around Kyle and turning the red haired boy towards him. "Kyle, please talk to me. What did Stan do-"
Kenny froze.
Kyle's face was red, bright crimson red, and his eyes were filled to the brim with held back tears...wait, his eyes.
"Kyle..." Kenny managed. "Who the hell did this to you?"
"Kenny..." Kyle protested, tightening his grip on Kenny's shoulder. "It's not that bad..."
As Kenny looked closer at Kyle's eye he realized just how bad it actually was. "Stan did this to you, didn't he?" Kenny asked, running his hand over Kyle's cheek. He felt stupid for asking since the answer seemed so obvious.
Kyle nodded, shaking slightly and wrapping his arms around his tightly tucked in legs.
"Why...?" Kenny dared to ask, knowing the only way to get anything out of Kyle was to just ask the questions without beating around the bush.
"When I left Starks Pond earlier...after you showed up, I went back to Stan's like I said I would." He began after a beat, to Kenny's surprise.
"Once I got to Stan's, I opened the door myself like I always do. When Stan saw me, he immediately asked me where I had gone for so long."
Kenny's face fell, was it his fault Kyle got hurt?
"I...I told him that I met you at Starks Pond. I don't really remember what he said after that exactly. I just remember Stan approaching me, then my vision got blurry, and my eye started hurting.
Kyle's face fell as he tried to analyze what happened more clearly.
Giving up, he hid his face in his arms. "I do remember Stan telling me, more like yelling at me, to get out of his house..." He muffled through the sleeves of his jacket. "So I did...I left, ran to Starks Pond, and called you."
Kenny couldn't think of what to say, it really was his fault that Kyle had gotten hurt. "I'm so sorry Kyle..."
Kyle looked up at Kenny. Why the hell was he sorry? "Wh-What? Why?"
"It's all my fault. Stan and I, we never really got along that great. I should have just...just stayed away from you like I promised...but I couldn't."
Kenny explained, looking Kyle dead on. "When you were sad, I felt your sadness. When you were in pain, I felt that same pain. When I heard your voice almost in tears on the phone earlier, my heart ached to the point that it actually hurt."
Kenny sighed, unsure of that he was saying exactly and how it was even relevant to their situation.
Kyle stared at Kenny, a confused look drawn on his face as he looked down. "I-I had no idea you and Stan didnt get along. I feel so stupid now..."
"No, Kyle, don't feel stupid...Stan and I agreed a long time ago, we had it out for each other ever since middle school for..."
Kenny paused. There was no way he was about to break down and tell Kyle how he felt. There was no way he could just tell him plain out that he and Stan had both loved you and thats why we hated each-other. No way. This was not the time and place for that.
"What? What were you two at each-other for?" Kyle asked, turning to face Kenny finally, his dark orange hair covering his bruised eye under his signature green hat.
'He's even adorable when he's crying.' Kenny noted silently to himself.
"Kenny?"
"Don't worry about it Kyle..." Kenny replied. "I don't want you to have to deal with any more drama at my expense, I think th-"
"I love you!"
"Wh-What?" Kenny blinked, starring at the red haired boy before him.
Where had that just come from? Was he hearing things? Because it sure sounded like Kyle had said-
"I have for a while now...I should have told you sooner." Kyle blinked away a few tears before turning back to face Kenny, placing another hand on his shoulder. "You have always been there for me, no matter what. Even when Stan-" Kyle paused at the name, gripping onto Kenny's shirt. "-he wasn't...I wanted to believe that I loved Stan...but whenever I was around him, I wished I was with you instead. All my feelings for Stan would just...vanish, at the very thought of you."
Kyle was indeed crying now. Kenny smiled sympathetically, unsure of what aspect of this made him smile, and placed his hand on the back of Kyle's head, easing his head into his shoulder.
"You can cry." Kenny said, rubbing the small of Kyle's back. "It's okay to cry."
Kyle nuzzled closer to Kenny and sighed. Leave it to Kenny to make you feel safe when everything you thought you knew was changing.
Kyle looked up at Kenny a final time before resting his head on Kenny's shoulder, and cried.
He finally felt safe.
After a few moments of silence, and Kyle's tears began to mellow down, Kenny spoke up.
"I love you too Kyle."
Kyle looked up at Kenny, a final tear falling down his left cheek. "What?"
Kenny quickly caught the tear with his free hand, other arm still around Kyle's shoulders, and nodded. "I have for a long time...ever since you told Stan you loved him, and he just turned you down. Ever since that day, Stan and I have had it out for each-other..." Kenny explained. "That's why."
Kyle stared up at the blonde in awe, was this really happening?
"Oh." Was all he could manage before another tear fell down his cheek.
Gripping tightly at the blonde's shirt, Kyle clung to him for dear life, feeling a bit helpless as he slowly slid his arms around Kenny's waist. "Your not lying, right?" Kyle mumbled through the blonde's shirt, more for something to say rather than actually accusing Kenny of lying.
Kenny, unaware of this, made a face that would look almost hurt if anyone had seen it. "Of course im not lying." Kenny said, taking Kyle's shoulders and looking him dead in the eyes-his huge, green, saddened eyes. "I couldn't lie to you if I tried."
Sliding his hands down, Kenny found the small of Kyle's back and leaned in carefully, placing a quick, meaningful kiss on Kyle's lips.
Taking in a quick breath, Kyle blinked away a few more tears as he leaned into Kenny just long enough for him to pull away and take him into a deep, loving hug. Not that Kyle didnt want Kenny to kiss him, he didnt mind at all, but he really needed Kenny to hold him right now, to prove that he wasn't going to just kiss and walk away like he had with guys in the past, and somehow, Kenny already knew that.
"I love you." Kenny whispered again, letting a small kiss land above Kyle's ear. "I do. I promise I am not just saying it to say it to-"
"Kenny...?"
Kyle and Kenny looked up and saw the smaller, strawberry blonde girl standing before them. Her cheeks were completely frozen pink as she clung to Kenny's forearm. "Its getting really cold, and late!" She complained.
"I love you too..." Kyle whispered, smiling up at Jessi. "So...what are we going to do now?"
"I guess I have to take her home now." Kenny said, letting Kyle up and hoisting Jessi into his lap. "You just wanna crash at my place?" Kenny offered.
"YAY! A Sleepover!" Jessi smiled, her flushed cheeks toning down a bit now from being so close to Kenny, whom Kyle assumed was just naturally warm dispite his numerous deaths. "That sounds great." He smiled in return, forcing a smile onto his own face.
"Lets go then!" Jessi exclaimed, hugging Kenny close as he stood up. "C'mon Kyle!"
Jessi held out her hand to Kyle, who held out a finger to her and let her pretend she was helping him up. "You sure its okay for me to stay?"
"Its fine, its not like my parents will be sober enough to care." Kenny pointed out, switching Jessi to his hip opposite to Kyle and reached cautiously for Kyle's hand.
Kyle happily accepted and they began to walk in the direction of Kenny's house. Maybe things would finally work out for them. Maybe something in this little, crazy, fucked-up mountain town could actually work out.
And maybe best of all, to Kenny that is, he didn't even manage to get himself killed this time. He was alive and well to enjoy his being happy for once in his poor ass life.
As for Kyle, he was simply happy that he finally felt save and happy for once in his own life. He wouldnt have to put up with abuse anymore, he was finally with someone he trusted, and loved with all his heart and he didnt plan on ending it anytime soon.
For once in the history of man, everything was right in this quiet, little, piss-ant, redneck, Podunk, jerkwater, greenhorn, one-horse, mud-hole, pecker-wood, right-wing, whistle-stop, hob-mail, truck-drivin', old-fashioned, hayseed, inbred, unkempt, out-of-date, out-of-touch, white-trash Mountain Town.