Part Two

Kyle has had it with his confusion. He's been internally debating with himself for days and he still hasn't come up with a clear answer. And he absolutely hated not knowing things. He wanted to test his theory—he wanted to know if he could actually be gay.

And he just found a great way to do it.

How? Well, it all started when David came over to study/hang out. It was not very often that they were able to do so, since David's parents usually got him to help out with chores around their restaurant. Either that or Kyle wouldn't be free, due to prior plans made to hang out with Stan. On that particular day however, David's parents had given him a day off and as for Stan, well, let's just say he got detention for using the word 'gay' inappropriately. Kyle probably would have gotten one too (since PC Principal hated his guts) if not for the fact that he'd been adamantly keeping to his strategy of not speaking whenever PC Principal was around. He just couldn't win whenever he opened his mouth. Everything could be taken the wrong way.

Either way, it was about the time they finished their math homework when Kyle came up with his brilliant plan.

"—and then, wham! Pow! The Captain punches him right across the face!" Kyle exclaimed, wildly gesticulating. "It was so awesome! You totally should've been there!"

David chuckled at Kyle's enthusiasm. Then he sighed. "I wish I could've too." He turned away from Kyle and returned his gaze onto his English homework.

Unfortunately, there was no way he would be able to. He didn't have the time or the money. Time to drown in self-pity.

"What's wrong?" Kyle asked, probably sensing his sudden despondence. The side of David's lip twitched upwards. Perceptive little thing, he was.

"Nothing… I guess I just wished I could see it. My parents just moved here and our restaurant's just taking off so there's no way they would allow me to squander money on this. It sucks—but I understand, y'know? It's alright. Why don't you just tell me more about the movie? Or we can go back to doing our work. ¿Sí?"

David did the first few vocabulary questions on his worksheet as Kyle remained silent. He was starting to feel a little awkward. Why wasn't Kyle replying?

Turning to face the redhead once again, David questioned, "Hey. Are you okay? You haven't said anything in, like, ten minutes." Now that he was actually looking at Kyle, he could see that he had quite a weird expression on his face. He appeared to be… contemplating something.

Kyle stayed silent for awhile more before he seemed to snap out of his thinking trance. "Oh! Sorry 'bout that. Was a bit distracted. I was just thinking… since you really want to catch that movie… it's showing again this evening. And your parents gave you the entire day off, right? 'Cause you know, if you want, we only have English left. We can finish it quickly and go!"

David bit his lip, trying to think on it. Of course he wanted to go! However…

"What about the money though?"

"Don't worry about it," Kyle said, giving him a kind smile, though his green eyes looked a bit worried and nervous. "I've got a plan…"

Kyle walked up to his parents timidly, David trailing behind him. It's not that Kyle was frightened of his parents or anything, really! He just had a strong, healthy respect for them, that's all. He took in a deep breath.

"Mum, dad, I've something to tell you."

His mum turned towards him and raised an eyebrow. "What is it bubbala?" Kyle's father looked up from his newspaper just a little but gave no other indication that he was really listening.

Okay, you can do this Kyle. Stan did it easily with his father… though my parents are smarter than that…

"Alright. I'm just going to say it outright. I'm gay."

Surprisingly enough, there was no startling reaction to his statement. Kyle thought that his parents would support him but expected that they would at least be shocked by the news. His father was the first to respond. "Oh, so you and Stan are getting back together?"

Upon hearing that, Kyle couldn't hold back his rage. "Wait. What? Back together? What makes you think we were ever together? Or ever will get together? No! I'm dating David!" Kyle followed his outburst by grabbing on tightly to David's hand, hoping that David would know to go along with it. They were partners in crime in this, after all.

"Is that true?" His mum asked, now facing David. "Are you dating my son?"

David's face turned bright red (and Kyle almost sighed in relief – that effect would definitely help their act seem convincing) and nodded. He straightened his posture, standing strong, as he said, "Yes, I am."

"Hm." His mum said. "My Kyle is a wonderful boy, David. He deserves the very best. Are you prepared to treat him well?"

Kyle flushed, not being able to believe that his mum just said that. This scheme was getting out of hand. "You don't need to answer that," he told David. To his mum, he said, "Please don't embarrass me, mum. I think David is a great person and will be a great boyfriend. I won't be dating him if I thought he wasn't."

"You know I just want the best for you bubby."

"I know. I appreciate it and love you for it but please trust my judgement on this. I think I know what I'm doing." Kyle did his best to look confident and mature as he said this, hoping that his parents could end their interrogation soon and just give him and David money for the damn movie. Why did it go so much faster with Stan and his idiotic father? Oh wait; Kyle just answered his own question.

His mum looked liked she wanted to retort that, perhaps bring up his young age or something, but withheld it.

"Alright, I'll let it go this once," his mum conceded and Kyle felt like he had won a battle. "However, if this turns out badly don't come crying to me."

"I won't." Kyle said with the utmost confidence. Duh, this was all an act, after all.

There was a moment of awkward silence in the room before Kyle remembered something.

"Wait," Kyle said. "You didn't reply me from before. Why do you think Stan and I ever dated? And why aren't you guys in the least bit surprised?"

"Now Kyle, don't be rude. Calm down."

"Yes, calm down, Kyle. Listen to your mother. But, I mean, it's not a big deal. I just heard from Randy that you and Stan—"

Kyle heard nothing else after his father mentioned 'Randy'. Fucking Randy. All of Kyle's problems always started with Stan's stupid ass dad. He knew he shouldn't have trusted Stan on this issue. Why had he ever thought pretending to be gay would be a good idea? And he was repeating the idea! Well, what was he supposed to do at this point? He couldn't very well tell his mum that he had lied to her. She'd fucking skin him alive!

"I fucking hate him," Kyle muttered under his breath.

"What did you say, Kyle?"

"Nothing dad."

"Mm. Anyway, we were quite disappointed that Randy knew about you being gay before us—"

"The fact that you thought we, your parents, would be less accepting than them is preposterous, bubby!" His mother interjected. "I'll champion any cause that benefits my bubbala."

Kyle groaned. This was going way off course. Time to get back on track. "Well… David and I were planning to go on our first date at the movies. But we're both running a bit short on cash…"

"Say no more, Kyle," his father stopped him and Kyle could feel his heart stop. Did he see through their farce? But then his dad pulled out his wallet and Kyle heaved a sigh of relief. "Two hundred dollars. No more, no less. Not to be spent on anything other than dates though. Spend wisely."

Yes! Kyle cheered. He succeeded. He actually managed to fool his parents. It was an achievement of a lifetime.

David had not spoken for most of the conversation but now he flung his arm around Kyle's shoulder, pulling Kyle closer to him, almost nuzzling him, and said, "Do you wanna go for that date now?" Then he looked to Kyle's parents, "Mr and Mrs Broflovski, would it be okay for me to take your son out on a date now?"

Pulled flush against David's body, Kyle started to blush furiously. This felt—weird. Not bad weird though… it was actually quite comfortable. But doing such a thing in front of his parents… Well, at least David knew how to win over his parents. Asking for permission and deferring to their opinion was always a surefire way to gain his parents' approval.

In fact, his mum looked delighted. "What a considerate boy! Of course you can! Have fun, you young lovebirds." Kyle was shocked. She hadn't even asked them what movie they were going to watch! Well, Kyle was definitely not going to wait around for her to ask.

"Okay mum. We will! Thank you. Love you guys—bye!"

And with that, David and Kyle ran out the front door, high-fiving each other as they raced to the movie theater, their laughter filling the air.

"This is the part I was talking about," Kyle whispered excitedly into David's ear. "Isn't it awesome? Totally awesome, right?!"

David hummed in agreement, stuffing a hand full of popcorn into his mouth as his eyes stayed glue onto the huge screen. This was great! It's been awhile since he's been allowed to go out and have some fun, what with most of his time being taken up with either helping his parents out or studying his ass off. He was grateful to Kyle for getting the money to do this, even though his way of doing so was a bit…unconventional.

Throughout the entire movie, Kyle kept up a constant stream of commentary to David. Such a chatterbox. Not that David minded. In fact, David immensely enjoyed it when Kyle talked to him, whether it be about movies like the one they were watching or it was about the newest factoid he learnt while searching the web. Even Kyle's rants got him engrossed. David couldn't exactly pinpoint why. David certainly didn't enjoy it that much when other people talked. Especially not when it was annoying, fucking, bigoted assholes like Cartman. On the other hand, Kyle could be boasting the whole time and David would just nod along because it never really felt like he was being condescending, only that he wanted to share his knowledge. Maybe it was his voice. Or maybe it was the content, or the enthusiasm, or the fact that Kyle's face turned adorably red with passion as he talked and talked… Or, you know, maybe it was just Kyle.

David blushed and swallowed hard. Wait. What did he just think?

"…much better than with Stan…asshole," David heard Kyle mumble under his breath and he was hundred percent sure that he wasn't supposed to hear that. Either way, he had and the words made David's face flush red once again. Really? Did Kyle prefer spending time with him to spending it with Stan? That was crazy! Everyone knew Kyle and Stan were like inseparable buds. If Kyle saw David as someone he wanted to spend time with even more than Stan… that was fantastic! Moving to a new place had been weird and new for David and he had been extremely lucky to find a great friend in Kyle, someone who did his best to make sure he didn't feel excluded. If Kyle returned David's sentiments, that would be amazing! David won't mind being Kyle's b… best friend.

Not that David wanted to replace Stan or anything. Stan was cool. He just felt, personally, that he understood Kyle better and that he could fill another position in Kyle's life.

David suddenly felt a light weight on his shoulder. He looked down to see Kyle's green ushanka, Kyle leaning against him, and smiled. He made no effort to shake him off. He just allowed him to stay there as they enjoyed the movie, enjoyed their 'date', together.

It's been three weeks since David and Kyle 'came out' to his parents. And they have not 'broken up' yet. Kyle's problem?

He didn't want to.

Three weeks. Three weeks was enough to make it clear to Kyle that he really, really liked David. And not as just friends. He like-liked David. Their fake date—well, dates now—was so nice! Their first date could have been a fluke since they were both high on excitement at having successfully executed their plans without any negative repercussions. Or maybe that was just him. But the rest, all in Kyle's house (since they were still technically faking and needed to act for Kyle's parents—Kyle would hate to think of what would happen if his mum found out he lied to her), were spectacular. Sure, they acted as they did before, playing video games and joking with each other… except when either of Kyle's parents came into the room to check on them, then there would be cuddling, nuzzling, holding hands, cheek and forehead kisses…all initiated by David. All the actions filled Kyle with warmth but he was almost certain that David was just doing it for the sake of further convincing Kyle's parents, which was pretty sneaky but you couldn't argue with the results.

Oh god, he was so screwed! Kyle could bet that any day from now, David would ask when they could break up, probably feeling tired of keeping up the act. Perhaps even today, since David was coming over for another study session.

But Kyle wasn't ready, didn't want, to let it go just yet…

"We need to talk," David said, nervousness bubbling inside of him. Kyle's head immediately snapped up to face him, hands slowly closing the book he was reading.

"Oh. Okay, sure. Yeah. Let's talk," Kyle said and David arched an eyebrow. Kyle sounded even more nervous than him. Strange.

Okay, David thought. You can do this Rodriguez. This was it. He took in a deep breath but before he could say anything, Kyle said, "I know what you want to say. You want to 'break up' with me, don't you?"

What?

"I mean, it's alright. I understand. This plan has gone on for quite long… longer than I expected but could we keep it up for a bit longer? Just for awhile more. Because I think my parents are really starting to like you… and I don't want them to turn against you, y'know what I mean? I want to spend more time with you in my house…"

Kyle looked like he could say more but he stopped there and David couldn't be more relieved. He wanted to clear all of Kyle's misconceptions. Also, Kyle's stammering before filled David with greater confidence. That maybe he wasn't the only one who wanted their relationship to continue. But for real this time.

The last few weeks had been a few of the best in his life. At first, David had sort of just been overplaying his role as Kyle's boyfriend, secretly trying to tease Kyle as well, enjoying the redhead's reaction to his little actions of affection. But slowly he started to realise that he really enjoyed it. And he already liked being around Kyle so much before…

"You've got it all wrong, Kyle. I don't want to break up. I actually—I actually want to ask you if… if we could make our relationship real."

"What?" Kyle exclaimed.

David sighed. "Me gustas." Kyle gave him a blank stare. "I like you, Kyle. I really do. I think… we'll be great together. For real."

A moment passed, without any reply from Kyle. Then… "Really?"

David shook his head, a small smile quirking at his lips. "Yes, really. Why would I lie?"

"Then…does that mean you're gay?"

David snorted at that. "Does that really matter? All I know is that I like you. And my parents already like you for helping us with that Yelp issue and that Fatass so I think that if we start a real relationship, they won't really protest. They have better things to worry about than that, anyway. I think… I think we can do this. I want to do this.

"So. Will you be my boyfriend? My real boyfriend, this time."

A huge smile bloomed on Kyle's face. He embraced David in a tight hug. "Yes. I think—I think I really want that too."

David laughed, feeling triumphant as he unhooked one of his hands from around Kyle to push back his curly red hair, planting a kiss on his forehead.

"Me gustas."

"I like you too, David."

Stan was upset. In the past few weeks, Kyle has been spending less and less time with him and more time with David. Stan could be fine with that—probably—but Kyle didn't even make an effort to include him. No "Do you want to hang out with David and I today?" Only "Can't hang out today, David's coming over."

What. The. Actual. Fuck. Exactly who was Kyle's Super Best Friend? Stan felt like he was being replaced. And that feeling wasn't nice.

But it finally got too much for Stan, real fast, and of course, he immediately confronted Kyle about it.

One day, when Kyle finally had free time to grace Stan's house with his presence, Stan went straight to the point.

"Kyle. Kyle! Stop reading for a second and look at me!" Stan said, trying to get Kyle's attention.

Kyle placed his book down, an unimpressed look on his face. "What is it Stan?"

"I—I just want to ask you something. Why have you been ignoring me these past few weeks?"

"I have not—"

"No, seriously Kyle. I'm not joking. You've been spending most of your time with David these few weeks. In fact, I can count the number of times we hung out in the past weeks on one hand. Why Kyle? Are you trying to replace me? Just tell me straight if you are…"

"No, Stan. No. You'll always be my best friend. No matter what happens. It's just that David's in a new place and I'm just trying to make it more welcoming for him. Also…" Kyle looked away from Stan at that moment, and he seemed hesitant. "Also, we're dating."

"What?!" Was Stan's immediate response. He couldn't believe it. What did Kyle just say?

Kyle rolled his eyes. "I said he's my boyfriend, Stan."

Stan swallowed the saliva gathering in his mouth. "But…but what? How did this happen? When?"

"Well…" Kyle started to tell Stan about how it all started and how it slowly progressed into both of them starting to really like each other.

After Kyle finished with his story, Stan just had to ask, "So, you're really gay then?"

"Does that really matter?" Kyle asked, the side of his lip lightly twitching upward. "I just know that I like him. If you really think about, it's not that weird is it? I just really like him so I'm dating him. We're like you and Wendy, I guess. It shouldn't make a difference."

Except I don't ignore you to be with her, Stan didn't say.

Silence filled the room as Stan thought of what to say in reply, as he simultaneously tried to deal with his conflicting feelings.

"Stan," Kyle said after awhile. "Are you okay? You haven't…said anything."

"Oh!" Stan said, realizing that his silence might be mistaken for disapproval. "I—sorry for that. I'm glad you're finally dating someone. I guess I can finally spend more time with Wendy, huh?" Stan chuckled, a little forcefully. Kyle followed along, starting to laugh as well.

"You really should. I think Wendy's getting a little annoyed with you again. Might want to try buttering her up if you don't want to break up again."

"I'll keep that in mind," Stan said.

"Well. That was an emotionally tiring talk. I hope you don't mind but I need to meet David at his family restaurant."

"Yeah, okay," Stan murmured under his breath. "I understand. Bye Kyle."

"Bye!" Kyle said, grabbing his bag and dashing out of Stan's room.

Stan felt a sick feeling at the pit of his stomach as he watched Kyle leave, so strong that he wanted to puke. But he didn't understand why. There was no reason for him to be upset. None at all. In fact, he should be happy! His best friend was dating someone. Shouldn't Stan be happy for him?

Stan swallowed. Could it be that he was homophobic? Was that it? Was that the reason why Stan felt nauseous at the very idea of Kyle being with David?

But that couldn't be! Stan was extremely tolerant of homosexuals—not just that, he was all for gay rights! His dog was gay, for Christ's sake! Surely, it couldn't be that.

Then what? Stan wondered to himself as he plopped onto his bed. Why else would I feel so wrong about this?

Could it be because he was protective, even possessive, of Kyle? After all, they were best friends and Stan always felt this burning need to take care of Kyle, to make sure he was safe and out of harm's way. Maybe he just felt that David wasn't suitable for Kyle, that Kyle could do so much better.

Like who though? Stan asked himself, staring blankly at the ceiling. He just felt so lost—he had so many questions, though they were mostly to himself. Kyle's happy with him… so who am I to judge?

Yeah. Who was he to judge?

Stan and Kyle were just Super Best Friends, anyway. Nothing more. Nothing more…

But Stan didn't want anything more.

Did he?