A/N: In which I put way too much of Matt and Trey into Stan and Kyle.

Senior year had been hell for Stan. It was ten times harder than any other school year for him. He was the golden boy at school, kind and patient and easy to get along with. But, really, he was average—of course he was wonderful and perfect to me. But objectively he was average—averagely smart, averagely athletic, averagely creative, averagely everything.

This fucked him over senior year. He was busting his ass just to do okay in AP classes. He was putting in a bunch of hours at his shitty food services job. He was volunteering at an animal shelter for more hours than even Wendy. He had no time to do anything else. But I still showed up at his house for studying and to help with homework and stuff. He's my boyfriend, I kind of had to.

I usually caught a ride home with Stan in his beat up, red pickup. Sometimes I didn't. I let Stan go on ahead that day so I could drop stuff off at home. When I got to his house I gave Mrs. Marsh a quick greeting and bounded up the stairs.

I think my heart skipped a few beats when I opened Stan's door. He was on the floor with his knees drawn up to his chest, his breathing was shallow and labored. "Stan?" I fell from my mouth, barely more than a breath.

"Kyle?" He wheezed. "Kyle." He confirmed, relieved.

"Stan, what happened?" I asked cautiously.

"I don't know." He whined. "Kyle, I can't breathe." It was said with a near delirious numbness.

It looked like he was having a heart attack. Holy shit, was Stan having a heart attack? No, no he was too young—panic attack! Stan was having a panic attack. "Stan, what happened?" I tried again, slow and non-demanding.

"I don't know." He gasped again. "I just grabbed the mail and came up here and then I couldn't breathe!" It came out as a panicked whine.

I looked at the stack of mail. There was a high-quality envelope with an official seal on the top—college. Definitely a panic attack. "Stan, can I touch you?"

His eyes widened further. "I don't know, should you?"

I smiled warmly. "I promise it'll be okay as long as you don't mind."

He looked at me for a second and then opened his arms like a needy toddler. "Please."

I sat down with him and wrapped him in an awkward side-hug. He relaxed a bit at my touch. "I know it's really terrifying right now but you'll be okay, I promise."

Stan shifter so we were chest to chest and his face was in my neck. "Promise?" If I wasn't so worried for him I might've been able to appreciate how cute needy Stan was.

"I promise." I confirmed. He relaxed a little more and stayed was still until his breathing was back to normal.

When it was he pushed me a bit so we were both laying on the carpet. "Hard to cuddle while sitting." He explained with a smile. He curled his fingers into my shirt and wedged one of his legs between mine. It was like he was making me protect him. I didn't mind, if something dangerous actually happened, I'd be protecting Stan but usually he was in my position while we were sleeping, made it easier to play with my hair. "What happened to me?" Stan asked after a bit.

"You had a panic attack." I said as calmly as possible.

"So…am I okay now?" I finally got to enjoy how cute Stan was being.

I laughed. "Yeah, yeah, they're not like damaging or anything, just scary as fuck."

He smiled at me. "Why would you wanna be a lawyer when you're so good at this?"

I pretended to think. "Mm, all my patients wouldn't be as cute as you."

His smile melted into pure affection and his heartbeat picked up a little. It was so easy to get Stan like this.

"Y'know what causes panic attacks?" I didn't give him a chance to answer. "Anxiety."

He bowed his head a bit. "Things have been kinda crazy."

"College and stuff?" I guessed, snatching the letter from his desk. "Where do you wanna get in anyway?"

Pink started creeping up his neck onto his face. "I've kinda been applying to all the places you have."

"Stan!" Surprised, angry, admonishing. "This first fucking thing they tell you about college is not to follow your boyfriend!"

His face was completely hidden in my chest and his voice was muffled. "'M not following you 'cuz you're my boyfriend, 'm following you 'cuz you're Kyle." He shifted to look at me. "Even if we weren't dating could you imagine going anywhere and me not following?"

He had a point and he looked really cute but it still felt wrong. "Don't you have anything you wanna do?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, I just wanna be with you, maybe do something with music?"

"So, you're only applying to colleges that I'm applying to?" I asked, still concerned.

"Yes." It was hardly more than a squeak.

"Can you apply to at least one other college, please?" I pleaded.

"One?" I nodded for confirmation. He smiled. "There are a lot of good law schools in New York, right?" He asked innocently.

"Goddamn, you're clingy." I laughed and shoved him playfully.