Take This To Heart |Stan X Kyle|

9: Rekindling

Kyle's POV

Last Period

"I'm very glad that you're rekindling your friendship with Stan, but you're not worried that this has sabotaged any attempts at getting closer to him? You know, romantically?" Gregory offers his unwavering opinion on the matter at hand.

"Well... Stan's in a relationship and that didn't stop me." I trail off, and stare out the window of our English class. "There are other factors that come into play as well. One: Stan isn't gay. Two: I'm totally not his type. Three; he's been dating Wendy on and off forever, I don't think he'll ever have eyes for anyone else."

Gregory just stares back at me, the gears turning in his head.

"I have no chance with him! That's all that matters." I blurt, smacking my head on the wooden desk.

"If you ever change your mind about our relationships, just inform me." Gregory continues on with his work, turning away from me.

Sigh.

That butt-fucking comment Cartman made the other day... it was exactly like what everyone else would tease me for back in middle school.

I know they only wanted to get a rise out of me, but when your seventh grade classmates are joking about you jerking off to Stan's pecks during gym class, you kinda grow a tolerance for that stuff.

I know they were joking and messing around, but it always made me so flustered. Who gets flustered over gay jokes about you and your best friend!

I'm so fucking gay at this point it isn't even funny. So maybe I do prefer to jerk it to pecks? Why the hell does that matter?

I'll have to wait for these stupid feelings for Stan to pass. It can't last forever, right? Even if I am gay I'll find another guy to crush over or something. There's no point delaying the inevitable.

...but it's Stan. We always find our way back to eachother.

"Less than five minutes until the bell, start packing up!" The teacher snaps me out of my daze, and all the students get up and starting putting shit away.

"Well, I've got company this afternoon in the form of Christophe. Good luck with Stan!" And with that, Gregory walks out of the classroom.

Oh shit, the bell just went.

Oh shit, I promised Stan we would hang out together today.

OH SHIT.

I wonder out of the classroom, with several other students roaming the halls to leave the school. I think Stan had HPE...

"Hey Kyle!" A voice behind me calls out; It's Stan, looking all happy and cheerful... it's so nice to see him like this. He looks beautiful.

Did I really just call Stan beautiful? Holy shit dude, this is some next level gay shit.

"Hey Stan, we still on?" I ask, even though I can already tell the answer from his cheesey grin.

"Yep, and I've made some plans!" He continues to smile brightly, now moving fowards to walk alongside me.

"Are they good plans or bad plans?" I laugh, using my right hand to shelter my chuckling. I hate my laugh, it's so choppy and obnoxious.

"You'll see!" he coos, as we both exit the school grounds.

**************
3:27pm

"Where are you taking me Staannnn!" I whine. We've been waking for almost half an hour, and I'm exhausted. It probably doesn't help that our highschool is located kinda out of town.

"It's not that far away." He replies.

"You said that twenty minutes ago!" I laugh, jogging back up to his pace.

Stan comes to a hault, "We're here." He points to the building in front of us, it's... it's an icecream parlour? Holy shit! I've been pining to go here ever since it opened!

"Holy shit dude, really?" I blurt, scanning over the menu hung on the cafe's window.

"Yeah dude, I have coupons."

"I've been wanting go here for like, ever!" I exclaim, walking into the cafe with Stan.

"Yeah me too, the coupons expire soon so I uh, wanted to hurry up and use them." He states, looking around the place.

Isn't that nice. I can't tell if I'm an excuse for the coupons or the coupons are the excuse for me.

I heard this place is hella expensive, I wonder how he got the coupons...

We take a seat at one of the booths; we're right next to the window.

"Why didn't you take Wendy here? It seems like the kind of place you two would go on a date at." I break the non-existent awkward silence. Way to go Kyle! Straight to asking about the girlfriend!

He shrugs. "I don't want to hang around her all the time. Yeah she may be my girlfriend, but you're still my best friend." He answers causually, putting down the menu he was previously holding.

"Well, somedays it doesn't seem like that dude. You've stopped hanging around with Cartman, Kenny and I. It feels like you prioritize your girlfriend more than your life long friendships." I look around, trying not to meet Stan's eyes. "...not that you shouldn't care about her or anything, but we hardly see you anymore."

Stan sighs. "I'm sorry, I'll try hang around with you guys more. I really will. I want to." He smiles weakly at me.

"Yeah dude, me too." I add.

"But like, you shouldn't abandon your new relationship just for me. It came as a total suprise when Butters called up and told me about it." Stan relaxes into the seat, kicking his feet up on the table.

Oh fuck, that's right. Stan doesn't know it's fake. I can't tell him the truth! That defeats the whole purpose of my end of the bargain! I can't have anyone, especially him, growing suspicious.

"I figured you'd heard with all the gossip going around." I chuckle, staring down at the menu to avoid his gaze.

His eyes remain fixated out the window. "I don't have a problem with it. Like, I'm totally fine with you being gay and stuff, especially after all the stuff that happened last year with the uh... rumours, but... Gregory? Why him of all people?" Stan winces. He tries to hide it, but I can tell he wishes it was anyone else.

"Well, we're in pretty much all the same classes, so we see each other everyday. It was just uh... unexplainable really... he's totally my type, and we just had uh, a lot of chemistry together. Love at first sight I guess."

I laugh to myself at my lame chemistry joke.

Stan looks unamused, still staring out the window.

"I mean, we're just experimenting at the moment, y'know. Exploring ourselves and what we-, I MEAN-, it's just a thing." I'm choking up. Holy shit I'm so flustered right now.

"No it's alright, I understand where you're coming from. It's just like trial phase? So you know what to expect when things get serious?" Stan turns his attention back to me.

I... I can't tell him the truth so I might as well go along with what he said.

"Yeah, that's a good way to put it." I lie, smiling through gritted teeth.

"So... what are you gonna order?" Stan asks, changing the subject completely.

"Oh uh, I heard the milkshakes are really good here. I'll get a caramel and vanilla milkshake." I reply, a genuine smile replacing my forced one.

"Yeah I was thinking about the milkshakes too, The chocolate one looks delicio-"

Stan is carrying on about some of the menu items, but I can't help but loose myself in his smile. He looks so happy... I feel so happy.

Holy shit. I'm literally in love with my best friend.