Chapter Text
The burnt colour of sunlight streamed through the bedroom to create multicolours of orange, red, and yellow across the blue walls. The room hadn’t changed much over the years. There were still the Terrance & Philip posters with a few other random ones scattered over the twin-sized bed and computer desk. Kyle sighed inwardly as he stood in front of the full length mirror to assess everything from head to toe.
He had been cursed with his short height from his mother but had managed to pack on some muscle with his diligent workout regiments on a semi-daily basis to keep himself in shape for basketball. The further he let his gaze travel up the strong muscles of his torso, the more he started to feel good about himself. His face was thin with sharp, distinctive features with his freckles still splayed across his nose and cheeks. The biggest change in the last eight years was his hair. What was once a mess of bright red curls had become darker, like a burnt auburn colour. His curls were still distinctive but his new undercut style made it look more stylish than disheveled.
“Kyle!” Sheila Broflovski yelled from the bottom of the stairs of the two-story house. Her voice was loud like a jet engine piercing through the house. It was amazing how the woman could be heard from the basement sometimes while he was on the second floor in his room. “Bubbie, Stan is here!”
Kyle rolled his emerald eyes dramatically. He hated that nickname. Years later and he still couldn’t get rid of it. He was not longer a child and he made it painfully known to his mother, but she was stubborn. No matter how many times he told her to stop, she’d still pinch his cheek and repeat the nickname with her wide smile.
“Kyle!” Sheila screamed. The sound was like nails on a chalkboard sometimes.
Kyle flinched from the heavy shiver that coursed through his spine. “Coming ma!” he yelled back equally s loud. Like mother, like son.
He took one last look at himself in the full-length mirror. His collared shirt and dark jeans were enough. Even though it was the middle of summer, the air hadn’t warmed up over 71°F. He quickly raced down the stairs to the main level where his mother stood, her hands placed firmly on her wide hips as Stan stood by the door. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his sweater that hid the muscles underneath he had gained from years of football and baseball. He didn’t bother hiding his calves with his grey cargo shorts that were slightly baggy and yet surprisingly fitting for him.
“Dude, take any more time?” Stan said bitterly, his dark eyebrow that matched the colour of his raven coloured hair lifted playfully. Stan had lost his blue puffball toque to let his black hair rest messily on his head. He would wear a similar blue hat at times in the winter time, bringing a sense of nostalgia back to Kyle whenever he saw his best friend wear it, but for the most part he let his soft locks free.
“Shut up,” Kyle replied with a smile as he reached the bottom of the stairs. Sheila was instantly on him to smooth out the wrinkles in his shirt. “Ma,” Kyle said with a heavy sigh but the woman didn’t look up from her simple task of caring for her son. “Ma!” he shouted a little louder. The woman’s hands ceased as she looked up with wide eyes. “Stop.”
“Oh! Sorry Bubbie,” she said with a wide grin and reached up to pinch Kyle’s cheek. He groaned in frustration as he pulled away. The shorter woman hummed happily to herself and quickly spun around to shuffle off towards the kitchen.
“Mama’s boy,” Stan muttered quietly from being perched against the door. Kyle promptly lifted his hand to flip off his childhood friend who merely laughed off the gesture. Kyle quickly slipped on his worn out sneakers with part of the stitching ripped along the outside of his left foot. When he was finished, he stood and faced his friend with a wide grin. Stan’s expression was twisted up in judgement that made Kyle roll his eyes. “You ready to go now, Princess?” Stan joked.
Kyle punched his friend’s shoulder as hard as he could but he knew it did nothing against the muscles under his friend’s sweater and skin. “Kyle,” Sheila spoke up from the doorway to the kitchen as she held onto a drying towel. “Make sure you’re back by midnight, young man.”
“Mom,” Kyle groaned loudly, his head tilted back as his eyes closed and his face pinched with frustration.
“Don’t whine at me, Kyle Broflovski,” Sheila replied in a threatening tone. Kyle tilted his head back forward, keeping his back facing his mother as he rolled his eyes. He knew she’d have his ass red if she saw it. “Midnight. No later.”
“Mom, we’ve been over this. I’m not a kid anymore, come on,” Kyle explained as he turned to face his mother. She looked determined but Kyle was right there with her. She was still babying him and he hated it. He was eighteen and frustrated that he had earned so little trust from his mother that even his little brother had more freedom than he did.
Sheila huffed loudly. “You may not be, but you are still under my roof. While you are under my roof, you live by my rules,” she explained harshly as she pointed a chubby finger at her son.
Stan’s hand clamped down on Kyle’s shoulder before he could speak. He hated how Stan always knew when he was about to unleash the frustration and anger boiling up inside him while simultaneously thanking him for always being there to stop him from doing something stupid. Stan knew the argument could and would go on for hours if he let it. The mother and son were both equally stubborn. “Don’t worry, Sheila, I’ll have him back by midnight. I have to be back home by then anyways,” he explained.
The hand on Kyle’s shoulder squeezed harshly. “What a liar,” Kyle thought to himself as he listened to the quiet smugness in his friend’s tone.
“See Kyle? I’m not the only mother looking out for her son’s wellbeing,” Sheila said, her hands on her wide hips. “One day when you are a parent, you’ll understand what you have to go through to protect your children.”
Kyle groaned as he turned. The thought alone was laughable and Stan knew exactly why. It was the same reason he had never had a girlfriend and the reason why he was always so tense around his parents when the topic of marriage and kids made him tense. The two boys left the house after saying goodbye to the red haired woman to start down the familiar South Park street lined with bungalows, townhouses, and a few two-story detached houses.
“She’s so overprotective!” Kyle suddenly shouted as his hand lifted to rub harshly across his scalp through his soft hair. “Gah, I can’t deal with it anymore!” he added in a harsh snap as he kicked at a small stone with the toe of his shoe.
“Dude, she just cares about you. Be happy she’s not like Butters’ parents,” Stan explained, his hands still shoved into the pockets of his sweater. If there was anyone who knew the relationship between Kyle and his mother the best, it was Stan.
Kyle groaned and then exhaled loudly. “Yeah, okay. You have a point,” he replied in a low mumble having gave up against his friend’s blind optimism. He hated when Stan became the smart, logical one.
An arm snaked around Kyle’s shoulders, snapping him from his deep thoughts and he was almost thrown off balance as his friend pulled him closer to him. “Let’s just try to have some fun tonight. It’s the last party before the last year of our high school career. After this year, everything changes,” the raven-haired boy explained, the optimism back thickly in his voice.
Oh, how right he was.
“Hey, look,” Stan said as he elbowed Kyle from his thoughts. They had been walking in peaceful silence for a few blocks, something Kyle loved about his long-time friendship with the Marsh boy. Kyle stopped along with Stan to turn and looked across the street where the taller boy was pointing. A large moving truck was parked in the driveway of a bungalow with a For Sale sign out front that had been covered with a SOLD sticker. “New neighbours.”
Kyle never knew the people who lived in the bungalow at first. He remembered when they moved out. It was an older couple who were moving to a retirement home. That was all his mother knew and told him. He let his eyes scan quickly over the lightly beige house with a large front porch and then his focus was stuck on the black muscle car parked next to the curb. It was unlike anything he had ever seen in South Park. The town was full of mom SUVs and four-door sedans. The black car with white stripes along the hood and roof and wide rims stuck out like a sore thumb.
“What do you think?” Stan asked to break Kyle from his blatant staring. “Crazy? Lame? Serial killers?” he rhymed off as he shoved his hands back into the large pockets of his sweater.
“All of the above?” Kyle added with an amused grin.
Stan chuckled and continued down the street towards Stark’s pond. Kyle moved to follow but stopped for a moment when he saw someone hop from the back of the large moving truck with its nose facing the street. Their head was hidden behind the box they carried but Kyle’s attention was caught by the two very distinctively coloured yawn bracelets worn on their wrist. They were handmade like something an elementary school student would make.
“Kyle, let’s go! We’re gonna be late for the party,” Stan called back over his shoulder.
Kyle quickly chased after his friend without another hesitation. It was dark by the time the two boys reached Stark’s pond. Kyle could hear the loud, pulsating dance music from through the trees before the came to the clearing where Kenny’s truck was parked next to Token’s SUV he borrowed from his parents. The backs were opened wide towards the sandy shore of the lake where a large bonfire lit up the area crowded full of students from Kyle and Stan’s grade. Stan moved past the back of Kenny’s truck with Kyle behind him who stopped when he was suddenly grabbed by the shoulder. He let out a sharp yelp but the familiar scent of menthol cigarettes and booze quickly relaxed him.
“Kyle!” Kenny yelled drunkenly.
“Hi Kenny,” Kyle replied with a small uneven smile. It didn’t surprise him that alcohol was present even though Stan promised him there wouldn’t. With the class going into their final year of high school before they’d all split off across the country for school or work, an all or nothing party was pretty standard. No doubt the back of Kenny’s truck was full of whatever alcohol you could think of. How he got it? No one would ever dare ask.
Kenny grinned and hummed as he leaned over the side of his truck from inside the flatbed. The hood of his orange sweater fell off his head to reveal his messy, long dirty blonde hair. Kyle ruffled it with a small laugh that made Kenny giggle happily. He was leaning dangerously far out of the truck but Kyle kept a firm grip on him to keep him from falling out onto the hard ground.
“Are you two done over there?” Stan asked with a flat tone over the loud music.
“Stanley!” a shrill voice sang over the loud music.
Kenny gagged loudly and overly dramatically to voice his utter distain for who was behind the shrill voice. Stan ignored the obvious noise that Kenny didn’t bother to keep quiet as his face brightened at the sound of the voice. He quickly spun around just as the brunette flung herself into his arms. Their lips crashed against each other, literally, and Kyle rolled his eyes. Wendy was drunk. She carried a red solo cup that she almost spilled over when her arms flung around her boyfriend’s neck. Kyle took a quick step back out of the splash zone. Kenny almost fell out of his truck without being held up by Kyle anymore but was surprisingly quick to catch himself. He must not have been as far gone as Kyle thought.
“Wow, okay, you are drunk,” Stan said with a small chuckle when he finally managed to get away from the hungry lips desperately trying to regain friction.
“Yup!” Wendy said loudly and pushed her drink to Stan’s chest. “Catch up!”
Wendy turned to skip off into the crowd after she left a messy kiss against Stan’s cheek and he had no choice but to follow without hesitation. Kyle jumped when a large brown bottle was dangled in front of his face. He had been too distracted by his best friend and his on again, off again girlfriend to notice the sandy blonde rummaging around in his stash of contraband. “Kyyyyle!” Kenny sang as he held the bottle’s top between his fingertips.
“What’s that?” Kyle asked, an eyebrow turned up quizzically.
Kenny couldn’t supress his wild giggling. “Liquid courage for my anxious little bunny,” he replied drunkenly, his voice full of soft seduction.
Kyle rolled his eyes and swatted the bottle away as he passed by. Kenny’s loud noise of disappointment followed after him but he chose to ignore it. He wandered through the crowd of drunk students not old enough to be drinking observing the sights. Clyde had Bebe pinned against a tree as they wrestled tongues off to the right at the edge of the opening. Token played a bass quite poorly by the bonfire as people surrounded him. Kenny continued to hand out booze from the back of his truck with a dirty pickup line at each person he encountered. Kyle stopped on the opposite side of the bonfire and tilted his head slightly. A tall boy was leaned over a leaner blonde who had his eyes closed. It took Kyle a moment to realize it was Craig and Tweek. Craig had his face pressed to Tweek’s neck as Tweek tried hard to bite back the soft whimpers he wanted to make. His body was shaking violently. Well, more violently than usual. Kyle scoffed and rolled his eyes.
“Perverts,” he muttered quietly to himself.
He joined a group of his classmates around the fire who were drinking and talking loudly amongst each other. Kyle felt distant even though he sat only inches away from the people he knew since kindergarten. It wasn’t their fault. They all didn’t necessarily hate him, if anything, he got along with almost everyone in his grade. The distance was created by him. He didn’t realize he was doing it at first, and when he realized what was happening, it was already too late for him.
“Hi, Kyle,” a sweet voice sang from beside Kyle. He was startled by the sudden proximity of the girl next to him in the spot that had been empty since he sat down.
He quickly turned around and smiled, hiding the fact that his heart was hammering hard in his chest. The blonde-haired girl in a navy-blue jacket with blue-grey jeans sat next to him holding on to a red solo cup full of liquid that Kyle could smell even at the small distance. The glow from the bonfire lit up the side of her face, highlighting her slightly blushed cheeks, made by the alcohol that coursed through her system.
“Hey, Emily. How was your summer?” Kyle asked, making nice with the girl he rarely ever spoke with.
Emily hummed quietly and shifted closer on the large piece of wood half embedded in the ground. “Uneventful,” she answered bluntly. Kyle could smell the vodka stronger on her breath than from inside the cup. “Yours?”
Kyle shrugged his shoulders. “Pretty much the same,” he answered. He was uncomfortable but he didn’t want to seem rude. “I really didn’t do much. I was going to go to camp but I decided against it this year. I could have gone as a counsellor but I don’t think I’d do well having to take care of a bunch of kids. So, I just—,” Kyle was rambling but stopped when he noticed the girl’s cheeks getting dangerously red and she was struggling to keep her eyes open. “Hey, are you alright?” he asked worriedly as a hand lifted to gently touch the girl’s shoulder.
Emily hummed as she nodded lazily. “It’s just really warm here,” she explained and turned her head to look away. “Why don’t we stand over there?” she asked as she pointed a finger in the direction of a large tree at the edge of the open space, away from the crowd but still within the soft glow of the bonfire. She was on her feet before Kyle could answer. He could have stayed where he was but he was worried about the staggering and shaky steps the girl was taking. He sighed heavily as he stood, shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, and followed her to make sure she wouldn’t trip over her own feet as her steps sunk deep into the sand with each step.
“Emily, are you sure you’re alright?” Kyle asked worriedly as she pressed her back against the large tree once he caught up to her.
Emily giggled into her hand. “Has anyone told you how hot you got over the years, Kyle?” she asked. It was a brazen and completely out of left field question that made Kyle’s cheeks instantly reddened in embarrassment. He was not the one who was hit on by the girls. Stan was the one who was hit on by the girls. Over the years, Stan got over his tendency to throw up anytime one would talk to him and Kyle found out just why exactly he never seemed to care when they ignored him. “You’ve really grown into yourself, Kyle.”
Kyle’s heart pounded heavily in his chest like a drum. Sure, he had gotten taller, not as tall as Stan though. He had a new hairstyle and his skin was a touch darker, but not much else had changed. He was still thin and he had freckles all along the tops of his cheeks and his nose and even over his shoulders.
Kyle froze when Emily’s fingers locked through the belt loops of his jeans and she pulled him forward. His hands shook at his sides. He didn’t know what to do. Alarms were going off left, right, and center in his mind. There was too much noise that he couldn’t hear the sensible voice screaming from the back row of his mind. Emily leaned forward, keeping her fingers locked around the loops. He squeezed his eyes shut.
“No! Nono!” he suddenly heard the voice scream in his mind and quickly took a step back. “This is bad! Get out!”
Emily’s fingers let go. Her face was squeezed with confusion and a bit of annoyance. Kyle shook his head frantically and he turned to quickly rush across the sand to get away. His head was spinning and he felt sick to his stomach. Kenny was sitting on the side of his truck’s flatbed handing two beers to Clyde when he noticed Kyle. His eyebrows knitted together as he watched the red head squeeze through the small group of students showing up for the party and take off quickly down the street away from the loud music and messy dancing. Kenny hummed quietly to himself and slowly shook his head. The heavy drunken fog broke away in his mind just enough for him to feel the slight bit of pity for his fleeing friend whose intense red hair disappeared in the darkness.
~//~
The hallway of the school was loud with chatter. Kyle actually felt a sense of ease being back in the bustle of early mornings and angsty teenagers troubled over stupidly trivial things. Day one of the last year had officially begun. Unfortunately, Kyle woke feeling groggy and unmotivated. His lack of sleep that past two weeks since the party had caught up to him with a harsh bite. He trudged to the bus stop in heavy silence that Stan didn’t question where Cartman stood waiting. He was still fat and evil with a signature, “Hey Fags!” greeting when the two friends approached. The greeting made a sharp shiver crawl up Kyle’s spine.
“Ignore him,” Kyle muttered under his breath to Stan who was about to lunge at the brunette who was an entire foot shorter and looked like he could barely walk a block without falling over.
Stan struggled to keep his composure every time Cartman made a snippy comment under his breath aimed more so towards Kyle than anyone or anything else. When they got on the bus, Kyle took the window seat to press his forehead against the cool glass. He closed his eyes and was pretty sure he fell asleep, only waking up when Stan gave him a small nudge.
The morning was a haze of bodies and loud voices of students being reunited from the summer. Kyle was tuning it all out. “What’s your schedule look like this semester?” Stan asked as he leaned over to read over his friend’s shoulder as they walked away from the office.
Kyle cleared his throat as he rubbed his eye with his knuckles. “Algebra, History, Spanish, and Gym,” he answered as he read off the page.
“Dude, we only have two classes together. That sucks!” Stan said loudly with a frustrated groan as he rubbed harshly at the back of his head. “Ah, well, at least I can cheat off you in History and Gym,” he joked and threw an arm around Kyle’s shoulders.
“You can’t cheat off me in Gym,” Kyle replied with a small smirk as he folded up the piece of paper to shove it into his back pocket. “Not that you’d need to.”
“Well, it is true that physical education is the one thing I’m good at,” Stan said proudly, his back straightened as his face beamed brightly.
“The one thing,” Kyle stressed and Stan smacked the back of his head gently.
Even thought they didn’t share homeroom, Stan’s locker was only just around the corner from Kyle’s. It was still far enough away that he found himself standing alone in the hallway, again feeling millions of miles away from everyone around him. He looked around at his surrounding lockers but didn’t see anyone from his immediate group which made his shoulders tense. He knew the people in his class but he already had a feeling it was going to be a long and boring class without anyone he really connected with.
When he was finished in his locker he stepped into the classroom to take a seat in the middle at the back of the class as other students funneled inside. He opened his fresh new notebook to the first page and instantly began to doodle along the margin with small cartoon drawings as he waited. The first day was always the worst and he was dreading it. The bell rang, echoing loudly through the halls to pour through the open door into the classroom, and the teacher began to hand out the class’s textbooks. The chatter hadn’t stopped as she moved between rows handing the thick, hardcovered books to students.
“Alright, now that everyone had a textbook, we can go over the syllabus for the semester,” she explained. The classroom was still full of chatter but it instantly silenced when the classroom door suddenly creaked open. “Hello?” she turned to say to the disruption that made her scowl.
“Sorry I’m late,” an unfamiliar voice said through the quiet where a few quiet voices whispered to each other around the room. Kyle paused his doodling for a moment. His eyebrows were furrowed together as he blinked a few times but didn’t look up. “I got lost,” the voice added with a small, nervous chuckle
Kyle returned to his doodling. “It’s no trouble, you’re not that late,” the teacher answered with a small tint of annoyance in her voice. “Take these and then take a seat.”
Footsteps moved across the room. Kyle continued to keep his attention on the doodles that took up almost half of the margin, even when the footsteps drew incredibly close to stop in front of his desk. “Is it okay if I sit here?” the unfamiliar voice asked from overhead.
Kyle’s hand stopped just before his pencil touched the paper. He quickly lifted his head to look up at the hand pointing at the empty spot beside him. He didn’t see the face of whoever was standing in front of him because the colourful bracelets caught his attention, making his eyes widen. He let himself stare for a bit too long before he forced his eyes to travel up. The boy standing in front of his desk smiled. It was a soft smile, full of light that was intoxicating to stare at. He had beige skin with medium length chestnut brown hair parted on the left and gold coloured eyes. Not a yellowish brown, but gold. Kyle’s breath hitched in his throat. The tightness in his chest was completely foreign and a little terrifying. He cleared his throat shakily to try to calm his sudden nerves and nodded. The taller boy’s smile widened a bit and he took the empty seat. The teacher carried on with explaining the syllabus every student had. Kyle was a statue. He couldn’t move as his heart slammed itself against the inside of his chest in a desperate attempt to get free.
“My name’s Aaron,” the mystery boy suddenly introduced himself as he offered the hand that the colourful bracelets were wrapped around.
Kyle was snapped out of his trance. He quickly spun his head around to stare at the offered hand to him. The colourful strings of his bracelets weaved through small beads that were painted with worn out letters. Kyle couldn’t make out what they said before the silence was drifting into awkwardness. “Kyle Broflovski,” he said as he grabbed the boy’s hand to give it a small shake.
The boy smiled again. It was absolutely breathtaking and made Kyle’s chest tighten again. “What the hell is going on?” he thought to himself as he quickly moved his hand away.
“It’s nice to meet you, Kyle,” the boy said with genuine happiness.
“Mr. Carmichael?” the teacher called out across the classroom. Her voice carried across the room instantly made Kyle and Aaron straighten in their seats. Their heads spun around to their attention was at the front of the room.
“Yes ma’am?” Aaron replied stiffly. Kyle looked confused by the level of respect that dripped from his voice so naturally.
“Pay attention, young man,” the teacher said. “You too, Kyle.”
Kyle’s cheeks lightened up with a small touch of pink as he nodded slowly. Aaron’s smile widened. It was genuine. Kyle saw it from the corner of his eyes and had to blink. “Sorry, Ms. Elson,” the boy apologized.
“Who the hell is this guy?” Kyle thought to himself and bowed his head again to continue doodling. He needed a distraction.
“Ugh, dude, creative writing sucks!” Stan exclaimed as he took the seat next to Kyle where he could sit next to the wall. “I thought I picked an easy course. Something that could help keep my GPA up, but it’s so stupid!” He shuffled through his book but stopped when too much time had passed without a response from his friend. His eyebrow lifted as he turned his head to see Kyle staring a few desks forward and in the left row where Aaron sat reading something from near the front of the room. “Dude!”
Kyle snapped from his daze with a physical jolt. His back straightened and he quickly spun his head around to look back at his friend with wide eyes. He looked like a deer in the headlights. “Huh?” he asked in confusion.
Stan chuckled after a small scoff. “Dude, what the hell?” he asked as he rested his elbow against his desk and placed his chin on his palm. “You were totally out of it. Are you alright? I know you haven’t been sleeping well lately, but you and your insomnia are like old friends now.”
“Oh, uh, w—well,” Kyle stuttered, his cheeks pinking slightly. “The new kid.”
Stan followed Kyle’s pointing finger with eyebrows knitted together in confusion. His eyes stopped on Aaron, the new kid he had noticed when he entered the room but didn’t give much thought to it. “New kid? Why would anyone join a new school in their last year of high school?” he asked quizzically.
Kyle nodded rapidly. “That’s what I was thinking,” he shrieked a little too loudly. Heads turned randomly around the room. Stan snickered as his friend slid down slightly in his seat.
Stan suddenly let out a sharp gasp as something sparked in his mind. “Maybe he’s a psychopath who got expelled from his last school?” Stan asked with a wide, unsettling grin. “Wouldn’t that be so cool? Serial killer,” he explained and made the high pitched screeching noises to mimic the sound effect from Psycho.
Kyle rolled his eyes dramatically. “Why do you always go there?” he asked with a soft sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Because it’s fun,” Stan replied with a small shrug of his shoulders.
“How bad is my luck?” Kenny asked as he walked over to sit in the desk behind Stan. He had the hood of his sweater pulled up over his head and sat with his legs stretched out in front of him to invade into Stan’s space. “I’ve got Mr. Boulder for Biology again. It’s bullshit.” Kyle and Stan shared the same unamused look as they both shook their heads. “The man hates me. He’s a prick.”
Kyle rolled his eyes. “Maybe if you would keep your eyes open then you wouldn’t have to retake so many classes and maybe some of your teachers would actually learn to like you for your personality instead of hating you because you’re a shithead,” he explained for more brutally than Kenny had anticipated.
“Hey, I don’t need that kind of lip from you, Broflovski,” Kenny warned jokingly as he tossed a crumpled-up piece of paper to let it hit the side of Kyle’s head.
Kyle laughed and it filled the room over the sound of the soft conversation from the other students. “I’m just telling it as I see it,” he said as he ruffled his own hair and turned away from Kenny flipping him off. He froze. Aaron’s gold eyes stared over his shoulder as the corner of his lips turned up in a slight grin that made Kyle’s shoulders shiver. Stan was distracted with reading his textbook but Kenny noticed the tension in Kyle’s shoulders as he stared forward at the new kid. Neither of them looked away and Kyle noticeably shifted in his seat as he cleared his throat loudly. He broke the connection first to lower his head as if he was fascinated with absolutely nothing in his hands. An evil, devilish grin formed on Kenny’s face. He was going to have far too much fun with what he had planned.
Kyle sat down at the table in the cafeteria with a sigh. The day was dragging on. First period he felt tense the entire class as he actively tried to ignore the presence of the new student that sat next to him. He was tense all period and couldn’t wrap his head around why. Second period, though he had Stan and Kenny to keep him occupied, he couldn’t help but think about the student a few desks in front of him. The smile he had was bewitching to Kyle. There was confidence and mystery behind that smile. It was annoying.
“Leftovers?” Stan asked as he poked at Kyle’s brown paper bag.
“Lasagna,” Kyle answered with a small smile as he reached into the bag to pull out a can of pop and the Tupperware dish full of a large slice of leftover lasagna.
Stan’s nose turned up at the food with complete distain. “Leftover cold lasagna? Is that even considered a lunch?” he asked, his nose scrunched up as he spoke.
“Better than cafeteria pizza, again,” Kyle rebutted. “You’re pretty much eating ass. It smells like ass. It tastes like ass. It’s ass.”
“Kyle, how exactly do you know what—?” Stan started to ask but stopped when a loud voice cut him off.
“What tastes like ass?” Clyde asked as he walked over with Bebe, Craig, and Tweek.
Clyde sat down first across the table from Kyle with Bebe on his lap. It was an odd thing they did every lunch but no one questioned it. At first they were ridiculed for it, but after a while they all lost interest in the strange couple. Awkward Clyde and beautiful Bebe, it was a mix-match made in heaven. Craig sat in the middle and Tweek took a shaky seat beside his boyfriend who carried his food for him so he wouldn’t drop it.
“The cafeteria pizza,” Kyle answered Clyde when everyone was settled in as he popped off the lid to his Tupperware dish.
“Oh, then you won’t mind, right Stanley?” Kenny suddenly asked as he skillfully leaned over Stan’s shoulder to take the half-eaten slice off his tray.
“Hey! Dude, what the hell?” Stan shouted and reached up to smack Kenny on the chest. “It may taste like ass but it’s still my lunch, you asshole.”
Kenny plopped down next to Kyle with a satisfied chuckle, sitting practically on the red head’s lap, as he nibbled on the slice of pizza. The cerulean blue eyes were scanning the room as everyone at the table lost themselves in mindless chatter. He was looking through the sea of students for a specific one. He had spent the entire second period observing the strange new boy who had caught Kyle’s attention so intensely. It was an odd exchange of quiet glances and small grins. At one point in time when Kyle got up to write on the chalkboard as the teacher continued to speak to the class, the new boy’s attention was completely on the red head.
Kenny’s eyes finally stopped to settle on the brunet sitting alone on the windowsill of one of the large bay windows that looked out the back of the school. He wore thin, silver rimmed glasses perched on the edge of his nose as he read from a worn, well used book and chewed on a bright red apple. Kenny’s lips turned up into the devilish grin once again. The plan he had been devising all through second period was about to be put into motion.
Everyone was deep in conversation, except Kyle and Kenny. It was like the universe was working hand in hand with Kenny and that idea made him grin like an idiot. Kenny silently thanked whatever higher power there was in the world that Kyle was an independent introvert most of the time.
“Hey,” Kenny kept his voice low as he nudged Kyle with his elbow. The bright green eyes quickly shifted their attention to the blonde. Suspicion formed on the red head’s face. It wasn’t uncommon for him to look at the blonde that way. “I was just thinking, maybe we should invite the new kid over.”
Kenny motioned over to the window and Kyle followed with his eyes. The suspicion quickly disappeared to be left with the deer in the headlights look that made Kenny’s devilish grin form a bit wider. Kyle had his fork between his lips, having shoved a piece of his lunch into his mouth before his friend spoke. He swallowed his food and stabbed his fork into the piece of lasagna. “Why?” he asked coldly.
Kenny shrugged his shoulders. “He’s alone. It’s his first day here and he hasn’t seemed to have made any friends so far. He doesn’t seem lame or anything. Plus, I’m bored and he’s all shiny and new,” Kenny explained with a slightly creepy tone nearing the end. “Come on. Live a little, Broflovski.”
Kyle rolled his eyes at the blatant whininess in his friend’s tone. “Sure, I guess so,” he replied with a soft sigh and Kenny could hear his attempt at being nonchalant even though there was some excitement buried deep underneath.
Kenny’s grin widened. “You should go invite him over,” he suggested in a quiet whisper that he leaned in slightly to Kyle to say.
“Me? Why? It’s your idea,” Kyle sputtered, trying to keep his voice lowered as he spoke. Bebe looked across the table with curious eyes but ignored whatever had happened to turn her attention back to the conversation Stan and Craig were having.
“You’re the kind one. I’m the weird one. I might scare him off,” Kenny explained with a fake pout on his face. Kyle rolled his eyes and shook his head. Kenny sighed. “Alright,” he said as he pushed himself up slightly from the bench, “I guess that works. It’ll give me a chance to talk to him in private.”
Kyle suddenly tensed. He wasn’t sure why but he quickly grabbed Kenny’s wrist to pull his back down. The blonde boy almost fell over as he was ripped back down on the bench with a loud grunt. Bebe gave the two boys another quizzical look. “I’ll do it. You’re right, you’ll just end up scaring him off,” Kyle growled. He wasn’t sure where the tension in his body came from. The thick, dry lump in his throat was strange and he found it hard to swallow as he pushed himself up to his feet.
He felt like he was moving like a phantom. He felt disconnected as he stepped over the bench to start to walk away. Stan noticed the absence of his friend and turned his head with furrowed eyebrows. “Where’s he going?” he asked as Kenny slid across the bench towards him to take Kyle’s spot.
“To make friends, dear Stanley. To make friends,” Kenny said in a low voice and grabbed the fork stabbed in Kyle’s lunch to shove a piece of the lasagna into his mouth. Needless to say, Stan was completely confused but not curious enough to ask anything else.
Kyle had to shove his hands into the pockets of his sweater to stop their shaking. He was never really one for socializing and making new friends, it made him nervous. Now he was willingly making his way to some random stranger he didn’t know anything about except his name. No wonder his heart was racing in his chest. He couldn’t get it to settle down.
“So why the hell did I stop Kenny? Why am I the one talking to him?” Kyle internally screamed at himself. “I’m such an idiot!”
He stopped by the window and couldn’t help but stare. Aaron was tall with soft muscles in his chest that appeared through his t-shirt revealed under his open sweater. He wore dark jeans and expensive sneakers that looked like they had never been worn before that day. He turned his half-eaten apple in his hand before he took a bite, wiping the juice away with the back of his hand that escaped the corner of his mouth. Kyle swallowed hard. A strange sensation tingled his toes and the back of his neck. The boy stopped chewing for a moment, sensing the boy standing next to him. He lifted his eyes and then quickly turned his head to face Kyle who was creepily staring. Having been caught, Kyle’s cheeks lit up with bright red flush as his body tensed. Aaron swallowed the mouthful of apple he had been chewing on.
“Kyle, right?” he asked, the corner of his lip turning up slightly. Kyle swallowed again and nodded. Aaron carefully closed his book, removed his glasses, and turned to let his legs dangle along the wall. “You look like you’ve got something on your mind. What can I do for you?”
“Oh fuck, I have to say something. I haven’t said anything!” Kyle panicked. “Uh, you weren’t wearing glasses in class,” he blurted out. “Really? That’s your fucking go to?”
“Watching me, were you?” Aaron asked and Kyle noted how he always seemed so confident. Even his voice was strong and unwavering as he spoke. It was a particularly annoying feature of the grinning brunet. He kind of reminded Kyle of Kenny.
“What? N—No, it’s just—you sat next to me in class and they’re noticeable,” Kyle tried but failed to say without letting his nerves get the better of him. “Good job, idiot.”
Aaron could have easily laughed at how flustered Kyle got, but didn’t. “I left them in my car and by the time I realized, I was already late for class. I just decided to hold off,” he explained and chuckled softly with a small shake of his head. “I didn’t think the teacher would make us take notes on the first day,” he added and lifted his hand to scratch his head. “I couldn’t write anything down, but I guess that’ll make me learn not to keep these damn things in my car.”
Kyle lost himself in Aaron’s words. There was something trusting and relaxing about his voice. Kyle quickly shook his daze away and cleared his throat loudly. “Right, uh, well, I was just wondering if you wanted to sit with us.” The words came out easier than he had expected, but he still wanted to throw up the lump that was sitting in his throat.
Aaron looked confused and a little curious. Kyle pointed a thumb over his shoulder. The brunet leaned to the side to see Kenny smile and wiggle his fingers in a waving motion from across the cafeteria. “Do I look that lonely?” Aaron asked as he sat back and smiled up at Kyle. That damn smile again, but Kyle was starting to get used to it.
Kyle shrugged his shoulders dramatically. “A little bit. And besides, only weirdoes sit alone reading during lunch,” he joked. Jokes were good. Jokes were calming.
“Weirder than staring at the guy reading alone during lunch?” Aaron teased with a lifted eyebrow. The blush returned to Kyle’s cheeks. He felt warm. His entire body was on fire. Aaron laughed. It was a soft chuckle that instantly made Kyle relax. “I’m kidding. I’d love to join you guys,” he said and stood. He wasn’t quite as tall as Stan but he still stood over Kyle. He took a step forward to stand within inches of Kyle when he was too lost in his thoughts to react. “I warn you though. Everyone always falls in love with me eventually,” he explained cockily and took another bite of his apple.
Kyle quickly spun around, maybe a bit too quickly. He was like a jointless robot moving through the tables back to his friends where Kenny had his chin resting in his hand as he smiled proudly. “Guys,” Kyle spoke up, ending any conversation being held at the table. “This is Aaron, he’s new. Aaron, meet Kenny, Stan, Tweek, Craig, Clyde, and Bebe. Aaron’s gonna…hang out with us.”
The table was eerily quiet. Kyle cleared his throat loudly and quickly sat down beside Kenny who had taken the liberty of finishing off the red head’s lunch without asking. Kyle rolled his eyes at the crooked grin that was formed on his blonde friend’s face. Aaron sat down beside the red head, putting his book and glasses down in front of him as he rubbed his hands against his thighs.
“So, new school in your final year of high school? How much do your parents hate you?” Clyde joked.
The table erupted with laughter from Kenny as everyone else shouted angrily. “Jeez, Clyde, have some damn class!” Craig smacked his friend’s shoulder as he yelled bitterly. Kenny was holding on to his stomach as he roared with heavy laughter.
“I am so sorry, Aaron,” Bebe said with a heavy sigh across the table. “Clyde is literally a most tactless person you will ever meet, beside Kenny.”
“H—Hey!” Kenny managed to stop laughing to say with an offended tone.
“It’s okay. My parents and I have a general understanding of hatred with each other. I’m only allowed another year though before I’m legally allowed to be kicked out so they couldn’t go easy on me,” Aaron joked back with his signature smile. Clyde chuckled loudly. He opened his mouth to say something.
“Bebe!” Craig shouted and the girl with bright yellow hair quickly covered the boy’s mouth to keep him from saying something else stupid.
“So, Aaron, where are you from?” Stan leaned forward to ask, distracting everyone from the flailing Clyde was doing to try to get free from his girlfriend.
“Boulder,” Aaron answered though he was obviously amused by the struggling from across the table from him. “My mom got a new job here so we decided to move. She is actually a fantastic mother and loves me a lot,” Aaron explained and took another bite of his apple with a satisfied grin.
“And you were okay with that?” Stan asked with general interest.
Aaron shrugged his shoulders. “I couldn’t not be okay with it. Besides, it’s high school. It sucks no matter where I go. At least here I can kind of get a fresh start,” he explained and laughed softly. “Looks like I can’t get away from the weirdoes though, no matter where I go,” he teased and lightly bumped Kyle’s arm.
Kyle made a happy noise that startled even him. Stan’s eyebrow lifted in curiosity towards his best friend when the red head turned to see the judging expression. Kyle quickly cleared his throat and lowered his head. “Watch yourself, Kyle,” Kenny leaned in towards Kyle to whisper. “You might turn redder than his apple.”
“Fuck you, Kenny McCormick.”