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Fuck the sun. What else could Kyle say? He groaned, turning to face the empty space beside him. Shit, did Stan not come back yet? Kyle's heart ached instantly. Sure, he and Stan had a few tussles, all couples do. Last night, however, was one of the nastier ones, and as each nasty word thrown danced in the back of his head in an unwanted flashback, the tears forming in his eyes stung.
Kyle didn’t mean a damn thing he said, and he knew Stan didn’t either. He couldn’t wrap his head around the snowball effect. It made him feel sick that maybe, just maybe, his little outburst that caused Stan to storm out could’ve ruined his sobriety of two years. God, what had he done?
Forest eyes glanced over at the cage on the nightstand on Stan’s side of the bed, there, their furry son, a chinchilla Stan had cleverly named Chilly, was munching away on some food, like nothing was wrong between his daddies. Kyle’s heart swelled at the memory of adopting the little rodent, a gift for Stan after his first year of sobriety. He’d never seen Stan’s eyes full of that much life.
Then came the sting of the lifelessness in Stan’s eyes during their argument, when Kyle pulled out the dreaded Randy card. Kyle was even surprised at himself, cutting himself off, but it was too late, the words had already rolled off his tongue, and Stan stared back at him like Kyle had shot him. He may as well have. The last thing Kyle remembered, as he battled himself internally for the words to make Stan stay, was Stan announcing that he was going for a walk, turning, and- usually comically, but not this time, slamming his shoulder against the doorway on the way out with a clear profanity and hurt tone under his breath. Kyle would’ve just preferred if a meteor hit the Earth right then and there.
But no, here he was, silently crying to himself about a stupid argument, because neither of them were great at communication, admittedly. He couldn’t blame Stan for needing some space. Maybe he spent the night at Sharon’s or Kenny’s, and not at a bar. Kyle mentally cursed himself, why was his first thought that Stan would go to a bar? The lack of faith he had in his own super best boyfriend disturbed him.
Was he even a good boyfriend for thinking that?
The redhead groaned, slowly getting up, watching Chilly as he finished nibbling and burrowed into the bedding, probably to sleep.
Oh what he would give to be as carefree as the rodent in the enclosure. If he could go one day- Just ONE DAY- without stress and worry, he’d be content for the remainder of his life.
He got up, got dressed, and moved down the hall to get some coffee, taking note of the frost on the windows and sighing. Great. Add the cold making his knees a billion times worse to his list of bullshit. He could only imagine how Stan’s shoulder was treating him in this weather. Kyle was starting to believe that maybe they both had some sort of arthritis. Maybe that’s what sparked the fight, after all, pain was the greatest motivator for stupid, pointless arguments that could’ve easily been resolved in a calmer fashion that involved less shouting and emotional jabs.
God, he was such an asshole.
He sighed, moving to unlock the door, and gently opening it, wanting to see the weather and bracing himself for the cold. Holy fuck it was cold, just by the small crack alone, he could tell, but something blocked the door from opening wider. Kyle groaned softly, “Fuckin’ hell”, he cursed under his breath. Maybe it was just a pile of snow.
However, when he moved to full force push it open, he was greeted with “Ow, f-fuck!”.
Realization in 3… 2… 1…
“Stan!?”, Kyle slipped through the door quickly, and sure enough, there was his boyfriend, clutching his shoulder, shivering to Hell. “Stan, what the fuck!?”.
“G-Good Morning, Sta-Starshine”, Stan stammered through chittering teeth, “Th-The Earth Sa-ays ‘Hello!’ “, he flashed a shaking grin.
“Baby!”, Kyle reached down at the figure in the snow, “Jesus Christ, you’re cold!”.
“I supp-pose snow would m-make one cold, huh?”, the raven tried to joke.
“Stan, hush”, Kyle said quickly, taking note of the short, struggled breaths of the other, “Let’s get you inside… Holy shit…”.
“Inside?”, Stan repeated with a smirk, “Don’t m-mind if I do”.
“You’re dumb”, Kyle bit back a laugh. This was not a time for laughter, “Please tell me you weren’t in the snow all night”.
“I would- but uh…”, the raven paused and sneezed a few times, “I’d be lying”.
“Stan-“, Kyle walked him to the couch, “What the hell? You didn’t think to go to your mom’s or something?”.
“I didn’t think you’d- you'd lock the d-door on me”, Stan returned the energy, shivering as Kyle moved to take off his cold clothing.
“I didn’t think you’d come back”, Kyle admitted softly, look softening with worry at his boyfriend’s shallow breathing.
“Wh-why wouldn’t I come back?”, inquired Stan as he was fully undressed, wincing at the pain in his bruised shoulder. “I s-said I w-was just going for a walk”.
“…Yeah”, Kyle sighed, “But sometimes when we fight you…”.
“…I…?”. Stan cocked an eyebrow.
“…I just wasn’t so sure this time”, Kyle said quickly, “That was pretty bad”.
“Yeah”, the raven hummed, grunting as Kyle tossed a blanket over him and started tucking him in. “How’s Ch-Chilly doing?”.
“He’s chilling”, Kyle said softly, gently kissing Stan’s head. “So… we cool?”.
“We’re cool”, replied the blue eyed male, “I was k-kinda an asshole too”.
“I really didn’t mean to lock you out”, Kyle said softly, “Why didn’t you call me or knock? Did you leave your keys?”.
“Left my phone and keys”, Stan replied, pausing to cough to the side, “And I knocked but it-it was late and I figured you were asleep s-so I just… opted to wait it out I guess”
“Babe…”, Kyle sighed, “I’m sorry, I fell asleep listening to my sad boy playlist on Spotify, I had my headphones on”, the redhead hummed a bit, “I’ll be right back, I’m gonna reheat some soup from last night, we gotta warm you up”.
“Kay”, the raven said softly, sneezing as Kyle moved to the kitchen.
"I'm gonna turn the heat up too-", Kyle called.
"Not t-to much", Stan interjected quickly, "Ch-Chilly can't be in heat".
"I know, baby, just enough to get your shivers under control", Kyle said, returning with a thermometer, "Open", he said softly, "Gotta make sure I don't have to drive you to the E.R.".
"Don't think so", Stan mumbled, but doing as told, "It's chilly outside", he said, muffled by the instrument in his mouth, "But-".
"Close", Kyle said cutting him off, "I know this is you avoiding the hospital at all cost". Stan whined a bit in response. "...Hm. 96. We gotta keep an eye on that", the redhead mumbled, taking the thermometer out.
"I was gonna say, it's c-cold, but not like... death cold", Stan said, making a so-so motion with his hand.
"Get your hands in the covers", Kyle said sternly as the microwave went off in the kitchen and sighed, "Now I gotta baby sit you and the chinchild".
"Chilly is n-not nearly the handful I am", Stan said, pouting as Kyle re-tucked him.
"You can fuckin' say that again", Kyle teased, sighing and looking over his boyfriend, "...I'm glad you came back...".
"Baby, I'm not going anywhere", Stan said, interrupted by a cough, "Until my K-king banishes me from these lands, you-you're stuck with me as your Ranger".
Kyle smirked a bit, "Is that so? By the Gods, what did I do to get such a curse?", he teased.
"Rude", whined Stan as he chuckled, watching Kyle move to the kitchen. Yeah, Kyle was gonna fix him right up, the only way Kyle knew how. Chilly or not.