South park summers and always

Friendship

"You need someone like..." Stan stares into his eyes deep and meaningfully with an unreadable look on his face. Stan's flushed, and he is too - but he can't tell if it's from the suspense of it all or not. His cheeks feel a little too hot, like they're being dusted by ember flecks.

"Cartman?"

Kyle is confused for a moment upon the words that have left Stan's mouth, he'd averted his eyes from Stan's without even realizing. He looks back to Stan to see him turned around and facing whatever's behind the two of them. He turns around and sees Cartman - he quickly became antsy, not knowing how long he'd been standing there or if he'd been eavesdropping. He could've heard a thing or two he wasn't supposed to. He can't help but feel fearful when he sees the scowl on Cartman's face.

"Are you guys serious right now?" Cartman asks cynically, animatedly waving his hands in the air. He looked angry.

"Were you eavesdropping on us, dude?" Stan asks, tilting his head in Cartman's direction. He sounds upset just by him having ran into the two of them.

"Are you guys seriously talking behind my back right now?!" Cartman says in a slightly louder tone, completely disregarding Stan's question. Kyle feels nervous, as if he's been trapped in the middle of drama in a matter of seconds. He's been stressed by the tense atmosphere between Stan and Cartman lately, and he can't help but feel like he's been stuck between the two of them. His eyes nervously flick between the boys, he isn't sure what to make of the situation right now.

"Shut up, Cartman, I'm helping Kyle with what he can't go to you for." His tone is harsh and cold, and it makes Kyle feel a little more nervous than he'd felt a few seconds prior.

"Oh yeah? What's that supposed to mean?!" He yells, slowly inching closer to the two of them. They hadn't moved from where they sat, they remained with their heads cocked in his direction without moving or getting up.

Stan stands up and walks closer to Cartman. Kyle doesn't move, he feels afraid to intervene, but he knows he probably should.

"Kyle can't confide in you for anything! You're a total jerk to him about everything and you think it's just okay?!" He flails his hands in the air, and his voice gets more and more tense as he speaks. He begins to sound emotional, like Cartman's behavior towards him actually gets him worked up. Kyle doesn't know how to feel, he can only watch with wide eyes as the two of them argue.

"Okay, well I don't wanna hear it anyway! Take your gay little chit-chat somewhere else!" Cartman practically yells in their faces. With that being said, Stan and Kyle scurry off elsewhere, away from Cartman and his explosiveness.

He watches them as they walk off, he can tell just by the way Stan's walking that he's reasonably aggravated by their short-lived confrontation. Once they're out of sight, eyebrows furrow together and he looks to the ground. He was fighting the tears that threatened to well up in his eyes. Was he really that rude to Kyle? Sure, he'd call him a dirty jew everyday, but wasn't it just for laughs? He walks over to the pier over the pond and takes a seat at the edge. It creaks below his astounding weight as he shuffles on top of it. He holds his chin in his hands and mopes as he ponders his behavior towards Kyle. Maybe if he were nicer.. he'd have a better shot at being with Kyle. There was no denying it, he had a crush on him, even if it was a small one. He hated the way Stan always came to his defense, and turned him into the bad guy.. obviously he wasn't. Stan was the bad guy for trying to take him away. He'd do whatever he could to win Kyle's heart, even if it meant doing the unthinkable..

Stan couldn't believe Cartman's behavior. Eavesdropping on their conversation like it was his business.. who did he think he was? It was true that Kyle never went to Cartman for his issues, but mostly because his issues revolved around Cartman. Some of them, at least. He always took Kyle's issues to heart, he'd listen to him relentlessly ramble to him for hours without ceasing once, and he wouldn't dream of ever complaining about it. He felt prideful knowing that he was trusted. He enjoyed Kyle's incessant maundering more than he would've ever known. That's what upset him the most to be honest. He was always there for Kyle, but Cartman never was. It couldn't have been anything more than a shallow, superficial attraction just due to that reason. It was more-so that he didn't want to accept that. How could Kyle be in love with Cartman when he's the only one that's never treated Kyle with any empathy or kindness? He didn't know. If he didn't know any better he'd say that Kyle is deluded—maybe he really was. He's in a world of hurt right now. Hurt from Cartman, from Kyle, hurt from Wendy that he's practically brought on himself. He's dug himself into a deep hole.