Take This To Heart |Stan X Kyle|

23: Take This To Heart - FINALE

Kyle's POV

To say that the two pairs of peering eyes carving carbon-dating worthy indents into the back of my skull are distracting would be an understatement. Despite lagging behind Kenny & Cartman for the majority of our trek, there was no hesitation in their pause to let me the one who rings the doorbell of the Marsh residence at a frankly frightening hour in the early morning.

It's like... two guards, ushering me to my euthanisation point on death row. Except instead of expecting a lethal amount of a state-sanctioned chemical concentration to permanently put me out of my misery, it's the realisation that... that... I'm finally going to talk face to face with Stan. It... kinda still hasn't hit me, to be honest. All I can focus on are the smooth indents of the wooden door in front of me, observing how the slightest splinters of wood swell and fracture thanks to the uncomfortable abundance of moisture in the air.

But it's not the moisture or the humidity that's the killer tonight, it's the cold. The violent backdrop of a thunderstorm welcoming pervading chills is an entirely different world to the fire-lit warmth of Gregory's regal bedroom. To... to his warmth.

Crazy that I can be thinking about something like that at a time like this, eh?

"Fuck it, let's just open da door!" Without a second for anyone to evaluate the implications of Cartman's exclamation, he's shoved me into the sidewards bush and lunged for the door handle, utilising all his weight to thrust the door open and spill himself into the house's entryway.

His boisterous attitude to barge into the house wasn't what concerned ; it was his complete and utter silence when he was in that did. Kenny must've picked up on it too, as he swiftly followed Cartman into the doorway, formalities disregarded. His secondary silence doesn't so much as occur to me, as I pull myself up and emerge as the last person to join the remainder of the company inside.

"...Gregory?"

Front and centre in the parallel kitchen are two boys: Stan... thankfully alive... holy shit, holy shit. Not that I had any worries about being too late but.... but... he's alive. He's alive and that's what matters.

Without sparing a second longer to catch Stan's wide-eyed gaze, a quick manuever of Gregory's head severs our line of sight, contorting his shocked expression into one of subtle content. "Ah, Kyle!" He smiles, his body not missing a beat to turn and face our direction next. "I... I'm glad you decided to come."

Cartman scoffs, refusing to let the generalised atmosphere grow anymore tense than it already is. "Rich of YOU to be saying that, why are you even here!" He spits, "How do you two even know eachother? You aren't tryna have some gay time with da next boy on ya list after outing Kyle, huh?" Kenny shoots Cartman a dirty look, but it's presumably lost on him.

After muttering something under his breath, Kenny takes a step towards the boys in opposition. "What Cartman is trying to say... is you have a lot of nerve, Gregory," he sighs, "to be here... but also to be involved in any of this." Gregory doesn't faulter. If anything, he appears to be taking careful consideration to the words coming from Kenny's lips. "Let us handle this, okay?"

"No," A voice suddenly rings out, and all eyes dart towards its source:

Stanley.

"...No..." He trails off again, this time with much less conviction in his voice. "You... you all are making it sound like Gregory is the odd one out here, but... is he really?" He admits, keeping his arms tightly crossed against his chest. "All of this... everything that's happened over the last semester... I... It's just been one big secret, you've all been working meticulously to keep from me, isn't it?"