He's the Blade (You're Just Paper) [Style Love Story]

♡ Chapter Twenty-Two ♡

The house was completely empty when Kyle walked in. Neither of his parents were home and his younger brother was in their backyard doing who knows what. He simply tapped on the window to let Ike know he had arrived back before going to his room where he would then mentally beat himself up for being such an idiot. He really couldn't believe what had recently happened, nor could he understand why he would confess such an embarrassing thing. Of course Kyle knew better than to think that Stan would disown him as his Super Best Friend just for having a crush on him, but there was no doubt in his mind that Stan would definitely bring it up later when he called him. If he called him. Why did Stan have to be so in touch with emotions? Why couldn't he just let things like his best friend being in love with him go? Kyle sighed heavily and fell backward onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling above. It was white, but pointing out the obvious wasn't going to make time go by any faster. There was nothing he could do, so he forced himself to relax and instead worked on the homework that he was given over the weekend.

Two streets over in the Marsh residence, however, Stan was not as composed as Kyle was. No, he was pacing around in his room feeling jittery and restless. Neither of Stan's parents had mentioned anything about the night before, so he came to the conclusion that the school hadn't called his parents - which was an odd occurrence, but it was one that he didn't have time to concentrate on at that moment. Time and time again he thought about calling Kyle earlier than he normally would, only to dismiss the idea over and over again. He figured it would make him seem desperate for answers and closure. Stan couldn't figure out why he was the one so soaked to the bone in anxiety when he wasn't even the one with the crush. Just the idea of Kyle having any sort of romantic feelings toward him had never once entered his thoughts, so long as he could remember at least. Yet now that something like this actually was going down, he couldn't stop thinking about it. Was Kyle gay, bisexual, pansexual, or just curious? Stan crossed out the curious option, because Kyle didn't just like Stan. He was in love with him. Those are two very different things, and you don't get love from curiosity. Stan groaned in agitation and purposely fell to the ground in the middle of his pacing. He rubbed at his face and closed his eyes.

"Oh my God," he mumbled to himself. Stan seemed to find it hard to say anything other than 'Holy shit' and 'Oh my God' after his discovery in the car. He didn't like Kyle in that way. Or at least he never considered liking him in that way. The other day they weren't speaking to each other, and now Kyle is saying that he's in love? This was a lot for Stan to handle, so it was no surprise that he had absolutely zero clues as to how he was supposed to react in this situation.

Stan shook his head  and picked himself up off the floor, walking over to his laptop and opening it. Like any other reasonable guy would do upon finding out his male best friend has a crush on him, he looked up the types of sexualities there were to try and figure out what Kyle was. The more information that clouded his brain on all these different types of sexual orientations, the more knowledge that he lost. What he thought he knew he realized he didn't know at all. He frowned to himself, reading off the screen. Heterosexuals, homosexuals, bisexuals, polysexuals, asexuals, pansexuals, etc. etc. etc. He never knew some of these even existed before he googled it- and Hell, maybe it wasn't real. Maybe the internet was just trying to screw with his brain. Either way, he was stumped.

Glancing at the clock, Stan decided that if he couldn't figure it out on his own then he'd just ask Kyle. But it was still light outside, only noon, and he wanted to wait until nightfall to talk with him. Stan loved knowing that he was the last person Kyle talked to everyday. "This fucking sucks," he muttered to himself. He got up and went over to his bed, thinking that maybe if he took a nap that time would go by faster.

As luck would have it, he couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard he tried. 

◯ ◯ ◯

"Kyle, I need your help," came a voice from outside of the redhead's room. He had been reading the book he failed to finish for his English class when he was interrupted by the sound of Ike's voice from the hallway.

"With what?" Kyle called out to him, closing the book and setting it aside. He was reading, but he wasn't really reading. It was one of those things where he was absorbing the words but his mind wasn't in the story. It was somewhere else entirely, and he was thankful for the distraction that his brother would be providing due to whatever the hell it was he needed Kyle for.

Ike took this as an indication to waltz into Kyle's room. The redhead didn't really mind; he was used to it. Kyle turned to face his brother, or adoptive brother if you will. Kyle hadn't thought of his adoption in a very long while, and it was still a weird thing to ponder over for him. So he chose to ignore that tiny little detail. "This homework is annoying me!" Ike stated, setting his text book on the desk in front of Kyle.

"What'd you want me to do about it?" Kyle scoffed. "Finish it for you?"

"Well," Ike paused. "That's not a bad idea. I'll settle with you just explaining it to me, too, though."

Kyle sighed and took a look at what it was that Ike was having trouble with. To be honest, he was completely worn out by the homework he had just finished for himself and he didn't think that doing more would really help him all that much. He was just thankful to actually get his mind off of Stan and whatever it was that he could be thinking and/or doing at that moment.

Halfway through explaining the rest of the information to Ike, Kyle's phone buzzed from beside him and his eyes instantly snapped to the screen. He smiled to himself, because it was exactly who he had hoped it would be. "Sorry, I have to take this call."

Ike glanced toward the name of said caller and he frowned. "It's only Stan, you can call him back later!"

It's only Stan, Kyle mentally scoffed. That's exactly why I'm answering it.

"Go have one of your other friends help you," he suggested, picking up his phone. "Isn't that Ruby chick pretty smart? Or what about Karen?" Kyle frowned slightly. "How come you only have friends that are girls?"

Ike rolled his eyes. "Because I get more action than you," he said before grabbing his stuff and running out of the room.

Kyle furrowed his eyebrows and stared at his bedroom door as he answered his phone. "Dude, my ten-year-old brother just said he got more action than me."

There was a pause on the other end, as that was the last thing Stan had expected to hear when his friend answered the phone. Then he laughed. "Yeah, I bet all of my money on that being true!"

A huge smile broke out onto Kyle's lips at this. He shook his head. "You'd probably win that bet," he sighed.

"Don't let it get you down," Stan nodded his head despite the fact that Kyle couldn't see him. "Chasing tail isn't that easy."

"You didn't have to do that," Kyle scoffed. "You had your girlfriend."

"Oh, thanks for reminding me. That's what I wanted to talk to you about," he said.

Kyle froze, his heart racing at where he thought this conversation was leading to. "You didn't get back together with her, did you?"

"What? No!" Stan exclaimed. "I didn't mean it like that! This actually has nothing to do with her. I wanted to talk about your feelings."

"Oh my God," Kyle whined. "You sound like a therapist. How does that make you feel?" he mocked.

Stan chuckled, then coughed a bit. "Stop trying to distract me," he said. "I really want to talk about it."

"Do you have a crush on me?" Kyle abruptly questioned.

All was silent for a good five seconds before Stan mustered up his response. "Well.. No.."

Kyle sighed softly. "Then there's nothing left to talk about. Moving on, would you be worried if your younger brother was having sex with his classmates?"