changing my major

~ • ∆ two ∆ • ~

Kyle let out another small giggle, swallowing the food he was eating. “You sound like your dad,” he pointed out. Stan gasped and placed a hand on his chest, in mock offense. “The way you said “y’know, if we’re out here”, I mean. Your dad was the worst with that trailing-off-in-the-middle-of-a-sentence bullshit.”

“Thanks, dickmunch,” Stan rolled his eyes with a chuckle. He took another bite of his food, chewing as he listened to the news in the background.

As they finished their food down to the last crumb, Kyle recounted a story of when they were children. Kyle had been sitting alone at a tree, reading Of Mice and Men, and Stan asked why he was sitting alone as he sat next to him. Kyle went on to explain the entire plot of the book, and Stan could barely focus - instead trying to count how many freckles exactly the redhead had. It was cold, so the two boys sat close enough to one another to the point where they could feel each other’s body heat radiating off of one another through the thick winter jackets they always wore. Eventually, Stan had cut him off, asking for his name, to which Kyle responded “Kyle Broflovski” like some sort of third grade elitist. Kyle asked for his name in retort, and then Stan just said “Uh, Stan?” with the most adorable stumble.

There wasn’t much more to say, so Kyle stood up and walked to the kitchen. Stan managed to tear his gaze from Kyle for just long enough to stand up as well, trailing along behind the shorter man. He tried to remember what exactly they were just talking about, but his mind seemed to have gone blank the second Kyle stood up.

What a fool.

“What’re we doing today again?” Stan inquired as he slipped his plate into the sink.

Kyle shrugged. “I didn’t plan anything. Maybe we could go to the aquarium up the road, or--”

“Dude, no,” Stan cut him off, “Aquariums are cruel--”

“--ways of making money? Yeah, I know. But that aquarium is one of the ones that functions more as a wildlife centre. They preserve different endangered fish and rehabilitate the fish that’re able to go to back into the wild. Plus, tickets are half off for couples on Saturdays,” Kyle rolled his eyes. Stan could tell that Kyle really wasn’t having his bullshit today - though he couldn’t blame him. It was supposed to be their day, to make sure their relationship was as good as it could be, not for arguing.

“Wait,” Stan interjected, “couples?” That was really the only part he had a problem with. They’re not a couple - why would they go to a couples’ event at an aquarium?

“Uh, yeah? We’re not- I mean, we aren’t a couple, duh, but I think we could pass as one. If my mom and your mom both thought we were dating, and your dad actually fucking warned you about people thinkin’ we were fucking, I think we could probably get that discount.” Kyle really did have a good point, and Stan was rendered speechless for a minute. He wasn’t sure if it was his mind playing tricks on him, but he was almost damn sure that he saw tiny gears working behind those scarlet red curls. How much had Kyle thought about this?

Stan sighed in defeat. He couldn’t argue with Kyle - though he has never met a single person who has been able to sufficiently have an argument with that man. “Yeah, okay, sure. We’ll go, just -- give me a minute to get dressed,” he sighed.

A small grin invaded Kyle’s lips, the sort of grin he always had when he knew damn well that he had won. “I’ll just be out here, washing dishes if you can’t get your jeans on. Again,” he snorted.

“It was one time, damnit,” Stan scoffed as he started to walk away. Or maybe it was two, maybe even more than that, but sometimes those damn jeans happened to be too tight and he may or may not have had a few too many beers to the point where he just sorta forgot.