"I've got work in 15 minutes." Kyle came bursting into the bedroom, a white towel bandaged around his waist, and a very worried look on his face.

"I thought you said a half hour." Stan said setting his phone next to him on the bed.

Kyle sighed and yanked out one of the dresser drawers, "One of my co-workers checked the schedule and said that I had the times mixed up."

The redhead frantically put a black button down over a white tank top and rushed over to the few pairs of his khaki pants hanging in the small closet.

"I'll drive you, don't worry." Stan said getting his shoes on.

Inside Kyle's mind, he thought he wouldn't make it and he'd be late.

His fear of that was so tucked inside his brain that he accidentally put his work pants on backwards.

"I'm not gonna be there on time!" Kyle stepped into his pants the right way and hurried over to where his deodorant was sitting still on the dresser.

Stan noticed the deodorant stick about to fall, he caught it and handed it over to his boyfriend.

"I'll drive fast." Stan said running a comb through his hair.

Kyle wasn't even listening, he was too worried to listen to anything but the voice inside his head saying he was going to be late.

Nice going, now you're gonna be late, Kyle ignored the sound of negativity and took the comb from Stan's hand when he held it out for him to use.

Kyle slid on both of his sneakers and darted out the door.

Stan was surprised that he actually opened the door, he thought he'd be seeing a giant Kyle-shaped hole in their bedroom door.

"Stan, c'mon!" Kyle said running out to the car.

Jimbo was in the living room. "I'll be back." Stan said to his uncle on the couch.

"You guys late or something?" Jimbo asked.

"He got his work schedule mixed up. I gotta go." Stan jogged out to his car after shutting the front door to the house.

Kyle was shaking in the passenger seat.

Stan climbed in and let the engine get started.

"My boss is gonna kill me." Kyle put his hands over his face with his elbows balancing on his knees.

Stan pulled out of the driveway as fast as he could and took off in the direction where the mall was located.

"I haven't ever been late and now I'm about to be, I'm so stupid."

"You're not stupid, I'll get you there in time." Stan was trying to calm him down but it seemed like there was no such luck.

The mall was at last only 5 minutes away.

Kyle was getting really antsy and convinced himself that he was going to get fired.

Stan was able to get in front of a few cars on the highway so he was able to drop off Kyle with 5 minutes to spare.

"Thanks for the ride, I love you!" Kyle jumped out of the car and dashed off to the mall entrance.

"I love you too!" Stan called back.

Just as he was about to drive back home, his phone started ringing.

He fished it out of his pocket on the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi Stan, it's Dr. Webber. I'm calling to check on Kyle, how is he doing?" Stan was surprised to hear Dr. Webber's voice.

"Well, for the most part he's been alright. He seems a little more anxious than usual, though." Stan explained.

"What has he gotten anxious over?"

"He got his work schedule mixed up today, he freaked out, thinking he'd be late. Schoolwork has been anxiety-filled for him as well. Other than that, I've made sure he's been taking his pills."

Dr. Webber grinned, "That is good to hear, I am sorry to hear about the anxiety. The medication does help but there are still things to watch out for."

"Right." Stan nodded.

"Continue to keep him as happy and positive as possible, if you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to call me." Dr. Webber was very kind and very helpful.

Even though she couldn't see him, Stan still nodded his head, "I will. Thanks Dr. Webber."

"No need to thank me, have a good rest of your week."

Stan said the same and ended the phone conversation.

Keeping Kyle happy and positive was all Stan wanted to do. His illnesses were not some common cold, although they'd become common to him.

It was a frantic couple knocks in the passenger  side window that startled Stan out of his thoughts.

"Ike?" Stan unlocked the door.

Ike climbed in the car and shut it behind him.

"My parents are looking for me, I can't go back to their house." Ike said with heavy pants.

Stan saw an unopened water bottle in the cup holder he didn't drink from yesterday, "Here." he handed the bottle to Ike.

Ike gulped down half the bottle.

"My mom has lost her mind, she always thinks she's right and everything she says is what I should apply to my life. She's a bitch."

"What did she do?" Stan questioned his boyfriend's brother.

Ike took a few more sips from the water bottle; he seemed so stressed out and tired.

"She constantly says she's a bad mother and tells me I can't leave the house all the time even though I barely go out anymore. My dad tries to ignore her, but she's constantly down his throat about whatever is bothering her."

Stan wasn't so sure how to help. He couldn't ask Jimbo to take in Ike as well.

As much as he wanted to help out the youngest Broflovski, he didn't know if he had an option to settle down on.

"I thought you were staying at your friend's house." Stan remembered Kyle saying that when they were eating lunch.

Ike sighed, "His mom said I couldn't stay there for much longer. I kinda wanted to come live with you guys but if I can't I don't know where I'll go."

"Kyle just went into work, why don't we go talk to him real fast?" Stan suggested.

"Sure." Ike nodded his head.

The one in the driver's seat found a parking spot and then headed inside the mall with Ike.

"How's he been?" Ike asked Stan.

"Better than before, I guess." Stan didn't want to lie completely, but then again he also didn't want to lay everything out on the table.

Kyle wasn't okay, but he wasn't ever going to be fully okay again.

It wasn't good, but all he could do was make the best of the predicament he had to accept facing.

Accepting it wasn't much of a struggle anymore because it wasn't unsolved anymore; the doctor discovered it and it kind of told Kyle that he needed to understand what his life was going to be from that point on.

It didn't need to be his whole life, it could be a big portion, but not the whole thing.

Stan was going to work on that, not focusing so much on that negativity of his boyfriend's life.

"Does he seem happy?" Ike wondered.

"Yeah." Stan agreed.

The sports store was coming into a closer view for the two.

Lucky for Stan and Ike, Kyle was working the first register, so it wouldn't be a far walk to get to him.

Kyle was scanning a few pairs of hunting gear for a customer when Stan and Ike entered the store.

When the customer left, Stan and Ike came up to Kyle.

"You get in trouble?" Stan asked Kyle.

"No, Ike what're you doing here?"

"I can't stay with my friend any longer." Ike explained shortly.

Stan glanced at Ike and then focused on Kyle, "He wants to come live with us."

"It's not up to me, I don't think there's anymore room either." Kyle stated.

Ike figured that would be the case.

"Mom is driving me up the wall, dad too." Ike told his brother.

"That's why I left, she doesn't know how to be a good mom and respect her own goddamn kids." Kyle said sighing angrily.

Lately, Gerald had been working late just to avoid his wife.

Ever since Kyle left, Sheila wasn't the same at all.

Ever since she gave up her parental and guardianship rights, Sheila wasn't the same at all.

Gerald didn't like Kyle being gone either, but he wasn't devastated over it.

He cared about his oldest son, but Sheila had occupied his brain with worrying about other things like helping her around the house and keeping the rest of their family stable.

Since Kyle was gone, the Broflovski's weren't the same family they'd been in the before years.

Kyle had kept his sexuality quiet, quiet inside himself.

Sheila and Gerald raised their boys the way they believed was right.

Ike just did his own thing and tried to keep his grades up.

He still did that, but stress had been overpowering his brain and it wasn't helping him keep his grades up.

"I know she's a bitch, but I don't want you living alone or living with someone who won't be able to keep you stable till you're 18." Kyle explained to his younger brother.

"Mom won't be able to keel me stable till I'm 18, she can't even keep me stable now." Ike crossed his arms.

Kyle looked down, "Yeah, it's my fault."

Stan noticed Kyle's hands beginning to tremble, "That's not true."

"Yeah, mom just can't get her shit together." Ike said.

"Neither can I. I gotta go help out downstairs, see you guys." Kyle tried to escape but Stan grabbed his arm gently.

"None of what has happened is your fault-"

"Don't try telling me that one again." Kyle rolled his eyes.

Stan sighed and glanced over at Ike, "Why don't we go get dinner later? All 3 of us."

Kyle laid his head on Stan's shoulder, "Yeah. I gotta go."

"I'll be here at 6."

"Okay, bye Ike." Kyle walked off after that.

Ike hadn't ever seen Kyle be so down and negative about himself; it was a side of Kyle he wasn't used to.

"Was that even my brother?" Ike asked Stan, it was sarcasm in the form of sadness.

Stan's sadness could relate to the kind Ike was having, "Mhm."

"He's on medication?" Ike wondered.

Stan nodded his head for Ike's assurance.

The two who tried talking with Kyle walked back to the car.

"Do you need to go anywhere?" Stan asked Ike.

"I might just go hang out at a friend's house, could you pick me up from there?"

Stan agreed to picking Ike up; Ike walked to his friend's house even though Stan offered to drive him there.

After Kyle's work shift ended, he met his boyfriend outside the mall so they could go pick up Ike and then head off to dinner.

"Did he ask you if he could move in with us?" Kyle questioned the second he got into the car.

"No, but he said he wanted to." Stan shifted the car into drive mode and took off to Ike's friend's house.

Kyle didn't want his little brother living with him, his boyfriend, and his boyfriend's uncle.

He loved Ike in the brotherly way, but he didn't want to live under the same roof with him; things could end up getting hectic.

He also really didn't want Ike seeing the freakout scenarios that could possibly go on under that roof.

"Jimbo already made room for us, we can't ask him to take in my brother too." Kyle looked out the window at the busy road

Everyone was coming home from work, so the roads were normally that busy around the time of 6:00.

Ike texted Kyle and told him that he'd be waiting at the end of the driveway.

Stan was getting ready to turn down Ike's friend's street when his car was pushed forward harshly and very unexpectedly.

Kyle and Stan's bodies jerked forward and then hit the seats; they didn't understand what was going on because they had heard the sound of glass being shattered from the back windshield.

It was so far from the ordinary, except ordinary wasn't exactly a regular in the lives of Stan and Kyle anymore.

Kyle felt his anxiety kick him in the lungs; his breaths became more short and rapid.

Several of those kinds of breaths led to his eyesight shutting down and going out of business for the night.