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softhaliawrites · 1 year ago

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Our Home Will Be Gentle

The South Park school gymnasium was buzzing with excitement as the awards ceremony for the year had finished. Micah stood proudly amongst the other students on the stage in her new light blue gown which balanced beautifully against her dark skin tone. Her golden heels pressed together as she held her ‘Mathlete of the Year’ award, which was just a certificate probably printed just 20 minutes ago.

She scanned the crowd for any familiar faces of her family but none were to be found. Disheartened but not surprised she continued to smile for the cameras, not wanting to make someone else’s moment in the spotlight look tarnished. This isn’t her first time winning awards and it also wasn’t the first time she celebrated alone.

After the students were excused from the stage she mingled with a couple of friends before slipping on her coat and heading towards the exit.

Walking home in the Colorado cold wasn’t easy in heels, and she knew that if her parents weren’t at the award ceremony they had probably forgotten to pick her up.

She walked outside the exit door, the cream-colored coat being her only saving grace against the weather as she stood on the school steps.

Micah pulls out her phone to potentially look for an Uber when she hears a loud honk. Turning to face the sound, almost expecting her parents, she spots her long-time friend Bebe Stevens.

“Need a ride, good looking?” Bebe gives her a friendly wink and revs her engine.

Bebe was also in formal attire, a sparkly red dress at that, from the awards ceremony but ditched her parents to spend the evening with Clyde. Micah gives her a huge smile and lifts the bottom of her dress heading towards Bebe’s truck.

“Have I ever told you how much I love you, Bebe? Because you’re my lifesaver!” Micah settles in the passenger seat hugging her friend from the side.

Bebe laughs “You only tell me ALL the time, but I get it I would love me too.”

Bebe hugs Micah back and pulls away from the school, “So, you want to come over to my place? Clyde’s coming over and he’s bringing a couple of “celebratory” drinks.” Bebe sing-songs the last sentence which hints that celebratory means alcohol.

“And be the third wheel? No thanks, you can just drop me off at home.” Micah says, staring out the window.

“Well, we can invite Kyle over and make it a party”, Bebe raises her eyebrows and glances over at Micah before turning her attention back to the road.

“Shut up!” Micah laughs but almost wishes that Bebe was serious.

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t spoken to Kyle before, they practically grew up together but after the summer a couple of years ago…things…changed.

Maybe it was Kyle growing into his height, or maybe it was after Micah looked up into his kind emerald eyes once he won her a plushie at the fair that year that solidified her feelings for him.

Ever since, she’s tried her best to avoid him. Not because he did anything wrong, but because she didn’t like the feeling of…feeling.

She hated how her heart raced and her palms would sweat, and she hated how she got butterflies when she saw him because feelings are dangerous to have. Especially when someone like her sister could exploit those feelings.

Bebe giggles, eyes not leaving the road, “I know you saw him tonight, he looked pretty cute in that green suit.”

“Yeah, he did”, Micah sighs lovingly remembering how Kyle looked on stage.

Kyle received some kind of basketball achievement but Micah didn’t care about that, she cared about how handsome he looked in his forest green suit, how his red curls played a beautiful contrast, how his large hands held his awards, how his smile could light up the entire room, and how his eyes shined under the stage lights. A halt to the truck sadly brings Micah out of her vision.

“Well! If you change your mind about hanging out tonight or if you do want me to text Kyle, hit me up” Bebe winks one more time before unlocking the truck’s door.

Micah looks out the window to her two-story home and sighs to herself reluctant to even get out of the truck.

She puts on a brave face and smiles back to Bebe, “Okay, I will. Thank you for the ride and have a good night with Clyde!”

Micah steps out of the truck and closes the door behind her, wrapping her arms around her chest as she hurriedly runs up to her front door. She reaches into her small purse and pulls out her house keys, once in hand, she waves to Bebe and steps into her home.

Her reluctance to go home was evident the second she stepped into the house as she casually walked into what sounded like World War 3.

Her parents and older sister were having an all-out screaming match in the dining room. Micah flinches at the volume of it all and heads towards the stairs, seeming almost unphased by the weekly yelling competition her family has grown to make a custom.

Micah heads to her room as no one has even noticed she’s walked in the front door and closes the door behind her, allowing the loudness downstairs to turn into muffled screams.

She throws her award in a “special” pile in her closet amongst the rest and crashes on her bed.

Listening intently she could hear the muffled voices of her older sister, mother, and father. Micah removed both of her earrings and let out a sigh as she ran her hands through her locs, undoing the tight bun that was in place moments ago.

Arguments like these happen once, maybe twice a week, and usually over the same subjects, or maybe “subject” is better suited.

Micah’s older sister, Nia.

Since they were kids Nia has had a nasty mean streak, you name it, she’s done it.

Stealing, fighting, lying, manipulating, and (unsuccessfully) poisoning to name a few. Micah learned three things to survive Nia’s hellish wrath -

One, to stay out of Nia’s way. Two, when she couldn’t, to do as she was told or she could be another lamb to her sisters’ slaughter. And three, solitude is key to survival.

There were moments when her sister could be nice to her, or tolerate her company but they were few and far between.

As Micah began to think of one of those moments, she was snapped back to reality by the sound of glass breaking. She rushed to her bedroom door, placing her ear on it as the muffled screaming downstairs escalated.

She could hear the slamming of the front door, then a hush, then the sound of loud sobbing.

Micah relaxed her unknowingly tensed shoulders and slumped back to bed, eyes watering as she glazed over her popcorn ceiling. Her light blue painted nails traced symbols on her blanket as she thought of what to do next. Downstairs was not an option, so it was to be another night confined to her room.

Typical.

She stood up and stretched before walking over to the window, opening it to feel the cold air. She closed her eyes to the setting sun clasping her hands together and begged the only visible star in the sky, for peace.

Peace for her mother who’s probably crying in the living room, peace for her father who’s probably consoling her, peace for her sister who’s probably out with one of her new boyfriends, and peace for herself.

She finished her prayer with a plea “Please”.

“Please, what?”

Her eyes shot open as her gaze fell below to see her neighbor Kyle Broflovski.

Hands in his orange coat pockets he was donning the same dark green suit from earlier with brown dress shoes to match, his red curls windblown and messy.

“What?” she asks, leaning over the window as she’s internally punching herself in the mouth.

Kyle gives her a small laugh and shakes his head, “Nothing, what were you doing?”

“I was uhhh…talking to the sun?” Oh, how badly Micah wanted to shrivel up and die at that moment.

Kyle smiles squinting towards the slowly disappearing sun then looks at her, “About what?”

“About…about how beautiful it is?” Micah questions, “Anyway you should get home soon before it gets dark!”

She smiles internally, yes the night will be her saving grace from this awkward situation.

“Hah, don’t worry about me I can handle myself”, Kyle smiles rocking back and forth on his heels for a moment before starting again “But uh…speaking of beautiful you looked nice tonight at the ceremony.”

Micah short circuits and can’t help the joy that spreads across her face “Th-thank you, Kyle. So do you!”

“You don’t have to compliment me back, you know”

“I know, but I mean it, that suit looks really good on you.”

There’s a moment of silence, as they both look away from each other from either shared embarrassment or something else.

Kyle ends up being the one to break the silence, “You want to walk with me to Stan’s house? He left his earbuds at my place and wants me to bring them over.”

Micah perks up and quickly frowns remembering her upset parents downstairs. “Uh, yeah…I mean I’d love to…but…I can’t go downstairs. Actually, hold on!”

Kyle gives her a confused look but nods as if he understands. Micah kicks her heels off and slips on her winter boots. Grabbing her coat and gloves she walks back to the window and eyes the large tree that’s been growing outside her window since she was a little girl. The same tree that her older sister uses frequently to sneak out.

She stands on the windowsill and feels the cold air against her exposed legs, and as if almost on cue Kyle turns around to not accidentally look up her dress. She moves to the first branch and slowly makes her way down until she’s reached a low enough branch to jump.

Kyle turns back towards her and lends Micah a hand as she jumps onto the ground.

“Thanks”, Micah breathes slowly letting go of his green glove.

“No problem, but why couldn’t you go downstairs?”

Micah bit her lip and looked at the snow-covered ground. The easy way would be making up a lie, and who doesn’t like easy? She begins to open her mouth but pauses once she looks at Kyle again.

His face was riddled with concern but his eyes softly held compassion. He wasn’t hungrily looking at her like Bebe who wants the hottest gossip or her sister who wants ammunition to use for later, he seemed…genuine.

Micah sighs, ”My mom was crying downstairs…she…my parents got into a nasty argument with my sister.” Micah looks down and slips her gloved hands into her pockets, feeling ashamed for telling him the truth.

Kyle’s face only grew more concerned as he placed his hands on her shoulders, “Are you okay?”

When Micah dared to look up at him she broke, his eyes were so soft and the way he was leaning down to see her, to truly see her was too kind.

“I…I don’t know”, was all she could muster before she felt warm tears running down her cheeks. Kyle pulled her into a tight hug, placing one hand on the back of her head and the other began rubbing circles on her back.

He gives her something no one else has at that moment. He doesn’t hush her, or tell her it’s okay, he lets her cry. He gives her patience.

Micah cries into Kyle’s chest for what seems like hours but is only for moments. When she realizes what she’s doing she sniffles hard and just rests against his chest for a minute.

“Sorry, I -”

Kyle cuts her off and smiles weakly, “You don’t need to apologize, that’s hard to deal with.”

Micah pulls back and wipes her face, forgetting her full face of makeup. She looked at Kyle’s now stained coat and the back of her gloves and groaned, knowing she probably looked like a sad clown. Pulling out her phone, and checking the camera, her suspicions were correct. Not as bad as she originally thought but bad enough to wear in front of her crush.

She laughs and throws her arms up in defeat, “Well, do you think I still look nice now?”

Kyle tries to fight the smile that starts to spread across his face, “Yeah, you look even more beautiful with your makeup on your gloves…” He looks down at the chest of his coat “...and my coat.”

They both laugh and Micah rubs her nose “Come on, before we both freeze out here.”

Kyle agrees and they both walk down the street, shoulder to shoulder.

As Micah reached her front door, she placed an ear to the door to check for any sounds. It was quiet. She silently unlocked the door and was welcomed by the soft lull of the television. She tiptoed softly into the living room and froze when she noticed the body lying on the couch. She gently grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned the TV off.

She then happily gazed down at the vision below her on the couch, a very sleepy Kyle with his arms wrapped around an even sleepier baby.

Micah gingerly picked up the baby, nuzzling his cheeks as he cooed against her. She rocks him gently while giving him soft kisses on his forehead. She carries him up the stairs and places him in his crib, hoping not to wake him, then returns downstairs to her husband.

Kyle looked precious sleeping peacefully on the couch covered in baby blankets. Micah giggled and kissed him on the forehead, and when that didn’t work, she kissed him on his nose.

“Kyle, get up baby, let’s get you to bed.”

Kyle stirred awake and sat up, looking around for his son “Where’s –”

“I took him upstairs already” she interjects, pressing a kiss against his cheek. “Now I just need to get you upstairs.” She places out her hands as a sign for him to stand.

Kyle smiles and grabs them, lifting himself off the couch with a groan. She holds one of his hands and leads them to their bedroom upstairs.

Kyle yawns, “Did you have a good time tonight?”

“Yes, but…” She looks back at him and grins as he sluggishly walks up the stairs behind her. “I'm glad to be home.”

#south park #original character #softscrawls #kyle brovlofski #kyle broflovski x oc #fanfic

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