A few days had passed, and Leo was sure everyone was tense. Pip had passed him a note in the hallway - and presumably the others as well - stating that they were to meet that night after school. So Leo sat through his classes in quiet contemplation, considering this and that, and if perhaps he should have dressed a little nicer than his Bijoux t-shirt, bejeweled jeans, and Hello Kitty hairclips – even if he had felt the need to put on eye-liner, blush, and light purple eye shadow that morning. The bell had rung, and he was on his way to the cafeteria when someone slammed him into a corner. His focus came back, and Eric Cartman was starting down at him, his hot breath against Leo's face.
"You thought I'd forgotten you, faggot?" Eric asked, an edge in his voice he'd never heard before. "You thought I'd forgotten what you'd done to me?"
"You're going to risk it?" Leo asked.
"If I kill you, no one finds out." Eric said. "Simple as that."
"If you kill me, the school will have an assembly to mourn my passing." Leo replied. "I've written everything down, and given it to someone. That assembly happens, they're going to read it to everyone in school, teachers an' all." He paused, and then added, for emphasis, "Simple as that."
"Who the fuck did you tell?" Eric screamed.
"No one." Leo replied, aloof, and matter-of-factly. "I simply gave someone a letter, and told them if anything serious happens to me, they should read it to everyone at the next assembly."
White pain lanced through Leo's head, exquisitely intense, and everything was gone for a moment. When it swam back, Eric's fat fist was up in the air, swastika ring gleaming bloody on his ring finger, ready for another hit. It came down again, again, again, and then he stopped, and Leo was silent. Then he heard someone coming. He smirked, waiting for them to come within hearing range. Then he yelled.
"Eric Cartman has the hot's for Clyde Donovan!" Slam, he was punched again; he could feel blood practically streaming down his left cheek. But he could also hear several people running to his aid, barely, over the ringing in his ears. His eyes closed, he felt Cartman getting wrenched away from him, someone calling into a cell phone, probably to the emergency services, and someone else asking him something, but he wasn't sure what. He opened his eyes to see Token holding Cartman against a wall, face first, and Kyle's worried face swimming just above his own, before he slumped to the floor. It all had happened so fast; he hadn't even seen it coming. He should have known Eric would try something, eventually.
"Such a fool I was…" He whispered, feeling blood slip down his lip and into his mouth, due to the angle he was now at. Kyle had him in his lap, he was glad for the warmth beneath him.
"Don't speak…" Kyle said. He could hear again, barely, and he looked up into the face of his Jewish angel once more, and sighed.
"Thank you…" Leo said. "Tell Pip."
"I will…" Kyle said, holding Leo against his chest, a tear streaking from his emerald eye, down his smooth cheek. 'You'll be ok. You don't look too roughed up. Probably just need stitches."
"Eric wants Clyde." Leo whispered, smiling again. "Really bad."
Kyle didn't know what to say to that, he just kept holding Leo close, and kissed his head.

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"How is he?" Stan asked Kyle, as he entered the hospital room, a cherry coke in his hand for the redhead.
"The doctor says he's going to be alright," Kyle replied, as Stan handed him the drink, "but he needed stitches over his left eye there. I think they said he has a concussion, and there were some other things that were wrong, but they fixed whatever they were. They said it isn't going to scar much more than when Kenny got him with the throwing star, that one time. He's going to be unconscious for a while, from the morphine."
"Ahh…" Stan remembered that incident fairly clearly, how they had made him look like a dog to avoid getting into trouble. He felt a twinge of guilt over that, and closed his eyes. "You should go home. Get some rest." He said. "I'll stay here, watch over him for you."
"No… I can sleep here…" Kyle replied. "This is actually a comfy chair, and anyways, if I do get uncomfortable, I can just curl up next to him."
"I'd be jealous." Stan replied, and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll stay too, then."
"Thanks." Kyle said, and emerald eyes met baby blues. "I love you."
"You too." Stan replied, blushing, and sat down on the Jewish boys lap, finding a comfy position. "You're right, this is comfortable."
Kyle laughed, and Stan did too. Then they just kind of sat there, Stan leaning on Kyle, and Kyle leaning back. After a while they fell asleep.

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Pip entered the room when morning came, seeing Stan and Kyle asleep in each other's arms on the chair, the cherry coke forgotten, and Leo still unconscious on the hospital bed. He sighed, and went over to his injured friend, sitting down on the bedside. Quietly he planted a kiss on Leo's cheek, under the scar of long ago, and the stitches that would surely scar to accent it. Leo stirred, and his eyes opened.
"Hey, princess." Pip said, his voice soft and quiet, a tone he rarely had cause to take with anyone. "Kyle called me, but I was only just now able to come see you. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. To protect you."
"Pi-" Leo stopped, his voice cracking, and he cleared his throat. He was hungry, but more so he was thirsty. "Pip… I'm just glad… You're the first person… I saw... After all of this…" He tried to sit up, and his hand slipped from beneath him. He fell back down to the pillow, and Pip gently helped him to get into a sitting position.
"I'm… So sorry." Pip said.
"Its not your f-fault…" Leo told him, leaning forward and hugging him as tightly as he dared. "Even I… Di-didn't… See this coming. Even though I should have."
"Its not right…" The other blond said, hugging him back, and kissing his cheek again. "He could have killed you. Where was I? Eating and laughing with Kenny."
"Don't… Beat yourself up. I'm fine." He looked over to the chair, spotting Stan and Kyle, and smiled. "They been here all night, huh?"
"I guess they have." Pip replied. "Kyle looks troubled in his rest, and Stan looks like he's uneasy because of Kyle."
"I'm lucky…" Leo said, smiling softly. "That I have such great and caring friends…It was Kyle I saw when my vision returned, Kyle who held me until emergency services arrived. Or I assume so. I must have slipped unconscious. Its like he's my guardian angel."
"Even an angel would be lucky to have someone like you to care for." Pip said, his gentle voice still thick with his accent.
There was a stirring from the chair, and Stan yawned. He opened his eyes, and looked at Leo and Pip. He smiled, gently removing himself from the semi-tangle of limbs that made up himself and Kyle for most of the night.
"You're awake." He said, coming over to sit on the bed. "Hello, Pip."
"'Ello, Stan." Pip replied, nodding politely.
"Stan…" Leo looked away from them both. "Who was on the phone? I know Token held Eric against the wall, and Kyle held me…"
"It was Clyde." Stan told him. "As soon as he saw Cartman with his fist in the air, he whipped out his phone and called nine, one, one."
"I'll have to… Thank him, then." Leo commented, remembering his last comment to Kyle before he lost track of things. Cartman wants Clyde. He'd told him. He'd yelled it once, or maybe it was twice. Had Clyde heard? Of course he had, how could he not have? But that was only one fraction of the things Leo knew that could possibly destroy Eric Cartman. "What I said." He paused. "About Eric having the hots for Clyde… It's true. How did Clyde react, once it sunk in?"
"I don't know…" Stan replied. "I haven't spoken to him about it."
"Oh." Sweet and somber silence prevailed the single word, and they all looked away from each other, the morning sunlight coming in through the window. Leo sighed, and lay back down. He wasn't in the mood for talking anymore, and he closed his eyes.