Chapter 2
They reached the convenience store outside of town. Kenny parked his truck and turned to Butters.
"Hey, do you need anything?" Kenny questioned.
"Um, no, I have all my stuff," Butters quivered. Kenny saw tears gather in Butters's eyes; he scooted over to Butters and wrapped an arm around his shaking form.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"It's, just, sniff. I don't know why you're being so nice to me. You have been nice to me ever since we were kids, and I don't get it. Why? I'm a freak, and even my parents don't love me. You shouldn't help me. I'll just let you down." Kenny's heart tightens at that. Butters wasn't a freak. Sure, the kid was a little weird, but who wasn't? It's South Park, everyone is. Butters was the kindest person Kenny had ever known. He'd seen the kid drop everything to help an old lady cross the street even though he knew he would get in trouble for being home late.
"Butters, look at me. You are not a freak, and you could never let me down. You could only let me down by not being here anymore. You are the nicest person in South Park. Anyone who can't see that, especially your parents, doesn't deserve your time or patience." Kenny hugged Butters as he continued to cry. When he calmed down, he let go of Kenny and thanked him. Kenny got out of the car and went into the store. He grabbed some peroxide and bandages. He also got more numbing cream since he didn't have any at his place. He grabbed some snacks and ice cream and went to the register. He grabbed two more packs of smoke as well. The guy working looked at him warily. Kenny just glared at him to keep him from asking questions. He walked back to the car to see Butters smoking a cigarette. Kenny stopped in place, and his jaw dropped to the floor. I can't blame him because he just ran away from his abusive parents. Kenny thought and went to the backseat and put the shit there. He almost completely forgot about going to get weed and swore. Butters looked at him and questioned why he was swearing.
"I need to make another stop before we go to my place. You don't mind, do you?" Kenny asked while getting in the driver's seat. Butters quickly threw the cigarette out the window.
"Of course not, Ken. You're letting me stay with you," Butters responded. Kenny's ears turned red at the cute nickname Butters called him. Hoping Butters didn't see how red he got. (He, of course, saw.) He pulled out of the parking lot, trying to forget how cute Butters sounded when he said, "Ken."
They pulled up to a shitty apartment building full of crackheads and whatnot. Kenny wouldn't be surprised if he saw Cartman's mom here. He stepped out of the car and told Butters to lock the doors and not open them for anyone but him. He ran up the stairs to apartment 204 and knocked. The guy opened the door and saw that it was Kenny. He handed him his weed, and Kenny handed over the money. With a quick salute to the guy, Kenny ran back down the stairs and saw that Butters was perfectly fine, just playing on his phone.
Kenny's apartment was about a 15-minute drive from the dealer's place. Not on the good side of town but not by the dangerous cracky part either. Kenny parked his truck and told Butters they were there. Butters looked up from his phone and looked around. He didn't expect anything different. Kenny was still going to school and was working two jobs. They exited the car, grabbed their belongings, and entered the building. Kenny's apartment was on the second floor. It was a studio, but it was a big studio. He got it super cheap, the last person who lived here killed themself, so the price was down. Good thing Kenny has no problem with death. He won't mention to Butters what happened because he might get freaked, like, you know, an average person. He grabbed his keys and unlocked them, and kicked the door open.
"Welcome to my humble abode! On the left is the kitchen, and the bathroom is over there too. Until we get you a bed, you can share with me, Butters, or take the couch, but it's not very comfy. We'll have to rearrange, but we can make it work." Butters stood there speechless. The place is nice, thought Butters. He put his bag down by the door to look around. Kenny placed the bags on the island and grabbed the medical supplies he got. He walked into the bathroom and took his hood down. His face was looking worse. He cleaned all the wounds on his face and only put bandages on a few. He took his shirt off to see more prominent black and blue colors all over him. He left the numbing cream out in the kitchen. He walked out there to see Butters sitting on the couch. He looked a little lost, and Kenny found it adorable. Wait what. Kenny thought and shook his head. When he looked back up, Butters was looking at him. Well shit. Butters was looking at him with wide eyes. He saw all the new and old bruises curling around his side.
"Butters, it's not as bad as it looks. Nothing is broken, alright. It's just bruising." That did not calm him down. He walked over to Kenny and took off his shirt. Kenny was thrown through a loop. Looking at Butters' torso, he saw the same black and blue all over him—even the brown and yellow ones.
"I know it's not, but it still hurts, doesn't it." Kenny looked up at the ceiling to stop himself from crying. Butters didn't need to see me crying; he just left everything. He grabbed Kenny's hand and looked back down at him as tears escaped his eyes. Butters looked up at Kenny with his dopey smile and said:
"It's okay not always to be the strongest, even if someone else needs you."
"You too, ya know," Kenny said back to him while wiping my tears with my other hand. He just looked at Kenny like he was an idiot. They both started laughing at that.
"Come with me," he said, dragging Butters to the bathroom. He grabbed the numbing cream from the bag and handed it to Butters when they got to the bathroom.
"Put this on them. It helps, I promise." Butters grabbed the tube and read it. He looked at Kenny with this puppy dog look that could get Kenny to melt at anything he asked. Butters opened it, put some on his hand, and put it on his bruises. He winced when he first touched his ribs. Kenny grabbed the bottle and poured some into his hand. He started going over all the new bruises that he could reach easily. Butters grabbed the bottle and put more in his hand. He was trying to get his back. Kenny saw him struggling and tapped his shoulder.
"Hey, um, do you want some help with your back?" Kenny said sheepishly. Butters shook his head yes and turned away from Kenny. Alright, Kenny, chill, it's just Butters. He put some on his hand and started to go over the bruising. Butters winced, and Kenny mumbled a low sorry. He finished a few minutes later and told Butters he was all set. He turned around and thanked Kenny. Right before he was going to walk out, he turned to Kenny.
"Um, do you want some help with your back?" Butters looked nervous as he asked. Kenny shook yes, even though he could do it himself. He probably just wanted to pay him back. Butters's hands were cold as he pressed against Kenny's back. He shivered a bit when Butters was doing his side. When Butter's finished, he tapped Kenny's shoulder and quietly said all done, like he didn't want to break the silence they created. Kenny walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. After unpacking the rest of the stuff he bought, he looked at the clock, which said 11:37. It was a little late to eat, but Kenny was hungry and assumed Butters was as well.
"Hey, Butters, are you hungry? I was going to make uhh- somethin'." Kenny didn't even know what he had to eat here.
"Geez, well, since your offering, I guess so. What are you making?" Buttes asked as he walked out of the bathroom with red-rimmed eyes.Kenny decided not to ask about that. It's been a long night, and sometimes you have to cry. He started looking through his cabinets, he had yet to go grocery shopping for this week, so he only had a little. He found a box of pasta and some sauce.
"Uh, how about pasta with sauce?" Kenny asked.
"That sounds yummy," Butters replied.
"All right, I'm going to start cooking. Why don't you turn on my PlayStation, watch a TV show or movie, and relax a little." Kenny said. Butters tried to help, but Kenny picked him up carefully in a princess hold and put Butters on the couch with the PS4 controller. And said, "Sit, Stay." Kenny returned to the kitchen to put the pasta in the boiling water and the garlic bread in the oven. While Kenny was cooking, Butters was on the PlayStation, scrolling through the movies on Disney Plus. He put on his comfort movie Deadpool. He knows it is inappropriate, but it's so funny and badass, and Ryan Reynolds is hot. He thought about how his eye throbbed as he got comfy on the couch. Aw gee, Kenny was right this is not comfy. Butters sighed and closed his eyes. He felt the couch dip next to him and looked over to see Kenny sitting beside him with a bag of frozen peas and a towel over his shoulder.
"Here, Butters, put this on your eye. It'll help the swelling and hopefully make the bruising less. Later you could probably put the numbing cream on it." Butters sat up, took the peas and towel from Kenny, wrapped it up, and put it on his eye. Butters noticed Kenny moving next to him. He looked over to see Kenny opening a little storage cube under his coffee table, taking out a bong, and putting it on the coffee table. He pulled out a grinder and rolling tray as well. He put the bong back in the box and closed it. He pulled out a bag of weed from his back pocket. Butters quickly realized Kenny was about to smoke. Butters also realized he wanted to smoke,
Kenny just wanted to smoke some weed and chain-smoke cigarettes for the rest of his life. Sadly he can't, so he will be whenever he can be high. He grabbed the weed from his pocket and noticed Butters looking at him. Kenny looked at him with his eyebrows up to ask what's up.
"Uh, can I smoke with you, Kenny?" Butters asked quietly. Kenny was shocked and didn't know what to say. He just shook his head in an up-and-down motion and returned to grinding the weed. As Kenny finished rolling the joint, he placed it in the rolling tray and grabbed the pack of cigarettes on the side table. He took the plastic of the new box, opened it, pulled out two cigarettes, and passed one to Butters, who took it and grabbed the lighter off the coffee table. He passed the lighter to Kenny, who was looking at him with this look that just said what the fuck. Butters laughs and removes the ice from his face.
"Kenny I've been smoking since I was 15 and smoking weed since I was 16. I'm not as innocent as everyone thinks I am." Kenny opened his mouth and almost dropped his cigarette on his hand. He didn't even know what to say to that. Butters had been smoking for almost as long as Kenny and he had no idea. How the fuck did he not know about that.
"Butters, how the fuck did you keep that a secret for three years, holy shit. That's insane." Kenny responded while placing his cigarette in the ashtray and grabbing the joint. He started lighting it as Butters was explaining how he hid it. He always had a change of clothes and brushed his teeth after smoking every time. He put cologne on after every time and never brought the stuff into his house. He hid in his treehouse and did it all the time. Kenny was so shocked he almost started coughing as he was inhaling. He passed it over to Butters and got up to check the food.
Butters was in heaven, yeah, his face still hurts, but he was high and about to eat. The best part, though, was being with Kenny. Butters has always had a crush on Kenny. His shaggy blonde hair that he has cut into a mullet looked so hot on him. He has a black nose ring on the right side of his nose, a black tongue ring that's so hot, two piercings in each lobe, an industrial rod on his left ear, his nipples have black bars in them, and he supposedly has a jacob's ladder on the underside of his cock. That's just a rumor, but the thought of Kenny having that made Butters's gut pool with arousal. Besides that, Kenny always wears dark ripped jeans that Butters are pretty sure didn't come that way, black steel-toe work boots, a white or black t-shirt, a flannel, and a black jacket. Let's say puberty did wonders on Kenny McCormick. He's 6'2 with nice muscles too. Butters could think about how hot Kennny is all goddamn day. But sadly, Kenny was walking back here with two plates of food.
"Here you are, Butters, let me just go grab the sauce and shit," Kenny said as he walked into the kitchen. Butters was looking directly at Kenny's ass, which seemed to pop out of his jeans. Butters shook his head, clear of those thoughts quickly. Kenny walked back over and placed down Butter, cheese, and sauce.
"Butters, do you want butter on your pasta?" Kenny started laughing at that.
"Butters eating butter," Kennt snorted. Butters looks at him like he's an idiot, which is fair because Kenny is an idiot.
"Kenny, it's not funny, and Butters is just a nickname anyway." Butters responded as he handed the joint over to Kenny, who picked up his cigarette. Butters grabbed him, took a long drag, and looked at Kenny as he started coughing.
"You okay there, Kenny?" Butters asked
"Yeah, uh huh. So Butters, if that is just a nickname, what's your real name?" Kenny responded. He had only ever heard Butters being called Butters even by his parents when he was allowed around when they were younger.
"Uh, it's Leopold, but that's a dumbass name." Butters answered. Kenny thought about it, and yeah, it was an old-fashioned name, but Leo is cute like a lion.
"Well then, what about Leo? I like that, it's cute, so it fits you well," Kenny told him before he realized what was coming out of his mouth. Fuck me, goddamn it, Kenny thought in his head. He looked over to Butters, who seemed to have not heard that last part but heard the "Leo."
"Well I guess it's alright it's just I've been called Butters my whole life so," Butters said.
"Ya, I get it, dude, I mean, it'd be weird if people started calling me Kenneth," Kenny said. Butters looked at him and shook his head yes.
"How about this, since we'll be living with each other, I'll call you Leo when we're here so you can get used to it because one day, when you're trying to get a corporate job, they probably won't hire the guy with the nickname as 'Butters' Leo," They finished eating, talking about random things, and Butters moving in. Butters told Kenny he already had a job and money saved so that he could help with rent and groceries, and gas money. After that, Kenny brought the dishes to the kitchen and went to take a shower. Butters decided he would do the dishes since Kenny cooked and wanted to shower tomorrow morning. Kenny got out of the shower, wrapped a towel around his waist, and got clothes from his dresser. He stepped out and saw Butters doing the dishes. This kid is so kind and caring the fuck is wrong with everyone. Kenny thought as he grabbed a smoke and lit it while walking to get his clothes. He grabbed them and returned to the bathroom to change and brush his teeth.
By the time they had changed, smoked more weed, and had another cigarette, it was already 1:30 in the morning. Kenny told Butters to pick a side of his king bed and settle on it while he grabbed another blanket. Butters took the right side of the bed seeing as the left nightside table had a bunch of Kenny's stuff on it. Kenny came back and handed him another blanket in case he needed it. They put on some stupid cartoon and talked about school until they fell asleep.