A/N: After finishing the Fracture but Whole, I went back and watched the Cthulhu trilogy and I got a lot of Mysterion feels. So take this Bunny fic!
By now, it was a common occurrence. Kenny somehow just always knew when to show up. By now, he knew when Butters needed him and—without fail—he'd be there. In the darkness of night, he climbed up the tree outside of Butters' room. He sat in the branches as he listened to the yelling and the screaming, the constant cries of apologizes. He waited and waited, until the door slammed and he could only hear the soft hiccupping of sobs. Crawling to the edge of the tree, he tapped on the window with the back of his hand.
Butters sniffled, vigorously rubbing away all his snot and tears before opening the window. Practically throwing himself inside, Kenny grabbed his friend and hugged him tightly. For a few silent moments, Butters cried in his arms, the two of them stumbling onto the bed. After a while, he pulled away and sat up properly. Wiping his tears once more, he took a deep breath. He grinned up at Kenny, his eyes shut, red and swollen from crying. His cheeks were puffed and his nose was pink.
"Feeling better, Buttercup?" Kenny smiled, holding the sniffling boy's face in his palms. He ran his gloved thumbs across his friend's cheeks, cleaning the remaining stains of tears.
"Yea, thanks. I can always count on you," he hummed. He put his hands on top of Kenny's and pulled them down into his lap. "You know, you really are a hero," Kenny laughed and nodded his head in response.
"I'm glad you think so," he said with a smug grin.
"I'm serious, Ken!" Butters shouted, immediately looking over his shoulder to check the door. When no one entered, he turned back to his friend. "You've always been there for me!" he stated earnestly, leaning forward closer to him. Kenny moved back, freeing one of his hands to push Butters away.
"Calm down, dude," he frowned, although it was more out of concern than unease. "It's alright. I mean, what're friends for? I come here because I want to, not because I feel forced," he insisted, holding Butters' hand once more to reassure him. The boy sighed and dropped his head.
"Can I tell you a secret?" he asked.
"Sure," Kenny replied, bending forward so he could look at Butters' face.
"I knew you were Mysterion, even before you revealed it," he murmured quietly, almost as if he were talking to himself. Surprised, Kenny reared back, before smiling.
"Oh, really?" he teased. Butters lifted his head and the two of them met eyes. The atmosphere changed as Butters glared. Kenny took a deep breath and nodded. "How did you know?" he questioned sincerely.
"Well, I mean, at first I didn't know," he mumbled, awkwardly chuckling and averting his eyes once more. "At first, I just wanted it to be you. Since Professor Chaos and Mysterion are meant to be mortal enemies, I thought 'who else would be more fitting to be my rival than my best friend Kenny?' But when I thought about it, I realized it made sense. After the whole ninja weapon incident, everyone knew I was Professor Chaos. That meant that Mysterion—whoever they were—knew that I was Professor Chaos too. And the only kid in this town who would even bother talking to me, more or less taking me seriously, is you," Butters reasoned. Kenny stared at him dumbly, both shocked and impressed. Slowly, a wide grin spread across his face as he started laughing. When he threw his head back, his hood fell off. Butters turned to him, his face red—now from adoration over his previous crying.
"I guess you were right," Kenny smirked, giving Butters a wink. The boy smiled back at him, turning away bashfully. His whole face, and even his ears, blushed pink as he squeezed Kenny's hands. The two of them sat in silence as Kenny admired Butters. He meant almost everything to him; almost as much as Karen did. Of course he would go out of his way to play with and foil Butters' plan, even as a legitimate hero. Butters gave him a break from the world, a break from the terrible and harsh reality of fighting crime. He gave him an excuse to have fun, an excuse to be a kid again. He was just as thankful to have Butters as Professor Chaos as Butters was that he was Mysterion.
"Can I tell you another secret?" Butters asked. His face suddenly changed. The red faded and he stared with a new found seriousness. Kenny liked it when Butters got serious. After the whole trip to Hawaii, he started seeing him in a different light. Butters wasn't just some fraidy-cat-cry-baby—for god sakes, he was an actual villain as far as Kenny was concern.
"Go for it," he encouraged, settling down to listen. Butters nodded slowly, never breaking eye contact.
"Remember when Cthulhu attack the world?" Kenny chuckled and nodded.
"Of course I do," he smirked, recalling the incident with a mixture of amusement and frustration.
"Remember how you guys locked me in a cage?"
"Sorry about that," he winced, scratching the back of his head. Butters gave him a quick smile of reassurance before resuming his serious composure.
"Remember when Captain Hindsight attack the Coon Lair because of the Courtney Love thing?"
"Yea," Kenny answered as he furrowed his brows and frowned. Where was Butters going with this?
"Remember what you told him when the others left?" Kenny froze as he took a sharp breath.
"No. Tell me, what did I say?" he lied.
"You told him you were cursed. That you couldn't die. That you died countless of times, but each time you came back to life. That nobody would remember you dying at all," he stated, his voice never wavering. Stunned, Kenny struggled to swallow. Words remained choked in his throat no matter how hard he tried to force them out. His heart started racing and he could feel sweat form on his palms. Butters had been in the cage the entire time. The entire time. "Remember shooting yourself to prove a point to Kyle?"
"Do you?"
"No," Kenny's body went cold as he took a deep breath and dropped his head, staring down at his lap. He could feel himself begin to tremble and he knew Butters felt it too. Squeezing his hands, Butters leaned closer to Kenny and stared at him with concern.
"How do you remember all of this then?" he hissed through gritted teeth. He wasn't angry; he honestly didn't know if he felt anything at all beside the numbness of shock and confusion. He was just trying to force the words out.
"I didn't, I—I don't remember any of it—"
"Then how!" he screamed, lifting his head. Butters threw a hand over Kenny's mouth, pushing him up against the wall. Kenny panted heavily before settling down, Butters removing his hand. "I'm sorry—"
"It's okay, Ken," he smiled, checking his bedroom door for a short moment. "I understand," The room fell into silence as Kenny collected himself.
"How do you know all of this if you don't remember any of it?" he sighed resting his head against Butters shoulder. Hesitantly, Butters hugged him and buried his face into the crook of his neck.
"I wrote it all down," he said. "When you told Captain Hindsight all that, at first, I thought you were lying to him. I thought you were just saying it to make him go away. But the more I listened to you talk, the more I realized maybe you weren't lying. You were so angry. You might have been telling the truth and I got scared. When you said that no one could remember and that the next day just played it off like nothing happened, I realized something. There are holes in some of my memories, Kenny. I always thought it was normal, that I was broken and that was just a symptom because of it. I don't always remember how the days end or how some of our adventures go from exploring a place we shouldn't to being back at home.
"I was afraid that if you were telling the truth I wouldn't remember any of it, so I wrote it all down as a reminder to myself. I don't even remember where the paper came from or when I wrote it, but it was in my handwriting and it made sense to me. I wrote word for word the conversation between you and Kyle. Or at least I think it's word for word, because I honestly can't remember the conversation even happening," Butters stopped and waited for Kenny to respond. The entire time he talked, Kenny just sat their motionlessly.
"What did I say to Kyle?" he asked quietly.
"That it isn't cool… that not being able to die isn't cool. That it hurt. That it won't go away. That no one would be believe you," he answered.
"And then?"
"And then you shot yourself," he whispered. Several minutes passed and neither of them spoke. "Kenny," Butters called.
"Yea?"
"Am I… crazy?"
"No," It was quiet again. Kenny pulled away from the hug, wiping his eyes from the tears Butters didn't even know he was crying. He was happy someone knew; that someone finally believed him. And he was happy it was Butters. "Butters, can I tell you a secret?"
"What is it?" Without a word, Kenny grabbed him by the back of his neck and pulled him closer, tilting his head up. In a fluid motion, he pressed his lips against the other boy's. Butters eyes widen in shock as he held his breath until Kenny pulled away. The two of them sat there, staring into each other's eyes in the dead of night. If things didn't go how Kenny plan, he would just jump out the window and kill himself so Butters wouldn't remember any of it. So their secrets, could remain secrets. But he had a feeling he wouldn't need to. He had a feeling he could live for at least tonight.