The others wondered why he hung around Eric so much. Kyle couldn't fathom why anyone would go out of their way to be near the intolerant bastard, and even Stan, who would comply with Cartman's requests for play-dates couldn't understand how Kenny could stand being with him for more than a couple of hours.
"He's fat, stupid, a total asshole, a complete sociopath..." Kyle stood with them at the bus stop, listing off reasons with his fingers as to why no one should put up with him. Stan interjected a few choice words once in awhile, and soon, they had made a game out of it, both laughing and fuming together.
Kenny just shrugged, hiking his torn backpack higher on his shoulders, staring off into the distance as their voices faded into the background. The two didn't notice, too wrapped up in one another to pay him any attention. Nothing new. The blonde kept staring down the road, blue eyes unmoving, mind aimlessly wandering from thought to thought. He couldn't help but finally focus on Cartman. Why did he put up with him? The boy often went out of his way to make Kenny's life that little bit harder, but while it bothered him, it couldn't keep him from sticking to his side, almost clinging for dear life itself. He didn't understand why he'd put up with the broken toys and inevitable bruises. It kind of felt like he was paying up for some sort of service, but it wasn't like that.
It felt sometimes like Eric (he called him that, even though the others didn't notice) could get anything out of Kenny if he just said the right thing, or whined for long enough. He didn't mind when Eric used him the way he did. He got a sort of satisfaction out of giving him what he wanted, of falling in line behind him and settling for whatever attention he could get out of him. Eric always had such direction, even at his most disorganized, frantic moments of scheming and plotting. He always knew what he wanted, and even if he gave up, it was because he wanted to, not because everything came crumbling around him. Even if things did crumble, he could pick himself back up again. Kenny smiled. Eric was like those people on TV that everyone loves and hates at the same time because they can do things that others only wished they could.
He didn't think Eric realized how much people despised him, so Kenny felt almost obligated to love him as much as he could stand.
"Oh, look at who decided to show up." Kyle's snide voice came from beside him, as the yellow school bus sputtered down the road toward them. "Shouldn't you be stuffing your face or attempting genocide or something?"
Eric just snorted and flipped him off. "I did that last week." He gave Kenny a quick glance and left it at that. "I can't exterminate your people if you start to expect it."
Rolling his eyes, Kyle gave him a vague insult, then returned his attention to Stan, bitching about what the world was coming to.
Kenny continued to watch Eric, chewing on his lip absently. The round boy's grey eyes stared ahead, watching the bus pull up, hissing loudly as it stopped, the door screeching open with a sticky struggle. Kenny wished for a moment that he'd look over and smile, but he was snickering at Stan, who had grabbed the still ranting Kyle by the wrist to drag him onto the bus.
Cartman waited a moment before ascending the stairs himself, taking time to look over his shoulder and raise his eyebrows expectantly.
"Are you coming?"
Kenny just smiled and blushed slightly, falling in line behind him, just as he always did. And knew he always would.