"Hey guys." Butters said as he sat down at the usual lunch table. "Hey Butters." Stan replied before turning his attention back to Kyle who was in the middle of lecturing Cartmen. Butters didn't mind that only one person greeted him because he was used to it. While he was talkative by nature, most of his friends were quiet until someone started to rant.

Butters ate his lunch peacefully as he watched the argument unfold. "Seriously Cartmen, just shut up." Stan said, backing up Kyle as his red haired friend puffed up in anger. "Leave my mom out of this fat ass!" Kyle yelled angrily. Butters tried his best to keep to himself lest Cartmen try to drag him into the fight to back him up.

Cartmen's shoulders raised defensively, his eyes staring at Kyle hostilely. "Oh, smart maneuver there Kyle. What, you need your little bitch to come and rescue you?" He goaded, pleased to see that he had managed to piss off both Kyle and Stan now.

Kenny rolled a shiny red apple on the cafeteria table with his fingertips, slowly but surely getting a head ache. Kenny hardly got involved with listening to these guys at the table. Every day they argued over something, and he'd learned since elementary school that it wasn't worth the drama. It was the same shirt with a different story every day, and the usual starters of this mess were Cartmen and Kyle.

Now, if Kenny had to pick a side, he would have normally picked Kyles. The mad had more sense and a definite better argument; but Kenny was never interested in dropping to their level and being dragged into things.

As Cartmen ranted on, Kenny rolled his exhausted eyes and glanced at the only other one at the table that was staying out of it, Butters. Unfortunately, it seemed like Butters was actually listening intently to the argument, even though he wasn't taking a direct part it in.

"Don't tell me you actually give a shit about this." Kenny said, which was the wrong thing to do. When he spoke, it drew Cartmen's attention to him; which was the last thing that Kenny wanted. He hated it when the greedy, fat, son of a bitch dragged him into things.

"Hey~ Shut up Kenn- ….hey, Hey!" Cartmen's eyes alighted onto the apple that Kenny had been rolling. His voice took on an edge of outrage. "That's mah apple! Go buy your own!" He snapped. Kenny drew the apple closer to himself and out of reach from Cartmen's grubby hands.. It was clear that he had absolutely no intention of returning the pilfered food.

"I can't." Kenny retorted. Cartmen's fat face split into a grin, his eyes glinting mischeviously. Oh god, now what was he thinking? "Oh yeah, that's right. Your family is too poor to afford a twenty cent apple!" He snickered out. Kenny's blue eyes hardened as Cartmen, once again, jabbed at his poverty. Back when he was younger, he may have let a petty comment like that get to him… but now he'd learned better.

Getting up out of his cafeteria seat, Kenny ignored Cartmen's outraged demands to sit back down and return the apple. Instead, Kenny took a smug bite of it in front of him, and with a mouth full of sweet fruit he addressed him.

"Hey, you should really be thanking me." Kenny said, walking past Cartmen so he had to crane his neck to follow him. Swallowing his mouthful of apple, Kenny added in a satisfactory manner. "You really don't need it."

Cartmen's eyes blazed. "Oi!" He yelled, turning fast around. "Is that a fat joke?!" He growled, searching for the blond angrily only to find he'd vanished from sight. Turning back around angrily to the table, he continued to complain. "Kenny just fucking called me fat!"

"You are fat Cartmen." Stan replied, however it wasn't hostile but more like a stated fact. Butters watched Kyle shake his head before he turned his own to look at the cafeteria doors. He hadn't missed Kenny's departure through those doors even though everyone else had. Kenny had Butters' attention most of the time, but today when he had spoken directly to him he had gained Butters' undivided attention.

Out of Cartmen, Kyle, Stan and Kenny, the blond had always been the nicest to him. Butters blamed his small form of infatuation with Kenny on that fact. Kenny had once again proven that he was nice and had tried to talk to him before he had left the lunchroom with Eric's apple. Even though Kenny had only said a few things to him, Butter's still felt the urge to follow him. He knew he would only end up irritating Kenny though. That realization was enough to keep Butters in his seat.

Butters continued to space out until the conversation at the table changed to the midterms that everyone was dreading. Well, it was more of Kyle and Stan talking and Carmen complaining about how he had to maintain his grades so he could continue playing football. Butters listened to everyone until he noticed the pencil sitting on the table where Kenny had been seated.

It was like a light bulb went off in Butters' head. This was his excuse to talk to Kenny. That pencil was the only piece of learning equipment Kenny carried around. He didn't use it for work though. Instead, Kenny used the pencil to doodle in class or he tapped it on the desk to irritate everyone. Honestly, Kenny probably wouldn't care about his missing pencil, but Butters didn't care. This was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

He scooped up the pencil before he stood up. "See you guys later." Butters said as he grabbed his try. "See ya Butters." Stan said looking up. Kyle echoed Stan's farewell almost making Butters feel touched. It did make him smile though before he left to find Kenny.

Kenny strolled out of the cafeteria with his apple in tow, running his thumb over its sleek red skin. He heard the sound of the loud cafeteria slowly fade as he turned towards the benches in the lobby hall. Although he had seemed to be perfectly calm and collected, he still felt angered underneath. He'd told himself that comments about his wealth didn't bother him- but it was denial talking. The truth was really that it pissed him off… and if Cartmen wasn't one of his friends then he would have pounded the fat fuck straight into the ground.

Kenny's eyes were dark with the tiredness he felt inside; his anger leaving him exhausted. Shifting, Kenny allowed himself to fall heavily onto the wooden bench; trying to exhale away all of his stress in a sigh. Leaning his stiff back against the cooled wood, Kenny closed his eyes. So tired… he'd hardly gotten any sleep last night due to his parents screaming all night. His father had come home drunk again and his mother spent the night screaming her disdain to the heavens. He'd let his little sister in with him in his room, since she was only in middle school. Naturally, he had stayed up late with her, so it had been a long night.

The waves of drowsiness were slowly over taking him, and before he knew it, he slipped into the sea of sleep and drifted to dreaming. The apple rolled from his fingertips onto the floor, only half eaten as his head lolled onto one side.

Butters walked through the almost deserted halls of the high school as he looked for Kenny. He had to find him before lunch was over or he wouldn't get to see him until after school let out, and that would defeat the purpose of returning the pencil.

He had been just about to give up on his search after failing for ten minutes until he caught sight of a familiar orange parka. Butters smiled happily as he bee lined for Kenny, but once he got close enough he stopped. Was Kenny sleeping? It certainly appeared that way.

Even though Butters had seen Kenny sleep before, he just stood there staring. It was an odd sight with the blond fully asleep next to a half-eaten red apple, but there was something peaceful about it. Kenny always looked tired, and Butters enjoyed seeing him look so at piece. As Butters stood there and gawked, a faint blush formed on his face. Kenny certainly looked nice while he was sleeping, so much so that Butters was having a hard time looking away.

Butters knew that it was rude to stare, and that he'd be in trouble if anyone caught him doing it, but it was so hard not to. He was even considering letting Kenny sleep instead of waking him up. However, he couldn't just let Kenny get into trouble for sleeping in the hallway, especially knowing that the school bell wouldn't even wake him up. What was he supposed to do?

"K-Kenny?" Butters said after debating a couple of minutes. He was nervous that Kenny might get mad at him for waking him up. "H-Hey, um… lunch'll be over in a minute…" Butters said, and when he didn't get a response he frowned. What did Kyle and Stan do again to wake up Kenny? They usually just kicked him, but Butters couldn't do that. After preparing for the worst, Butters gently shook Kenny's shoulder "Kenny…" He said, but even though he didn't stutter he still sounded nervous.

As Kenny was being shaken; his head lolling slightly, he found himself being dragged away from the beginnings of a dream; or rather a nightmare. All of Kenny's dreams were extremely realistic, but hardly any of them ended well. As Butter's voice called to him, Kenny's eyes twitched underneath their lids, his eye brows knitting together as his lips parted just faintly.

"It hurts…" He said quietly; his voice taking on a sleepy rumble. Kenny's body shuddered as he began to wake, his bleary blue eyes opening up. His surroundings were taking a while to refocus; but once they did he saw a pair of bright blue eyes watching him. Kenny didn't jump up or startle, instead he blinked away his sleep and clinging remnants of his dream and broke out into a yawn. He noticed Butter's lean back, but paid no mind to it and stretched his arms above his head. The sensation made his body tingle.

"That was close, was I going to get a wake-up kiss?" He asked in the semi-playful manner he usually had. Kenny always flirted with people. …Just not the gang he usually hung out with. Sitting up straighter, Kenny looked the blond up and down, the gears in his head beginning to turn and work again. It only just occurred to him that he wasn't sure what Butter's was doing. "…Anyways, what are you doing here?"

Butters had almost flinched away when Kenny had mumbled 'it hurts', but he had managed to recover quickly enough that he was sure his friend hadn't noticed. He was almost instantly shocked again when Kenny flirted with him, even if it was only in a joking manner.

"W-well you see I noticed that you left your pencil so I was gunna return it to you… and then you were asleep, and you were gunna miss class so I w-woke you up." Butters rambled, explaining why he was there but keeping out the stuff that would get him into trouble. "..here." He said, offering the pencil out to the sleepy blond.

Kenny blinked in a confused manner, his mind still in a sleepy daze as his gaze dipped to observe the pencil that Butters was holding out to him. An awkward little smile came over Kenny's lips. It was just a simple gesture, but for some reason it still made the blond happy.

Kenny reached out and took the pencil, his fingers just brushing the others as he took it. "Thanks man. I would have had to jack one from a teacher's desk if it hadn't been for you returning it to me." He said, flashing Butters a small smile before the bell rang.

Kenny gave a quick glance towards the speaker before he gave Butters a little salute. "Well, see you around Butters."

"Y-yeah, see ya." Butters said with a small smile before he realized that his class was on the opposite side of school. With a panicked look he sped off, not wanting to be late and get a detention.

~:

"Butters! Where were you? It took you way too long to get home. You were out there causing trouble weren't you!?" Butter's father accused angrily. Butters had hardly walked in the front door when his father had stormed up to him. "No S-Sir! The teacher kept us over t-to discuss a project!" Butters said, trying to defend himself against the usual on slot of accusations. Sometimes if he was lucky he would get away with not being grounded, but he was almost permanently grounded anyway.

"Your grades better not be slipping again Butters!" His father said, accusing him all over again. "No sir, it was just an announcement to the class!" Butters said, silently pleading that his father would just drop the anger. His heart started to hammer in his chest as he watched the expressions on his father's face. Please, please, please let him not be grounded. He had just gotten over his last grounding for leaving the toilet seat up.

"Alright." His father said, causing Butters to heave a sigh of relief. "But if I find out that you're lying to me, you'll be grounded until your twenty, have I made myself clear?" His father said, effectively killing Butter' good mood. He nodded vigorously in response. "Good, now go upstairs and study until it's time for dinner." His father said with a nod. Butters didn't need to be told twice, so before he could get grounded he darted upstairs to his room.

Once he made it to the imagined safety of his room Butters shut the door with a tired sigh. He was careful to keep the two noises almost silent since he didn't want to get into trouble for making too much noise. Butters had already escaped a punishment which was rare, so he didn't want to take any chances.

Butters laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. It felt like his parents were getting angrier by the day and he was running out of ideas on how to avoid getting yelled at. Sure, he was used to getting punished for things that most kids found weird, like the time he had been punished because his parents didn't like his face, but he had been able to learn to avoid them. Now though, there was no way to avoid anything.

Sometimes Butters wondered if his parents hated him. They always got mad and told him that he was a disappointment even when he tried his hardest. Maybe he was just a terrible son. He wasn't nearly smart enough, or skilled enough to make anyone happy. Butters was just an overall failure in his own eyes, and now he had one more reason to feel that way. Once more reason for his parents to hate him.

Butters knew that he wasn't supposed to like boys. His parents had been sure that he learned that when he was little. However, he just had to mess up again and end up liking a guy. Oh his parents would be furious with him if they found out that he liked Kenny. Then they'd really hate him, and probably ground him for life.

"Butters!" His father yelled from downstairs, shocking Butters out of his train of thought. "Get down here, your mother needs your help!" He finished and Butters got up quickly. "Y-yes Sir, coming!" He called back before heading downstairs.

~:

Kenny sighed out heavily as he returned to the decrepit mess his family called a house, a scowl on his face as he began to slide off his shoes. Even though their house was full of garbage (primarily beer cans), his mother kept the house primarily clean

A young girl ran out of a side room and greeted him, smiling broadly. "Kenny!" She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around him. "Welcome home!" She said happily. Kenny glanced down to meet her gaze; a gentle smile creeping over his lips. She was his little sister, the only pure angel in his rotting heap of a family. He fought to keep her that way, too.

"Thank you Karen." He said with a warm tone, gently pushing his sister off. Kenny looked past her and at the hallway. "Dad out?" He asked. The girl hesitated, and then nodded. Kenny gave a short nod and smiled. His little sister looked uncertainly at him, and he couldn't blame her. By now she knew what he was up to whenever he asked.

"…He'll yell at you when he gets home…" She muttered sadly, her voice edging uncertainly. Kenny shrugged it off easily; beginning to make his way to the kitchen.

"So what?" Kenny snorted, pulling open the refrigerator and spying the alcohol his father kept there. Reaching forward, he began to stuff a few cans into his arms. "Let him yell. I don't are." He said nonchalantly. It really was his father's bad. If he didn't want Kenny finding it by now then he shouldn't have put it all in the fridge. It was common sense.

His sister shifted uneasily. "Kenny….It's Dad's… He'll only get mad."

Kenny closed the fridge, hardly listening. His blue eyes rested on Karen for a moment. Then he should be spending his money on groceries- not booze." He responded promptly, only to see Karen's gaze falter. A small wave of guilt came over him.

"…Look, I won't drink them all. I'll only drink one tonight, alright?" He said; trying to be comforting. Of course it was a lie; Kenny had no intention to only drink one; what purpose would it serve? …But if telling Karen such things would make her feel better then he would say it all until he could longer speak.

Once she yielded, Kenny gave a short nod and made his way for his own room, stuffing the cans into the hiding spot he had reserved in his closet. If his father ever found out just how many he usually stole from him weekly he'd kick his as for sure… though sometimes Kenny would fight him back.

Kenny flopped onto his bed and listened to the hum of the television from his mother's room- letting the time slip by that way until he could hear his father coming home. He laid still; his eyes still closed as he listened expectantly. After all, his father regularly started arguments with him and his mother, but never his brother Kevin and his sister Karen.

"Welcome ho- God Damn it Stuart! Don't tell me you're drunk again!"

"Shut- up, I'm a man; I can do what I want to. You can't stahp me."

"You're setting a bad example for the kids!"

"Oh, am I? Let me tell you some'in. They're already a bad example!" Kenny waited as he heard a pause, knowing full well that his father stalked to the fridge. He knew the next words before they were said.

"Where's Kenny?!"

"Stuart, you leave our child out of thi-"

Angry stomps were fast approaching his door, and Kenny waited patiently as his father came bursting in, clearly in a drunken stupor as his eyes blazed. He grappled for his parka, and Kenny let him drag him up.

"You little thieving shit!" His father spat. Kenny's blue crisp eyes glared directly back, challenging him. "How many'd you steal this time?! You ungrateful little-"

He was cut off by his mother storming in and hitting his father hard enough on the back to make him let go. Kenny backed up.

"I said leave our soon alone!"

"God Damn it woman!" His father reared on her, and Kenny used the distraction to slide out of his open window, making a break for it. He could faintly hear his parents screaming at each other still- so he ran until he could finally forget them and calm down.

…He needed a good distraction, and something to relieve stress. Kenny's breath came out in pants as he pulled out his phone, scrolling down contacts. …Maybe he could get a booty call this late.