I don't own anything but the story, all characters and places belong to Matt & Trey (plus Comedy Central)
The whole way to the supermarket Blue didn't stop crying, getting a few strange looks that made Butters uncomfortable but no-one stopped him to ask questions; choosing the right formula was very hard, all promised that they were the best, so the blond settled on a middle priced one and rushed to the pay for it.
"come on Blue, ease up." Butters whispered, rubbing Blue's belly and trying the pacifier again.
But Blue continued to cry hungrily and Butters was getting annoyed at the slow people in the line in front of him for take so long.
"Butters?" said a voice behind him.
Turning slowly Butters saw Kenny McCormick standing behind him with an armful of crisps and chocolate, Kyle and Stan stood on either side with their arms laden with fizzy soda.
"h-hey guys." Butters said as happily as he could, trying to pretend he wasn't holding on a pram containing a crying baby.
"dude, is that yours?" Stan asked.
"or did you steal it?" Kyle joked.
Butters flushed deeply under their interrogation and was saved by the dim looking cashier telling him he was next, quickly break eye-contact Butters paid and tried to dash away, especially from Kenny's intense gaze.
Luck was not on Butters side, apparently Kenny had dumped both food and money on Stan and Kyle to chase after Butters.
"wait up Butters!" Kenny called.
Feeling the heat creep hotly up his neck Butters didn't want to stop but his personal soft spot had always been for Kenny; the other blond had long been rid of his orange parka, opting instead for a old fur lined coat that had once belonged to his mother and had grown his scruffy hair longer, knotting it at the nape of his neck.
Kenny finally caught up with him, panting softly but still smiled, "finally." he breathed with a small laugh and touched Butters hot cheek for a moment before turning his attention to the bawling Blue.
"i can explain." Butters said quickly, stopping Kenny from taking Blue out of the pram.
Kenny gave him a funny look, "go on then." the scruffy blond urged.
"come home with me." Butters mumbled and continued his walk home.
Getting the pram back inside the house was awkward, especially with Kenny watching his every move, but as soon as the door was closed the scruffy blond took the formula and vanished into the kitchen.
"Wh-wh-what are you doin' Ken?" Butters stammered helplessly.
Unclipping Blue from the pram he rushed into the kitchen just in time to see Kenny making up a couple of bottles of formula with a knowing look on his face.
Blue's hungry cried had lessened slightly, his chest heaving violently with very breath but the tears had stopped.
"did you forget I have a little sister?" Kenny asked when he had finished one of the bottles and began to shake it, "i did this stuff at like three in the morning."
"thank you Kenny." Butters whispered, not knowing what else to say.
Smiling kindly Kenny handed over the bottle; with very little knowledge Butters gave Blue the bottle, it was simple, the teat in the mouth and take it away when empty.
"so, where'd you find him?" Kenny asked after a moment, leaning lazily on the counter.
Butters concentrated on Blue, his slightly red rimmed eyes slipping shut sleepily, "shouldn't you be with your friends?" Butters asked quickly.
An ugly frown appeared on Kenny's handsome face, "they can wait." he said firmly, "you're my friend too." he added kindly, the smile back in place.
Butters felt stupid and awkward, "some woman gave him to me." he finally said, not elaborating why or how everything happened.
Kenny nodded slowly, eyeing both Butters and Blue through his bangs, "what's his name?" he asked once Blue had finished his bottle, let out a massive burp and had fallen into a deep sleep.
"Blue." Butters told him.
Going into the living room Butters placed Blue in the Moses basket and bravely flicked the heating on, glancing at the phone he half expected his father to call and tell him off.
Wrapping a couple of blankets around Blue's tiny body the blond heard Kenny sit on the couch behind him.
"i was thinking." Kenny started softly, "maybe we could all come here and hang out."
without turning Butters frowned, nobody ever wanted to hang out with him, even as a last resort, and even though he felt strongly for Kenny being invited to hang out made Butters feel a little bit sick.
"it'll disturb the baby." Butters told him and slipped a pacifier in Blue's mouth.
Kenny moved in one graceful motion so he too was sat beside the Moses basket, positioned so Butters couldn't move or look away.
"we'll watch a few films, eat junk and then sleep till late. Remember I looked after Karen when she was a baby and Kyle had Ike, we'll help." Kenny tried to convince him.
Everything Kenny was saying made sense but Butters hadn't hung around with Kenny and his gang since they were ten, he bit his lip tightly, dazing off into space while weighing up both options.
Butters was so far in a daze he didn't notice Kenny lean in close until he felt a feather light kiss on the pulse in Butters neck, "please." Kenny whispered huskily.
After that Butters simply couldn't refuse; the scruffy blond quickly finished making all the formula bottles and phoned his friends while Butters sat dumbfounded at what had just done beside the sleeping Blue.
Barely ten minuets later there was a loud knock on the front door, thankfully not waking Blue, which Kenny answered; Kyle and Stan brought the chilled air in with them, along with four bags full of junk food, soda and DVDs and a blanket each.
"hey dude." Kyle greeted happily, instantly at the side of Blue's basket, moving blankets to get a better look at the tiny babe.
"So, what happened?" Stan whispered, quite loudly, to Kenny and they vanished into the kitchen.
Butters watched the red-haired Jew gently arrange the blankets, with such care it was obvious Kyle was a big brother, ever so often a tiny frown would appear on his face but disappear instantly, "how old is he?" Kyle finally asked.
It finally felt like Butters had his feet back on the ground, solidly with the living, "i think three months but I'm not too sure." the blond muttered.
"well, Ma adopted Ike when he was two months old, course I don't remember much but I'll help as much as I can, I know it's hard to have a new baby in the house." Kyle chatted mindlessly.
Butters couldn't do anything but nod to whatever the red head was saying, who was now soulfully reminiscing about the first time he had kicked Ike like a football but it made Butters move Blue's basket slightly more towards him.
Blue began to stir, whimpering softly when he realised that he couldn't escape the mass of blankets, his little legs kicking furiously; just as Butters went to lift Blue out of the basket Kyle got there first, setting the baby in his lap and talking in soft, gooey words.
A sharp,sad, but unfortunately familiar, pain gripped the blond's chest, he kept quite as he watched Kyle play with Blue, fawning brotherly over him and Blue take great interest in Kyle's Star of David badge pinned to the red head's cuff.
Suddenly Blue was lifted from Kyle's lap, Kenny and Stan had finally returned from the kitchen with a tray filled with the snacks but the skinny blond looked a little unhappy, without a word he carefully handed the squirming Blue to Butters; the baby boy hummed happily, gripping Butters two fingers tightly and gazing at him.
"let Butters take care of him." Kenny told Kyle and flopped on the couch behind Butters.
The young Jew frowned, "you said I could help." he snapped lightly.
"yes, help." the skinny blond lent forwards, looking serious, "not take over."
Kyle was about to say something back, an argument fizzing in the air, when Butters butted in, "let's watch a film, something kiddy friendly." he tried to sound as cheerful as possible, hoping that if he was happy then all the anger out vanish.
The forgotten quarterback immediately read off which films he had brought; Alien vs Predictor, Dead Snow, The Hills Have Eyes, Silent Hill, Suckerpunch, Back Door Sluts 8 and Toy Story 3.
Just the titles of some of the films made Butters blood run cold, he hated horror films, mainly because being left alone in a big, dark house made everything scary anyway.
Porn was defiantly a no-no, highly to do with Blue but also that the blond never really got the point of porn, lots of fake moaning and overly stretched holes.
"let's watch Toy Story till the baby is asleep." Stan mused through a mouthful of chips.
Both Kenny and Kyle rolled their eyes, "babies wake up all through the night." the blond informed his friend.
Butters slunk back, he hadn't known that, he didn't really know anything about looking after a baby, just the basics but they would only get him so far; Blue squealed happily and threw his pacifier across the room.
"what films do you have?" Kenny asked Butters kindly and retrieved the thrown pacifier.
"n-not any you gu-guys would like." Butters stuttered, very embarrassed by the fact his DVD collection contained mainly Disney and some chick flicks his parents approve of.
Before Butters could say anything Kenny and Stan bounded upstairs, making more noise than the smaller blond had ever made in his life, causing him to cringe a little.
While the two teens were upstairs rummaging through Butters DVD collection, Butters stayed still, flushed red, with Blue happily playing with his pacifier.
"so, who gave him to you? Kenny just said that it was some woman." Kyle said as casually as he could.
The image of Blue's real mother popped into Butters head; all skinny, ill looking, scratching at her bare skin with broken nails and that wild look in her eye.
"it was just some woman." Butters muttered and kissed Blue's wisps of fair hair.
The young Jew frowned, "and she, just like, gave him to you?" he sounded sceptical.
"yeah," the smaller blond breathed.
Kyle ruffled his curls, looking confused, looking like he was trying to figure everything out, "was she a, you know, a druggie?" Kyle whispered the last part, glancing towards the stairs.
"i dunno." Butter said quickly but remembered when Kenny used to get high on cat piss and when he stopped getting his fix the skinny blond became irritable, was sick and scratched at his red eyes till they nearly bled.
"look what we found!" Kenny cheered brandishing a copy of Monsters vs Aliens.
"plus we found loads of Disney films that I haven't seen in years." Stan was beaming with a massive stack of DVDs of nearly the last fifty years of Disney.
Butters felt strange, thinking back the blond had never had people over for the night, only sometimes going to other people's houses, but that stopped when he turned twelve.
"oh, little boy Blue!" Kenny sang, lifting Blue playfully.
Butters got the nasty smell that Kenny smelt first and watched intrigued as Kenny changed the baby boy, "i'm surprised I still remember how to do this." Kenny laughed over his shoulder.
"sick dude." Stan grumbled, busying himself with putting a film on.
Butters felt slightly more relaxed, Kenny was still cleaning Blue up in the corner, Stan was decided which film to put on first and Kyle was trying to figure out which fizzy soda he could have.
The relaxed atmosphere didn't last long, suddenly Blue let out an almighty cry, Butters heart leapt into his throat and was on his feet before he realised.
"what happened?" Butters asked desperately, rushing to Kenny's side.
Kenny was swearing lightly under his breath, rubbing Blue's belly and tried to feed the baby his pacifier, but, exactly like when Butters tried in the store, it was spat out.
"poor Blue." Butters cooed lifted the small baby to his face, half ignoring the heavy crying on his skin and kissed Blue on his temple; snuggling the baby against his chest, arms wrapped protectively around the quivering body, shooshing gently and placing kisses on Blue's head.
Amazingly Blue stopped crying almost instantly, once again gripping Butters fingers, refusing to let up and causing the rush of love to rush through Butters again.
"he really loves you." Kenny said softly, leaning against the wall with a lazy smile.
Butters smiled softly, gazing down at the tiny baby boy in his arms, "i think I really love him too." he whispered.
With Blue snuggled deeply in the Moses basket at their feet, fed again and snoring softly, Kenny turned off all the lights so the room was only illuminated by the light from the television; Stan had finally settled on Hercules as their first film, followed by The Jungle Book, Tangled, Monsters Inc and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Butters guests snuggled into their sleeping bags, backs propped against the couch cushions, stuffing as much chips and chocolate into their mouths as quickly as possible and trying to stifle their burps.
Kenny was suspiciously quiet beside Butters, when the younger blond stole a glance at Kenny he saw that the scruffy blond was neither looking at the screen or Blue; his dark blue eyes were unfocused, biting his bottom lips gently and clicking his bitten fingernails together.
"do ya not like this film Ken?" Butters whispered softly, leaning so close to the skinny blond that he felt the heat radiate off him.
He also felt the violent way Kenny flinched when his mind came back to reality but didn't move away, he just smiled softly and exhaled deeply.
"just thinkin'." Kenny muttered.
Butters smiled, resting his head on Kenny's, unsurprisingly, bony shoulder, "what about?" he asked gently.
For a while Kenny didn't say anything, just watched the musical sequence on screen, then he placed his hand on Butters arm, causing the smaller blond to shiver hotly, "i was thinking, what about school?" Kenny finally said.
"school?" Butters repeated, only to be shushed by Kyle.
"you can't leave Blue here all day, on his own, while we're at school." Kenny said in a slightly sharp voice.
The edge to Kenny's voice made Butters pull away; the smaller blond may not have know everything about taking care of a baby but he knew that they shouldn't be left alone. To be accused of being stupid was nothing new but the fact that Kenny, the only person who had been purposefully nice to him, thought he was dumb enough to mistreat a baby.
There was an ugly frown on Kenny's face, shadows flickering across his thin face, his dark eyes filled with accusations and Butters heart thumped unhappily, making his chest heavy, his face hot and eyes well up.
Butters stood violently, sick and tired of crying in front of people, brushed off his blankets and stormed through the pitch black house, leaving his guests alone in the lounge; the bathroom was ice cold and the lock snapped loudly.
A thick, choking sob escaped Butters lips before he could stop it, curling up in a ball, his back pressed hard against the door; silent sobs racked his small body, it was very rare that Butters cried over what people said to him but part of him wanted to impress Kenny and that thought made more fat, hot tears roll downs his flushed cheeks.
Just over his own shaky breaths Butters could hear angry voices downstairs, not loud but noticeable in the empty house, not moments later there was one set of footfalls on the stairs.
Butters felt a sudden rush of panic, people normally beat him up if they found him crying, he half leapt across the bathroom and into the bath tub, drawing the curtain all the way across and tried to curl into a tighter ball.
Three soft knocks echoed through the bathroom, "Butters?" Kenny's voice was soft, "Butters please come out." he pleaded.
Butters shook his head violently even though he knew Kenny couldn't see the action, "g-g-go aw-away!" Butters sobbed out.
"please come out." Kenny pleaded again, the door handle rattling, "i didn't mean it like that."
the smaller blond just curled into a tighter ball, trying to block everything out, so much so that he didn't hear the clicking sound of the lock being twisted and the door creaking open; the curtain was pulled back slowly, the light was sickeningly bright on Butters shielded eyes.
"Butters." Kenny's voice was still soft, he climbed into the bath tub too, looking at the smaller blond like he was a timid wild animal that would run away any minuet, "come on Butters, stop crying."
he tried to place his hand on Butters arm but the smaller blond twisted out of the way, "g-go away Ken." Butters snapped.
Kenny sighed deeply, running a hand through his scruffy hair, he still didn't move away, "i'm sorry what I said, you just took it the wrong way." he said mournfully.
Butters head snapped up, "o-of course it, it was my fault!" he hissed, "it's al-always m-my fault." finally the smaller blond stood on shaky legs, intending on getting as far away from Kenny as possible but said blond grabbed Butters arm, stopping him from leaving.
"stop this now Butters." Kenny said sternly, looking Butters dead in the eyes, the softness was there but with a hint of seriousness, "i wasn't accusing you of anything, I was wondering what you were going to do with Blue."
"yeah, I was just going to leave him here on his own." Butters ground out sarcastically and tried to pull his arm free.
Kenny let out a deep sigh, "i meant; are you going to take him to school or hire a nanny?" he finally said.
There was silence between the two, even the film downstairs had been muted, Butters felt even more stupid, he had jumped to conclusions and ruined a perfect evening, the thought brought more tears to his eyes.
"i'm so-sorry." Butters sobbed, wiping the tears away.
Suddenly Kenny was hugging the smaller blond, stroking his hair and rocking backwards and forwards gently, "i'm sorry too." he whispered and before Butters could argue the skinny blond placed a loving kiss on Butters wet cheek.