CHAPTER 4 – Two More Days

The first thing I did after watching them climb into Butters' Honda Civic and drive out of sight was take out the razor, drop my pants, and shave myself. Then I cautiously ventured out into the rest of the house, long enough to grab a poptart from the kitchen and satisfy myself that no one else was home. I figured I would take a shower later, before Ken and Butters got back.

My old computer runs slower than shit; after a frustrating half an hour of crawling around the internet and listening to music on Spotify, I gave up and lay down to take a nap.

They returned much earlier than I'd expected, waking me from a deep, dream filled sleep. I realized guiltily as the window slid open and the cardboard was pushed back that I hadn't showered yet. Kenny climbed in first, holding two pizza boxes and Butters followed, clutching three cups with lids and straws in his hands, his iPad and headphones tucked under his arm.

"Hey, Ken!" Butters said cheerily with his usual greeting. "Did you miss me?"

"Yeah!" I went over to him and took the drinks and set them on the dresser so I could hug him. "You guys weren't gone very long." Butters handed me his iPad and I added: "Thanks, dude!"

"I made you a playlist of your favorite songs," Butters said, sounding pleased with himself.

"We didn't feel right, leaving you here by yourself," Kenny said, sitting on the bed and opening one of the pizza boxes; I wondered how much of that was his idea, and how much was Butters'. "We went to the mall for a while, but we got our pizzas to go instead of eating there—"

"That way you can eat it hot, instead of having left overs," Butters added, stepping back from me to sit on the bed. I joined them and soon I was munching on delicious hot sausage and mushroom pizza and drinking lemonade. It was the first real meal I'd had since reincarnating; I hadn't realized how hungry I was.

"So, me and Butters were talking about it," Kenny said, taking a long sip from his straw. "Your big coming out?" He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and set his drink on the floor. "He likes my idea of telling Stan and Kyle first. We figure we've got this big Fourth of July carnival thing coming up in two days, and once the excitement of that dies down…maybe I can tell them to ditch Cartman somewhere and come over on the fifth and we'll introduce you."

"You'll see, Kenny!" Butters added enthusiastically. "It'll all work out. People will get used to having two of you around; and I can't wait to go to the mall and walk around with both you guys." I nodded; he was essentially echoing what I'd said earlier.

We spent the rest of the afternoon alternately talking, fucking, and eating pizza while listening to the playlist Butters put together for me. The next day passed in similar fashion with Kenny and Butters going out together and returning in the afternoon, this time with copious amounts of City Wok takeout, more than we could eat at one sitting. We ate what we could, had sex (lucky me, I bottomed this time), fell asleep for a few hours, and as the sun was setting we got up and ate the rest of our food.

"Stan's going to pick up Kyle and Cartman first and come get us around four tomorrow," Kenny told me while Butters leaned over to tie his shoes, preparing to leave. "You just have to get through one more day, and then we can unleash you on the world."

"We'll bring you some cotton candy when we get back tomorrow night," Butters promised. "And you should be able to watch the fireworks from your back yard." He stood up and walked over to the window. We gathered together for a three way hug, and Kenny and I watched Butters climb outside and walk away.

Once Butters had left, Kenny didn't seem inclined to want to fool around again, laying down in bed and closing his eyes, clutching a pillow to his chest. I was content to lay next to him with my back leaning against the wall, listening to music and playing mindless games on Butters' iPad. Falling asleep cuddled up next to him would be the perfect way to end the day.

I was debating whether to pick out another song from the playlist Butters had made or shutting off the light and going to sleep. Kenny nudged my leg with his knee to get my attention and I looked down at him.

"Hey." He sat up next to me, apparently wide awake again. "You know, there's something we need to talk to him about."

It took me a moment to realize what he was referring to. Shit…how come I hadn't thought of this before?

"Crap," I said, and he nodded.

"Yeah." He put a hand on my leg, rubbing it absently the way I do to Butters when we're talking about something serious. "One of us is probably going to die eventually. We have to make sure he's ready for when that happens."

"We should mention that when you guys bring Stan and Kyle over," I replied. Suddenly, a whole bunch of questions occurred to me that we should talk about. Like: Will people be able to remember our deaths now, since there's two of us?

"You know," Kenny said wonderingly. "How is all that going to go now? Like…if one of us dies, will he even come back this time? Or will there just be one of us again?"

I shook my head. "I don't think that would happen; we're two separate people now, but we're both still immortal. That would be like actually killing one of us for good."

I never meant for this to get so serious. Kenny looked at me for a long moment with a frown and I smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

"Jesus. Like one of us should be so lucky." He grinned and squeezed my thigh. "Lighten up, man; I was just thinking out loud. I like your idea about bringing that up when Stan and Kyle are here. It might soften the blow for him…and let them know what to expect too, so they can stick together when it happens."

"We're in uncharted territory here, McCormick," I said.

"I know," he replied, laying down again. "We'll work it out; just two more days of this sneaking around shit and things can get back to normal." He blinked. "Well normal for a world with two Kenny McCormicks in it."

I laughed and climbed out of bed, walking to the door to turn the light switch off, retracing my steps in the dark and laying down again. Kenny wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close, and I snuggled closer next to him.

"Hey," he whispered against my ear. "I love you, y'know that?"

Up until that moment it had never occurred to me to say those words to him; but when I thought about what a good friend he'd been since I reincarnated, I realized for the first time that my feelings for him went much deeper than just friendship. He was somebody I could say literally anything to, and he would probably already know what I was going to say.

"I love you too," I whispered back. He's a wonderful cuddler; his breath was warm against my neck. "You're a really good friend."

"I try to be." I felt him settle contentedly against me. "We'll get through this dude; just two more days and we won't have to hide you anymore." He fell silent, his breath slowing and growing deeper.

"G'night Ken," I whispered, closing my eyes and sighing contentedly.

"G'night, younger brother," he whispered against my neck, and I was too tired to argue about it. I suppose technically he was right.