Eighteen

Butters

A couple days went by since my run in with the latest doctor. I had about ten different asthma inhalers, several different cough syrups, and a whole lot of other stuff that was supposed to help me cope. None of it was any help at all. Mom and dad kept calling in, and it became increasingly harder to deal with them, so Kenny would pick up and imitate me. It was incredible how much like me he sounded when he tried. He even did that nervous stutter that I was so famous for.

I awoke to find myself trying to itch at the back of my left leg. I was really doing bad today. I looked up at the clock I had on the night stand and saw it was six fifteen. I looked to my left, and saw that empty spot where Kenny was supposed to be. I heard the shower running, and debated on going to join him. I settled on getting up and making breakfast instead. It's been a long time since I felt this hopeful.

"Butter Ball!" Kenny yelled from upstairs as I placed the plates on the table. "Where are you, you little…!"

"Down stairs!" I shouted as my heart thudded fast.

I heard running footsteps, and Kenny came walking in. He had the biggest grin on his face.

"What?" I asked as I put the pitcher of orange juice down.

"Nothing. Oh, hey! You made breakfast?" he asked.

"Why does that have to surprise you?" I pouted.

"It doesn't!" he said hastily. "It's just a sign that you feel a little better today, than yesterday, is all."

"You look cheery." I said smiling back. "What did you dream about? Sex?" I teased.

"Only with you!" he shot back gruffly as he came around to hug me.

The memory of the day we spotted Kyle and Rebecca at Stark's Pond came back to me. I just smiled as I gently hugged him back.

"Really?" he asked a little down. "Is that all you can do? Really?"

"You wanna kiss, too?" I asked kissing him.

"No, Butter Cup." he said laughing as he fully picked me up. I winced at the sudden shift in my physical position. "Be excited about it, at least." he said simply. "Come on, be cheerful about it. You're hugging a McCormick. We're known for our charm. Otherwise mom and dad would already be divorced. No. Dad's irresistible to her, and I would like to be, to you." he said softly.

"Won't I look, gay?" I asked blushing furiously as I thought about how I'd look doing to Kenny what Rebecca and Wendy did to Kyle and Stan.

"Who cares." he grunted as he shifted me to face him. "You can look as gay as you fuckin' want."

I smiled as I gave him a breath taking hug. It showed in his eyes how much he really did like the physical contact. I couldn't help smiling as I rested on him.

"We gotta go eat so we can go to school." I muttered.

School was actually okay today. I found I could pay attention better than before. I didn't know what came over me, and I liked it. Hopefully I was right in assuming that this was a cold, and would go away soon. Kyle came up to me during lunch when I was headed to find Kenny.

"Hey, Butters." he said. Rebecca was clinging daintily to his arm with a bright smile on her face. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, thanks, Kyle." I said grinning at him. "How are you two doing?"

"Good." Kyle said as Rebecca gave me a bright smile. "What are you doing today?" he asked.

"Nothing, why?" I asked.

"I thought you'd be doing something for Kenny's birthday."

My insides disappeared. How have I always forgotten to ask him? He who always knew my birthday, and always wished me happy birthday. How could I not know his birthday?

"He doesn't tell anyone. We have to find out for ourselves." Kyle said simply. "I bet all he does every time you ask him is distract you."

"What do I do?" I asked. "What does he like?"

"Aside from Sex?" said a voice as a pair of people came walking up to us. "Video games, and weed."

It was Stan and Wendy. I smiled as we all headed off. Where could he be?

"So what's the plan?" Kyle asked again.

"Party at my place. Since it's a-."

"No!" Kenny's voice cut in sharply through the crowd as loud as any other noise. I struggled along with my friends to look over and find where his body was, and found him heading straight for us. "Don't you dare, Kyle Broflovski. And you either, Leopold Stotch."

Kyle gave a smirk. "As if you could really do anything." he said laughing. "We'll talk later, Butters." Kyle whispered. "In AP Lit."

Kenny's mood was really sour that hour as girls and guys kept passing him telling him happy birthday. I kept telling him to cheer up, because it was rude to be mean to people who wished you well.

"How does it feel?" a very unwelcomed voice asked as Cartman walked over to us. "To know that this is your eighteenth birthday, and you're still as poor as shit?"

"Shut up, Eric!" I shouted at the boy. "Just because you can't-!"

My sentence was never finished. Several things happened at once. Kenny punched Cartman, Kyle and Rebecca pulled me out of the line of fire, and the bell rang. I managed to stay on my feet, and headed for my locker to get the books for my next two classes.

"So we're… still… doing something?" Rebecca asked taking breaths in between her words. "Right? For Kenny?"

"Yeah!" I said cheerfully. "I just hope he doesn't have a bloody nose or something from Eric."

Time passed by really quickly, and soon, the party was planned. Kenny really didn't like parties so much when it came to his birthday. So, it was just going to be six of us, counting Kenny. Me, Rebecca, Wendy, Stan, and Kyle. Well, until Token and Bebe showed up and I felt like inviting them. Token was a good guy. He liked Kenny.

Kenny

Stan came up to me in class just as the bell rang signaling for us to go home. I glared at him. They better not have planned anything.

"Kenny, don't." he said simply. "Butters put a lot of thought into this, and it would really crush him if you were resentful or mean to him."

"He's using you as my distraction, isn't he?" I asked sighing.

"Yeah. Kyle, Token and I are supposed to take you somewhere for a while, so he and the rest of the girls can get things going. Trust me, you're going to like it."

They all took me off to Stark's pond to have a few smokes. Token was a not smoker, but Stan and I were. Kyle and he were getting high second hand, I guess, because they both had strange grins on their faces. I smiled as I sat down. My stomach was hurting badly. I closed my eyes, and took a drag from the joint that Stan handed me.

Kyle

I watched as the color drained from Kenny's face. He looked like he was having trouble breathing. Stan put the joint out, and looked at Token and me. He bent down, but Kenny slid down the log, and lay down on the ground.

"Kenny?" Token gasped. "Kenny? You okay, dude?"

But his eyes were closed. All of us gasped as we knelt down in front of our friend. I gently pressed a hand to his forehead, and gasped.

"He's burning up! Stan, Call an ambulance!" I cried. "Stan!"

He was calling an ambulance, as I called Butters. The phone was picked up at the second ring. He sounded cheerful, and I hated myself for ruining his moment.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Butters! Kenny's hurt!" I said.

"How?" he asked as anguish was heard in his voice. "What's wrong? Kenny? What happened, Kyle?" he asked. I could hear his voice crack.

"We don't know, the ambulance is on their way." I said as Stan lingered over the fallen blonde.

"No!" Butters began to cry.

"Kyle?" It was Wendy. Good, she could help the poor boy through the break down. "Kyle, where are you guys?"

"Stark's." I said as I heard sirens. "The ambulance is coming. We're on our way to Hell's pass. Or at least, Kenny and whoever the doctors let in with him."

"I'll go." Token volunteered. "Tell Bebe I'll be there soon, and you can go with Stan back to the house."

So, we all got it together, and watched as Kenny was hoisted up into the ambulance. I could hear Rebecca and Bebe trying to reassure Butters, who was yelling out for Kenny, no doubt in panic and completely lost.

Token

"Is he going to be okay?" I asked as the paramedics placed him on the cot.

"I can't tell you that." said the first paramedic.

"Why?" I gasped.

"Because if I tell you yes, and he bites it, you'll be mad. If I tell you no, you'll be mad, too."

"Oh, my god, we're not gonna go through this again!" I moaned.

This dude always gave me grief on a regular basis. Because in South Park, the teenagers here had been taken to the ER more than once. Hell's Pass emergency room was familiar with all of us at least twice.

"Your friend looks like he didn't get to finish his weed." the dude spoke smiling at me. "Want me to pull over, so you can light up for him and finish it off?"

"No!" I shouted as the color in the blonde boy's face drained. "Kenny, can you hear me?" I gasped. "Kenny?"

We made it to Hell's Pass about twenty minutes later. It was the longest twenty minutes of my life. Soon, they were wheeling him into the emergency room, and the doctors and nurses were getting ready to look at him.

"Kenny?" Dr. Adams said sighing. "Oh, boy. Did he get alcohol poisoning again?" he asked as we all watched them drag him away.

"No." I said simply. "We don't know what's wrong with him! He just collapsed on us early on."

Wendy, Rebecca, and Bebe were in the waiting room with Stan, Kyle and Butters. Butters looked hollow and scared. I walked over to them, and waited quietly as the time passed. This was eternity, for all of us.

Butters

Kenny, if you die… Kenny, if anything happens to you… I swear I'll… Kenny! Please be okay! Please.

My insides were frozen, and I felt like dying, or disappearing on the spot. I really wanted to scream out, and maybe he'd hear me. Kenny, please, be okay! Today's your birthday! It's supposed to be a good one! Not like this!

"What happened?" I heard someone shout.

I looked up to see a very nice looking doctor coming over to us. He was new, and I didn't really know him very well. I knew a lot of the other doctors, since I'd been here way more than once. Not as a patient for a lot of the trips, but I've been here, no less.

"Well, he had appendicitis." the doctor said coming over to us. "It ruptured, and we almost lost him. He hemorrhaged on me once, and I was almost at a loss for what to do. He's okay, though, and you guys can go see him. Who is Butters?" he asked.

His lab coat was covered in…

"Is that Kenny's?" I asked as tears filled my eyes.

"Yes, that is his blood. I'm sorry you have to see this, it's kind of gross." he said simply. "Which one of you is Butters?" he repeated his unanswered question.

"I am." I said bumping my knuckles nervously.

"He's asking for you. You can all go in, if you'd like."

We followed the unfamiliar doctor through the halls and into the room that was now in the recovery section of the hospital. Kenny was lying on the bed, white as snow. He looked fragile, and frail. I stared at him. His eyes opened, and he met my gaze.

"Leopold." he whispered smiling. "Hey."

There wasn't a tearless eye in the place. Even the doctor was crying silently as he saw my boyfriend lying on the cot. He looked angelic somehow. He looked, strange. He looked, Kenny.

"We'd touch you, but we don't wanna hurt you." Stan said through a soft sob.

"You can hug my head." Kenny said brightly with a grin.

Bebe bent down and gently hugged his head. Followed by Token. Kyle and Rebecca paid their respects as well. I stepped up to him, and bent my head down. He captured a few stray tear drops in his lips as he smiled at me.

"Butters." he said smiling. "Don't cry, baby. It's okay. I'm so-."

"Do-don't!" I sobbed. "Don't be sorry, Kenny! It's going to be okay!" I sobbed.

"Yes, it is." he said smiling. "After all, it's just my appendix. And if I die," he said into my ear. "I'll just be back tomorrow."

"Don't!" I said as a wave of anguish hit me.

"How are you feeling, son?" asked the doctor as he peered at my boyfriend somberly.

"I'm doing fine. The pain is gone, and I feel a lot better. Are the stitches safely in place?" he asked.

"Yes, Kenny." he said wiping tears from his own face. "They're all right. I only had to make one small cut, and I stitched you up quite good. I bandaged it, in case. However," he said as he saw my face. "It will be fine. I'm a very damn good doctor if I do say so myself."

"Kenny?" I gasped. "When?"

"Whenever you feel better, Son." the doctor said reading my mind. "When the pain is gone, and you feel you can stand, you are welcome to go home."

"I've never seen you before." Kenny said smiling as he placed a hand under the sheets and fingered his bandage. "Are you new?"

"No. I'm covering for one of the doctors here. I work in Denver."

I saw a look cross Kenny's face, but it was unreadable, and I couldn't really pinpoint what it meant.

"You guys," Kenny said smiling at us. "Thank God tomorrow's Saturday."

"Right." Token said sadly. "Anyway, he'll be let out tomorrow?" Token asked.

"Yep. Tomorrow in the afternoon. He'll be okay, for now." the man said sighing.

"Butters, are you coming with us?" Kyle said softly.

"No." Kenny spoke simply. "I'd like him to stay here. I don't like what happened today, with Cartman, and I'm not going to let him stay home alone."

"Is it okay?" I mumbled. "I mean, I probably shouldn't be here."

"You can stay the night." Adams said smiling at us. "My shift ends at five in the morning, and I'm in charge of the whole place, covering for one of the others. I'll let you stay, Butters."

"Sorry." I muttered.

"Don't apologize, Butters." Kenny and the doctor both said in unison.

"It's fine." Adams said smiling. "Don't worry."

Soon, I was sitting beside him as the door closed. The doctor said he'd be back to check on Kenny as soon as he made his rounds. Kenny reached out and took my hand in his rough worn one.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I should be asking you." I said softly. "Are you okay?"

"This is nothing. Worse has happened to me." he said smiling. "I wonder if they'll test my blood. Hopefully not, because I had just smoked a few." he said smiling. "Cheer up, Butter Cup." he said laughing. "Come down here, so I can have a kiss." he requested.

"No." I mumbled. "Kenny, it's bad."

"No, Leopold." he said softly. "It isn't."

A very sweet look came over his face as he smiled at me. "Come down, and kiss me, please!" he pleaded. "Just once."

I bent down and one of his arms gently rested across my back as my lips pressed into his. He let out a gasp as I lay half on him. He smiled against my lips as his tongue brushed my bottom lip. I slowly opened and he gently slid in.

"Mmmmmm!" I couldn't stop the moan that escaped my lips into his mouth as I felt my heart do cart wheels. No one in my almost eighteen years of life had ever made me feel so loved. So, warm, and comfortable. Kenny.

"I love you, Kenny." I pleaded as I lifted off of him. "I love you."

"I love you, too." he said softly. "Always."