(A/n: Please enjoy)

Chapter 19: Lingering Curiosity

The sounds of shoes squeaking and a bouncing ball assault the floor of the gymnasium. Some of the other students are sat on the bleachers, chatting to one another or watching the ones on the court playing basketball in either boredom or interest.

There are two teams consisting of six vampires, one of the teams' player has the ball, and is making his way towards the basket.

"Kenny, I'm open!"

Looking to see who said that, Kenny spots a brunette with dark blue eyes right behind him on his right, gesturing for him to pass him the ball. Kenny declines the idea by shaking his head, then he nudges his head for the teen to look behind him, seeing that he is about to be surrounded by two others on the opposing team.

"I got this," Kenny assures his teammate, smirking. He picks up a faster pace.

"Someone stop him!"

"On it!"

Kenny quickly comes to a halt when another brunette abruptly appears in front of him, Kenny now on the free throw line. He glares at the male while dribbling the ball.

"You damn cheater, we agreed to play fair."

"Did we? I don't remember," Clyde says, faking his ignorance behind a grin.

"Get 'em, Clyde!" Butters cheers from the bleachers.

Kenny rolls his eyes as the lovers become focused on one another. How cringe. Just when he decides to take this opportunity to shoot the ball, a shrill sound of a whistle calls for everyone's attention.

Walking out of his office is Coach McCormick, releasing a big yawn he doesn't bother covering up as he scratches the back of his head. "Alright ya'll, gametime's ova," he announces lazily while fixing his cap. He stands outside the black lines of the court. The students that were playing start complaining. "Yeah, yeah, whateva," Stuart grumbles. "Neither of ya'll scored anythin' anyway, so quit whinin' an' jus' sit on the bleachers until class ends. I needa talk ta Clyde an' Butters about somethin'." He beckons the two teenagers over with the wave of his hand.

As the students vacate from the court with the exception of Clyde and Butters, who are approaching their coach, Kenny turns around and tosses the ball into the hoop with one hand before ambling over to the bleachers. The brown-haired boy that was on his team walks alongside him. "Your dad's such a killjoy, you were so gonna make that shot." Kenny just shrugs in response. They grab their discarded blazers from off the bottom bleacher and sit there, Kenny slinging his jacket across his shoulders while the brunette places his over his lap. Neither teen say anything for awhile. "Sooo, wanna hang out once class is over?" The brunette asks awkwardly. Kenny doesn't respond, seeming to be lost in thought. His friend notices this with an arched eyebrow and a frown, he waves his hand in front of Kenny's face for his attention.

The blonde's eyelids flutter twice as he inhales a sharp intake of air, as if to contain himself from swearing out loud. He snaps his head over at the brunette who's retracting his arm, sighing at the mild expression of concern on his face. "Sorry, Mark."

Full name Markus Curow then asks, "What's got you distracted all of a sudden?" When all Kenny does is press his lips into a thin line, remaining silent, Markus makes a guess. "Is it about your new roommate?" Kenny merely tenses, once again saying nothing as an interrogating question regarding the new vampire's whereabouts from his father's conversation with Butters and Clyde enters his ears. "Is he causin' you guys trouble?" Markus asks looking on the verge of getting upset at the thought.

"No, dude," Kenny finally responds. "Just...don't worry about it."

Markus looks unconvinced, but drops it for now. He's known Kenny since their sophomore year, later in that same year he was introduced to Kyle, due to the redhead being so busy as the President of the Student Council Committee. Not only that, but he gave off an unfriendly air at the time. It took awhile for Markus to realize that Kyle's aloofness was an accustomed impression he exuded, Kenny tried telling him Kyle wasn't a mean guy but his words alone weren't believable enough, especially since those two had known each other since they were children. For all Markus knew, Kenny could've just been used to Kyle's standoffish persona.

Before anyone knew it, the bell rings. While the seated students all get up and eagerly exit the gymnasium, excluding Kenny and Markus, Coach McCormick tells Butters and Clyde to follow him into his office. With great reluctance, they do as told.

Kenny looks over at Markus, the teen lost deeply in his thoughts that not even the bell can snap him out of it. "Mark," Kenny says snapping his fingers in front of his friend's face. The ringing dies down.

The brunette's practically black eyes brighten back to their original dark blue, he looks to Kenny with a blink. "What is it?"

"The bell just rang," Kenny tells him.

"Oh..." Is all Markus says. Then they rise from the bleachers - Markus tying his blazer around his waist - and instead of walking out, they teleport within the main building.

"You still down to hang out or should we just wait another day?" Kenny asks.

"Yeah, let's head to the cafeteria first. I'm hungry."

The walk to the cafeteria is spent in silence, which is unusual between these two since Kenny is mostly a chatterbox. There are four vampires in the hallway strolling in the opposite direction, their conversation is the only thing filling the quietness. But neither Kenny nor Markus care to know what they're talking about.

Once they pass by the group, Kenny softly utters his friend's name. The teen looks over at Kenny, having to tilt his head up a bit to meet his friend's hazel eyes. He mimics the frown on the blonde's face although his is more so of confusion. "You'll tell me if something's troubling you, right?"

Markus raises an eyebrow. "Of course." Unlike you. "What made you ask-" It instantly dawns on him, and he looks away with a sigh. "Is it because I was lost in thought a minute ago?" Before Kenny can reply, he stumbles forward when a hand slaps him on the back. "It's nothin' you should worry about. If somethin' bothers me, I'll figure out a way to take care of it myself."

Kenny turns around with a hiss, then pouts at Markus. "But what if-"

"Then I'll tell you," Markus reassures him with a small smile. "You and Kyle are the only friends I have anyway."

Kenny frowns at the reminder, but before he can get a word out once again, Markus urges them to continue on their way to the cafeteria for he is seriously hungry.

They engage in a conversation now that the tense atmosphere around them has been lifted, they soon reach the opened cafeteria doors. Going in, they wait in a short line at a random buffet counter. After grabbing a few of the provided snacks, Markus says that they'll relax in his room, however they're soon spotted by Pip. They decide to chat with Pip and his friends for a bit, learning that every day after classes the group always come straight to the cafeteria.

After they're done with their snacks, Kenny and Markus then bid the four goodbye. "Never knew we had food fanatics here, and that you're friends with one," Markus comments lightheartedly once they're out in the hallway.

"Me neither, but I don't blame them since the food here is really good," Kenny says.

After a few minutes walk, they reach Markus' room. He is the only one that has a room to himself, however just like everyone else he did have roommates before, and they were Eric Cartman and Kevin McCormick. To this day, Kenny doesn't know the reason why Cartman was forced to switch rooms, but it must've been for a good cause since that guy is nothing but a troublemaker and an asshole. As for his brother Kevin, he just moved himself to another room, one that was closer to the courtyard so that he could go there to smoke in peace. It's a surprise Markus hasn't complained about being lonely, well genuinely lonely, that is. Sometimes he'd joke about it, but Kenny would notice the sad gleam in the other's eyes whenever he did.

Markus opens the door, walking in first to turn on the ceiling light with Kenny right behind him. They amble over to the two beds next to each other, Kenny shrugging his jacket off on one of them and taking his shoes off, then sitting down. Markus does the same on the other bed. At first, these two beds had lost their purpose after Eric and Kevin left, at the time the Principal was searching for anyone willing to bunk with Markus, but no one volunteered. No one wanted to leave the comfort of his own bedroom although all of the bedrooms were identical to each other unless the students decorated them. That is, until Kenny found out and invited himself and Kyle over.

The three of them would often times hang out in Markus' room, but it quickly became less frequent since Kyle was the President of the Student Council Committee. He tried getting Kenny and Markus to join, but they refused. Since then, it's just been Kenny and Markus with Kyle seldom joining them whenever he had time.

"We seriously need t.v's in our rooms," Kenny declares after a moments silence. "There ain't shit to do in here except talk to your roommates, but you don't have any so it makes me wonder how the hell you can stand being in here by yourself." Markus looks at him in shock, then bursts out laughing. Kenny huffs, laying back on the mattress placing his hands behind his head. "Yeah, yeah, laugh at my concern for your boredom."

"S-sorry," Markus stutters out amid his laughing. He starts calming down to properly speak, wiping the upcoming tears from his eyes. "It sounded like you were about to go on a rant there." Kenny just rolls his eyes again with a faint smile. "But I do agree. Maybe Kyle can hook us up with some t.v's, I'm sure he'll do it if you ask him."

Kenny's lips drop into a frown. "He isn't the President anymore, Token is now."

Markus' eyes widen in resurfacing shock. "No way, for real?! What the hell did he do to get replaced all of a sudden?!" Then he glares at the blonde. "And why are you just now telling me this?"

Kenny stares guiltily at the ceiling. "I just didn't know how to break it to you. I'm sorry." He can't tell him the reason, he most likely wouldn't believe him anyway.

Markus looks away, frowning hurtfully. "It's...okay. At least you told me instead of not telling me at all."

"I was gonna tell you regardless. We're friends, and you deserve to know," Kenny says in a low voice.

"But what happened? He must've done something really bad to lose such an important position...or was framed." Markus becomes angry at the thought of someone going so far as to frame Kyle for something he didn't do just so they could take his role.

"That's exactly what happened." Markus doesn't even need to look at Kenny to know that he's frustrated, the bitterness that seeped in his voice indicated such. "But we don't know who."

"Maybe someone from the Student Council Committee?" Markus suspects.

Kenny shakes his head. "I know the guys there, none of them care too much about being the President."

"...If you say so," Markus murmurs, doubtful. "How's Kyle been lately?"

Kenny's face relaxes back into a frown. "He's been...coping, I guess. He's still part of the Student Council."

Markus just hums, then the room falls back into silence. Lasting longer this time as both teenagers acquire pensive looks on their faces.

Kenny still can't get over how...villainous Kyle's twin brother is, he's nothing at all what Kyle described him as. But then again, that was decades ago, back when they were kids. The only trait that stuck with Luke is his protectiveness towards his brother, though his way of looking after Kyle is kind of extreme; that's the impression Kenny got from his first meeting with the other redhead. He did threaten him after all if he ever dared to hurt Kyle in any way. Now that leads to the question that's been bugging Kenny ever since that day: How is Luke able to stay inside Kyle's body? Perhaps it's a spiritual thing since Luke died, but now that leads to another question as to how that was made possible in the first place. Someone must've transferred Luke's soul into Kyle's body somehow...

"How long are you gonna be here for?" Markus suddenly asks, bringing Kenny out of his musing.

"Till it's time for dinner."

"Okay." Markus fixes his sitting position to face Kenny. "Since that's like an hour away, let's talk abooout...somethin'." He shrugs. "It'll be better than just sittin' here doin' nothin'."

"True," Kenny says. Markus does have a point, he doesn't want to spend over an hour just thinking about how Kyle and Luke have been sharing a single body all this time. Would end up hurting his brain. Kenny lays on his side in Markus' direction, propping his elbow up and resting his cheek on the palm of his hand. "I think I know what we can talk about to pass the time."

"As you always do," Markus replies cheekily with a grin.

(A/N: I hope you enjoyed and the next chapter will be up soon