A/N: I was rewatching a certain (you'll know which one) SP episode from season 4 when this idea popped up in my brain like a lightbulb. So... I wrote it out. Enjoy!

Kenny had been looking down lately. In the most literal sense. Whenever Kyle cast a glance at him, Kenny's eyes seemed to be always glued to the ground. At first, Kyle thought his second-to-best friend had had a fight in the guise of Mysterion and was now trying to hide a giant shiner or something, but he soon figured that wasn't the case: Kenny's face was fine. He didn't appear blue, either, he just kept looking at the ground wherever they went, as if...searching for something?

"Dude, why has Kenny been looking down at the ground a lot lately?" he asked Stan.

"He has?" Stan stole a glance at Kenny, who was currently observing the cafeteria floor as if it was the cover of a Playboy issue or something. "Um, I dunno, maybe he's feeling sick or something?"

"I don't think so."

"You guys, don't you get it?" Cartman cut in. "Kenny's so poor, he's looking for coins on the ground!"

"No he isn't!" Kyle frowned.

Suddenly, Kenny stooped, picked something up off the ground, and pocketed it.

"Ha! Told you guys!"

Stan and Kyle exchanged looks.

"Hey Kenny," Kyle said as he and Stan approached him later before the lockers when Cartman wasn't around.

Kenny's hooded head turned to them, tilting in question.

"You, um," Stan started.

"Do you need…"

"Are you…"

"We saw you pick up some coins from the ground in the cafeteria," Kyle finally had the gumption to blurt out. "You okay, Kenny? Are you, like, starving or something?"

"Because you should've just told us, we could invite you to dinner sometimes, it's no big deal," Stan added.

"Yeah, Cartman comes to my house all the time and eats three times as much as you do, and he's never even invited, he just invites himself."

Kenny stared at them, blinking. Then, the implications of their words seemed to have sunk in, and his brows went up; he shook his head.

"No, it's fine you guys," he said, voice habitually muffled, as he closed his locker's door. "Dad's been actually bringing more food, and there's always even some left for me to pack for lunch."

That was true. Kenny had been bringing proper lunches recently, as opposed to earlier in elementary school, when he'd sometimes had to do gross stuff other kids dared him to do in exchange for pieces of their lunches.

"So what is it then, Kenny? You've been looking for those coins on the ground a lot lately," Kyle said, confused.

Kenny's gaze darted between them a few times. "Oh, it's nothing, I just...lost something small, I was looking for it but I already found it. Well, see you in class!"

Stan and Kyle exchanged looks again, then they both shrugged at each other. Kenny's behavior was certainly a mystery sometimes.

"Give up, you pathetic riffraff! The victory shall be mine!"

"No, you give up!"

Clank! Clank!

His ginger curls bouncing with the motion, Kyle cast a glance to where Ike and Karen were playing pirates in the living room, wearing identical black bands and brandishing their sticks like those were honest-to-goodness swords. He would have curiously watched them some more if it wasn't for his mother saying:

"Kyle, hurry up! I need these peeled! Look how hard Kenny is trying, you should follow his example!"

"Yes, mom," Kyle sighed and picked up the knife again. Next to him at the kitchen countertop, Stan and Kenny were carrying out the culinary tasks Sheila had given to them as well. The woman refused to understand that when Kyle had his friends over, they did not want to help her with dinner, they wanted to play videogames and watch TV together.

Stan didn't seem happy about it, either, while Kenny indeed was trying his best doing everything Sheila told him to. Kyle supposed it was because of the freebie dinner it meant for him—and for Karen, too. Kenny had lately taken to bringing her with him, too, and Sheila encouraged it since Ike finally had someone his age to play with.

Although having to focus on the juicy potatoes, Kyle could still hear the elementary schoolers' banter as they "fought".

Clank! Clank!

"Take this!"

"You can't get me!"

Thud!

That sounded like someone had fallen and bumped his head on something. Then there was an "ouch!"

"Get up, you filthy…" Ike started in the best pirate voice he could imitate, but Karen cut him off, "Wait, look!"

Kyle turned around on reflex. The kids were near the couch, Karen holding something in the cup of her hand as both she and Ike stared at it in curiosity.

"Is that your tooth?" Ike asked.

"Yep, another one!" Karen confirmed proudly. Her eyes were beaming in wonder. "Last time I lost one, I put it under my pillow and the Tooth Fairy gave me a quarter!"

"I haven't lost any baby teeth yet…"

Karen patted Ike's shoulder sympathetically. "It's okay, you will, everyone does. When I started losing mine, my brother Kevin told me there are no Tooth Fairies for poor people and that it's no point putting my teeth under my pillow. I was sad but then my brother Kenny said what Kevin said wasn't true and that the Tooth Fairy always visits good girls and that I'm a very good girl. So I put my tooth under my pillow and when I woke up the next morning, I found a nickel there, and the tooth was gone!"

Kyle frowned as the kids kept on chatting, their voices fading into the background noise. The "Tooth Fairy" brought Karen coins? But when the four of them were going through the teeth-losing stage, Kenny had never gotten any coins because his family was so poor…

Kyle's eyes widened as his smartest-in-their-class brain put two and two together. His gaze shot to Kenny, who was slicing the potatoes but also stealing glances at his sister and Ike.

Kenny must've felt the stare because he lifted his head at Kyle.

"Kenny, did you…" Kyle started even though he already knew the answer.

Quickly, Kenny pressed a finger to his own lips.

"Did he what?" Stan asked, confused, looking between them. Kyle hesitated. He glanced off to the side at the kids in the living room, then at Kenny again, who was motioning with his eyes.

"...did you do your math homework?" he finally asked and saw relief in Kenny's face. The three started discussing their homework and the bitchiness of their teacher (granted, Sheila was now in the larder), but a bit later, when they were all gathered at the table for the dinner they'd helped to make, Kenny's hand pushed a serviette to Kyle furtively.

'Thank you' was written on it in his messy handwriting.

Kyle turned to him and gave him a smile.

At that moment, Ike suddenly yipped and covered his mouth with his hand.

"What's wrong, bubby?"

Ike blinked a few times, a bit pale, and pulled his hand away from his face. There in his palm, lay a small tooth with a drop of blood on it.

"You just lost your first tooth! Now the Tooth Fairy will come to you too," Karen said chipperly, clapping her hands in excitement.

Ike grinned at her, staring at his lost tooth as if it were some invaluable treasure.

Kyle looked at Kenny, and they both smiled.