"…but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." -2 Corinthians 4:2

The sound of the faucet running and vegetables being scrubbed filled the modest kitchen, the pleasant aroma of seasonings and chicken floating around the three bodies as they went about their night. Kenny's eye flickered over to Kyle, lost in his zone scrubbing potatoes and he smiled lightly before turning his attention down to the little blonde in the booster seat, swinging her legs and littering their kitchen table with crayons.

She looked up from her concentration, feeling him looking at him and smiling widely before turning to Kyle. "Daddy, what color is a parrot?"

"I'm literally right here and not busy," Kenny reminded her, gesturing to himself with wide eyes.

She blinked, "Daddy's smart, though."

Kyle dropped the spud in his hand and covered his mouth, trying to conceal a bout of snickers as Kenny frowned, glancing between the two of them. "You know, I'm smart, too," he protested. "'Bout… stuff."

The redhead turned and leaned back against the counter, smirking amusedly. "Stuff," he repeated. "What kinda stuff?"

"I know cars," he said primly, turning down to Kat. "And Daddy doesn't know shit about football."

"She wants to know actual information, Ken," he snorted, shaking his head at his pouting. "Katlyn, be nice, he knows plenty. Ask him."

She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Fine," she drawled. "Papa, what color?"

Kenny crossed his arms and leaned back with a smug smirk. "They're red."

Kat looked at the redhead with a tilted head. "Is he right?" Kenny threw up his hands, staring at her in disbelief for her lack of faith.

Kyle laughed and shrugged dismissively, "Some are red, yes. But it can be any color you want. Pretty sure they come in every color there is."

"Thanks, Daddy!" she said cheerily, turning back to her work.

Kenny slowly looked up at his husband and his expression dropped wryly. "Stop turning her against me."

"I didn't do anything," he said innocently, walking up beside of him and leaning down to kiss him briskly. "Get her into football and you'll be 'the smart one'," he rolled his eyes.

"Football is gross," Kat said with a hum as Kyle stood back up and they looked over at her. "Alex plays and he says so."

"Oooh, that's gotta break Stanny boy's heart," Kenny smirked. Kyle nodded softly in agreement with a smirk, turning to go back to his potatoes.

Kyle snagged his fallen spud and blinked, "Oh, that reminds me. See if her ballet bill came."

"Right," he saluted, reaching back and snagging a pile of mail from the cabinet beside the doorframe. He brightened, looking down at Kat and teasingly hitting the top of her head with an envelope. "There's somethin' else. I know how t' fix your dance stuff. Daddy doesn't know how to sew at all."

Kyle rolled his eyes, "He's got me there."

"See? Papa knows the things that matter," he drawled. She laughed, lightly pushing his arm before turning back to her paper as he flipped through envelopes. "We get too many bills," he commented dryly.

"Welcome to adulthood, Kenny. Glad you could finally join me," Kyle scoffed.

"Such a funny man you are," he mocked, continuing to shuffle through before an ornately decorated envelope caught his immediate attention, turning it around to see both his and Kyle's names on the front. He raised his brow, tearing it open and glancing at the damask invitation lingering within, breaking into a smirk. "Well I'll be damned, Clyde's comin' into adulthood, too."

Kyle turned and cocked his head, "Clyde?"

He nodded briskly, "Got us an invite," he waved the card around. "Crybaby is finally gettin' himself hitched."

"To who?"

"Miss Annie Knitts, who else would it be?" he shrugged.

He snorted, "Jesus Christ, finally. I think they've been together longer than we have."

"Doesn't count when you take breaks every few months. And those breaks last a year or so," he chuckled. His eyes scanned over the information, clicking his tongue mindlessly. Valefor glanced up from watching Kyle cook at the noise, standing and moving to sit by the blonde, panting loudly. He turned down and frowned, "I wasn't calling for you, you doofus."

Kat twisted her lips at him denying her dog attention. "Val-for, c'mere," she waved her hand enthusiastically. His ears perked and he made way to her, relishing in her small hand patting his head and laying his head on the chair by her booster seat. She smiled at him, "Good boy," she cooed.

"Keep that up, Ken and Val's gonna love only me and her," Kyle warned. "You're the one who wanted to keep him so bad."

"Oh please. He's your dog," he reminded him. "You would've probably left me if I said we couldn't keep 'im."

He shrugged, dropping his last potato into his colander and shaking the dish a bit to loosen some droplets. "You're the one who asked so I get to use it against you."

Kenny sighed dramatically, leaning back in his chair and looking once more at their invitation. "It's in two weeks," he commented.

Kyle frowned, "Who the fuck sends out wedding invites that late in advanced?"

"People getting married in South Park where the population is only about half of that of a regular wedding party?" he shrugged.

"Pretty sure you're way off the mark there, Ken," he smirked. He sighed and shook his head, "But I guess there's something to that. Since us and Stan and Wends are some of the only ones that got out," he scoffed. "Do we even have to RSVP or does it just come with the traditional South Park 'Ya ain't got nothin' better t' do. When ya git here make sure ya got Pabst'?" he drawled.

Kenny laughed loudly, "Stop insulting my heritage, Kyle. But unfortunately yeah, we need to call. So… you wanna go?"

Kyle paused, putting his dish down and turning around, "I… I don't know. Do you?" he winced.

Ken shrugged, "I mean, I wouldn't mind getting to see some of the guys again. Plus, Bebe's been dyin' t' see how Kit-Kat's doin'," he ruffled the girl's hair a little and she batted him off. "But I'll leave it up to you."

"Well, no, that's not fair," he frowned. "But I mean… I-I'm gonna…" he glanced over at their distracted daughter and took a deep breath. "Need the schedule and everything," he said quietly. "Plus, travel arrangements. What do we do with Val? A-and are we staying in a hotel or my parents' place? Will she be staying in the room with us?" he gestured to Kat who glanced up, brows furrowing at the stress suddenly flooding the room from the redhead. "Maybe if you wanna go… you and her go and I'll stay here with Valefor," he gestured, the dog perking at his name and hurrying to Kyle's side, looking between him and the cleaned potatoes hintingly.

Kenny frowned, "Kyle, I'm not going without you."

"But you obviously want to," he stressed. "Clyde and I were never really close," he winced. "I'm sure my name is just there as a formality."

"He cried at our wedding."

"He cries at goddamn everything," he rolled his eyes. He crossed his arms and shifted uncomfortably.

Kat looked between the both of them, wide blue eyes fluttering in concern. "Daddy? You okay?"

"I'm fine, Hon. I'm fine," he assured her with a meek smile.

She stared at him skeptically and Kenny looked down, elbowing her softly. "Why don't you go play in your room?" he suggested. "Let me and Daddy talk, hm?"

She nodded, not particularly wanting to be caught in the crossfire of what felt like an impending argument. She lifted her arms and let him help her out of her seat down onto the linoleum. "Can I watch a movie in my room?" she asked.

"Go right ahead," he nodded. "We'll call you when food's done."

"Kay," she said, making her way out of the room with the men watching after her, waiting for the soft sound of her door closing before slowly turning back towards one another.

"Ky, sit down and talk to me," he winced.

He sighed irritably, "Ken, I have to make dinner-"

"Then bring it over here and work on it," he demanded through gritted teeth. "We need to talk."

The redhead paused, shoulders slumping guiltily. God he did not want to deal with this. He'd been so damn good at avoiding it for so long. Damn Clyde and his inability to keep pace with the rest of their damn class. He sighed, grabbing his colander and half-assedly tossing it onto the table, snagging a peeler and tossing it at Kenny. "You're making me do this, then you're gonna be my potato peeler."

"Your Spudbitch," he grinned, Kyle turning and cocking his brow. Kenny faltered. "G-get it? Like… like Sputnik… It's funny because… communists."

Kyle couldn't help it, breaking into a small laugh and grabbing a cutting board and chef's knife, sitting across the table from him and shaking his head. "I'll give you partial credit for that one," he conceded, pausing and biting his lip shyly. "And full credit if you don't make me have this conversation."

"Nice try," he smiled sadly, gripping one of the potatoes and peeling off layers of muddied brown to reveal the shining butter shade hiding beneath. "What's holding you back?"

Kyle frowned, "You know damn well what's holding me back. Ken, this isn't an easy thing for me to plan for. I don't know if we have to be there prior to the ceremony. I don't know how long it'll be! What if the reception is directly after the ceremony like Stan and Wendy's?"

"Stan and Wendy got married in the woods like the hippies they are, Annie ain't like that," he drawled.

"Okay, Cartman."

"'Ay," he raised his brow, tossing a finished potato his way and watching him beginning to chunk it. "But, think about it, Ky: You made it through Stan and Wendy's wedding just fine. And you were the best man!" he reminded him. "You had to be out in the public eye almost as much as the two of them and you managed to make it work. You did fine with our wedding. You have five hours to kill with this shit, the ceremony or whatever won't last that long. And even if it does, no one is going to yell at you for going to the bathroom," he said firmly.

The redhead took a long breath, twisting his knife in his hands and staring at himself. "It's not just the wedding, though. What about Kat?"

"What about her?"

Tired eyes raised into his and Kenny's face fell at the loss lingering within them. "Ken… if we're all in a room together… what if she wakes up first?" he whispered. "What if she comes to get us up and… and sees me?"

"We get a hotel for us and we drop her off with your parents," he shrugged. "Sheila loves the shit outta her and Kat loves spending time with them. I'm sure they'd be happy to give us a 'break'," he quoted, rolling another spud his way.

He frowned, "Well what about Tweedledumb down here?" he jerked his thumb to Val's ignorant panting. "A hotel won't let us keep him with us. And if I'm not there to change his eyes he can't stay at my parents'. And god knows he can't go into a kennel."

"Thennnn we send 'im up t' God?" he shrugged. "I'll off myself and ask Raph or someone to come down and grab him and Pip can watch him for awhile. He's pretty chill with that limey asshole. I'm sure he'd be fine with it. He did fine when Kat was born and the other trips we've made."

Kyle's shoulders sank and he shook his head, genially slicing potato and keeping his eyes down on his work. "I just don't want this to be a disaster," he murmured.

"It's not going to be," Kenny promised. "Ky, we have a system. That's how we make this work, how we always have," he shrugged.

"Well, now, yeah," he scoffed. Kenny raised his brow and the redhead dropped his knife, putting his hands over his eyes and slowly rubbing. "Remember when the only thing we had planned was me finishing school and getting married?"

He smiled sadly, "Well, we grew up, Babe."

"This isn't growing up," he said exhaustedly, dropping his hands and staring at him straight-on. "Ken, I hate having to live by pure schedule. At least… this rigorously," he winced. "I need structure not… confinement," he clashed his fingers against one another, weaving them throughout the others.

Kenny shrugged meekly, "I try to fix that," he said slowly. "I keep trying to get you to do other things. Go out, do something new. But you're so fucking terrified that you're gonna lose track of time, the farthest you're willing to go is the damn grocery store."

Kyle took a shaking breath, tucking his hair behind his ear. "What would you do if I did? What would you do if someone discovered what I am? Hell, what would I do? Just… let 'em take me somewhere to be tested on? Kill them so no one blabs? Kill myself so shit resets? What would you suggest?" he demanded.

"I… I don't know," he said quietly.

He bit his lip, "And what if Kat finds out? What's she gonna think?"

Kenny narrowed his eyes, "Don't… don't you think she deserves to know? Not now but… when she's a teenager or something and can understand to keep it to herself?"

Kyle's face fell wryly. "Oh. Oh yeah. Sounds like a great idea. How do you propose we approach that conversation, Ken? How about… 'Hey, Hon. How was school? Ah that's great. So just as an FYI, your father is an archangel who fought a war against Hell and oh whoops the antichrist kidnapped me because of it and now I'm some weird demon/angel/human hybrid and it's pretty confusing but hey, we won the war. Whaddya want for dinner 'cause I'm feelin' burgers'?" he cocked his brow before he dropped his head and rubbed his temple. "Goddammit, Kenny, we discussed this before we agreed to adopt her."

"I know," he said softly. "But… shit changes. You didn't want her at all before you saw her."

"That's a fucking lie," he said sharply. "I just… didn't want a kid stuck… with a dad like me," he said, voice cracking. Kenny dropped his dinner duties and quickly moved to the seat next to Kyle, clutching him around his shoulders and rubbing his arm. Kyle leaned his head against Kenny's neck, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "She'd hate me."

"She could never hate you," he said softly, kissing his hair. "Kyle, she thinks you fucking walk on water."

"Hell, with the right spell I probably could," he rolled his eyes, getting a soft chuckle out of his husband.

Kenny sighed, nuzzling down against him. "We'll find a way. Break it to her gently, you know? She's already mature as shit for her age, she'll be able to handle it when she's older."

He shook his head, "God I can't even imagine," he muttered. "I really think it'd be best if she just never knew."

"And you spend the rest of your life hiding from her?" he asked. "Kyle, do you really want that to be your deathbed confession to her?" he winced. "What if we decide to get us some other kids?"

Kyle backed up from him a bit, "Are you seriously wanting another one?"

He pouted, "What? You don't?"

"Not right now," he stressed. "It's hard enough hiding it from just her. Not to mention, the only reason we have Kat is because Bebe decided to get drunk and forgot the goddamn condom, Dude. We lucked out."

Kenny nodded, a small smile on his face. He remembered all-too-well Bebe calling him to meet her in town, alone. A full-fledged hour long tearful conversation brought about her story of a hook-up she regretted and three months of barely managing to hide how she was beginning to show. "So I just was wondering…" she'd said awkwardly. "You and Kyle looking for a kid? The guy was blonde, too… I'm pretty sure. We could… pass it off as a surrogacy from you?" she'd pleaded. She'd asked for only him initially, wanting to warm him up to the idea before Kyle could shut it down immediately, knowing the redhead well enough to know that he'd have qualms with taking in a kid so suddenly with only six months to prepare and rearrange their entire lives. Ken had been thankful for that, knowing the slew of other issues that Kyle would be working through.

Ken had been thrilled with the notion, promising to butter Kyle up to the idea. He'd planned it all so well, too. A nice, calm day for them with nothing but sodomizing every piece of furniture in their apartment and ordering food and doing nothing but enjoying each other. Kenny had asked him if he'd be interested after he had Kyle nice and relaxed, calmly chewing through a slice of pizza. That piece of pizza had ended up slammed against his face. Kyle had panicked entirely at the idea, running through every single possibility that he could conjure up at once.

"What if they see my fangs?! What if they hate me?! What if they find your goddamn sword or my books?! What if… what if he comes back for me?" It'd only taken them one trip to Heaven for Kenny to resolve the latter crisis, sweet-talking the archangels and God for them to assure some kind of safety to any kids that they happened to have. The group had been more than happy to oblige, telling them both they'd be great fathers and leaving Kyle a blankly staring mess of a conflicted man.

Every step they'd taken towards Bebe's due date had been a challenge for both of them. Kenny juggling both helping Bebe through her hormonal swings and Kyle's panicked frenzy. He'd always imagined it the other way around if they adopted, but that was long before fate had swerved them into the direction they found themselves in. Kyle had every right to be scared of the possibilities, and Kenny had every obligation to soothe him from the calamity. From getting out of their apartment into their house, to awkwardly staving through a baby shower surrounded by the other guys as they watched confusedly as the women cooed and aww'ed at Bebe, a pile of gifts in the corner split between baby essentials and every goddamn liquor bottle known to man for Bebe to relish in once she was free to do so.

The men had learned something ridiculous in the six months they'd had to prepare: The last six-month trial they'd had to endure was nothing compared to the hell they had to fight through waiting for a child. Nothing but arguments, powers breaking doors and chairs over something as basic as choosing a name. A lot of long nights where Kyle would break down and try to talk Kenny out of what they were doing, shaking little baby clothes around and asking if he really thought something so small and innocent deserved to be forced into life with a monster.

Those nights were always the hardest; Kenny holding him as he cried, Valefor pacing around them anxiously and trying to worm his way between them so he could do his job and protect the redhead. Kyle would just clutch whatever random waiting item he found, apologizing time and again for making Kenny's life so much harder. Needless to say, such talk had broken Kenny's heart. After all, he wasn't stupid; it was his fault that Kyle was what he was, regardless of how much everyone around him told him otherwise. He was the one that set the course into motion. It was a hard truth, one that he still refused to fully accept, but it stared him in the face time and again, he could never exactly run from it.

But, soon enough, the fighting stopped all at once, doubt gone from Kyle's riddled mind and Kenny filled with nothing but relief as they first got to meet the little girl they'd be taking home.

Kyle leaned his head back and stared up at the light fixture hanging above them tiredly. "What if she hates that I lied to her?"

"She'll understand," he promised, soothingly rubbing his neck. "Ky-"

"Or, or," he interrupted. "What if she fucking tells someone and they declare her insane?! Would I have to just… show myself to everyone to keep her out of the nuthouse?!" The blonde blinked as Kyle groaned, leaning forward again and hiding his face in his palms. Valefor wedged himself onto his lap, staring up at him sadly. He rolled his eyes, snagging a few chunks of potato and dropping them onto the floor, raising his brow as Valefor refused to budge.

Kenny smiled sadly, "He knows you're bummed."

"Stupid mindreader dog," he muttered, patting the hellhound's head listlessly.

His husband sighed, rubbing his back. "Kyle, you're really overthinking this."

"How? How could I possibly overthink this?" he asked, looking at him desperately. "This isn't… me just wanting to tell her something like I'm getting fucking plastic surgery or something. It's not us explaining to her that she's biologically neither of ours. It's 'hey, I'm a different species entirely'!"

"But you're still you," he said firmly. "Damn, Kyle I've known you a hell of a lot longer than she has and-"

"And you watched this happen to me," he reminded him sadly, Kenny's posture dropping guiltily. Kyle bit his lip, "Ken, how do you think Stan would react? Or my parents? I can guarantee they wouldn't handle it well at all and they've known me longer than you. And we're supposed to be raising Kat to tell the goddamn truth and I just can't fucking bring myself to do so," he looked back at his mutilated vegetables miserably and took a shuddering breath. "I… I had a dream a few months ago where we had another kid," he murmured.

Kenny cocked his head, "Okay?"

"Well. We actually had two other kids. One was from your junk," he waved at him aimlessly. "A boy. Looked just like you and acted the same it was like my worst nightmare come true," he rolled his eyes, Kenny snorting with laughter and shaking him. "Then we… decided to try one from me. Because you were fucking determined as shit for us to have a goddamn redheaded kid."

Kenny shrugged sheepishly. "Can't blame me, Man. I love your hair," he pulled a curl and watched it spring back into place.

"Well… you got a redhead. With red eyes. And… it clawed the surrogate open," he said, slinking lightly. "Just fucking… Rosemary's Baby only a shit-ton worse. It just… fought its way out and there was blood everywhere and… and you were so goddamn scared of it," he whispered. "Kat and the other kid ran, you went with them. Told me to take care of the goddamn demon kid myself and just left."

The blonde's heart clenched. "Holy shit. Kyle, I would never do that to you."

Kyle held up his hand and closed his eyes, "I know. I know you wouldn't. My point is that this isn't a natural thing for me to be. And no matter how old Kat is… she's not gonna get it."

He shrugged meekly, "If we're being technical, I'm not exactly naturally blooded either. Angels ain't s'posed to be down here."

"No one prays to demons, though, Kenny," he reminded him solemnly.

"You're not just demon, though," he countered. "Hell, you're two-thirds not demon. You know that."

He bit his lip, "But that one-third is still there. It's always there… He's always there," he looked at him with shining eyes. "I don't want her to be like me and see me but also see him, you know?" he winced.

Kenny took a deep breath and turned in his chair a bit, staring at him straight-on. "Okay, can I be blunt here?" Kyle nodded slowly. "Stop it," he said firmly. "Ky, I knew that fuck… long before we were together. Before we could even think of being together. I grew up with him. I fuckin'… talked to him, had beers with him. Kyle, I considered that fucking piece of goddamn shit my friend," he said guiltily, watching Kyle's eyes echo with that hollowness for the first time in a long time, but pressing onward. "But I don't see him when I see what you look like when the spell wears off. I see you. I see my stupid fucking mistake, too. But never him. And Kat wouldn't either. Because you're not him. I can't tell you to stop seeing him, because I can't tell you how to think," he winced. "But I can tell you that me and Kat love you, and we don't give a fuck about fangs or claws or any of that shit. She just wants her smart dad and I want my bangable husband," he shrugged. "That's what matters."

Kyle broke into a sad smirk, leaning down on Kenny's shoulder and sighing, nodding softly. "Thanks," he whispered. "God, you haven't had to give me a gayass speech like that in years."

Kenny snorted, kissing his temple. "Well, you keep avoiding this talk with me," he reminded him. "'Sides. I got my gayass speech skills from you." Kyle laughed, hitting him with the back of his hand before leaning up and kissing him softly. They both looked down as Valefor deemed him happy enough to turn from his lap and attack the potato bits tossed onto the floor for him and Kenny smirked. "And Val will always love you, too."

"Val would love me if I grew webbed toes and went to live in the swamp," Kyle rolled his eyes. "He's going to be more of a baby than you and Kat for the rest of my goddamn life." Val turned from his eating and snuffed onto Kyle's hand, bopping his palm and the redhead sighed, going back to stroking over his skull. He looked back at Kenny and nodded softly. "Yeah, fine. Let's… let's go to Clyde's wedding. But will you set alarms, too? A-and help cover if-"

"You mean… same thing I always do?" he reminded him with a cocked brow. "Babe, of course. We'll get through this, we'll get Clyde a cheap, shitty gift for his probably six-month marriage, and we'll spend the weekend in a hotel bangin' out your insecurities. Sound good?"

Kyle smiled. "Sounds amazing." They pressed their foreheads together and took a deep breath, Kyle stealing a glance at the oven clock. "Hey, my spell lasts another four hours. Wanna save the chicken for tomorrow and take Kat out for dinner?"

Kenny smiled back and nodded, kissing his cheek. "We'll do whatever you wanna do. Whatever makes you happy."

Kyle grinned a little wider, wrapping his arms around his neck and burying his face into his hair, taking a long breath. "You make me happy." He heard Kenny snort in his ear and murmur a 'corny little fuck' before planting another long, wet peck against his cheek. Kyle sighed, opening his eyes and looking out of the kitchen in the direction of Kat's bedroom. 'Maybe someday,' he thought, huddling closer into his husband and relishing in the tender affection the blonde was bestowing upon him. 'Someday.'