There is going to be a third chapter, so as not to make this one too long. I was trying to figure out whether I should write it or simply make this chapter twice as long, but eventually I decided on the former.

Kenny arrived at the hospital and went straight into Stan's room. He sat down next to his friend, held his hand and sighed. After six years, he was one of the few people who hadn't given up on Stan. He visited him almost every day and talked to him about everything he could think of, although he wasn't sure if Stan could even hear him.

Kenny: ...Hey, dude. Um... It's been almost six years since... well, you know what happened... I know I say this a lot, and you're probably already tired of hearing it, but... I'm sorry.

He felt nervous when he was around Stan, due to his guilt. He glanced over at Stan and tears started forming in his eyes, though he wiped them before they became a problem.

Kenny: Anyway, uh... today I went to school and I got some more requests from the girls over there to go with them to the prom, as usual, but I told them no... as usual. They just don't seem to get that I don't want to go with them... or maybe they're just desperate. I wonder if Kyle is also getting this many requests. He's pretty, so he probably is...

Kenny went on to talk about Kyle, Cartman, Butters, Tweek, Shelly, and pretty much everyone who knew Stan, leaving out only the fact that he had also visited his brother's grave earlier today. He didn't want to risk making Stan feel worse than he already did. A few minutes after he finished, he got a text message from Butters, saying that he was outside, waiting for him.

Kenny: So, listen, I uh... I gotta go now. Butters is waiting for me outside, and I still have to do some stuff my mom asked me to. But I promise I'll come back tomorrow.

Kenny got up and glanced at Stan before leaving his room.

"...I'm so sorry for what I did to you."

Kenny walked outside, in the direction of Butters' car.

Leopold: Come on, get in.
Kenny: Thanks for picking me up.
Leopold: You're welcome... So, how is he?
Kenny: ...He's fine.
Leopold: And how are you?
Kenny: I'm fine too.

"Right..."

Leopold: ...You gotta stop blaming yourself for this, or at least start moving past it. Stan's condition was a result of the drugs; it has nothing to do with you or anything you did.
Kenny: Can we not do this right now? I'm already getting so many fucking requests for this stupid prom that I feel like I'm a goddamn whore.

"Not to mention that you don't know what you're talking about. If I had told Stan the truth he wouldn't have done what he did. He's locked inside his own head because of me."

Leopold: ...That's not an insult, you know. People ask you because they want to go with you. Besides, can you blame them? You're the cutest guy in South Park, and you haven't asked someone to go with you. People are gonna want to be that someone... Hell, I'd be that someone if you wanted me to.

"So I'm the cutest guy in South Park? You probably haven't really looked at Kyle..."

Kenny: ...Thanks, Butters.
Leopold: You're welcome.

Butters was right about at least one thing, though – Kenny needed to move past this; he hadn't moved on with his life in six years. He had stopped trying to tell Kyle about his feelings; in fact, he had stopped hanging out with Kyle altogether. He couldn't look Kyle in the eyes or even be around him knowing that he was responsible for what happened to his best friend, Stan.
On the other hand, Kyle, oblivious to Kenny's guilt, had made some attempts over the years to reconnect with him, but he always backed away until he seemingly gave up altogether. Nowadays their interactions were limited to awkward silences, occasional stares and short conversations when they happened to visit Stan at the same time, although the latter was a very rare event. Kyle couldn't stand looking at Stan in his current situation, but he didn't feel guilty or self-destructive, so he didn't visit him as often as Kenny did.

Butters dropped off Kenny where he needed to be and went back home. As he rested on his bed, he started thinking about the stuff that had been going on for the past six years – Stan's condition, Kenny's guilt and the reason for it...
This year was the last time Kenny and Kyle would ever see each other and probably the last time they would even speak, unless some freak accident forced them to meet a few years later (which, given South Park's usual level of insanity, didn't seem that unlikely). Butters tried to avoid it but, after a while, his thoughts slowly shifted into ways that he could get Kyle and Kenny together. His first thought was to get them both in the same room and just let it happen, but it would probably end badly. Kenny wasn't someone who openly discussed his feelings for no reason and, after Stan was put in a hospital bed, Kyle stopped being someone who asked. Another option would be for Butters himself to start a conversation between Kenny and Kyle, but neither one of them had been listening to him very much as of late.

"What should I do?"

What Butters didn't know was why Kyle didn't listen to him very much, and he also didn't notice that for the past few years, Kyle had been growing increasingly hostile (verbally and without provocation) when Butters was around. Kyle knew about Butters' sexuality (as he had told him a long time ago) and suspected Kenny's, which made him feel jealous when he saw the two of them together and how close they'd become, although he was unable (or maybe unwilling) to admit it to himself. He didn't know why seeing the two of them together made him feel so angry, but it still had some effects on his actions and thoughts. He was no longer trying to reconnect with Kenny and he felt like punching Butters in the face multiple times whenever he saw him. He didn't know why he felt this way, but he knew he shouldn't, and it was really screwing him up. He thought that Butters had taken away his only friend whom he could actually talk to, but his anger was too great for it to be just that, and he didn't even realize it.

"Well, now I just have to get home and give this to my mom... Damn, it's really getting late. I should hurry."

Kenny ran as fast as he could back home. When he got there, he found his dad passed out on the couch, drunk. His father had stopped drinking during the day after Kevin was shot, but he had sleeping issues, so he got himself drunk every night to be able to sleep.

"Poor dad..."

Kenny put the things he brought in their place and went upstairs. He looked at Kevin's room for almost five minutes before proceeding into his own, with tears in his eyes. He lied down on his bed, wiped his tears and sighed, trying to prepare himself mentally for what would probably another night filled with nightmares.
At first his nightmares were just his memory of his brother being killed, but ever since he found out about what Stan had done, every dream he had was a nightmare with everyone telling him that what happened to Kevin and Stan was his fault, and that he didn't deserve to be alive.
In the beginning he had nightmares almost every single night, but nowadays he was starting to have some dreamless nights, which allowed him to actually get some rest for a change.

Kenny woke up ten hours later and smiled, relieved.

"No nightmares tonight."

However, when he noticed the time, he panicked. He was late for school for the third time in a week.

"Mr. Garrison is either going to kill me or give me a long speech... I'd prefer the first, but I'm sure he won't do it."

Just like Kenny expected, Mr. Garrison gave him a long, boring speech about coming in late and how that affects his schoolwork. Kenny just nodded when Mr. Garrison asked him anything (even though most of the questions were rhetorical), much to the other boys' amusement, and finally sat down when he finished. Without even thinking about it, he glanced at Kyle, who immediately turned away, pretending that he wasn't looking at him.

"...Hm."

Kenny wasn't as stupid as most people thought he was; he knew there was something up with Kyle, and it was related to him.

After school, Kenny went straight for the hospital and into Stan's room, like he promised. Once again, he sat down next to Stan and held his hand tight.

Kenny: Hey, Stan. I'm back, like I promised. Um... Well, I didn't have any nightmares tonight, so that's a plus. I also didn't get any requests from the girls at the school, although I had to spend the whole day avoiding them to achieve that... But it was totally worth it.

Kyle arrived at Stan's room just a few minutes after Kenny finished telling him about his day, but he didn't go in; he stood outside, listening.

Kenny: Oh, I almost forgot – Today, in class, I saw Kyle looking at me... I know, it's stupid that I even cared about that; he looks at a lot of people... I'm just happy that, this time, he was looking at me for a change... You know, sometimes I feel kinda stupid that I get excited about the fact that he notices me. I mean, I haven't told him how I feel, and you know how much I love him, we haven't even spoken in a long time, but I get excited from a simple glance... It's stupid, right? ...Well, I've probably bothered you long enough for today. I'll come back again tomorrow and bother you some more, alright?

Kenny stayed in silence for a few seconds, as if waiting for Stan to answer.

"...I'm probably going insane, asking questions to someone who can't answer them."

Kenny released Stan's hand and left. When he noticed Kyle, both boys stared at each other for a long time, analyzing each other's faces. Kenny was in pain, and Kyle could see it. He wanted to do something to ease the pain, but the blond boy just walked away without even thinking that Kyle must've overheard everything he said.

After he made sure that Kenny was gone, Kyle went into Stan's room. He stood there in silence, just looking at the machines connected to him and feeling sorry for him. When he thought of what his parents, Shelly and Kenny must be going through, he started crying and didn't stop for almost five minutes.

"...Nobody deserves this, being stuck like this... I wonder why Kenny talks to him, though. It's not like he can hear us... Right?"

Kyle stood for a few more seconds before sitting down next to Stan, just like he saw Kenny doing it.

"...This is stupid."

Kyle: ...Hey, Stan.

Meanwhile, Kenny was looking out into the town, trying to figure out just how long it would take to go home on foot.

"I should've told Butters to pick me up... This sucks."

Kenny started walking back home, slowly. There was no way it would take him less than thirty minutes to get home, and running would only make him tired after five minutes.

Kenny found his house completely empty, but he didn't even care. He just went upstairs into his room and started listening to loud music. He was trying to forget Stan's condition for even a few minutes, but he couldn't. He decided to go to sleep early, to see if he got lucky again and was able to sleep without having nightmares.

Just as Kenny fell asleep, Kyle knocked the door of the one person who could tell him if Kenny was telling the truth when he was talking to Stan. He wanted to know the truth more than anything and, although he still didn't know why, he was willing to do whatever it took to get it.

Leopold: Hey. I haven't seen you in a while, at least not outside school. How've you been?
Kyle: ...Fine. Can I come in? I need to talk to you about something.
Leopold: Sure.

Kyle was hesitant at first, due to the nature of the information he was going to share and how he got it in the first place, but, eventually, he told Butters what he overheard. He felt guilty that he was doing this, and, although Butters could see it, he kept smiling throughout the whole tale. However, when he big question came, Butters' smile vanished, and an argument arose in his head: Should he tell Kyle the truth and risk his friendship with Kenny, even though he wasn't sure what Kyle would do with that information? Or should he lie to Kyle, protect his friendship with Kenny and possibly destroy the one he had with Kyle? He had to make a choice, and that choice would affect not only his life but Kenny's and Kyle's as well, for better... or for worse.

Well, that's the end of this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.
On a personal note: I'd like to thank the people who add my stories to their favorites/alerts. Although you guys/girls don't review, it still shows that you appreciate them.