Okay, so I may have lied a bit about when my updates will be. They will either be on Saturday or Sunday, depending on whenever I find time on the weekend! Thank you all for reading, and I appreciate any feedback you give me. By the way, Jimmy is in this chapter, but I don't type out his stammering, as I found it tedious to write and read. Thanks much!

-Hollow

(line break)

"Kyle, where are you going?"

"None of your business, Ike," Kyle replied shortly, lacing up his boots tightly, his usual jacket slung over his shoulders.

"Can I come with you?" he pressed on, ignoring Kyle's grumbling remarks.

Kyle pulled his jacket on, fumbling with the buttons a bit. "Mom, I'm going back to Stan's!" he called over his shoulder.

"I want to go, too," Ike chimed in loudly.

"No, dude, I already told you-"

Sheila entered the living room, her bright red hair piled in an up-do and her hands on her hips. "Kyle, take your little brother with you," she said, enunciating carefully.

"Mom, he doesn't even-"

"Don't talk back to me, Kyle!"

"Alright, sorry," he replied hastily. He sighed in defeat and stood up. "Let's go."

Ike grabbed his own coat and slipped it on before bouncing excitedly out the door. Kyle took large steps through the thick layer of snow on the yard, leaving a trail of footprints that Ike tried to match. Kyle tugged his hat back down, hiding a few rogue curls.

"What are you going to Stan's for?" Ike asked, smoothing his short black hair down. He had recently started fourth grade, and it seemed that the teachers were startled at how articulate he had become. He'd never been very loud when he was younger, and now it felt like he never shut up.

"We're almost done with our project," he explained. "If you promise to be good and help us glue stuff, you can stay, alright?"

"Promise!"

Kyle stopped at the Marsh's door briefly to wipe the snow off the bottom of his shoe on the scratchy welcome mat. He didn't even have to knock anymore; he'd stopped doing that at the end of fourth grade.

Stan was up in his room, playing something on his computer. He paused it and swiveled the computer chair around to face him. He tensed for a second, but relaxed after Kyle threw him a confused look. Ike sat down on Stan's bed and Kyle shut the door behind him.

"Hey, dude," Stan said. "Uh, what's your brother doing here?"

"He wouldn't stop bothering me, so my Mom forced me to take him along," Kyle groaned.

"I'm right here." Ike frowned for a second. Then, he said teasingly, "What, are you guys worried about being unable to make out or something now that I'm here?"

Stan turned bright red and stammered. Kyle burst out laughing.

"As if, shithead," he snorted. "Stop getting us wrapped into your freak fantasies."

"Hey, Kyle, did you want to work more on the notes before we finished the poster?" Stan asked, trying to pull the conversation in another direction. He turned back to the computer and shut off the game. Kyle leaned back against the door, arms crossed over his chest.

"Actually, I was more worried about whatever Cartman's planning," he admitted. "We haven't heard from him in a few days, so he's gotta be busy working on some crazy scheme to get on the news."

"I can ask if Kenny's seen him around," Stan offered.

"Yeah, I'll-"

"I can go alone," Stan cut in. "Since, you know, the project means a lot to you. I don't want you to get a bad grade. I can call you later or whatever..."

Suddenly, Kyle was at his side. He put a hand on Stan's shoulder, who pulled away sharply. He fought the bile climbing up in his throat. That wasn't a good sign. He knew what that meant, and he knew that wasn't how he was supposed to feel. Kyle frowned, worried.

"You alright, dude?"

"Sorry, I haven't been feeling very well," he lied, but Kyle accepted his answer and didn't press further.

"Come on, Ike. Call me later, okay?"

Stan nodded and waved, forcing a smile before the brothers went down the stairs.

(line break)

Kenny's house was filled with screaming and fighting when he answered the door. He stepped out onto the porch, which seemed completely silent in contrast to the cacophony sealed behind him. He jammed his PSP into the pocket of his hoodie and watched the dark haired boy in front of him calmly.

"Hey, Kenny."

He mumbled something in response.

"Kyle said he wanted to figure out what Cartman was up to, so I was wondering if he'd said anything to you?" Stan asked.

"Yeah, we talked on Wednesday," he nodded. "He was still trying to convince me to join his new group of superheroes. He said they were having a meeting at his house on Saturday? Something like that..."

"Oh, that's tomorrow!"

"Is it?" Kenny looked off at something behind Stan, his eyes glazed over. He blinked slowly. He missed all of Thursday, since he had been smashed into the pavement by an eighteen wheeler that didn't want to slow down and the registration lines at Hell were running extremely slow. "Huh. I guess it is."

"Um, hey, Ken?" Stan asked. His face was burning as he heard himself ask, "Have you ever thought...that way about a guy before?"

Kenny barked out a laugh, surprised. "Yeah, who hasn't?"

"What do you think I should do?"

Kenny went silent, thinking over what he should tell Stan. The longer he was quiet, the more restless Stan became. Someone called his name from inside the house, jerking him from his thoughts.

"I'll be right there, Karen!" he said back. He looked back at Stan, whose eyebrows had raised considerably. "I think you should go for it."

"Really?"

Kenny shrugged, and hurried back into the house.

(line break)

Butters and Jimmy sat beside one another in the living room, chattering excitedly about the premiere for a long awaited show they were both eager to watch. Jimmy had wanted to watch the new show and try his new jokes out on Butters, which he insisted were even better than his last act.

Two long, dark shadows engulfed them. Butters and Jimmy turned to look over the edge of the couch, only to find a pair of masked figures standing before them. The first was in a crude rehashing of a raccoon themed outfit. The second in a leotard with a cape and a mask.

"Well?"

"W-well, what?" Butters stammered.

"Are you going to join us, Professor?" the girl asked.

"Um, m-my Mom said I could only have one friend over at a time," he said, messing with his hands nervously.

"Answer the question, Chaos, before you make me doing something I'd kind of regret," the Coon sighed. He uncurled his fist to show off a long set of claws.

Jimmy threw Butters an incredulous look.

"Wow, that's pretty impressive," Jimmy remarked.

"Care to join our league?" the Coon offered, raising an eyebrow by a fraction of an inch. "We're going to be on the news and everything."

Butters watched with dismay as his friend nodded eagerly. He sighed and stood up, slinking past Wendy and Cartman and climbing the stairs with a small, "I'll go get my stuff."

The noise from the living room faded as he entered his bedroom. It was extremely tidy, because he was constantly reminded by his parents that it had to be so or else he would be grounded. And because of its cleanliness, it only took a few minutes of dragging boxes from his closet to find which one held his old cape in it. His gauntlets still fit fairly well on his hands, but he had to use the rest of the aluminum foil roll to expand the boots and helmet.

Each step he took as he descended the stairs made the chain that held the cape around his neck rattle. He smoothed his tousled hair back down and stopped at Eric's side.

"Welcome back to Coon and Friends, Professor," the Coon said, acknowledging his new attire.

"Eric, I was never a part of the Coon and-"

"Shut up, Butters."

(line break)

Wendy was pleased with the way things were going for her alias. She'd been given Jimmy as her sidekick, and they'd spent most of the afternoon working on his own costume. She finally got back to her house around seven, and she climbed up the stairs to get changed before her father called her down for dinner.

She let her hair down and dropped her mask off on her bed, catching sight of her phone buzzing on her bedside table. She hit the green button and pressed it to her ear.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Wendy, I tried calling you earlier but you didn't answer." It was Token. He sounded relieved she'd finally picked up.

"Sorry about that," she said. She sat down on the bed and stifled a yawn. "I was on some 'official business.'"

Token didn't say anything until she asked if he was still there.

"Yeah, uh, I was wondering if you wanted to finish the project tomorrow?"

"I already finished it! Cartman helped me," she replied. "I did the finishing touches yesterday, too. It looks great, by the way."

"Oh. Do you still want to hang out tomorrow?"

She hummed, grimacing. "I don't think so, I'm going to be busy again. Cartman and I-"

"You've been hanging out with him a lot, Wendy. You haven't even said anything to me since we met up at the library. What the hell's going on?" he asked.

"Nothing, I'm just-"

"Didn't you kiss him before?"

The question startled her. "Token, it's not like that," she squeaked. "That was four years ago. And...and how dare you even accuse me of cheating on you! If you can't trust me, maybe we shouldn't be together anyway."

"You seem eager to get out of-"

"Token, I have to go eat dinner, alright? I'm sorry, but I can't see someone who doesn't know that I'd never cheat on them. Goodbye," she replied, and mashed the end call button with her thumb.

Their relationship hadn't been too serious, but she felt her stomach twist at his accusations. It could have been a much more explosive break up. She'd been too tired to let it carry on like that. She kicked off her boots, wrapped up in her cape and fell back onto the pillows.

"Over the phone," she huffed to herself. "I can't believe him."