The Hammer on the Cross

by Killois

Kenny and Max have broken up. There's heart break all around. Will Max go back to Kenny, or will he find someone else to love? OCxKenny, OCxDamien, and ButtersxKenny. YAOI. Main pairing: OCxDamien. Sequel of 'The Hammer on the Head'. Don't have to read first fanfic to read this one.

Disclaimer: I do not own South Park or any of the characters that belong to the show.

Claimer: I do own Max.

Author's Note: I spent a long time debating this, but I couldn't keep the urge seized, so I finally decided to put this up on fanfiction. Plus, I got tired of the lack of male OC yaoi around here, that and I got a little welcoming push from the reviews I read from 'The Hammer on the Head' fanfic I wrote. And just a heads up, I'm writing another OCxKenny fanfic and no, the OC in that story is not Max. I will try not to have so many typos in this fanfic; I might go back to 'The Hammer on the Head' and edit the chapters, so there are not so many typos and grammatical errors. And just in case you haven't figured it out yet, this is a sequel to 'The Hammer on the Head,' but you don't have to read the first one to read this one. I'm pretty sure it will make sense if you hadn't read the first one.

It still hadn't hit him entirely. It wasn't like it was so sudden…actually, it was! In the moment it happened, it felt like the reaper itself took a pair of scissors and snipped his heart in half and allowed the bottom half fall into the darkest parts of his stomach. He never wanted to vomit, break a wall, and cry until his face melted off all at the same time before. Even though that moment struck him so hard, the idea of Max having to live the rest of his life without Kenny didn't download completely into his mind. Ever since their break up, Max took refuge in an affordable apartment complex as far away from Kenny's house as possible, but still in the range of the High School. With no bike, or a car, Max had to find a place where he could walk from and still get to work and school on time. It was draining, having to spend the rest of his summer vacation depressed, feigning happiness whenever he went into work, and having to avoid places Kenny frequented and the blonde's friends. By the time school came around, Max had enough of crying and being depressed all the time, so he stopped. Now if only he could catch up on his sleep. For the last five weeks, Max had been working late and going to work early. Why? Let's just say his finances weren't at its best when he decided to move out of the McCormick residence and they quickly went downhill from then until now. He was at the edge of his financial rope, any more of this hard work and he will only have his life to spend.

Walking sluggishly to the beginning of his last year of high school, Max still felt drained from the hard day of work he went through the other day. He sighed at the memory of his manager going up to him at the end of his shift and telling him to take the rest of the week off. He gripped the strap of his back pack, mustering the energy to quicken his pace to school, looking forward to sleeping through all of his classes. Max occupied his thoughts with life. Frowning at the thought of his financial problems and lingering on the mental suggestion that he will have to find a roommate. He could just imagine the countless hours of refusing weirdoes and potential serial killers, or people who already taken the occupation: serial killer. He ran his hand through his messy locks, the telltale feeling that the following week was going to be terribly eventful. It had only been a few seconds and already Max was starting to tire of his own thoughts.

Sweet laughter, a familiar, yet far away sound—almost like a bell chime—that beautiful sound was what punched Max for his attention. Immediately the laughter was identified before the owner was seen. It was Kenny. Max would have froze in place if he wasn't so sure that it would be near to impossible to get his body moving again once ceased. He wanted to hide, but he didn't want to cause a scene, or let Kenny on that he has been trying to avoid him since their break up. Luckily, a somewhat familiar, gloomy figure just happened to match his walking speed and was strolling right beside him. Damien made a good walking hiding-spot. With a sneaky glance over to the left and around Damien, the left over piece of Max's heart fell to the dark parts of his stomach. He quickly looked away; the image now burned into his mind and shall forever taunt him. He was in complete shock, he tried to swallow, but the huge lump in his throat prevented him from doing so.

K-K-Kenny…a-and Butters?

It was a direct punch to the balls. The new couple left him completely flabbergasted.

If only Max was the aggressive-jealous type, he would force his way through the conversing students in the hallway and over to the new taunting couple and tear Butters away from Kenny's arm and force his lips upon the parka-wearing blonde's firm ones and maybe find a bathroom where they could make passionate love, or more like rape if Kenny is in one of his rare moods where he doesn't want sex.

Too bad he didn't keep his temperament from when he was in elementary school, though he probably wouldn't have any friends now, then again with the temperament he has now he still didn't have any friends.

Oh, crap. I just depressed myself.

Damien, taking role as the observant man he is, noticed the sudden drop in mood of the boy next to him. He eyed Max, scaling him bottom-to-top, then he turned his attention in the direction Max had glanced over. It didn't take long for Satan's son to figure out what was going on. He had former knowledge that Kenny and Max were an item and now, by putting two and five together, he summed that Max and Kenny weren't dating anymore and Max, the fidgeting boy beside him, is still in the process of getting over it. Damien allowed himself one more look at Kenny and Butters, the two seemed to be getting along quite nicely. Moving his gaze back to Max, the pathetic sight he was, a strange array of feelings streamed through him, he felt sympathy, pity and he became upset. The aftertaste of the fact that Kenny got to be happy after his break up with Max and left the boy to suffer was less than zesty—it was actually more of a burnt taste than anything else. It felt…unjustifiable!

Tall-dark-and-handsome moved to Max's right, leaving the boy out in the open. Now revealed, Max almost did freeze in his tracks. He glanced back at Kenny, then to Damien, who—for some reason unbeknownst to him—moved to the other side of him. Damien waited for the perfect time to make his move; he kept his eyes on the blond couple on the other side of the hallway.

Now.

Kenny's eyes ventured over to what looked like Max walking beside some tall, dark figure. Still the sight of his adorable demon—and yes, he means his—stirred up deep feeling like broth being stirred in a dirty pot on top of an equally dirty stove. But, what's this? Damien's arm around Max?!

The sudden placement of a hand on his shoulder and being pulled closer to the body to his right confused Max. He looked up at the taller teen, the words 'What the fuck?' practically laser beaming out of his mind, through his eyes and straight into Damien's face. Damien shot back a 'just go with it' look and immediately, well almost immediately, Max understood. It was comforting, what Damien was doing for him and was the nicest thing anyone has done for him in a while; it dimmed down the nervousness of having his ex walking on the other side of the hallway a little. Plus, despite Damien's' ability to be cold towards people and become a complete ice wizard at being unsociable, he was very warm.

Damien, the thoughtful and charming man he is, walked Max all the way to his homeroom; coincidentally, Max and Kenny still shared the same homeroom class. The blonde, who was making his way into the classroom, couldn't help put pause and wait, watching to see if what he thought was going on between the two dark haired teens was real, or not.

"Thanks for doing what you did—you didn't have to…" Max started, turning to face the taller teen.

A devilish grin grew on devilish lips and were quickly dispatched, knowing that the blond ex was watching.

"Don't worry about it," Damien assured, leaning over and leaving a chaste kiss on the other boy's cheek, "I'll see you after school." And with that the demon child left for his own classroom.

Justice!

Now don't get Damien wrong! He has nothing against the McCormick child—heck, with Kenny's countless deaths, the two were actually very close friends! It was just Damien's sense of justice had to be satisfied and with Pip's move back to Europe, Damien had felt emotionally dried up until now. That…and that Max kid stirred something up within him.

Kenny shuffled into the classroom feeling half surprised and half relieved. For the last half of the summer, after his breakup with Max, the blond had been guilt ridden with the thought that Max hadn't gotten over him. It wouldn't have surprised him if the other teen didn't—it's not like he saved the kid from his abusive dad and allowed him to live at his house and had fallen in over with him in the process, or nothing. And now with the assurance of what he just saw go on between his old boyfriend and his death friend he can focus on his new boyfriend without feeling anymore guilt about the last one.

He sat in his usual seat, quickly being enveloped into the conversation around him with his friends; however, he still looked up when Max entered the classroom and watched the dark haired teen as he took his seat. It was a habit that Kenny might never get over.

While Max waited for class to start, his mind instantly flew to Damien. Was Satan's son really hitting on him? And that kiss, there had to be a motive other than wanting to kiss him. And what he said to him before he left…does the tall teen plan to walk him home from school?

This whole morning is happening too fast; Max whined mentally, dizziness overcoming him.

In the end, Max was just happy that he was going to be able to catch up on some well deserved sleep.

And he was proud to admit that he did, too bad he didn't have work for the rest of the week, he would have been well-rested and prepared.

Lunch time eventually came, though a bit too soon for Max's taste. He wasn't hungry, as usual, but left the classroom nonetheless. He found himself subconsciously making his way to the roof, anxiety growing at the thought of going up there and finding Kenny—or worse—Kenny and his new boyfriend, Butters. Air escaped from the distressed teen, he wasn't a hundred percent sure that Kenny and Butters was up there, but he didn't want to take the chance.

I don't want to go to the cafeteria either…

The image of hormonal teens bickering, joshing, and bantering came as quite the turn off for Max, especially if one of those bantering teens was Kenny. In the end, Max found himself sitting in one of the stall of the boy's bathroom, after scaring off the little freshmen who were hiding in there before him. It was an incredible discovery that time actually passed slower while waiting in a bathroom stall. No matter how long Max stared at the random patterns on the ceiling or the bland colors of the walls of the stall, time still took its time strolling down the lovely road of Forever and allowed itself to frolic across the meadow of Slow Passing—oh, and who could forget waving 'hello' to Father Time at the corner of Tick and Tock. It was starting to strain the usually patient teen's patience.

The boy had actually gotten used to the sound of the abandoned restroom; as a result, when he heard the door open and the sound of boots against tile resonating throughout the poorly cleaned room he became so surprised he almost fell into the toilet. Thankful of his skills in missing the toilet water—getting teased for being drenched in toilet water wasn't how he pictured starting off the year, or ending it—Max found himself a little bit more than curious to whom dared enter the boys restroom; the restroom he was currently resting in is known for a lot of mischievous endeavors; only clueless Freshmen and indifferent Seniors came into this bathroom.

A teacher? No teachers had their own personal bathrooms. A student? Has to be a senior, or a kid with huge balls, to stride in with such ease.

The boots of the stranger were visible from the other side of the stalls, and as they made their way past the urinals, they were classified as 'Kenny Safe', a code word that Max proudly made up himself. He used it for things that were unrelated to Kenny.

He didn't want to admit it, but the dark-haired teen was actually starting to expel small beads of sweat when the silent person with the loud boots stopped right in front of his stall.

Crap! I hope it's not someone who wants to beat the shit out of me!

The sweaty teen couldn't help flinching when two knocks rebounded against the tile walls of the restroom. It was a bit anti-climactic, but it was better than two pounding knocks.

Max, at first, stared at the door, as if any creature that might be waiting on the other side of the door was just too hard for him to imagine. A foot slipped off the plastic toilet seat as Max stretched over to unlock the stall door, he was surprised to find Damien, the tall kid from before, looking down at him.

"Hey," was the modest conversation starter made by red-eyed male.

"There are other stalls y'know." Max said quickly, about to close the door.

Damien pulled the stall door wide open before Max had the chance to fully close and lock it.

"No, I was looking for you."

The look in his eyes meant that he was serious; all of a sudden the toilet teen felt a slight blush of embarrassment for being found in a lonely bathroom stall, waiting for the time to pass.

I must look so pathetic right now.

"Why?" was the simple question Max asked, getting off the toilet and walking past Damien, turning to lean against the counter.

"Thought you'd be lonely…plus, I didn't think you would want to spend your first day back in the boys' bathroom."

The shorter male frowned, "how did you know I spent my first day of school in the bathroom before?"

The taller teen shrugged, "I didn't. You look like the type."

All Damien was able of doing at the moment was make the corners of the other teen's lips fall. He needed to change his tactic if he wanted to stay on good terms with the cute male. Red eyes flew around the, now silent, restroom before the owner of the eyes thought of something else to talk about.

But the devil's son didn't get the chance as the bell rang, announcing the end of the lunch period. It's now back to suffering through the last bit of their classes for the two dark-haired teens. Max especially didn't seem quite ready to return to two straight hours of hell after another. They both headed out, one after the other, and were about to take their own ways to class.

"I'll see you after school." Damien pitched in before disappearing within the crowd of horny teenagers. Max turned to demur, but frowned to find the other teen nowhere.

It wasn't easy, but he made it. The final bell rang and as excited as Max was about the end of the day, he wasn't rushing out of the classroom. What's more embarrassing than being the first one to grab their things and trip and fall on the way out the classroom? He rather not take his chances; he doesn't have much luck these days.

Taking his time down the teen infested halls, he remembered that there was someone waiting for him, Damien. It uplifted his heart and quickened his pace. Knowing that there was someone waiting for you after going through a day of crap, it brought back familiar feelings—good familiar feelings. It felt the same, back when Kenny waited for him at the end of school, or when Max finished his shift at work and would find his blond angel waiting outside for him with an angelic smile.

All of a sudden that good familiar feeling turned into a burnt dried-up sensation. He really needed to stop thinking about Kenny, especially in a loving manner.

Max didn't notice he was outside of the school building until a recently befriended stranger approached him, placing a small touch on the shorter his shoulder. Max quickly looked up, a small strained smile filling up his lips. Damien easily replied with a smile as well, his looking a bit more natural, but a bit robotic.

"Hey,"

"Hey,"

Expert conversationalist at their finest.

"Damien, you don't have to—"

"I will accompany you on your route home." Declared Damien a bit too robotically for Max's taste.

"What?"

"We can rest at a store of convenience on our way, if you wish."

"Uh…okay?" By now, Max was afraid if he didn't give simple replies Damien might explode and heavy metallic chunks would litter the courtyard.

Saying that the first ten minutes were a bit more than awkward would be a huge understatement. Even though they were walking down a sidewalk that usually had some pedestrians around, it was strangely quiet. It was too quiet. It felt like the world had either stopped, or everyone in the world had evaporated into thin air. To make it more awkward, there was no idle chit chat, or attempts at a conversation and the lack of anything between the two teens made this awkwardness apparent. Maybe everyone on the street ran away because of the thickness of awkward?

Max cleared his throat, but not with the intention of getting Damien's attention so he can say something, it was purely for the reason that his throat felt sticky and he needed to clear it. But now, after clearing his throat like that, he felt obliged to say something, so he said the first thing that his mouth could come up with. Any risk of saying something stupid was fairly high, but after being found hiding out in the boy's bathroom that afternoon and blushing like a virgin after getting kissed on the cheek, Max really didn't have room to care.

"Once, I had to ride in a taxi with a prostitute." was the best Max mustered out.

"What?"

"Damien, are you uncomfortable or something?" blurted the shorter teen.

"Ah…" Damien seemed to be in a temporary state of shock, "Eh, I'm just a little nervous…"

"Why?" Max asked confusedly; why would someone be nervous around him? Max is neither intimidating nor fabulously popular, so in the teen's mind, there really was no reason to be nervous around him.

" Well, you must know this already, but I'm not the most social person," Max nodded in agreement, "I'm a bit tense around new people…" Damien disclosed slowly.

"Like a robot?" added Max, getting a quick look from Damien.

"Y-yeah…" Damien admitted begrudgingly, "I don't act very robotic once you get to know me, trust me." The taller teen assured, a small form of blush tainting his pale cheeks.

Max smiled as he allowed himself to look over at the other teen, it was actually cute to see someone else nervous for a change. It surprised Max that he wasn't the one nervous; back when, the dark-haired boy would become nervous under most situations. He even remembers being nervous around Kenny when he first met the blond, but Damien was different somehow. Max had gotten accustomed to the boy's presence fairly quickly, or maybe that's just the permanent effect of having gone out with Kenny?

"So, do you still want to stop by at a store of convenience?" Max teased, making his best robot impression before sending a playful smirk at the taller teen.

"Shut up." Was Damien's reply as they walked into the store.

The rest of the afternoon went on pleasantly even though it wasn't very eventful. Damien proved to be quite fun to be around, his dark insight of the world always made for interesting and unusual conversations, plus the dark teen was able to fill up the sarcastic hole in Max's chest that was left by Kenny.

Ouch.

The thought of Kenny was still able to bring pain to Max's heart.

"Well, this is me," the shorter teen stopped in front of an apartment complex, "Sorry for making you walk me all the way here."

"Tch, you didn't make me," Damien retorted, rolling his eye, "I wanted too. Besides now I can stalk you outside of your apartment."

There was a sudden pause and then a burst of laughter from the two, good thing Max caught on to Damien's type of humor, or he would have been freaking out.

"Yeah, too bad you won't be able to stalk me for long," Max said, crossing his arms as he stared up at the building he, at the moment, regrettably lived in. Damien gave his whole attention to the shorter male, puzzlement in his face, "I don't have enough money to pay for rent and I don't have long. You'll have to stalk me from outside of a garbage can soon."

Satan's son didn't say anything. It never mattered to him before if someone was in a financial crisis—or even if their lives were complete shit—Damien usually didn't take the time to care, but for some reason Max's situation hit him hard in the jugular. Why was it that he cared so much for the guy? On his little list of people that he cared about there were very few people that he actually cared about, one now not around anymore. Was Damien just trying to fill up the now empty spot on his 'people I care for' list with Max?

Satan, why does thinking about my emotions always gives me a headache? Damien hissed mentally, squeezing his eyes closed and placing the palm of his hand against his forehead.

"Hmph. Sorry I killed the mood," apologized Max sheepishly, "I'll let you get home now, see ya tomorrow." The shorter teen finished dully, giving a small wave as he stepped backwards up the stairs behind him.

Damien gave a little wave also, unable to decide if he should smile, or keep his face expressionless. Even with the small inner conflict, on the outside the taller boy's face was left expressionless, though his eyes showed something more, too bad Max didn't notice it.

Max had met up with Damien before school started in the school courtyard; they struggled a bit to continue a conversation, but what did you expect from a night owl and a noon hawk at six in the morning? The two blackberries complained about minor things as a way of idle chit chat and eventually were able to get into a full conversation.

Students passing by the two would have thought that they were best friends, or even dating perhaps, if they noticed them. Damien and Max had similar taste in close, both liked to wear dark colors—mostly black; though, Max liked wearing baggie clothing while Damien enjoyed tight clothes. Their choice of clothing somehow made them invisible to the rest of the courtyard, if it were just one of them wearing dark colors—or even one of them by himself—there would be people staring, but since both looked so alike, nobody seemed to mind them…kind of like how everyone treated the Goth kids. They stood out so much, they turned invisible.

But about halfway across the courtyard there was only one person who noticed the pair. As much as it hurt to see Max having fun without him, Kenny had to convince himself that his little demon didn't need him anymore. He was with Butters now, and even though it brought pain and longing to see Max, he was happy being with Butters—not to say he wasn't happy when he was with Max. He was happy with Max too, but the type of happiness he felt around Max was different from the type of happiness he felt when he was around Butters. Which happiness was better? Kenny still couldn't find the answer to that. During the summer, when he began feeling strongly for Butters while still in his relationship with Max, confusion and doubt consumed the perverted blond. His confusion only increased the more he spent time with the two boys and soon his confusion turned to anger, which was only directed at himself. In the end, he felt that is was not fair for Max if he couldn't be completely devoted to him, so he broke it off with the raven head (not an actual raven head).

The more he thought about his decision, the more selfish and cowardly he saw his self-image as.

He was called over by the voice of Butters, drawing his attention away from the pair of blackberries and back to the conversation he was pretending to listen to. He feigned a smile and continued the conversation with the group around him, letting off a pervy comment about whatever they were talking about, daring one last glance at Max before having to wait until Homeroom to take another look at the boy.