A/N: I should have uploaded this chapter sooner, but I always procrastinate when it comes to uploading, which is why I have two chapters to upload now. Also, I've gone a really dark route with Kenny's home life which may not be received well. I really don't care, as the situation as I wrote it plays into Kenny's character development and motivation going forward.

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own South Park.

Chapter Two

Kenny McCormick slowly opened his eyes to the sound of his cell phone vibrating on the table next to the sofa on which he was sitting. He reached over and picked it up to look at the text message that flashed on the screen. As his eyes readjusted to being awake he became aware of where he was. The TV in front of him was on, and the clock on the mantle read 7:30.

"Must have fallen asleep," he said to himself.

As he moved for his phone, he felt someone lean into his shoulder and heard them let out a groan of annoyance. He glanced to his right at the sleeping form of Butters Stotch and smiled at the blonde as he snored lightly.

He unlocked his phone to find a text message from Red with an attached photo.

The photo showed her lying on her bed, naked, with her legs open, while she rubbed her clit with her free hand. It had the caption, "u shud cum ovr."

Kenny shook his head before responding, "sry red busy 2nite. rainchck?"

"my plc 2mrw nite after skool"

"k"

As he lay the phone back onto the counter, he felt Butters stir. He glanced over as the boy's eyes opened.

"Hey there, Sleeping Beauty," Kenny said as he ruffled Butters' hair.

"Geez," Butters said as a light blush lit up his cheeks, "I'm sorry Kenny. I guess I fell asleep."

"It's okay, dude," Kenny said, "I just woke up too. That movie was boring as fuck."

Kenny slowly traced his finger along Butters' jawline, "To be honest, I was much more entertained by watching you sleep."

Butters' blush deepened as Kenny pulled him into a soft yet passionate kiss. Their moment was broken by the sound of a car pulling into the driveway.

The couple bolted upright.

"Shit," Kenny said, "Your parents are home early."

"Oh, hamburgers," Butters said, "If they catch you here, I'll be grounded for sure."

Kenny stood up and grabbed his orange parka before rushing to the nearest window, "See you at school tomorrow, Butters. Love you."

With that Kenny slipped out onto the snow covered ground, just as Mr. and Mrs. Stotch opened the front door.

"So fucking close," Kenny said to himself.

He was about to start heading back to his house when he heard Butter's dad talking.

"What are you watching," he said in an accusatory tone, "Is that a French Arthouse Film? You know that you're not allowed to watch those."

"B…b…but it's just a movie," Butters said timidly.

"Are you talking back to me," Mr. Stotch said with contempt, "That's it mister. You're grounded for the whole weekend. Go to your room."

Upon hearing the exchange, Kenny gritted his teeth and balled his fists, "Fucking prick."

With that, he turned and began his walk home. As he was walking, he let his mind wander.

'I wish I could do something,' he thought to himself, 'If only I could convince Butters to stand up to his parents, but if he did that, who knows what his asshole dad would do to him. He'd probably kick him out. He could come live with me, but Child Protective Services is already watching me and Karen like a hawk. If my boyfriend moved in, they'd take her away from me.'

This change in thought led him to focus on the events of the past two years. When Kenny was fifteen years old, his older brother died of a heroin overdose. Kevin's death rocked the McCormick family to its very core. Each of his parents responded differently. Mrs. McCormick spiraled into a depression and began drinking even more than previously, while Mr. McCormick immediately quit drinking altogether.

In his clarity, Stuart got a job in marketing, and due to a series of fortunate events, became the COO in his firm. Meanwhile, Mrs. McCormick spiraled out of control. When she refused to enter rehab, he filed for divorce, and simultaneously changed his will. Since he was the parent who had his life together, he got custody of Kenny and Karen, and the three of them lived well enough. That was until Stuart died in a car accident. With his death, Kenny and Karen were put into their mother's custody, but luckily for them, their father's will left their inheritance, which was made up of a five hundred thousand dollar life insurance policy, into trust funds that their mother couldn't squander away for drugs and alcohol.

It was during one of their mother's drunken rages that ended with Karen having a black eye, which Kenny decided to take his life into his own hands. During one of her drunken stupors, sixteen year old Kenny convinced his mother to sign a form to grant him emancipation. This allowed him to access his trust fund. He used a portion of the money to purchase a foreclosure house for relatively cheap, and began making investments and doing his own financial planning.

Six months later, when he was fiscally secure, he filed a complaint of child abuse against his mother, and with the help of Gerald Broflovski, sued for custody of thirteen year old Karen. Due to his mother's addiction, and a very well written appeal, Kenny was awarded custody of Karen, and their mother was forcibly sent to rehab. Another three months had passed since then, and the McCormick siblings were doing fine.

Upon turning seventeen, Kenny got a job as a mechanic on the weekends, as well as Monday through Wednesday evenings after school. This new priority had severely limited his interactions with his friends, but he made sure that he still spent time with those that he loved the most. Butters was one of those friends. Kenny couldn't remember when his feelings for Butters changed from a friend that he hung out with sometimes, to someone that he could not see himself living without.

On the topic of living: upon becoming Karen's legal guardian, Kenny resolved that he would do everything in his power to avoid death. He could happily say that he could count his number of deaths since then, on one hand which is good considering at one point in his life, he would die at least once a week.

Kenny was snapped out of his reverie when he became aware that he wasn't the only person out in the snowy night. This awareness came from the crunch of someone else's footfalls in the snow. As he was now aware of his surroundings, he saw that he was walking past the house of Eric Cartman. The footsteps were coming from the person who was coming out the walk.

"Kyle," Kenny said surprised.

The redhead snapped out of what appeared to be deep thought at the sound of his name.

"Hey Kenny," he said seemingly nervous.

"What's going on," Kenny asked, "Why are you coming out of Cartman's house?"

Kyle bit his lip, "No reason. I'd stay and talk longer, but I have to get home before my mom freaks out."

Kyle moved to pass Kenny, but the blonde grabbed his arm, "I'm going to call bullshit on that answer. You and Cartman have a mutual hatred of each other. There's no way that you were just hanging out with him at his house."

Kyle angrily pulled his arm from Kenny's grasp, "It's nothing. Just let it go."

Kenny couldn't help but notice the crack in Kyle's voice as he spoke.

"He's blackmailing you, isn't he," Kenny said, causing Kyle to stop in his tracks.

"Please, Kenny, just let it go," Kyle said again, softly this time and visibly shaking.

Kenny approached Kyle from behind and placed a hand on his shoulder, "No."

Kyle turned around with a fiercely angry look on his face, but Kenny could see tears forming in his eyes.

"You're one of my best friends," Kenny said, "and I know that I'm not your 'Super Best Friend' like Stan, but I want you to know that you can trust me. What is fatass doing to you?"

Kyle released a deep sigh, "Look dude, even if I do want to tell you, I was serious when I said that I need to get home. You know how my mom is when I'm late."

"Okay," Kenny said, "and I doubt that you will want to talk about it at school since I'm getting the notion that it's something private. I had plans with Red after school, but I can cancel."

"No," Kyle said, "Keep your plans. I have… something that I have to do tomorrow afternoon. I'll call you when I'm done?"

Kenny nodded, "You'd better. See you tomorrow."

"See ya," Kyle said as he turned towards his house.

Kenny shook his head as he watched his friend walk away. It was then that he noticed that Kyle was carrying a bag with something in it. He turned and began walking towards his own house.

As Kenny walked through the front door, he saw Karen sitting at the dining room table with her homework spread out.

"Hey Kare-bear," he said as he ruffled the fourteen year-old's hair, "Whatcha doin'?"

"Algebra," she said as she ran her hand through her hair, trying to straighten it back out.

"Sounds exciting," he said as he pulled out his own math homework, "I've got a long night of Trigonometry ahead of me."

"I thought that you would have it done by now," she said.

"Nah," he said, "It's Thursday."

"Oh yeah," she said, "How's your boyfriend."

He shot her a look.

"Are you seriously still maintaining that you're just really close friends," she asked.

Kenny sighed, "It's more complicated than that. If it gets out that I'm in a relationship with a guy, who knows what CPS will do."

"What could they do," she said, "I'm already fourteen. If they try to send me back to her, it'll only be for two more years. Then I'll do the same thing you did; become emancipated."

"I'm not worried about them sending you back to her," Kenny said, "I'm worried about you becoming a ward of the state. If that happens, I won't be able to protect you. I'm not the nine year-old immortal running around in a purple bed sheet anymore."

"You don't need to be," Karen said, "If CPS tries to take me, we can fight back. You were able to get custody of me at the age of sixteen, there's no reason why you couldn't do it again."

"Maybe," he said as he turned back to his Trig homework.

"Anyway," she said as she began packing up her Algebra work, "Tomorrow after school, I'm going over to Ruby's house to work on a project, and since we haven't had a sleepover in a while I figured that maybe I'd spend the night?"

"Sure," he said, "Kyle was going to come over to hang out anyway, and I have a feeling that he wants to talk about something heavy, so it'd probably be a good idea for you to not be here."

"Ike did say that Kyle's been acting weird lately," she said as she moved to go to her bedroom, "Oh well. I'll see you in the morning. Good night."

"G'Night Kare," he said.

A/N: And there you have it: Chapter 2. Please review.