Just as Hunter's body gave up the fight and fell into silent resignation in Kyle's arms - the boy's head twisted at an uncomfortable angle as he pressed his face against her collarbone in an attempt to filter out the tainted air - they could just barely make out the noise of people approaching their tomb. Daring to dream, they gazed at the other optimistically, exchanging silent confirmation that they were both hearing it. It had seemed so impossible in that zero hour, and yet just as everything started to crash in around them like the last grains from the shovel, there was this one small ray of hope...

On the verge of moving his head to call out to their possible mystery savior, Kyle felt her hand against the back of his neck; it was gelid to the point of death and tremulous as a paper snowflake in a blizzard of chainsaws and bloody tampons, but even still, there was enough strength behind the gesture for him to get the idea to keep his head down. Kyle had done so much for Hunter during their thralldom alone, so it went without saying that she owed him this much. There was no ceiling for her debt (much like the economy), and worse, there seemed to be no one act large enough to sufficiently convey a sense of balance but this was a start. It was a small beginning, but it was an embarkation all the same.

Jerking her head away from Kyle and parallel to the right side of the door, Hunter cried out once more, throat feeling scratchy as she spoke. "Help! Help!"

There was shouting on the other side of the door at Hunter's exclamation, a small panic and sound of surprise, followed shortly by the jangling of keys on a keyring. In the five seconds it took for the door to open, Kyle saw Hunter looking back at him with a wave of gratitude that could never be fully expressed in words, and for the first time, her androgynous features reflected the briefest echoes of something delicate and decidedly feminine. He might have been imagining it in the midst of panic as it became relief, but for one microscopic fraction of a second, she looked almost kind of... pretty... No, he was definitely imagining it.

Dropping his arms from around Hunter just in time, the next thing that either of them knew, light was suddenly filling up the depository, breaking through the dim haze to show that they were covered in a healthy sprinkling of powdered clean-it-all. They looked like ghosts, if ghosts were made of chalk, and the newfound glare revealed that the secret female was paler than normal beneath her new coat. Kyle imagined that he wasn't quite up to code either, and now that he didn't have hold it back, he certainly was starting to feel like his cell mate looked. As sweet oxygen circulated back through their lungs, both prisoners fell into heavy coughing fits. In the background, Kyle was dimly aware of the noise of a picture being taken by a rather crappy camera phone. Cartman.

Pulling himself up and out of the closet with mild unease, Kyle turned around to see the fat-ass bearing witness, but for whatever reason, Cartman looked greatly disappointed as he put away the electric device. Standing just by the door was Craig, who was pocketing his metal insurance, and behind him with a rather unreadable expression was Kenny. For his friend's sake, the curly-haired ginger was suddenly very glad that he had thought to let her go. Whatever happened between them, it would only be complicated if Kenny thought that he was involved with Hunter in a way that wasn't strictly platonic. As if that would ever happen.

"Having fun in there?" Craig really was caught off guard to find that Kyle was actually in the closet with Hunter, however, you really couldn't tell by the way that he was conducting himself.

Glaring over at Craig, Kyle frowned. "Shut the fuck up Craig."

Craig flipped Kyle off and turned back to talk to Kenny. "I'm going to class." This little adventure had been fun while it lasted, but this was the point that things could get out of hand with those guys, so it was time to cut his losses and dip. "Later."

Kenny didn't give any indication that he had heard Craig, but his eyes followed him as the boy walked off to wait for third period to start. Once Craig was gone, the blonde turned his attention back to the remaining three boys, wondering what was going on - he had heard Hunter ask Kyle to speak to him in private, so he had the impression that it was fairly secretive, and probably urgent since it was was so early in the day, but Cartman obviously had an ax to grind, so it was possible that it was all an honest mistake. But even if it was and Cartman was just trying to start shit again, what were they talking about? And why did it seem to all center around himself?

The smartest kid in the class for a reason, Kyle patched the picture together, assuming that Cartman had wandered out to bust himself and Hunter, and the disappointed face would appear to be from him either failing or not finding them the way that he had wanted (hence the camera), and Kenny had somehow figured out that something was amiss, so he had sought out Craig for the keys. "Thanks for getting us out of ther-"

Growing louder and more violent than when they had first been brought out of the closet, Hunter was doubled over against the ambry newel, nearly hacking up a lung. Cartman just rolled his eyes at the pitiful grab for attention. "Fucking drama queen."

Both Kenny and Kyle threw Cartman a nasty look. Kenny - who had experienced death so many times that he had long since lost count of the exact toll - knew when these things were serious, and listening to Hunter, it sounded just three shades shy. "You should take him to the nurse's office."

"What about you?" Kyle wondered if Kenny was beginning to suspect something was up between Hunter and himself - after being discovered together in a closet, it would be rather strange if he wasn't connecting dots. The only thing that was going on was the new kid trying to make friends, but without knowing that, the situation really did look sketchy.

Growing bored by all the bullshit, Eric chimed in. "While you fags stand here and debate how you're going to bang each other," Cartman included the ailing third member in that statement, "I'm not going to be a part of it. So screw you guys, I'm going to class."

Not missed in the slightest, Cartman took off too, although his progress was rather slow, as if he were trying to keep them on his radar, so he knew that they weren't going to start talking about him behind his back like a bunch of spineless pussies. It was so like those assholes to do that.

Reaching out for Hunter's shoulder, Kyle spoke between the worst of her coughs. "We have to go to the nurse."

In truth, they were probably going to have to go to the hospital, which would probably put a damper on the preordained day. While that sucked on so many different levels for a lot of people (not to mention having to come up with an explanation for their exploits), Hunter found that this might have all been for the best somehow, since it meant prolonging any private time with Kenny. But on the downside, it probably also gave Kenny the wrong impression...

So, I forgot my message again... Yeah. Oh, and another double post, this is.

I do not own South Park, that's all on Matt and Trey, but I do own Hunter and Avery!