One year later
Birds were God's way of punishing mortals; Kenny could come only to that conclusion as he waded through a spattering of the mite-infested pests. He hissed, batting away a particularly needy pigeon from his bag of goodies and wondering for the nth time just why it was he seemed to attract every goddamn feral species on the planet. He grumbled, shooing another away from his arm and hugging around his bag, speeding away from his truck through the small parking lot and towards the building lying in the distance.
He peered up at the tarps overlying the lower left wing of the establishment, beaming neon blue against the sunny sky and fluttering ever-so-lightly with gentle gusts of wind. A small addition Kyle had managed to scrounge the money for, a place to keep supplies for customers to come in for themselves and see what they could come up with together. The blonde hummed, gazing up at the orange CollAd logo shimmering in the sunlight. Kenny beamed proudly at it for a moment before scurrying on his way, knocking another pigeon off his shoe as he walked.
Ken turned and hit the front door with his back, pressing it open and following suit with the next in line. He whirled around, glancing at a few walking faces and he waved, trying to remember all of their names but failing pathetically. Oh well, he reasoned. Kyle couldn't keep track of the names of all of his kids either, so that made it even in his book.
Given there were about a hundred more wandering around his dojo, but it was the principle of the thing.
He grabbed a pen off the security desk, scribbling in his name on the visitor sign-in sheet; a liability clause of sorts, informing their guests that they were on camera in this portion of the building. Kyle firmly believed that the power of suggestion was stronger than any kind of overpriced, over-the-top security. Tape one place and nowhere else would need it, people would just subconsciously believe that it was wall-to-wall cameras. The amount of time Kenny had forgotten to sign the sheet, and therefore the number of times Kyle had dragged him downstairs and watched him sternly while he meekly did as told while Kyle's employees watched their laughable display, was beyond staggering. If he could avoid that today, he'd like to. He dropped the pen and turned to begin his trek towards the stairs, stopping with a cresting sound perking up around him. "Shouldn't you be working?" a dry voice called behind him. He whirled around, seeing Craig staring at him with a barely-cocked brow, the noirette walking up beside him.
Kenny shrugged, "Workin' on goin' t' nail yer boss. That count?"
"Gross," he scoffed.
"You weren't sayin' that back in the day. I'm just sayin'," he poked his shoulder. "Admit it, Tucker. You're so jelly of me I oughta get you a boombox." Craig narrowed his grey eyes and Kenny elbowed him with a shit-eating grin. "'Cause you're straight-up jammin'."
His face fell into a further state of monotony that Kenny wasn't even aware existed, Craig ascending to the highest plane of Blandvana as far as he could tell. "Jelly and jam aren't the same thing," he said plainly, turning and walking away from him.
Kenny pouted, "Stop ruining my puns, Tucker! Not all of us can be robots like you!" He snorted at Craig flipping him off before heading into the design office, shaking his head and turning on his heel to continue on his path. He approached the staircase, reaching into his bag and swooping by the door just past his destination, grinning at the woman at the desk in front of him. "Hey there, good lookin'."
Judy glanced up and gave him a half-baked smile, long acrylics still typing away furiously at her poor, abused keyboard. "Hello, Mr. McCormick."
"Judy, Judy, please," he drawled, tossing a small bag in his hand and raising his brow, moving to lean over her desk. "I've told ya, it's Kenny. Or Ken. Personal preference of course," he smiled sweetly, smoothly sliding the bag onto her desk. "Gotcha one of those white chocolate macadamia cookies you love," he winked.
She slid it back with a stern look on her face, "I'm on a diet."
"Oh you always say that when I bring ya food," he pouted. "Then I see ya eatin' McDonalds for lunch. C'mon now, Judy. What's a man gotta do to earn your love?"
"Not irritate me at the office," she smiled scornfully. "Now. Please. Let me get back to my orders."
He scoffed, grabbing the cookie and walking over towards Paul, "Paul, do you love me?"
"Well, I don't hate ya," he shrugged.
Kenny nodded, putting the bag down in front of the man. "Good enough. Have a cookie, Paul. I love you, too." He turned and looked at Judy primly. "At least someone appreciates my efforts," he drawled, striding out of the office and up the stairs, smirking to himself at the woman muttering under her breath after him. Annoyed Craig and Judy in one fell swoop. A successful day if he did say so himself, Kyle would no doubt be proud of his accomplishment.
He hopped his way up the steps, glancing around as he clicked his tongue, glancing into the first office on the left at the young, brunette woman sitting and typing away. "Heya, Charlotte," he greeted. She glanced over, giving him a shy, polite wave. He smirked, "You n' Butters good?"
"Doing great, Kenny, thank you," she nodded. "How aboot you?"
The blonde shrugged casually, "Can't be doin' much better. Have a good'n."
"You, too, Kenny!" she waved him off, turning back to her computer.
Kenny paused, hearing that oh-so-familiar voice down the hall and breaking into a wider smile, picking up his pace and rushing towards the next office, peeking his head into the open door to see Kyle leaning over Butters' shoulder at his chair, pointing at the computer. "Okay, Dude, you need two spreadsheets for this," Kyle elaborated. "See how it's all… jumbly?" he gestured aimlessly, Butters nodding along to his words, looking as confused as ever. "Do one for this month and one for last month… Like our statements," he shrugged.
"O-kay!" Butters nodded determinedly. Kyle shook his head and rolled his eyes. Putting Butters through his community college classes had become nearly a nightmare, Kyle doing more instructing than his actual goddamn instructors as far as he could tell. The redhead caught contrasting color in his peripheral and looked towards the door, grinning at the new arrival.
"Hey, you. Shouldn't you be working?"
"Stop hanging out with Craig," Kenny pouted and stepped into the room. "I might get jealous and kick his ass."
Kyle snorted, "I'd pay to see that."
Kenny sidled up beside him and elbowed him lightly. "I ain't cheap, Darlin'." Kyle gave him a wry expression and he shrugged sheepishly. "Okay. I'm cheap, but I ain't free." He leaned down and kissed his cheek, Kyle smiling warmly at the greeting. Butters let out a soft coo and Kenny glared down at him. "Butters, don't make sounds when I kiss Kyle, it gives me a reverse boner."
"Oh gee, I'm sorry, Ken," he blinked up at him, Kyle shaking his head with a long sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose irritably.
The redhead peered up at his boyfriend, looking far too proud of his shenanigans. "Ken, why are you here?" Kenny's face fell pathetically and he rolled his eyes. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but why?"
He blinked at him, "It… it's Wednesday, I always bring you lunch on Wednesdays." Kyle blinked, looking down at Butters' calendar, letting out a soft 'huh'.
"I thought it was Tuesday… and I thought it was next week," he twisted his lips. "Well, awesome. I'm caught up until then," he shrugged, looking at the tall blonde with a smirk. "Wanna make lunch last a week?"
"Oh god, yes," he grinned. "A week of you and food? I can definitely get behind that," he purred, kissing his ear. Kyle grinned, holding back a laugh at teeth scraping over the lobe.
"Uh… Fellers?"
They both looked down at Butters staring at them awkwardly, backing off from one another and clearing their throats. "Uh… g-get the spreadsheets done, Butters," Kyle said. "And obviously I'm on break so unless something's on fire-"
"Bug off and handle it myself or else yer payin' me fer nothin'," Butters finished dutifully.
Kenny snorted, "Atta boy. Here," he reached into his bag and pulled out two sandwiches wrapped tightly in butcher paper. "Got you and Charlotte some food, too."
"Gee whiz, thanks, Kenny!" he beamed brightly. He waved them off as Kenny grabbed Kyle's hand, half-dragging him out of the room and down the hall. They rounded the corner towards Kyle's office and the redhead smirked.
"Did you just pay off my accountant to leave us alone?"
He nodded proudly, "I did. You complainin'?"
He shook his head, "Not in the slightest. He's been driving me up the fucking wall."
Kenny shoved open his unlocked office door and towed him inside, kicking it shut behind them. "Only I am allowed to do anything involving you, fucking, and a wall."
"I'm not arguing that notion," he chuckled. He oofed as Kenny moved him to his desk, motioning for him to hop up onto it. Kyle rolled his eyes amusedly, playing along and jumping up to sit on the edge of the surface, grinning as Kenny leaned down for a long, slow kiss. "Soooo did you actually bring me food, or did you just expect me to snack on something else?" he raised his brow saucily.
He shrugged innocently, "Can't a man do both?"
"I'm not very good at multitasking, guess I'll have to decide which one sounds more appetizing," he purred, pulling Kenny closer between his legs. The blonde grinned, dropping their lunch off to the side of the desk, hands planting firmly around his hips and squeezing, pecking him brashly. They rubbed noses a bit, humming contentedly against one another as Kyle's hands slid up to loop around his shoulders and keep him leaning down with him. He leaned his head back and sighed happily at firm kisses planting around his neck. "My dad called me on my way to work," he mentioned offhandedly.
"Oh?" Kenny nodded him along, a little preoccupied with undoing the redhead's tie and not exactly in the mood to think of the man's fucking father of all people.
Kyle licked over his lips, playing with the tag in the back of Kenny's collar. "Trial is set for about four months from today."
Kenny stopped automatically and leaned back up, looking at him concernedly. "You… you okay?"
"Uh yeah, I'm fine," he nodded. "It's just kind of… surreal?" he winced. "I mean, I haven't left this building but we did so damn good at writing him out completely and starting over it's like… L-like…"
"Like the whole thing never happened?" he guessed.
He shrugged a bit, "Well… not to that extent, but it's like the situation got pushed so far away from all of us that we forgot how bad it was. Then my dad calls and sends me a list of people he wants me to get from the office as witnesses and tells me that I need to decide on my character witnesses… By the way, you willing to be a character witness?" he asked.
"Of course," he nodded, pecking his nose. "I'll tell them all about how good and sweet and smart you are," he purred, nipping his lip.
Kyle glared, "Don't call me sweet. The others I'll tolerate begrudgingly. But not that."
"But you are," he teased, latching onto his neck and leading him backwards, moving his stapler out of the way for him to fall back onto a disarrayed stack of paperwork. "That's why I get so bitter when I don't see you all day." Kyle shook his head and rolled his eyes, giving him a lazy grin as he leaned up over him and sighing, thumb stroking over his chin.
"You continue to make me question why I put up with you."
"Because I help pay the mortgage?" he shrugged.
Kyle chuckled, "Yeah, that is a nice perk."
"You think that one's nice, wait till you feel my other one," he winked, pulling his hips down a bit over the desk and grinding up against him. Kyle arched and moaned softly, hand tracing to fall on the back of Kenny's neck and bring him down a bit for another kiss. "One of these days someone's gonna walk in on me plowin' you," the blonde commented.
"Hm, I hope it's Judy. Then she can go to bed realizing not only am I getting laid and she's not, but she'll have the image of your pasty ass seared into her retinas."
Ken smirked, "You love my pasty ass."
"Oh, I do," he agreed, reaching down and gripping around him, pulling him down to grind against again. Kenny grinned down at him before it fell, cocking his head at him thoughtfully. Kyle blinked, hand tracing up to his hip. "What? What's wrong?"
"You sure you're okay?" he questioned. "Usually you'd be doin' that fake-ass 'oh no not on my desk someone will see' thing," he smirked lightly.
"Maybe I just want laid, damn," he frowned.
Kenny sighed, standing and moving Kyle to sit him back up, leaning back down in his face and staring at him knowingly. "Babe, I love ya. Love ya t' death. And I know you wayyy too well to think somethin' ain't up."
Kyle pouted, blowing Kenny's bangs out of his eyes and giving him a halfhearted shrug. "Guess it's just kind of reopening the floodgates, ya know? And I know that once his fat ass is finally sentenced and in prison, it'll really be like he was never here but… but I don't know. I'm kind of just in a strange headspace about the whole thing I guess," he winced, eyes tracing up and staring at Kenny's forehead for a moment, green glossing over. Kenny's shoulders drooped. So far he'd done an excellent job at keeping Kyle from seeing any of his other unfortunate mishaps, convincing him to start believing when he didn't come home any night, he had just had an extra-long patrol. But, Kenny was no fool. He knew those nights were beyond hard for Kyle, and he'd lie in their bed staring at the ceiling, knowing what had happened and knowing he could do nothing to speed up his return, doomed to just wait for fate to be kind to them again.
They'd talked about it only once, Kenny asking him if he'd feel better if he just hung up the cape. Kyle had to sit on that notion for only a few moments before telling him no, in fact, it'd make him feel worse. The redhead could tell the sense of purpose it gave to Kenny, the lifelong mission he'd carried needing to march on into the night, regardless of any amount of worry it caused him. He'd joked that now he knew how Wendy felt, except Kenny's cases didn't pay the bills like Stan's did. But, he also knew, they were just as goddamn important as Stan's work, Kenny getting himself mixed up in many a situation that had swept right under police radar. Kyle found himself now and then having to call Stan after Kenny would stumble home beaten to shit, telling him to get his task force's ass into gear as he patched up his boyfriend's wounds.
It'd been a tedious routine for a time, especially when Kenny had moved in with him five months into their relationship when his lease had been up for renewal and Kyle had made the suggestion. Kyle would demand to know just what Ken had found himself caught in, the blonde refusing to share the information, overly paranoid that someone might figure him out and trace it all back to Kyle. The redhead had called him ridiculous, that the only reason it'd happened in the first place was because of how he himself was so deeply involved with the plot they were unraveling. They found themselves at ends over matters of trust, regardless of both of them knowing that either one of them truly breaking that bond was beyond a ridiculous notion. Kenny just wanted the redhead to be safe, but Kyle kept reminding him bitterly that he refused to be thrown into another situation where he was kept out of the loop until it blew up in his face.
The redhead hated seeing him frustrated with tracking down a lead, not able to put the pieces together but refusing to let Kyle assist him on the off-chance of him being threatened or hurt once again. Kyle had shot that down time and again, the arguments culminating until it finally erupted a good seven months in, the two of them finding themselves in their first honest-to-god fight in the course of their relationship over just how much Kyle was allowed to be involved with Kenny's 'hobby', as they had lightheartedly dubbed it. The conclusion hadn't come easy, the mess spanning two days and the two of them swapping places each night between the bed and the couch, refusing to sleep next to the other until they 'came to their senses'.
Finally, a glare-fueled dinner launched them into a bargaining session that lasted hours before they come to a compromise: Kenny would keep doing his patrols, and Kyle would once more be his man on the intel side of things. They landed somewhat comfortably on the notion of Kyle keeping his distance and not being allowed out on patrols with him, no arguments on the matter, so long as Kenny would let him do all the work he could from the safety of behind a screen that was checked daily for any hint of another hacking. It had settled uneasily on Kenny, but he knew well enough that Kyle was stubborn as they came, and keeping him out of these matters was just out of the question, much as he would've wished it to be so. But Kyle getting involved had propelled him forward in ways that he knew he never could have managed himself, the man proving time and again that just because he wasn't the one with a cape that he was any less valuable to the operation.
Kenny took a deep breath, brushing Kyle's hair back a bit as the redhead continued to swim in his disillusioned sea for a moment. "I'm here," he said softly, cupping his chin, getting him back with him. "I'm right here."
"I know," he whispered, leaning forward and placing his head against his chest, letting out a long-winded sigh. His fingers loosely curled into the hem of Kenny's shirt, eyes tracing over a bit to his exposed arm and lingering on a cut, the skin red and irritated around it. A knife, Kenny had told him, but that was as bad as it had gotten, so he shouldn't worry. Kyle didn't know whether to laugh or straight-up punch the blonde for insinuating that he could do any such thing.
He nestled down as Kenny comfortingly wrapped his arms around him, characteristically lost for words as he always was in this situation. Kenny truly had no idea how to make the circumstances seem less awful, only able to hold him and reassure him time and again when he fell into these occasional spells that he wasn't going anywhere for the moment. Kyle no longer needed the reassurance that he was real, but having the routine they'd fallen into helped stave him through until Kenny's next go-round in the afterlife more than he cared to admit.
The redhead pulled himself back again, meeting a soft kiss and humming under his breath. "So… found your guy today," he said offhandedly, more than willing to change the subject and get his mind on another track.
Kenny cocked his brow, a smirk creeping up his lips. "Oh you did?"
Kyle nodded, sliding down off his desk in front of him and making way around the surface, digging into his second drawer to the bottom file. He winced as he struggled to pull out the carefully hidden information, kicking his cabinet shut and tossing the manilla down in front of him. Kenny snagged the file and opened it up, glancing through the information curiously. "He's about as cliché as you get," Kyle drawled. "Part of a meth house operation. Large scale one as far as I can tell. They found a few making the same strain in Arizona and Utah a few weeks ago and shut them down, but they know that there's others still lingering around."
Ken looked at him with a playful smirk, "Remember when you used to do work at work?"
"And I was looking like I was fifty? Yeah, I remember it well. Now I have you and your dumb impulsive ass to make me go grey," he drawled, getting a wink from his boyfriend before he glanced back down at his file.
"Where do they get the funding?" Kenny asked, flipping pages of Kyle's carefully compiled research. "Thought we agreed meth isn't the most profitable for this town."
"Well I'm assuming there's a base of operations elsewhere and the product is taken to other towns," he shrugged. "Very highly doubt it's the one here at home, but…" he reached forward and snagged the pages, flipping them to the last with a map drawn on with pen. "Look at the locations they caught and this one," he gestured, "they're pretty much equal distance from Grand Junction. If I had to harbor a guess, I'd say telling Stan to get their department on the phone wouldn't be a bad notion." He leaned down with his chin in his palm, observing Kenny absorbing the information with a small smile. Watching the all-too-rare unmasked turning of his wheels was always a treat. "By the way, you cool with steak salad for dinner?"
"So long as I get dessert afterwards, yes," he shrugged sheepishly. "Salad don't do much for me; you know my endless pit of a stomach." Kyle snorted and nodded in agreement, Kenny licking over his lips and gazing down at the addresses Kyle had specified as potential hits for their operation. "All right, I'll look into these guys tonight. Stan know anything yet?"
"He knows you found a group of junkies, that's about it. He's been putting who you brought in through the grinder, but he can only get so much when they're tweakin' out from withdrawal. Flip to the second to last page," he instructed, leaning up and watching him do so. Kyle looked upside down at the list, moving his finger down and pointing specifically towards a highlighted name nearing the bottom. "This guy was mentioned by three of the suspects, so I can only assume he's somewhere near the top. If I had to guess, he's most likely the main line between the base and South Park's operation. Track him down and you have a huge potential for a bust to be prioritized if he's linked as far up the roster as Stan and I suspect."
"God, I love when you talk all professionally," he gushed saucily, grabbing his half-undone tie and leaning him forward over the desk, planting a hot, wet kiss against his neck. Kyle smiled, ducking his head down and meeting his lips eagerly, bringing them back up from his throat. His eyes fluttered open as Kenny pulled back, mouth curling into a smirk.
He moved his thumb over Kenny's lips and smiled, "Dinner with him, Wends, and Sam got moved to tomorrow, by the way."
He nodded, "Fine by me. I'll be a little late, got a buncha tutoring sessions to oversee and Clyde can't linger to watch instead."
"I'll order for you," he pecked his chin. "So, we just gonna talk food and crime or what?" he asked, voice dipping into a hint of a growl. Kenny grinned, moving a bit to the side and planting his hand on Kyle's desk, quickly propelling himself around the surface to corner his boyfriend in against the table.
"No, no," he promised, shoving him back down atop his paperwork and coming between his legs, loving the wild, excited spark flickering through spring green that never seemed to die down. He leaned down and kissed him pointedly. "I'd much rather prioritize this; your ass is way more important than something so menial as food."
Kyle grinned lazily, a fond affection smoldering in his starry-eyed gaze, "My hero."
They both snorted a bit and rolled their eyes before the laughter died off with another long, lingering kiss. They knew well enough what lied beyond freshly repainted walls and rows of cubicles. They knew the dangers corroding the outside, how the fabric of society seemed to constantly balance on but a single thread as operations became more complex and harder to crack open. Citizens remained unaware of their weak standing, criminals would rise through and take any opportunity presented before them to rise to the top of the food chain. But, the men supposed, that mattered little.
Stan could hold all the press conferences he wanted, Yates could take a brunt of the credit for the suspects apprehended throughout the last year. They knew the truth, that they were the ones putting together the clues and taking the steps that law enforcement just couldn't seem to keep up with. All that mattered to them was keeping their town, and each other, safe. Creeping through the shadows together, shrouded in an air of mystery that both stifled and propelled them, it was a routine now that never seemed to go stale. Cycling through the motions time and again with each new case never seemed to wear them down, did nothing more than bring them colliding together as it had since the very beginning. It was a strange concept, one that baffled them and lingered over their heads like the proverbial cumulonimbus clouds that never seemed to dissipate.
But, in their opinion, that was what made them who they were, it would be what had started them and perhaps foreshadowed how they would end their days together, however far down the road that may be. They considered it to be the strangest enigma they'd ever come across; but, they surmised, it was the one mystery to them that was best left unsolved.
A/N: And it's DONE. Thank god.
I'm sure you could tell but I completely lost my interest and any hint of drive for this story about ten+ chapters ago I've just wanted this monster out of my way pffff. But we're finally done and I'm so happy.
However, that being said, holy shit you guys thank you so much for the kind words I've been given on this project since the very beginning! I hope you guys had as much fun with it as I did throughout the first thirty chapters and it didn't drag as badly for you as it did for me towards the end pfft.
I still love me some Kysterion and one day I'll come back to the idea, but for now, I think I've made up for the travesty that was 'Unmasked' with this guy, which was the original intent. Maybe I'll find another hero drive down the way, who knows? For now though, I'm just glad to put this away and focus on other bigger projects.
So, for a final time, thanks for R&Ring and hope to see you on another story!