The school bell rings in everyone's ears as a flood of students rush out of South Park Elementary. Once the initial crowds dissipate, Butters and Jayden wait by the sidewalk curb, Jayden fidgeting with his backpack straps. Taking notice, Butters gently put his hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry buddy, I'm sure the fellas are gonna like ya, and soon everyone will wanna be your friend too!", he said happily. Jayden's eyes brightened a bit, when suddenly a distant, muffled sound was heard. Leaving the school was Kenny, waving his hand to get their attention, followed by Cartman, Stan and Kyle.
Heart beating fast, Jayden mindlessly grabbed Butter's long sleeve, unsure of whether to run or hide on impulse. Butters could see Jayden starting to sweat, and taking notice of his grip, gently took Jayden's hand into both of his. The sudden sensation snapped Jayden out of his thoughts, Butters giving him a small smile, "It's gonna be ok, I promise!".
Meanwhile, Kenny saw Butters take Jayden's hand, and right away he knew something was wrong as he suddenly took off running towards them.
"Kenny, why are you-?" Stan started to yell before Kyle started to run behind him. Stan stopped his thought and chased after them, leaving Cartman to shout "Hey! What da fuck you runnin' fer?!", before attempting to catch up with the others.
Kenny grabbed Jayden by the shoulders before letting one go to free his mouth from his hood, "Are you ok?", he asked in an urgent yet hushed tone. Their hands broke apart when Kenny grabbed Jayden, but Butters right away moved his hand on the shoulder that Kenny let go, and now both boys were staring attentively at him. Feeling flustered and a bit overwhelmed, the brunette immediately shook his head, his cheeks painted pink again, allowing the other boys to let go and sigh in relief.
"Hey is everything ok here?" Kyle asked, his big brother voice on cue as Stan and Cartman arrived.
"Yeah, he was really nervous about meeting you guys but everything is okey-dokey now!" Butters chimed, Kenny moving his hood back into place.
"Oh, ok then!" Stan said bluntly, still not 100% sure of what just happened.
"Ugh, can we go already?" Cartman nagged between breaths from the short run, wiping sweat from his forehead.
Kyle and Kenny shot ugly looks at Cartman, but his rudeness didn't seem to phase Jayden as he shook his head gently and began to walk, Butters and Kenny on either side of him.
As they made their way through South Park, a game of questions was played (Kyle started it), as Stan, Kyle and Butters asked Jayden about himself; Butters and Kenny occasionally answering for him if it's a question they asked earlier. Meanwhile Cartman was surprisingly quiet, but then again he didn't really care to get to know the new kid anyway, he was just tagging along to expose him for being a fake superhero fan and laugh. Then his friends will see and will laugh and leave him, and he'll be right about wasting time on the new kid.
As they approached the neighborhood, Stan couldn't help but ask, "Hey, where do you live anyways?" Jayden pointed down the street they were approaching, the same one that the boys lived on (excpet Kenny).
"Wait, really?" Kyle said in surprise, as they started to pass the houses. Right before approaching Butters' home, Jayden went down the pathway of the house and stopped at the door, looking at the others as if saying "Ta-da! This is my house!".
"Oh boy! We get to be neighbors!" Butters yelled happily, almost jumping in place. Jayden looked at the blonde boy in confusion before Butters pointed at his house and continued, "Yeah! That's my house right there!"
"Yeah and that one is my house!" Stan added, pointing to his house on the other side.
"All of us except Kenny live on this street," Kyle explained, "he lives about a block away, past the railroad tracks".
Jayden glanced at the boys, smiling and giving a thumbs up before pulling some keys from his pocket. Once he unlocked the door, he opened it and gestured for everyone to walk inside. Walls were painted a light blue-gray color, and family photos of various sizes were spread on the walls and in front of the tv. Between the couch and the front window was a small table with a Virgin Mary candle, a white rosary, and a photo of an elderly woman. A small dining table and chairs were found near a staircase and an opening which can be assumed to lead to the kitchen. All in all, it was your average American home, with some added Mexican decor pieces here and there.
At the base of the stairs, Jayden nodded his head towards the stairway as he began to walk upstairs. The boys followed suit, Kyle breaking the silence, "So where're your parents?"
On his notepad, Jayden quickly scribbled "Not home yet", before stopping in front of a door to open it. The boys filed in, various faces of surprise and awe shown before Jayden walked in himself. Blue walls were covered with different framed posters and canvas of different superheroes, such as Spider-Man, Deadpool and The Justice League. Next to the door was a large display case filled with figures of different scales and styles, from simple funko pops to intricate and detailed statues. The ceiling fan light shade was shaped to look like a large spider-web, a Spider-Man figure hanging from the bottom of one of the hanging switches. At the foot of the bed is a hand painted toy box with different variants of Spider-Man on it, and a computer desk with a neon green pc gaming setup, a Minecraft wallpaper shown on the computer screen. Surprisingly, plain red sheets adorned Jayden's bed with a simple white pillow and plush toys of Baby Groot, a Miles Morales squishmallow, and a Minecraft Creeper, lined up between the pillow and the window. A small closet is next to the bed, and next to the display case is a small bookcase, three of the four shelves filled with many comic books and the last shelf filled with typical children's books.
"Look at all these figures!" Kyle exclaimed, looking in the display case with amazement.
"So freaking awesome!" Stan agreed, looking at the display next to Kyle.
"Gee wiz, this room is like a superhero lair!" Butters yelled, his arms gesturing at the entire room.
Jayden walked to the toy box and opened it, digging through it before finally taking out a spider bot toy in one hand and a remote control for it in the other.
"Wait, how did you get one of those? They only sell 'em at Disneyland!" Cartman shouted in genuine surprise. Jayden nodded his head in agreement before putting the toy on the floor and digging in the toy box again. He repeated the process to bring out a total of four differently themed bots; Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Wasp, and Doctor Strange.
"You have FOUR of them?!" Kyle shouted, the boys circled around the toys. Picking up the notepad, Jayden wrote "Wanna have a bot battle?"
"Hell yeah!" Cartman shouted excitedly, picking up the Doctor Strange bot. The boys played in a circle, some taking turns playing in teams and sometimes someone will volunteer to act as referee. A battle between Team Iron Man and Team Strange was getting tense when an alarm sound started to sound off. Jayden waved his hands, gesturing to stop everything, of which Kyle helped to bring the battle to a halt.
"Time Out Guys!", he called as Jayden stopped the noise from his watch and began scribbling on the notepad.
"What's the matter buddy?" Butters asked, peeking over his shoulder as he finished writing. "'It's 5 pm, gotta make dinner, mom will be here soon'" Butters read outloud.
"Oh what? Lame!" Cartman complained, his arms crossed in protest.
"It's cool, I gotta get home for dinner anyways," Stan remarked.
"Yeah, same here," Kyle added, both boys putting their bots away in the toy box and gathering their backpacks.
"Oh shit, I almost forgot! Mam is getting fried chicken today! Later losers!" Cartman yelled, bragging his backpack and running out the door.
"Thanks for inviting us over to hang though, this was a lot of fun!" Stan continued as Kyle put away the bot Cartman played with, a small scowl on his face.
"Yeah man, thanks for having us over, see you at school tomorrow?" Kyle added, the both of them waving goodbye before leaving the bedroom door, Jayden waving back until they were out of sight.
Butters and Kenny were the only ones left, looking at each other awkwardly; both of them didn't really want to go home but not sure what to do or say. Breaking the small silence, Butters spoke up first, "Do you want help with dinner? I-I don't mind helping, if that's alright with you of course.." Butters asked meekly, fidgeting his fingers in embarrassment.
Kenny glanced at Butters, then at Jayden before pointing at himself, saying "Ditto" through his hoodie. Jayden nodded and gave a thumbs up of approval.
"Whoopee! Can I use your phone to call my parents? They grounded me from using my cellphone…" Butters asked.
"I should call too.." Kenny added offhandedly, not acting as urgent as the other boys. Once again, Jayden nods his head in approval and gestures the boys to follow him as they walk downstairs to the living room.