Stan briskly walked in the direction he thought Kenny would be. He had to be sure his friend wouldn't try to kill himself, the thought had plagued him all day. He was tempted to stop by Cartman's first to see if he was there but based on their interaction or lack of it at art class, Stan suspected Kenny probably went straight to the old Target building. Part of him still wanted to stop at Cartman's just to ask him to explain why Kenny had said some of the things he had said, how he had found Kenny, why Kenny refused to stay with Cartman. So many thoughts were bouncing around in his mind as he approached Kenny's stomping ground.

All the noise in his mind fell silent when he found Kenny already asleep on the bench. Stan took note of the needle on the bench, sunlight glimmering off of it making it look deceptively pretty. He sighed sadly before sitting near the blonde hair that was splayed out on the bench. He didn't really know what to do right now. Should he try to wake up Kenny? Would that be worse than waiting for him to come down from whatever high he was on? He wasn't even sure what drug he had used, Stan really didn't know that much about street drugs, not that he was some angel. His vice was alcohol, always had been and he suspected always would be. He would give Kenny some time before he woke him up he decided. He took one of Kenny's hands in his, putting two fingers on his wrist checking for a pulse- no way was Kenny going to have a drug death on his watch.

Kenny blinked coming down from his high, it had felt so nice to just disappear into a world where he forgot who he was. He assumed he'd been out for a couple hours; he had never actually timed any of these drug induced highs. He just liked the escape. This time was different as he had sensed another presence but shrugged it off as another druggie getting hopped up. They tended to come here. It took a couple minutes before his mind was finally able to catch up with his vision. Stan, Stan was with him, sitting near him and holding his hand- wait, was Stan checking for a pulse? Had he nearly died? Kenny suddenly shot up surprising Stan.

"Hey, welcome back to earth," Stan said with a sad grin.

Kenny looked around confused. "What- why are you here?"

"I was worried about you after today. I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to do anything stupid."

Kenny looked down at his arm where a fresh needle mark was apparent. "Sorry to disappoint," he said looking at Stan.

"I can't judge you, I have my own issues."

Kenny pursed his lips. "Really? You seem to have it pretty together to me."

Stan burst into laughter at this finding it hilarious. It took him a good minute to stop laughing. "Hey, maybe you can put in a good word for me with everyone? Even Craig thinks I've turned into a total space cadet."

"Oh. I didn't notice." Stan resisted the temptation to tell Kenny that of course he hadn't noticed because he rarely looked away from the floor when at school. Stan sensed Kenny might be baiting him though and simply shook his head.

"It's been four years Kenny. A lot of us have changed." As have you.

"Yeah, of course." Kenny agreed and then became very interested in his fingernails. Stan said nothing and silence ensued for several long minutes. Stan was starting to feel pretty comfortable until Kenny spoke up again. "Stan, you don't have to stay here. You can go home," he said looking over at his friend. The tone was apologetic.

"No, I do have to stay here," Stan said simply.

"No- you- you don't have to," Kenny stumbled with the words. He hadn't had much contact with other humans over the last few years, sure he had seen some but none he had been close too. He wasn't used to this, having to come up with excuses on the sly or making sure his assurances didn't seem empty. It had been a long time since he'd worried about any of that. He was having to essentially relearn social interaction and Stan was tripping him up. He glanced away from his friend, putting one hand on his forehead as thoughts raced through his mind. He wished he could tell Stan everything.

Stan waited a bit for his friend to continue but he didn't. Stan wasn't going to let him off easy. "Yes, I do." He said with more force in his voice. "Kenny. You just popped up after four years, you aren't eating, you hadn't even had human contact for who knows how long before yesterday, and you're out here shooting up on an old picnic table. I do need to stay here."

"Why?" Kenny asked. He deemed it unimportant to correct Stan that he had come into contact with some humans in the last four years, they just weren't exactly the kind you'd hug.

"Because I don't want you to disappear again, I want to help you."

Now Kenny laughed but it was empty and hollow. "I can't be helped, Stan, it's a waste of your time." If Stan knew the whole truth, Kenny was sure he might just agree.

"No!" Suddenly Stan was looming over Kenny, standing in front of him with his arms reaching past him, hands palm down on the picnic table. Stan squatted slightly so he was eye level with Kenny who was still sitting on the bench trying to shrink into himself unable to mask his confusion and shock. "No, it's not a waste of my time. Don't ever say that again." Kenny was trying to look away but Stan's eyes were ablaze with passion, determination, and something else Kenny couldn't place. He wasn't sure how long he sat there astounded into silence, Stan not moving even slightly. "Answer me, Kenny," Stan demanded. There was something about Stan's tone that he couldn't ignore and felt obligated to answer even though no question had actually been asked.

"Okay, okay, I won't say that again."

Stan nodded slowly. "Good. We'll work on getting you to believe it later." Stan stood back up before sitting back down next to the shocked blonde.

It took a couple minutes for Kenny to recover before saying anything. "Damn, Stan, you have gotten really intense."

"Four years, Ken, four years."

"Right."

Silence hung over them again. Stan took out his cell phone and took note of the two missed calls from his mom and the four missed calls and three texts from Kyle. Dude, where are you? Your mom called looking. Then a second text, Seriously Stan, where are you at? Your mom is kind of freaking out, she said you haven't answered your phone. And now my mom is freaking out thinking I have something to do with it. Then the third text, Stan ANSWER the phone before our dads do something really stupid. They are talking about searching the neighborhood for you. At least text your sister or something, let them know you're ok. You ARE ok, right? They had been sent over the course of two hours. Stan keyed in a quick reply, Sorry, dude, I'm fine, been with Kenny. I'll text my sister, thanks. He switched the contacts to his sister and started to let her know he was okay when his phone vibrated with Kyle's reply of a simple ok. Shelly wasn't exactly thrilled to hear from her brother but assured him she would let their parents know he was okay. Their parents weren't the best at texting as Sharon usually forgot to charge her cell phone while Randy usually lost his. Stan had a feeling his parents might step up their discipline; he really should have gone straight home but he didn't care. He was happy with the decision he'd made. Still, he couldn't avoid going home for much longer.

He looked over at Kenny. "You should come with me," he said. Kenny made to protest but Stan cut him off. "I'm not asking. At least just for tonight, it doesn't have to be every night, I just want to make sure you're okay."

"Stan, I can't, I just - I can't."

Stan stood up and sighed remembering Kyle's warning of not pushing him too hard too fast. "Okay, Kenny, but will you think of it at least? Even if it's not my house, maybe Cartman's? Kyle's, Craig's, anyone- just," Stan turned to look back down at Kenny who remained sitting on the bench, "just not out here for much longer." Kenny nodded.

"I'll work on it."

"You will be at school tomorrow, right?" Stan asked, vulnerability eating up his insides now that he was planning to leave. If he let Kenny out of his sight, he might never see him again. In sixth grade there was one last day they had all seen Kenny, it had never occurred to any of them that it would be the last time they'd see Kenny. Stan had honestly grown accustomed to the idea that he would never see the poor blonde boy again but here he was.

"Yeah."

"Promise?"

Kenny gave him a strange look before nodding. "Promise."

Stan nodded and turned in the direction of his house. The whole walk he felt the crisp autumn air on his skin and was relieved it was only autumn. He had to get Kenny into someone's house before winter. It would be too cold for anyone to continue living outside. He arrived at home to an irritated sister, frantic mother, and confused father. His groundation from video games had been extended. He had almost laughed that they still thought he was upset about being grounded from video games. He fell into another restless night of getting almost no sleep.