A/N: YAAAS! Finally to the fun chapters! Some things that didn't make sense before should start making sense now. And things that might not still make sense will soon enough.

Ω

The rest of the weekend flew by and school was back in session a little too soon for Stan. He grimaced as his head was still pounding. He might have downed more alcohol than he had planned the day before and he was pretty sure he had never actually sobered up after the party. After his chat with Kyle, he had decided to look up some of the stuff his best friend had talked about. Pansexuality sure stood out. When he googled it, there were so many images with pans saying, "Pansexual does not mean I have sex with pans." And why the hell were there images of people licking pans when he googled it?! If it had been anyone else but Kyle, he probably would have disregarded the whole thing as a joke. He had stumbled into some reddit posts that he thought might describe him and he wasn't sure whether to be thrilled or terrified. He wasn't sure about anything and it made his head hurt even worse to think about it. Apparently, it had something to do with falling for people regardless of gender, gender identity, or biolgocial gender. Kind of weirded him out. Did it really matter?

He frowned, waiting around for Kyle. It was him who had put all this in his head. Kyle could at least show up to school so he could talk about it. He finally texted him asking where he was. His phone vibrated with an answer two minutes after he sent it. He frowned when he read the message. Kyle was sick again and wasn't coming to school. Seriously, what the fuck? He thought but replied back with just a simple "OK." The day would only get stranger as he found out that Cartman and Kenny were both out, too. The morning dragged despite seeing Craig in homeroom.

Ω

Butters, Craig, Tweek, and Clyde sat at the lunch table with him.

"Where is everyone?" Craig asked with as much feigned disinterest as he could muster.

"This is really unlike Kyle," Butters voiced with genuine concern.

"Cartman, too," Clyde pointed out.

Tweek twitched at this. "I hope they didn't all come down with the flu!"

The table was quiet as they all realized that could very well be the case. There had been rumors that confirmed cases of the flu had been floating around their school; the flu always put everyone on edge, after all, despite such advancement in medicine there was still no cure and the best bet was to immunize yourself but the immunity was only to certain strands.

"I hope not." Craig stated.

Stan shrugged. "Kyle said he didn't feel well. I texted Cartman but he hasn't responded."

"What about Kenny?"

"He doesn't have a phone."

"Oh."

The group made small talk but it was different not having Cartman's loud voice attempting to monopolize conversation or draw others into debates. Stan couldn't help but wonder if the events of the party was partially to blame for Kenny's absence.

Stan pretty much trudged through the rest of the day anticipating leaving. He would have ditched but he had already shown up so might as well see it through. He had plans to see his friends after school. If they wouldn't come to school then he would go to them.

Ω

Stan ambled along the streets until his feet brought him to Cartman's place. He realized he hadn't been over since he and Cartman had forced Kenny to live there. He only had to ring the bell twice before Lianne Cartman answered the door.

"Hi there!" Lianne greeted warmly.

Stan offered up a nervous smile. "Hey, is Cartman around?" he asked. He almost asked for Kenny, too, but realized he had never found out from either if Lianne knew Kenny was there. He assumed she probably did but didn't want to be the one to spill the beans if she didn't.

"Oh, yes, he and Kenny are downstairs if you want to join them." Stan let out a sigh of relief he didn't know he'd been hiding. She knew.

"Yeah, if you don't mind, that would be great. I have some homework for them," he explained. It was a lie. He only had art with them and he didn't have any homework but it seemed legitimate enough to him. He wasn't sure why he'd lied as she had already said he could go down to the basement, but old habits die hard, he supposed. He went inside when she waved him in. Lianne wished him well and he went off to the basement.

He was on the stairwell and could hear a television on low volume but didn't hear his friends. "Hey, Cartman, Kenny," he called out quietly after he made sure to shut the basement door behind him. The atmosphere reminded him of a library and he was scared to be too loud. He descended the staircase. It had been awhile since he'd been in Cartman's house and it looked like Cartman had done some remodeling in the basement. It was bigger than he remembered and there were a couple makeshift rooms with Japanese wall panels dividing them from each other. He could see a large television in front of a sectional couch and could see blonde hair peeking out of a blanket draped across part of the sectional.

"Stan?" Cartman was suddenly in front of him, holding up a finger to his lips indicating for quiet. "What are you doing here?" he whispered.

"You guys weren't at school today," he pointed out. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I tried texting you."

Cartman rolled his eyes. "You mean you wanted to see if Kenny was okay," he corrected him. Stan flinched remembering his conversation with Kyle at the party. Was it really that obvious to everyone except him?

"Both of you," Stan insisted. It was true, he was curious about both of them. "I'm going to Kyle's after because he wasn't there either."

"Huh, damn Jew playing hooky again," Cartman mumbled shaking his head.

"You mean like you?" Stan countered.

"Hey, I'm not the one who is sick. Kinny didn't feel well."

"Because of the fight?"

Cartman shrugged. "Yeah, part of it, anyway."

"What's the other part?" Stan asked. Before Cartman could answer Kenny's voice drew their attention away from each other.

"Stan, hey, what are you doing here?" Kenny asked as he came into full view, walking around the sectional to join his friends. Stan surveyed Kenny. He really did look sick. His face was flushed and his skin was paler than usual. His eyes looked a little glazed and his hair was matted.

"Man, you look like shit," Stan said.

Kenny laughed, amused. "Yeah, I wasn't exactly feeling too great today."

Cartman pursed his lips but chose not to add anything to the conversation.

Stan grinned. "I know it probably sounds crazy, but I'm kind of relieved. I thought you just weren't there today because of the fight." There was silence as an answer and Stan groaned. "Kenny, you are planning to come back to school when you're better, right?"

"Stan, I don't, I don't know." Kenny said through a sigh. "I've been talking to Lianne about it and trying to decide what to do." Stan was totally lost.

"Cartman's mom?"

"Yeah, she's my foster parent," Kenny stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Huh?"

Cartman gave Stan a funny look. "Stan, Kenny can't just start attending our school without a residential address or a parent to enroll. He would have just been sent to social services and put into whatever foster family so I convinced my mom to get guardianship of him."

Stan was trying to process the information. Of course that made sense but Kenny had been sleeping on a picnic bench before, how did that make any sense? Had Cartman's mom taken guardianship of him when he was still sleeping outside? "Just it's a lot to take in," he tried to explain himself, feeling like his brain was functioning slower than he would like.

Kenny cracked a dry smile at this. "Yeah, tell me about it."

"But you'll come back to school, right?" Stan asked again. "I really think it'll be better now," he went on.

"Depends on how I feel tomorrow," Kenny said tiredly. Cartman continued to remain uncharacteristically quiet during the exchange.

"Please don't let them win," Stan pleaded. "They just need some more time is all. They're going to realize you had nothing to do with it. I guess they just still…hurt."

"I know," Kenny easily agreed with a slight nod. "I know, it still hurts. I don't mind Karen's friends," he admitted. His face twisted in pain and he groaned looking like he might fall over.

Stan rushed over along with Cartman. Kenny attempted to push them away but his motions were too weak to have effect. Cartman sighed defeatedly and shook his head.

"You need to lay back down," he told him. He glanced over at Stan. "Stan, you should probably head out. I think Kenny caught something."

"I don't mind helping," Stan tried to offer but Cartman shook his head. He looked like he was about to say more but again decided not to. Kenny had already taken back to the couch and under the blanket. Stan trailed after him hoping to be helpful, but Kenny clearly looked miserable and Cartman wasn't looking particularly patient. Stan nodded, unsure how much help he could actually be. "Fine. Bye Ken, hope you feel better," he waved his hand. Kenny lifted a weak hand up to wave. On the way up the stairs he could hear Cartman whisper to Kenny about food but couldn't make out exactly what he was saying.

Kenny and Cartman wouldn't return to school until the next week. Some students believed that Kenny had finally given up and others thought that maybe Cartman had killed him or vice versa. Or maybe they had just said fuck it and ran off. Stan heard so many rumors, his head was spinning by the end of the week. He texted Cartman each day only to get short, curt replies.

Stan wasn't able to visit his best friend but did text him about Cartman and Kenny after his visit. Kyle showed up every day the rest of that week and ate lunch with the group every single day confirming Stan's theory that whatever was bothering him had to do with either Cartman or Kenny. At the party it had sounded like Kenny was more the problem than Cartman, but Stan had been unsuccessful at getting anything else out of his best friend regarding the matter. Kyle would usually distract him with something else and Stan wouldn't realize until later. It was the following week that Stan would find out exactly what was wrong. Kenny and Cartman had shown up in better spirits and there had been no cruel events that took place that week. Kenny was left alone. Kyle only ate lunch with them Monday and by Tuesday he was up to his old routine of needing extra help or giving extra help during lunch, he went both ways with his cover story. It was Thursday morning and Stan found Kyle at their locker.

"Kyle, you are eating lunch with us today."

Kyle bit his lip. "I can't, you know I've been going to that class for lunch."

"You're bullshitting me, Kyle, and I know it and so does everyone else. Why don't you just eat lunch with us or at least tell us what's bothering you? Tell me what's bothering you?"

"Stan, I just," Kyle struggled with words to try to explain to his best friend why he couldn't be there at lunch. "It's just not a good idea."

"Please, just today? Then tomorrow you can get back to whatever. Just two days out of one week?" Stan begged. He missed eating lunch with Kyle. They didn't really have any classes together and while they saw each other between periods, it wasn't much. Kyle was studying more and more in the evenings or spending more time with his younger brother. Stan didn't want to say he was jealous but he didn't feel like he was asking for much. Kyle sighed defeatedly.

"Okay, just today." Kyle finally agreed. Stan would wish later that Kyle had put up more of a fight.

Ω

Lunch started out as usual. Everyone got their food and chowed down except the blonde haired teenager in the orange parka. Stan was sitting next to Kenny with Cartman flanking the other side. Kyle sat across from Stan, Butters next to him. Clyde sat on the other side of Butters and Craig and Tweek sat on the other side of Cartman.

There had been a lot of chatter at the table especially with Kyle there as well. Kenny was quiet as usual but that was expected. It was nearing the end of lunch when Cartman addressed Kenny with a stern voice, "Kenny. You need to eat." Cartman would do this once a week and was usually defeated into allowing Kenny to do carry out with someone's container.

"Not hungry," was the mumbled reply.

"I'm not leaving today until you eat," Cartman threatened and it didn't sound empty like his previous ones.

"Eric," Butters tried to find a way to pacify the other boy. "Kenny probably just doesn't like eating in the cafeteria. He can always eat at home."

"No." Cartman said fiercely. "He's eating here. He doesn't eat at home, either, and we're not going anywhere until he eats."

Craig rolled his eyes. "What are you going to do, shove food down his mouth?"

Clyde looked perplexed. "Aren't you hungry, Kenny?" He asked from his spot. He couldn't imagine not eating. Stan glanced over at Kyle who was closely monitoring the conversation as if he had a vested interest in the outcome.

Kenny said nothing and simply stared down at the burger Cartman had decided he wanted. His hair fell over his eyes.

"Of course he's hungry!" Cartman had trouble keeping his voice down. "Eat," he commanded Kenny, his voice starting to sound a bit crazed.

"I'm not hungry," Kenny muttered again.

"I don't care, eat," Cartman repeated his command.

Stan shook his head. "Dude, if he doesn't want to eat, he doesn't have to."

"Yeah, Eric, maybe you should just leave it," Butters was cut off suddenly by Kyle who brought a fist down onto the table. All eyes went straight to him.

"Cartman's right. Eat your food, Kenny," Kyle insisted looking over at their friend. Kenny didn't respond but Cartman was totally thrilled.

"Say that again, Kyle," excitement was clear in his voice and eyes.

"No way, asshole. Eat your food, Kenny."

"What the hell is going on right now?" Craig asked no one in particular, but Butters felt the need to answer.

"Kyle said Eric's right and Kenny needs to eat his food," Butters said airily, watching the exchange in disbelief. Kenny still made no move to eat his food.

"I said eat," Cartman repeated himself his voice growing in volume. Kenny still didn't budge and this made Kyle snap.

"Eat the fucking food, Kenny!" His own voice had been loud enough to get attention from other tables. Stan looked over at Kyle horrified.

"Kyle-"

"Shut up, Stan. Kenny needs to eat his food."

"Seriously, what the fuck?" Craig's voice was heard again with Tweek making a couple of exclamations next to him.

"Why do you care?!" Stan asked Kyle incredulously.

Kyle looked over to Stan, his eyes wide with something that Stan couldn't place. They were wild and looked unhinged. Kyle's voice rose in volume again. "Because he dies of starvation all the time!" he shouted. Kenny's head snapped up and he looked over at Kyle, shocked. Cartman's mouth hung open in disbelief. The rest of the table was stunned, too, but for a totally different reason. By now their table had most of the rest of the cafeteria as an audience whether they realized it or not. "All the fucking time, he dies." Kyle's eyes darted around wildly and he stood up locking eyes with Kenny. He pointed at him. "You fucking die almost every other day but then you just show up to school and no one-no one remembers." Kyle let his arm fall to his side. He realized more than just his friends were staring at him like he'd totally lost his mind. He sighed and decided to leave with his head held high. He could already hear the whispers of "crazy" through the crowd.

The cafeteria was eerily quiet for a couple minutes after Kyle stormed out. Most still stared at the table Kyle had been at with his friends waiting for someone else to say something. All Kyle's friends looked just as stunned and mystified as everyone else.

Stan finally found his voice, "Holy shit," he said in disbelief. He was sure he should get up and run after Kyle but the shock kept him rooted to his seat. Of all the things he had thought might be bothering his friend, it had never one time occurred to him that Kyle might be hallucinating.

"What the fuck?" Craig asked the air again as if he had forgotten all other words in the English language.

"What kind of drugs is he doing?" Clyde demanded aloud.

Cartman and Kenny looked at each other before both looking at their plates. Cartman took the burger off Kenny's plate and ate it.

"Are you okay, Kenny?" Butters asked. Kenny glanced up at him confused. Cartman looked at him again.

"You're shaking, dude," he said around a mouthful of burger.

Kenny inhaled and exhaled deeply getting command over his body. He looked over at Butters and offered an apologetic smile. "I'm fine." Butters beamed at him and a wide grin broke out across his face.

"Good! I'm so relieved! I don't know if I have it in me to worry about anyone but Kyle after that." Butters still smiled, though it did falter slightly.

Kenny nodded at Butters before looking back down at his now empty plate.

Reality slammed back into Stan and he pushed his chair away from the table and shot up. He quickly went in the direction that Kyle had, not saying anything before departing. He worried that maybe Kyle had left school. Would Kyle have left being that unsound of mind? Stan felt shame welling up within him. He had no idea that Kyle had been going crazy. There was no other explanation for it. Fear constricted his heart and turned his stomach. Would they put Kyle in an institution or residential care program? Why on earth would Kyle be having such weird hallucinations or dreams or whatever of Kenny? With a start he realized he hadn't even checked on Kenny before he'd left. He was pretty sure Butters had been talking to him but he had no recollection of what was said. He just knew he had to get to Kyle before the redhead vanished.

Kyle was kneeling at their locker stuffing some books into his book bag. Stan let out of a sigh relief he hadn't known he'd been holding at the sight of his friend still in the school. "Kyle!"

Kyle looked up, surprised to see him. "Stan, did you run here?" he asked. The darker haired boy was gasping for breath and looked winded.

"Did I?" he asked, unsure. He hadn't remembered running he'd been so focused on getting to Kyle. It would explain why he had gotten there so fast. He prayed that he hadn't ran out of the cafeteria in full view of everyone.

Kyle raised an eyebrow before shaking his head. "I don't know, I'm asking you. Looks that way." He zipped his book bag up.

"Are you leaving for the day?"

Kyle looked up at him again, incredulous. "Well I'm sure not staying after all that, Stan."

"Did you take something this morning or have you been…using?" Stan asked hesitantly, suddenly becoming extremely fidgety at the uncomfortable questions. Kyle was the last person he'd expect to be using drugs, but life sure had been full of surprises lately. He scratched his head and pinched the bridge of his nose while Kyle glared at him. Finally, Kyle rose to his full height and swung his book bag over his shoulder.

"No, Stan. I'm not on drugs or taking anything that would cause hallucinations," he said evenly, his tone deadly. Stan squirmed under Kyle's gaze. It was much more intense than it usually was.

"But back there," Stan tried to protest but Kyle cut him off quickly with a shake of his head.

"It was true." Kyle's deadly tone remained.

Stan stared at his friend wide-eyed and started slowly shaking his head. "Kyle, that- that's not possible. It's not-"

"I know that, Stan," Kyle said firmly.

"Do you?" Stan asked in absolute astonishment.

"Yes. But it doesn't change the fact that it keeps happening."

"Did Kenny trigger something in you to make you think these things?" Stan asked helplessly. He had no clue what Kenny would even be able to trigger in Kyle.

"No, Stanley," Kyle said with a low sigh. "I'm going home for the rest of today. Maybe the week." And maybe next week, he thought but didn't voice.

Understanding hit Stan like a ton of bricks. "This is why you're always avoiding us at lunch and skipping out on other things."

"Yeah, most people that die usually stay dead."

"Kenny hasn't died, Kyle." Stan felt like a fool saying it out loud, but he needed to at least attempt to get reality through to his best friend.

Kyle simply shook his head and smiled dully at him. "I'll see you later, Stan."

Stan looked at him uncertain. "Are you sure you're- you're okay?"

"I'll be okay."

"Will you at least text me to let me know you made it home okay?" Stan asked. Fear was making him worry that he might never see Kyle again. He wanted something solid that he would be okay.

"Okay," Kyle promised and started walking away. Stan watched him but couldn't fight down the fear or dread.

"Kyle, wait! I'm coming with you!" Stan jogged a bit to close the short gap between them.

"What?"

"I'm going home, too."

"Seriously, Stan, I'm fine."

"I don't care what you say. I'm going with you."

Kyle shrugged and the two walked to his house together.