A/N: Starting to realize with growing horror this story might wind up being over 100K words. I did not sign up for this, whaaaat?! Ohmygod, this isn't even like an OTP of mine (I don't even have a South Park otp), just thought Stenny could use another multi-chapter story and here I am, writing this thing. Supposed to end at twelve chapters, well, we're clearly past that point. A/C's out at work, at my house, we're all melting here in this landlocked state with temps in the late 80s/90s, no beach in sight. We might as well live in a desert. Please forgive typos, I'm sure there's quite a few in this chapter... ah, but it'd never get posted.)

Kyle was surprised to find Stan leaning against their locker so early. It was becoming a bit of a weird habit his best friend was developing; used to, Stan was always running late, at least that's what it had been like for the seventh through ninth grades. Now Stan was almost disturbingly early and Kyle wondered if he realized that just because he showed up early didn't mean Kenny and Cartman would. "Hey, dude, what's up?" he greeted through his morning fog. He had showed up earlier than normal himself, having promised to tutor a peer before school started for about twenty minutes.

Stan nodded at Kyle and pushed himself off their locker so his best friend could get into it. "Hey, you're here early."

"I'm here to tutor someone."

"That again, Kyle? You really gotta start using better cover stories. It's just getting old."

"I really am here to tutor," Kyle protested as it was true. It wasn't as if he had never tutored during a lunch period before. "Why are you here early? Trying to catch Kenny before school starts?" he asked teasingly. It must have been the wrong thing to say because Stan stiffened noticeably. "Everything okay?"

Stan ran a hand though his hair. "About that. I have a favor to ask."

"Okay?" Kyle asked wearily. He wasn't so sure about this.

"You know, you know Cartman pretty well."

"What? Dude, you know Cartman pretty well, too."

"Just, can you ask him, like….." Stan shuffled about, eyes downcast as he tried to figure out the best way to ask the question.

Kyle gave his friend a strange look. "Just spit it out already, Stan, honestly."

"Can you ask him if he and Kenny, like, I don't know, were ever in a relationship or something?"

Kyle stared at him for a long moment before bursting into laughter. It took him a couple minutes to realize Stan was completely serious and he stopped laughing. "Wait, you're serious?!"

Stan glowered at him, not at all amused. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because! It's Cartman and Kenny. Besides, why don't you just ask Kenny?" Kyle pointed out the obvious and Stan shifted uncomfortably, suddenly finding something down the hall interesting to stare at.

"I can't, it would just be weird."

"So me asking Cartman if he ever dated Kenny so I can report it back to you is less weird, how?" Stan didn't answer him so Kyle went on, "I mean imagine if Kenny asked Cartman to ask me if I ever dated you? Wouldn't that be weird instead of Kenny just asking you? It's pretty weird and unnecessary."

Stan didn't seem to hear any of the common sense Kyle presented him with, latching onto one thing only. "Wait, what? Did Cartman ask you that?" he asked, almost too hopefully. Kyle gave his friend a sidelong look.

"Stan, jealousy doesn't look good on you. And of Cartman? Really?"

"There's just-there's," Stan stammered, trying to explain, "there's something between those two and I can't figure out what it is."

"I mean, they are best friends and-"

"No, it's more than that, Kyle. There's something else, I just don't know what."

"Stan, just ask Kenny about it," Kyle sagely advised, feeling his heart sink a little at the desperation in his best friend's voice. He hoped Stan wasn't investing all of himself into this thing with Kenny as Kyle could still clearly remember Kenny telling him how he should have never come back, that it hadn't even been Kenny's idea, it'd been Cartman's. Kyle remembered Kenny's deaths he'd suffered through and how he'd had to comfort a broken-hearted Stan. With a start, he realized it had been three whole days and he hadn't had to go through that horror. Interesting. He couldn't help but wonder if this was just a doomed relationship from the start and he hoped that Stan would be able to pick up the pieces and move on when it was over.

"You won't ask Cartman?"

Kyle shook his head. "Why on earth would I, anyway? Why can't you?"

Stan balled his fists and shrugged. "I'm worried I might not like the answer and do something stupid."

"Well, I never like any answers Cartman gives me, so I'm not exactly the next best option."

"But you never do anything stupid," Stan pointed out. Kyle just stared blankly at him for a moment.

"Dude, you are joking, right?"

"I mean, okay, maybe sometimes. But please?"

Kyle shook his head, not at all swayed. "No. Ask Craig, Butters, or someone else. I'm not asking him that." He sighed. "I really gotta go, I'm running late as it is. But, really, Stan, you should just ask Kenny." With that last bit of advice, he left and could only hope Stan would seriously just ask Kenny and, for goodness sake, had he really just suggested to ask Craig? As if Stan wasn't already trying to involve too many people.

Stan watched as Kyle left, feeling disappointed. He was getting nowhere fast in his quest to figure out what was going on between Cartman and Kenny. Speaking of which, he could hear their voices from further down the hall, obviously heading in his direction.

"Good morning, Stan," Kenny happily greeted him while Cartman glanced around as if looking for someone.

He smiled at Kenny, "Good morning," he responded.

"Where's the Jew?" Cartman demanded.

Stan shrugged. "He said he had to tutor someone."

"Did he?" Cartman questioned, clearly doubtful as Stan had been.

"Yeah," Stan said with a nod, nonchalantly reaching his hand out to grab Kenny's and tug him a little closer and away from Cartman. The other teenager didn't seem to care and just rolled his eyes.

"You better make sure you walk him to class, Stan," Cartman tersely commanded.

Stan nodded, not as surprised by the demand as he felt he should have been. "Yeah, of course." No one had attacked any of them recently but there was still definitely talk in the halls and he'd already seen a couple people shoot them a funny look; he really wasn't sure if it was just directed at Kenny or him and Kenny or just all three of them in general. He didn't really seem to garner any attention unless Kenny was there. Cartman left them, heading straight towards the library where he was sure he'd find Kyle. Kenny gripped Stan's hand tighter and Stan couldn't help but smile at him. He wanted to ask if he'd slept well, but liked the smile on the other's face and didn't want it to drop. "How are you doing today?"

"Good. You?"

Stan didn't care how cheesy he sounded, he looked down at their hands and shook them a little to emphasize his point, "Much better now." Kenny gave him another one of those bemused smirks and said nothing. "Do you wanna join me in the cafeteria? I haven't eaten breakfast yet." Kenny nodded and the two went to the cafeteria, hand in hand. Stan didn't notice anything too unusual as they entered the cafeteria but he did like how Kenny edged closer to him. He led Kenny to a table and they sat down quietly, Stan reaching into his lunchbox to pull out his breakfast. This morning he'd woken up early to throw together a veggie omelet; it wasn't his best work but he was still pleased with it. Of course he'd cooked for two and wrapped both up neatly with aluminum foil, hoping to trap the heat for as long as possible. He knew he was probably pushing it, but he'd pushed a lot lately and Kenny rarely pushed back. "Will you eat a little bit with me? Just a little?" Kenny stayed quiet, glancing away for a moment and Stan pushed more, "Please? I got up early and made it this morning." He nudged the extra omelette towards Kenny and he picked it up gingerly, mumbling a quiet thanks and unable to hide the blush that colored his cheeks.

They were sitting at the end of a table, trying to keep separate from the rest of the student body and Stan regretted that they had chosen to sit across from each other because he really hated having to let go of the other's hand. Stan began to eat his omelette and gave his friend an encouraging smile to try his own. Kenny offered up a weak smile, still looking unsure but went ahead and unwrapped the aluminum foil that covered the omelette and bit into it. He slowly chewed, relishing how Stan's face softened into appreciation at the sight. He would eat all day if Stan kept looking at him like that. Stan asked how it was and Kenny could only mumble it was good and hoped he didn't look too flustered. After he'd finished eating as much of the omelette as he could, Stan glanced at one of the clocks that hung around the cafeteria; the staff made sure to have multiple clocks, hoping to ward off tardiness. "The first bell's about to ring," he informed Kenny. "Do you need anything out of your locker?"

"Not for homeroom."

"Okay, we should probably head that way. Don't want Cartman to cut my head off," Stan tried to laugh about it, but, really, he still wanted to know what kind of history Cartman and Kenny had. Kenny easily detected the unease that settled over Stan at the mention of Cartman.

"Everything okay, Stan?" he asked as they walked to the trash cans and emptied their trash into them. Other students scraped their food off trays into the trash before placing them on the other trays already atop the trash cans. Kenny noted how much more appetizing Stan's omelettes looked compared to some of the food other students were dumping; he suspected he had actually eaten more than quite a few others in the cafeteria. He chose to keep what was left of his omelette, informing Stan he'd eat the rest at lunch. Stan shook his head and took the uneaten omelette from him, tossed it, and assured him that he had plenty of extra food for lunch. As soon as his hands were free, Stan wasted no time in grabbing Kenny's hand because if he couldn't kiss him he was at least going to hold his damn hand.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Why?"

Kenny hesitated for a second. "Just you seemed a little upset when you brought up Eric. Are you mad at him?"

"No, no, I'm not," Stan stated and he honestly wasn't. If anything he was more upset with himself for not just asking Kenny or even Cartman his question. He still wasn't sure why Kyle had so profusely refused. "I just- was thinking of something."

"About?"

Stan smiled easily, not entirely comfortable at bringing it up yet. "It's nothing, really, don't worry about it." Kenny was conflicted for a moment but decided not to push the issue; Stan would bring it up when he was ready. He wasn't exactly in any position to be upset with him for not sharing everything on his mind. "Let's get you to class." And Kenny knew he should probably be a little more upset with how both Stan and Cartman fretted over him, but he couldn't say he didn't like the attention; it was much more positive than most of the attention he'd gotten since that horrible night that his family had been killed. Once they arrived to his class, Kenny decided to place a quick, chaste kiss on Stan's cheek before disappearing into the classroom, appreciating how Stan's cheeks had heated up and the dopey smile that spread across his face before he turned to go to his own class.

Ω

"Ohmygod," Cartman cried, distressed, staring at Kyle and Wendy in the library in horror. "Are you two obsessed or something? I mean, honestly? Can't you just be into alcohol and sex like everyone else in this building?" He glared at Kyle. "And you! You told Stan that you were tutoring someone! And I know Wendy doesn't need tutoring."

"I did tutor someone," Kyle explained heatedly. "They just left already, it's not like it was going to take forty minutes to tutor him, and, besides, he got bored after fifteen minutes and left." It wasn't unusual that the tutored peers would get frustrated and leave earlier than planned.

Wendy nodded in agreement. "Besides," she spoke up, looking at Cartman, "we can't really use my house again for a couple weeks so we're trying to make do here." She shot Kyle an annoyed glance. "Not really sure why we can't use Kyle's…"

"I already told you, I don't want Stan or Kenny finding out and if we go to my house I know Ike will know and then, from there, you know, there's just too many people in my house," Kyle had started out upset but just felt defeated by the end of his explanation. He feared Ike might get wind of it and he was pretty sure Ike likely had classes with some of Karen's old friends and maybe Kyle was paranoid but people were dead and he didn't want his brother to be among those.

"Right, right, I'm sorry, I just- I feel like we're more likely to get caught here at school," Wendy pointed out.

"Yes, obviously, I'm glad one of you still has a functioning brain, I mean seriously what the hell," Cartman practically sneered at the two but the effect was a little lost due to the desperation clear in his voice. "I just don't understand why you can't drop this." His question was directed to both of his peers but his eyes locked onto Kyle's.

"Cartman, we already told you-"

"Can't you drop it for, like, two seconds?! You were just studying all this last night and the night before," Cartman's voice dropped dangerously low and Wendy had to lean further over to hear him, "Look, this has been happening forever to Kenny, you don't need to figure it all out right this second. Just give it a rest."

Kyle pursed his lips, breaking his gaze from Cartman and returning his attention to the book before him for a minute, he glanced back up at his angered friend again before glancing down to the book and closing it. He stood up and looked at Cartman. "You know something." He spoke with confidence. "Why don't you tell us what that is?" Wendy looked up from her book, more curious than ever.

Cartman crossed his arms. "We've been over this, I don't know anything that you don't know."

Kyle whispered back harshly, "You're so full of shit, you would not be acting this way if there wasn't something you didn't know."

Wendy stood up and cleared her throat, book in her hands. "Guys, I think we got some attention." Both boys looked over in the direction she indicated and noticed the school librarian studying them intently. As if on cue, a warning bell rang and the trio started to break away from the library.

"I have to get to class," Wendy said, heading in a different direction since she didn't share the same homeroom as the other two. She was a little nervous about leaving the two on their own but there wasn't much she could do.

As they walked down the hall, Kyle sighed. "Cartman, it would be easier if you just told me."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Jew!" Cartman cried, irritated. "We have to get to class, who knows how long Kenny's been in there alone?" Token was also in their homeroom so Cartman wasn't overly worried but on the off chance Token was absent, there wasn't anyone else in the class that would stick up for their old friend that Cartman knew of. Kyle's eyes narrowed at him and he remembered Stan's request from earlier. Maybe Stan was misreading this worry as something else? Kyle simply saw it as Cartman dodging his questions. They came to to the door, Kyle remaining quiet and refusing to rise up to any of Cartman's bait. By the time they reached the door, Cartman had just about developed a twitch. "Don't say anything about this in class, especially with Kenny in there," he whispered murderously to Kyle. His friend just shrugged and nodded, only creating more tension between the two before they entered the class, barely making it to their desks before the final bell dinged over the intercoms.

Ω

Stan waited by his locker at lunch, wondering if Kyle would eat with them again. Kyle was there after a few minutes but looked irritated. "Hey," he greeted his friend. "What's up?"

Kyle shook his head. "I don't think I'm going to eat with you guys, Stan. Will you be okay?"

Stan shifted uncomfortably. He'd rather Kyle eat with them, but he couldn't force him to. "I'll survive but is this about Kenny again?" he asked, wishing his voice didn't crack with worry when he asked.

"No, no," Kyle rushed to assure him. "It's just me and Cartman, we, uh, haven't been getting along this morning and I think we could both use a long break from each other." He was worried the two would get into a fight at lunch about all this Cthulu stuff in front of Stan and Kenny which would pretty much defeat the purpose of them sneaking around behind their backs.

"That bad, huh?" Stan asked, nervously. "It wasn't because you asked about, you know…."

"Oh, no, but I'm definitely not asking him that especially now. I already told you, though, just ask Kenny," Kyle said adamantly. He grabbed what he needed and left rather abruptly. Stan shook his head and went to the cafeteria, happy to see that all his friends were already there.

Even Kenny and Cartman were already sitting, so Stan assumed Cartman must have rushed to the cafeteria or packed. There was a spot waiting for him right by Kenny, he smiled as he slid into the available space between Kenny and Clyde. He shot Clyde a grateful smile who just nodded at him. Stan didn't care that it was obvious he and Kenny sat closer together than anyone else, invading each other's space again, his hand finding Kenny's knee beneath the table and giving it a gentle squeeze. Kenny smiled in return and waited patiently for Stan to split the salad he'd packed. Stan wished he'd taken the time to make something a little more exciting and resolved to pack a better lunch the next day. While everyone else was busy talking, Kenny made sure to eat a little bit and made sure Stan saw. Stan's face lit up in that appreciative way that Kenny loved.

"So where's Kyle now?" Craig's voice cut into their little world and Stan's head snapped away to look at their friend, much to Kenny's disappointment.

Stan looked uncertain, now that he thought about it, Kyle hadn't told him where he was going instead of eating with them. "I don't know, he just said he wouldn't be eating today. I'm guessing he probably went to that tutor class again."

"Like he tutored this morning," Cartman muttered and Stan glanced over at him, puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, he's just tutoring a lot or being tutored or whatever," Cartman growled out, stabbing at his food, a rice bowl heaped with veggies and chicken.

Butters frowned. "Well, Kyle is really smart. Maybe some of his classes are really hard so he needs help and he's helping those of us in the less hard classes," he said slowly thinking through everything.

"Make sense to me," Clyde piped up, not bothering to glance up from his phone, not finding much interest in the conversation his friends were having at the table. Cartman muttered something else but no one paid attention to him and lunch was over too soon for Stan who followed Cartman and Kenny to their class, much to Cartman's annoyance, before he left to his own class.

Craig was already in his desk and raised his brows at Stan who made it in just before the bell rang. "Did you walk Kenny to class or something? He gets two escorts now?" he asked.

Stan answered with a nod and shrug and opened his mouth to say more but the teacher started the class before he could. He glanced over at Craig throughout the period trying to figure out the best way to go about asking him what he wanted to ask. Finally, the teacher left the last five minutes of the period to the class and Stan leaned over. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"You just did."

Stan frowned. "You know what I mean." Craig waved his hand out and away from his chest, indicating for his friend to continue. Stan went on, "So, there's something, someone that someone else wants to ask someone else but they don't know how to go about asking them. The someone else-"

"Whoa," Craig cut Stan off. "Let's make this easier. So there's something you want to ask Kenny."

"I never said it was me! Or Kenny!" Stan exclaimed but knew his face was giving him away as he could already feel the heat rising into his cheeks.

"Am I wrong?"

"Well!" Stan's eyes darted around for a moment, realizing he was trapped and Craig wasn't exactly one to go around gossiping so he might as well continue. "No, you're not wrong."

Craig nodded, unsurprised. "Okay, so what do you want to ask Kenny?"

"I want to ask him about- about if he had a relationship with someone else before now."

Craig was silent for a few moments. "Cartman?" he asked. Stan started and looked away guiltily. "It's not like there's too many other guesses, all things considered," he pointed out to Stan.

"Yeah," Stan said quietly. "I don't know how to ask him about it."

"Why do you think those two would have been in a relationship?" Craig asked carefully, eyeing Stan with some concern.

Stan rolled his eyes. "You're going to laugh at me like Kyle. He thought it was stupid."

"I don't think it's stupid," Craig said, voice remaining even. "I just think it's unlikely."

"Is it?" Stan asked, remembering how Cartman and Kenny had exchanged glances, almost like they were communicating but he wasn't part of it. "They are pretty close."

"When would they have had this relationship?" Craig asked, pointing out the first flaw in Stan's logic. After all, Cartman had only found Kenny a couple weeks before school started or so they'd been told.

"Maybe he lied about when he found Kenny," Stan said, recalling how Kyle had never once believed Cartman. "Maybe they were seeing each other before Kenny came back to school."

"Just talk to Kenny about it, Stan," Craig advised him, easily hearing the jealousy in Stan's voice.

"I don't know how to bring it up."

"Just ask him if he was dating Cartman."

"Seems easier said than done."

Craig shook his head slowly. "Aren't all things?"

(A/N: It's 83 degrees inside (Farenheit, 28 Celsius) And it's only getting worse by the minute. Anyway, I had a bit of a block for the next couple chapters but think I finally had a breakthrough. I have some other later chapters typed up but it would be a little weird to just post them and be like, "Stuff happened in between." Though, I was tempted to do that, lol. But now we've come to the point of the story where I don't have much typed up in advance. Well, you know except like five chapters from now, lol. My updates have been getting slower and slower but I'm hoping to have a good go at the story this weekend. Assuming I'm not screwing around in a tomato garden or annoying some unfortunate friends. So we'll see. Thank you!)