They tried to play it cool the next day and every day after that for a while. Trying to act as though nothing had changed, no big secrets had been revealed. Kenny just had a little health scare, but everything was fine now. Cartman whined about having to go to school while the other three skipped, Kyle yelled at him for being more concerned about school than about his friend, and that was that. They knew they couldn't get away with that forever, they had to do something about the tentacles eventually. But it was still winter, so the "hiding them in the parka" trick still worked. And they were going to continue to use it until they thought of a better plan. Kyle did bring up the idea that maybe he should just embrace the new look and be open about it, but Kenny shot that idea down. Maybe someday he could but he wasn't ready yet, which Kyle understood.
But even when trying to act the same a few little differences slipped through the cracks. Either Stan or Kyle or both would stick closer to Kenny now, ready to pull him out of harm's way if a disaster occurred. They would include him more in their conversations, as they would sometimes forget he was there before this due to him being so quiet. They were more physically affectionate with Kenny too, giving him more friendly arm punches, holding his hand more, even giving more hugs. The first time Kenny died since the other two were let in on the secret he could see relief in their eyes as they greeted him the next day. They pretended everything was normal but their smiles at the bus stop were a little bit brighter. Kyle even got him the homework he missed and someone (presumably Stan) slipped his favorite candy bar in his locker. Now that there were no more secrets between them, that barrier that kept Kenny from getting very close to them was starting to crumble. Stan had been wrong when he said that this wouldn't affect their friendship, but it had actually ended up making it stronger.
Of course, things couldn't stay that way forever. Big secrets like that had a habit of coming out eventually. Especially when you hung around someone like Cartman. It had started innocuously enough. Cartman was bitching about something or other to the other boys, the others had basically tuned him out at this point, when movement from under Kenny's hood caught his eye.
"What'cha hiding there Kenny?" Cartman asked all of a sudden, causing Kenny to give him a confused look.
"What? Nothing." He said. Cartman scoffed.
"Oh please, I saw something moving under your hood. What, did you sneak one of your pet rats to school again?" He taunted. Kenny rolled his eyes. He did not have a pet rat, thank you very much. He had a pet possum, Mr. Possey. (Quite possibly Mr. Possey the 2nd or 3rd by now. It might not be the same possum that keeps coming by.) Well, technically it wasn't a pet, but he did feed it when it came around his place. It even let him pet it.
"Lay off him Cartman, it's probably just your fucked up eyesight." Kyle chimed in.
"Ay! My eyesight is perfectly fine Kahl, it hasn't been fucked up in years." Cartman retorted.
"Are you sure? You should maybe get it looked at." Stan added.
"Goddamn it, I know what I saw!" Cartman shouted. "I'm not seeing things! Kenny's hiding something!"
"What could I possibly be hiding?" Kenny asked. He was trying to play it cool, but inside he was freaking out. Having Stan and Kyle know was one thing, but this was Cartman. Cartman, the egotistical bully, Cartman, the sociopathic asshole, Cartman, the guy who they weren't even sure why they still hung out with but continued to out of habit. Cartman knowing could literally be the death of him.
"Well, if you're not hiding anything, why not just take your hood off?" Cartman taunted.
"No!"
"Why not?" Cartman probed.
"Because I don't want to." Kenny said firmly. "I don't want to so I'm not going to, I don't have anything to prove to you." Kenny started walking away, forcefully shutting down the discussion, but Cartman wouldn't be deterred so easily. As Kenny turned away from him, Cartman reached over and forcefully pulled Kenny's hood down.
"No, don't!" Kenny shouted, but it was too late. The hood was down, Cartman had seen. And not only that, but they had also gathered quite a crowd. They had all seen it too. Kenny quickly pulled his hood back up but it didn't matter, the secret was out now. Cartman paused for a second, trying to take in what he just saw, before letting out a wicked grin.
"Ha!" He shouted. "Kenny's a freak!"
"Shut up fatass!" Kyle shouted, patience already wearing thin. He'd already had enough of Cartman's bullshit, but going after Kenny? That was a new low.
"But he is! Come on guys, you all saw it. Kenny McCormick is a poor, inhuman, tentacled freak!" Cartman shouted. The crowd was whispering among themselves. Kenny saw some people look over at them with a disgusted look on their faces, but whether they were disgusted at him, or at Cartman for taunting him, he didn't know.
"Shut your fucking mouth Cartman!" Kyle shouted, but Cartman ignored him. For once not focusing on Kyle. He turned back towards Kenny and got right in his face.
"It's funny, I would've expected something like this from Kyle, but not you. It's always the quiet ones, isn't it Kiiiny." Cartman said, drawing out the mispronounced syllable of his name to get under his skin. "But then again, maybe I should've seen this coming, you've always been a fucking weirdo. You can't even manage to stay dead." Kenny heard a gasp from the crowd and his, Stan's and Kyle's jaws dropped. How? How did he know that? How long did he know that? Why didn't he say anything about it? Kyle recovered first, shock turning into righteous fury.
"You knew?! You knew and you didn't say anything?!" he shouted.
"I did!" Cartman protested. "But every time I pointed it out it was always like "what are you talking about Cartman?" or "don't be a dumbass Cartman, people don't die twice." Well, who's the dumbass now?" Kyle and Stan looked guilty. Ok, that one was on them. God, they really didn't believe in Kenny's immortality even though multiple people told them about it multiple times? Jeez, they really were dumbasses. (Though, they probably would've reacted the same way even if they had known. There was a reason they didn't tell Cartman after all.)
"But not to me!" Kenny pointed out. "You never pointed it out to me!"
"I didn't?" Cartman asked. "Oh well, you know now I guess." Kenny's anger rose at how blasé Cartman was treating this, like it wasn't the defining issue of his fucking life.
"How long?" He asked, barely holding back the fury in his tone. "How long have you known?"
"Since third grade when you oh so graciously donated your eyes to me." Cartman said, tapping right below his eyes. "Recognize these babies? You didn't think that I always had blue eyes, did you?" Kenny never knew that Cartman had his eyes. He normally wouldn't mind, there was a reason he became an organ donor, he left so many corpses behind someone might as well get some use out of them, especially if it was a friend. But the way Cartman said it made him feel gross, like he had been violated in some way. "I can see through your eyes Kenny, I see everything that you do. I know everything about you, and you've always been a fucking freak. Now it's just obvious to everyone else too"
"That's enough!" Kyle shouted. "I've had it with you Cartman! You have no right to make fun of Kenny for something he can't control!"
"You're really taking his side? He's not even human Kyle!"
"So what?"
"So what?!" Cartman repeated in disbelief. "You recognize those tentacles jew boy? He's one of those Cthulhu creatures! He's just going to turn on you, he's going to turn on all of you! The Elder God's can't be trusted! It's in his blood!"
"People's actions aren't based on what's in their blood you racist piece of shit!" Kyle argued. "People have reasoning skills, they make choices! If he doesn't want to turn on us, he won't!" Cartman scoffed.
"He's not a person, he's a monster."
"You're the monster Cartman!" Kyle snapped back. "You're the one who actually teamed up with Cthulhu to try and destroy the world!"
"At least I'm not his fucking kid!" Cartman retorted. All the breath left Kenny's lungs and his face fell.
"Wh…What?" Kenny asked.
"Oh come on Kinny, don't tell me you haven't figured it out yet." Cartman taunted. "Tentacles, immortality, who does that remind you of? I know your parents had a habit of going to cult meetings, put two and two together dumbass!" Kenny's heart stopped. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't deny what Cartman was saying. But it wasn't true, it couldn't be true…..could it?
"No, no! I'm not! It's not true!" Kenny shouted, he then turned to face Stan and Kyle. "Guys, tell them it's not true!"
"Well, we don't know for sure!" Kyle was quick to reassure him. "But...It is possible," he admitted. Kenny's face was drained of all color. "We were looking through H.P. Lovecrafts records and there have been reports of human and old god hybrids. Even one about a whole town in the 1920's who gained their inhuman traits during puberty, kinda like you did. And we thought….maybe…." Kyle trailed off, there wasn't a way to make this sound good, and Kyle knew it.
"We were going to tell you." Stan said. "We just….we didn't know how." He looked down at the ground after this admission, wishing that they had told him earlier. This was probably the worst possible way to find out. Kenny backed away from his friends, furiously shaking his head.
"No! It's not true! I'm not one of them!" Kenny shouted. Kyle grimaced at those words. He knew how that felt. He knew what it was like to find something out about yourself that scared you. To have a hidden darker side to your heritage that you try to keep under wraps. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to transform into Kyley-B in front of the whole class. Or to be stuck in that form forever. He reached out towards Kenny in an attempt to comfort him.
"Dude, I know this is scary, but denying a part of who you are isn't going to help. Trust me, I know."
"No you don't Kyle!" Kenny snapped. "You're at least human!" Kyle felt a pang of guilt and sadness at Kenny's words. Kenny was right. He was being dismissive again, just like that day in Cartman's basement.
"You're….you're right Kenny." Kyle said, backing off. "I don't know. I'm sorry." This admission didn't make Kenny feel any better. In fact, it just made him feel worse for hurting Kyle's feelings. Tears were pricking at the corners of his eyes, his heart was racing, he felt like he couldn't breathe. He couldn't take this. Not here, not now. He had to go, he had to be alone. With tears in his eyes Kenny turned tail and ran off.
"Kenny!" Kyle shouted.
"Kenny, wait! Come back!" Stan called after him. But he didn't slow down. Kyle turned back to Cartman, fury written all over his face.
"See what you did, fatass?!" Kyle shouted. "You made Kenny run away!"
"Me?" Cartman retorted. "All I did was tell him the truth. If he can't handle it, that's his problem."
Kyle's anger flared, his fists clenched at his sides as he glared at Cartman. "You're despicable, Cartman," he seethed. "You revel in other people's pain, don't you? You're a sadistic, heartless bastard."
Cartman chuckled, his smirk twisted with malice. "Oh, spare me the self-righteous act, Jew. You're just upset because I hit a nerve. Admit it, you're scared too. Scared of what Kenny might become. Scared that he's not the innocent little friend you thought he was."
"You don't know anything about him!" Kyle screamed. "And you know even less about me!"
"That's where you're wrong Kyle." Cartman continued. "I saw all of his memories when he possessed my body, remember? I know everything about him." Kyle felt like he was going to be sick. Not only was he seeing through his eyes, but he had been peeking inside his memories? That was low, even for Cartman.
"You had no right!" he roared, his voice echoing through the hallway. "Invading someone's mind like that is unforgivable!"
But Cartman just smirked, unfazed by Kyle's anger. "It's not like he can do anything about it," he taunted. "He's just a freak, remember?" Kyle's anger had reached a boiling point, and before he knew it he let out an agitated scream and pushed Cartman onto the ground. Yeah yeah, violence didn't solve anything or whatever, but god damn did he want to fight Cartman so badly. He couldn't help himself.
"What the fuck Kyle?" Cartman said, having the gall to act like he was the one who was wronged.
"Don't talk that way about my friend!" He shouted. "Your friend! Kenny was one of the only people who ever really cared about you! You're just going to throw that all away just like that? Do all those years together mean nothing to you?"
"That thing is not my friend." Cartman insisted. "He tricked me into hanging out with him, he pretended to be human! Do you really want this imposter running around our school? Kenny is a freak and a liar. I want nothing to do with him." Kyle looked at him with absolute disgust. How could he say something like that? How could he dismiss Kenny just like that? Was it really that easy for him? Despite how much he despised Cartman over the years, he still hung around him due to all the history they had together. The four boys all knew each other since toddlerhood, their parents were friends, they were neighbors, they've been through so much together. Their lives had been tangled together for as long as they could remember. Kyle thought of the other boys as family, even Cartman. Granted, in their family Cartman was like the drunk racist uncle that only got invited to the family gatherings out of obligation, but still. It disgusted him that Cartman could toss one of them away so easily.
"I'm not surprised that you would take his side, you're both sub-human after all." Oh, this motherfucker. He wasn't implying what Kyle thought he was implying, was he? "Maybe we should take your hat off too Kyle, check for horns." Yup, he was. Kyle didn't know why he was surprised, Cartman had always been anti semitic, but that didn't stop Kyle's face from turning beet red from anger. He let out another scream and let his fists fly. He didn't care where he was landing the hits, as long as they were landing, that's all that mattered. The other kids were cheering him on. Normally Stan or Kenny would try to hold Kyle back but Stan didn't feel like doing that at the moment, and Kenny was elsewhere. So Stan split off from the group, wanting to see if he could find Kenny. He promised he would be there for him, and after everything that just happened, he figured he could use a friend.