Chapter Text
Had you told Kenny McCormick that he'd grow up with it all: Great job, great income, lovely house, and a helluva good family... He'd of laughed straight to your face. He knew his place even at 10 years old, he was a country hick living in the ghetto with a horrid father and a obsession with snorting cat piss, nothing can come good from that. But of course, he was still a child, and children in those positions simply need a push.
Ken never necessarily planned on going into chem, but as he got older the interest stuck on him like a rash. By sophomore year in highschool, he was getting some of the best grades in the science classes that the school had seen in years. Junior year saw him put into AP Environmental Science and AP Chemistry. Graduated in the Top 4 of his class with his scores, only beat out by Kyle, Wendyl, and Tolkien of course.
The sheer amount of damn scholarships thrown his way scared him if he was being completely honest, but to be fair anything over $1k did. God bless capitalism, he supposed, without it that full ride to University of California Berkeley wouldn't be. As much as he wished to stay at least in Colorado, Carol and Karen encouraged him to venture, Kenny was a free spirit, he needed to see more than a little bumfuck mountain town.
So off he went, and from there the visits home got more and more scarce and scattered. All he was at this point was work, work work. Busy, busy, busy. And he fucking hated it.
As soon as that Doctorate was put in his hand, Kenny was back to South Park. He'd stay with his mother for awhile, working at a lab in Denver for a few years. But Carol was getting older, and Karen was off to SVA studying sequential illustration, whatever that was.
So, like any reasonable adult, Kenny purchased a 5 bed, 3 ½ bath ranch house on the outskirts of town, immediately moving his mother into one of the downstairs bedrooms, despite all her complaints that she didn't need this, that he didn't need to waste his money on her. And every time, he'd just laugh and say "Yeah yeah, I'm sure you think that, Momma."
Now, Kenny's life was looking up, nice house, taking care of his family, rising the ranks in the chemistry field internationally at this point, he'd thought he had it all. For awhile. Y'see, Ken got a little... Excited with the consistent fat stacks of cash after his grace period, and like any man in his late 30s, he started making a few mistakes. One of those mistakes was Hope.
Ohhh, Hope, his abhorred. She was some gold digger he dated for a few months, really just for the gratification of it, and he broke it off with her a few weeks shy of his 40th birthday. Cut to his birthday and she shows up on his doorstep holding three, yes three, positive pregnancy tests, muttering "Happy fucking birthday, you piece of shit."
He'd be lying if he said that once the initial panic wore off, he found himself excited in a way. A child? His child? His little freak of nature? He knew almost not a damn thing of raising a kid, but he knew he wouldn't be Stuart, and that was good enough for him. So, he settled a deal with Hope: She could live with them, he'd pamper her through the pregnancy and she'd get whatever she wanted, as long as she kept the baby and let Kenny raise it.
He'll admit, he cried when she accepted the offer, albeit reluctantly. But it was in the secrecy of his room so it's fine. The next 9 months, two weeks, and two days were worse than his days in college, but at the end of it all, getting to hold the little pink, squishy, wailing thing he helped make, well it was worth any torture he could think of.
A little girl, Hope suggested her name be Kelsey, and even though Carol insisted that was "a damn white ass bimbo name" (her exact words), it stuck. Kenny and Kelsey. Ken and Kels.
The first few years were a little rough, but not without Chaos. Yes, as in a certain Victor Leopold Chaos. He and Kenny had started a... Business relationship at first, at that point Vic was just someone who believed in Kenny's experiments and prowess. Then, it moved up into glorified sugar daddy, and eventually, the two were in a heated affair whilst Kenny was with Hope, AKA one of the main reasons for their break-up.
Victor did express irritation with being a side hustle, Kenny understood, and of course they made up and then made love. Still kept it out of the house while Hope was living there again, blown up like a damn beach ball and bitching at Ken about it almost every day. Once she was officially gone and Kelsey was Kenny's little girl legally (thank fuck for Kyle's dad), Vic pretty much moved in.
Now, Kenny knew he wanted Victor to meet Kels, but he waited a good long while, and despite Vic's protests, Ken decided it was for the greater good. "Let her grow up a little, buttercup.", he'd say. "She's gotta have at least a little understanding of her surroundings."
Kelsey didn't meet Vic until she was six months old. Nor would she realize that her interaction with him was probably one of the most important in determining Kenny and Victor's love life. As soon as she was placed in his arms, he smiled, cooed a little "Well, hi there, dumplin'.", and she smiled. She smiled, and she giggled, and she reached out and grazed her chubby hands along his face, laughing at the ticklishness of his stubble. Well, that was it for Kenny, he had to make Vic his. Forever.
The wedding was small, a few of Kenny's buddies, a few of Vic's. No appearances from the Stotches, but one highly uncomfortable, and highly drunken appearance from one Stuart McCormick. The whole ordeal ended with Stuart in cuffs, Kenny with a scuffed up suit and a black eye, and Victor's nose almost broken. That damn honeymoon back to Hawaii could not have come soon enough.
And so they lived, and they loved, and they certainly did laugh, but one thing was off. Ken had began noticing it when Kels turned 2. She didn't really respond to them, she did things alot more meticulously, and she still hadn't said her first word. He waited for a month, maybe it was just a phase. Once Carol pointed it out, he knew it wasn't.
Kelsey was diagnosed with Autism, and was to start developmental therapy once she turned 3. Vic, of course, panicked. Let out the first "Oh jeez, oh hamburgers!" Kenny had heard in awhile. Both were nerve shocked for awhile after that. They both read many books, went to seminars on developmental behaviors at the center, got any and all documents Kyle could send them about the spectrum, and they still felt stooped.
Now Kelsey did get more responsive, in time. She was a bright girl, Miss Theresa (her therapist) had discovered her love of reading, and her interest in weather. A stark difference on the sciences scale compared to Kenny's chemistry, but he was happy nonetheless. She started school normally, attended regular classes and began seeing Mr Wendyl at the school along with her appointments with Miss Theresa, for extra support and to keep Vic's mind at ease.
She was still very quiet, hated being touched and sensitive to certain textures, she had a particular hate of oatmeal and the feeling of brick walls against her hands. She absolutely despised loud noises, sitting and ate lunch in Wendyl's office to avoid the loud cafeteria. Sometimes she'd lie to the nurse so she could go home early, just because she felt uncomfortable being at school.
By the time she was about to go into 4th grade, Vic was officially about to lose it. He and Kenny would lay in bed at night just having conversations about what they should do, how would they handle this?
The worst of them all was a week off of the first day, Victor worked himself up so much he started crying.
"What if they pick on her, Ken?"
"They haven't done that since she hit that one kid in 2nd grade."
"But what if she does that again!? What if she's getting... I don't know, worse!? And we can't tell!"
Kenny sighed and sat in thought for a long time, holding his sobbing partner and occasionally rubbing his back and whispering "That's it, just let it out, Leo..."
Once he had pretty much calmed down, Kenny sat the both of them up, taking Vic's face into his hands.
"Now, I know you're worried."
"Yes..."
"And you have every right to be."
"Yes..."
"But you gotta stop thinking about just the negatives, babe."
"But I-"
"I know, I know you're scared, it's OK to be, I always am when it involves Kelsey and school, but we have to consider how much better she's getting. Remember how she met that little fat fuck that looks like a Jewish Cartman? Moishe I think?"
Vic let out a laugh and nodded, wiping his face a bit.
"Ever since she started hanging out with him, everything's been looking up! Remember last June, before she got out, she sat and ate in the cafeteria for a whole week!"
"She had ear muffs on, Ken."
Kenny let out a small sigh in frustration, his hands sliding down to lightly grip Victor's shoulders.
"And? Isn't that better than nothing? And- And remember, Wendyl got her to read that poem she wrote in front of her class! That's improvement!"
"I... I guess you're right. Oh goodness, look at me, being such a Negative Nancy, our little baby's getting better, it's just-"
"Taking time. And it's gonna take time. Theresa said it, Wendyl said it, Kyle said it, hell my fucking mother feels the need to tells us every morning."
Victor laughed, shook his head a little. They sat in silence for a long time before Kenny's hands went back to his face, squishing his cheeks.
"My little worry wart~"
"Eugh- Kenny!"
"Hehe, only playing, buttercup."
They giggled for a moment before settling back down, closing their eyes and just laying in each other's arms for awhile. But both knew when the other wasn't sleeping.
"Hey, Ken?"
"Yeah, babe?"
"Let's just, get her to Christmas break. Then we can reevaluate the semester. See what needs to change and what's working so far."
"That's the best idea I think you've ever had, Leo."
"Kenneth McCormick!"
"Hahahaha, joking!"
Just to Christmas break... Holy shit, this might be a disaster.