Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

alrigth...snacks, few cleanish clothes, deodorant, his PSP, a few playpoy magazines...their death diary.. that should be all.

zipping up their bag Kenny McCormick left his house.

they had about 10 minutes to get to the bus station 

you see, all of Kenny's friends were going to summer camp, except them.

because their family didn't have money for such things.

well, Kenny thought that was bullshit.

so they're sneaking on to the bus that takes them to the camp so they don't have to pay for shit!

also none of their friends know about their plan yet, they're in for a suprise for sure..

sneaking onto the bus was surprisingly easy. Kenny made sure to arrive early before the others showed up so they would be able to sneak in and hide under the seats or something. but honestly from the looks of it he could've just walked in just fine and the old man driving the bus would not care. 

the man was giving them the creeps, but as long as Kenny doesn't end up in a ditch stabbed to death by a homicidal grandpa they don't care.

it took about 20 minutes for Kenny to hear the others starting to gather outside the bus.

"oh my god I can't believe I'm about to spent my summer with you." said someone who sounded like Kyle

"suck my balls you jew!" said someone who was definitely Cartman.

it took another 10 minutes and 3 arguments for Kenny's friends to finally step onto the bus. 

as they started driving Kenny waited them to leave south park before wiggling out of their hiding spot under the seats.

his friends were talking animatedly about something...well more like stan was trying to keep Kyle from beating the shit out of cartman and failing.

"heya, what snacks did ya bring?" Kenny said casually plopping down next to Cartman.

they all looked at Kenny in such shock that they giggled at the sight

"wha-did you-HUH?" Kyle struggled which made Kenny laugh harder.

"I thought your poor ass couldn't afford summer camp?" Cartman pointed out

"I can't" Kenny said finally after calming down 

"that's why I snuck in for free" they said smirking under his parka

"oh my god" said Stan while pinching the bridge of his nose but Kenny saw the gin he was trying to hide.

"so does this mean you get to go summer camp with us?" Kyle asked

"yessir!!" Kenny cheered

"awesome!" said Stan

"oh cool I won't be forced to watch Kyle and Stan suck face all summer" snickered Cartman

"will you stop with the gay jokes?" Kyle sighed.

yup this was gonna be a interesting summer.

Chapter Text

“Oh Maax!”

“Shut the fuck up David it’s way too early for this” Max grumbled while filling his coffee mug.

“But Max this is important!” David insisted

“I don’t care. Let me get my coffee in peace.” Max groaned “But we have to welcome the new campers!”

Chapter Text

"do we have to do this?" groaned Max

all the campers were gathered around the campfire. not really by choice though. it was noon and everyone just really wanted to go to sleep after a long day of camp.

but alas, David insisted they did some stupid induction game.

"now now, this will help to learn more about our new fellow campers! it won't take long!" said David cheerfully ruffling Maxes hair which earned a few curse words from the boy.

"let's just get this over with-" Max heard the read head- Kyle mumble "uh, hi I'm Kyle Brovfloski...uh, I like reading when I have the time-" he said before getting cut off by the fat kid

"and he's a jeeew-" 

"I will not hesitate to smash your head in Cartman." said Kyle deadly serious look on is face. 

jeez, talk about anger issues much. Max thought

"will you two stop fighting for one minute-" said beanie kid  with a annoyed look on his face- was it normal for these to make serious death threats at each other?

"anyways, I'm Stan Marsh and I'm pretty ok with playing the guitar I guess." Stan said rubbing his arms, David perked up at the mention of a guitar.

"oh! what do you play?" he asked excitedly.

"death metal." dead panned Stan playing with the hem of his shirt, he seemed to get more fidgety as the day went on Max noted.

"..oh!" said David awkwardly which made Max suppress a snicker at David's reaction.

"yeah, Kenny and some of my other friends play together sometimes back at home." Stan said then turning to Kenny since they were supposed to go next

"hey man you got it?" asked Stan, Kenny giving a thumps up as an answer and begun to go through the pockets of their oversized parka

after a while of digging and pulling out random stuff out -there was so much stuff in his pockets- wait was that a condom?- they finally pulled out a notepad and a pen -which was broken down the middle and seemingly taped back together- they started writing quickly something.

after they seemed satisfied with what they wrote they turned the notepad facing everyone else.

Im KenNy McCOrmick 

it read in a messy hand writing. well, that's one way to get around that problem Max mused.

"it's my turn Kinny! I'm Eric Cartman and I'm the kewlest of us!" said Cartman, Max was starting to really despise him.

"ok cool now that's done can we go to sleep David?" asked Max rubbing his eyes glaring at David

"oh yeah! that should be all! you can all head to your tents. and for new campers I'll show you your tents!" said which made the campers sigh in relief and start to leave.

as Max and Neil were about to head to their shared tent David ran to them wit Kenny trailing behind him carrying a back back.

"what do you want David?" asked Max irritated

"as you know, we weren't expecting Kenny to come to camp-"

"because they snuck in." Max cut in

"-yes, because they snuck in. but anyways! we don't have a tent for them. so Kenny's going to stay at your tent until we find a better solution!" David explained.

"oh cmon! It's already bad enough having to share with Neil!" Max complained but either way gestured Kenny to follow him. 

they walked towards the tents in silence until Kenny spoke up

"hey sorry if it bothers you to share, I can just sleep outside if ya want" Kenny said kicking a stone as they walked

"nah it's fine I don't really care, just like to taunt David." Max huffed.

as they arrived Max opened the tent door seeing Neil reading a book on some nerdy shit -literally what the fuck is the string theory?-

"Neil. Kenny is staying with us because David isn't fast enough to build a tent for him for this night." Max said throwing himself on his bed groaning.

"wait where is Kenny gonna sleep? we only have too beds.." Max heard Neil say, dam he didn't think about that -oh god is he gonna have to share with Neil or something?-

"oh I can just sleep on the floor it's fine!" he heard Kenny say, lifting his head he saw the kid set down his back back and drop down on the floor with a sigh, turning on their side Kenny pulled out a magazine out of his back back.

"is that porn!?" screeched Neil horrified

"uh-huh." answered turning a page on his playboy

"you seriously brought a playboy to summer camp." Max deadpanned

"yup." muffled Kenny still eyed clued to the magazine.

"just don't jack off while where in the same room I guess, also I'm gonna borrow that later." Max said rolling his eyes taking his hoodie off to get ready for bed.

Neil stared at Kenny for a while longer before sighing in defeat and going back to his book about mathematical theory.

they could feel their bones snapping with a sickening crunch.

they tried to scream but their mouth was filling with the metallic taste of blood which made them  wanna gag

they tried to move- do ANYTHING but their body refused to move

they were gonna to die- they were sure-

snap

SNAP-

Kenny woke up with a gasp as they tried to calm their breathing, they tried to remind themselves it was just a dream. 

Kenny had fucked up dreams all the time about death and agony this wasn't any different!

they quickly got on their wobbly feet- they needed to get out before they woke up Neil and Max.

they could have their little freak out session when they're alone.

now looking at it, Kenny never let themselves actually break down in front of other people anymore, it was just easier to pretend they were as care free as their peers.

they closed the door of the tent, putting their shaking hands in their pockets trying to stay somewhat calm.

as they were about to start heading to the lake they noticed Stan was sitting by the remains of the campfire on one of the logs, Kenny sighed deeply putting their own panic aside, Kenny knew Stan shouldn't be left alone with his thoughts right now -sometimes Stan's eyes started to look a little too similar to his lifeless ones for his liking. it honestly scared him.-

walking next to Stan sitting next to him on the log, their leg bouncing up and down as they sat.

"hi man." said Kenny trying to keep their voice sounding somewhat similar to their usual cheery one but failing miserably as their voice cracked mid sentence.

"hi Ken...you doing okay?" asked Stan immediately picking up on Kenny's slip up

god dammit vocal cords.

"I should be asking you that" said Kenny laughing weakly

"no but I haven't seen you  like this like...ever" said Stan concern showing through his words as he eyed his friend who was visibly shaking.

"don't worry your handsome little head over it" joked Kenny trying to desperately change the subject

Stan huffed "gayass" he chuckled "no but you can seriously talk to me if you need to, I won't judge.." Stan still added playing with his hoodie strings 

"some stuff just isn't explainable Stan." Said Kenny as they got up before Stan could what what they meant, Kenny felt bad for leaving but if they stayed any longer they might actually start sobbing about their immortality and they really didn't wanna deal with the aftermath of that..

"I'll head to the dock for a while longer, bye, don't do anything Kyle wouldn't do." they said leaving Stan staring at them as they left.

as they were walking the path leading to the lake they heard a strange hissing sound coming from the bushes.

curiosity won in Kenny as they sneaked closer to where the sound was coming from

as they peaked around a tree they saw an opossum hissing and growling furiously at a fox which was cornering the smaller animal 

without thinking Kenny leaned and scooped up the opossum from the ground holding it high enough so the fox couldn't reach it

"hush! go eat something else foxy!" Kenny shooed the fox still with the hissing opossum in their arms.

the fox got startled by Kenny's sudden appearance and ran away.

the opossum had stopped hissing as the fox left seemingly calming down even as Kenny was still holding the animal.

"huh, you're pretty tame for a wild animal." Kenny mused haven almost forgotten their earlier distress completely at this point.

the opossum crawled up to Kenny's shoulder which made them giggle.

"I'm gonna call you pudding!" said Kenny carefully petting the animal currently entering their parka hood where it settled down curling around Kenny's neck.

I hope they don't have rabies or anything thought Kenny as they walked back to their shared tent his dream long forgotten.

Chapter Text

Kyle woke up suddenly. 

looking around it was still night as far as he could see.

this wasn't really unusual for Kyle, he often woke up in the middle of the night randomly, it wasn't really a big deal in Kyle's opinion.

though as Kyle looked around his tent which he shared with Cartman and Stan, he noticed Stan was missing.

this made the red head feel uneasy. knowing Stan, he was a chronic insomniac and often would let his thoughts get to him at night when he was all alone.

this causing him drink away his problems more than once. 

Kyle doubted the camp had any alcohol but he still didn't like the idea of Stan being alone with his thoughts.

like sighed as he got out of his sleeping back and opened the tent door.

as he got out he saw Stan sitting by the remains of the camp fire his back facing Kyle.

"Stan?" Kyle called out softly trying not to startle his super best friend.

still, Stan jumped a little when he heard Kyle turning to face him.

"o-oh, hi." Stan said as he recognized it was Kyle

"dude what's bothering you?" asked Kyle as he walked up to Stan sitting beside him.

"it's nothing." said Stan looking away.

"you're my super best friend, I know when something's up with you. you know you can talk to me Stan." said Kyle putting his hand on Stan's shoulder

Stan sighed looking at the still lightly glowing coals of the camp fire. 

"I don't know man, it's not like I'm sad about anything in particular, I don't even know if I'm sad! I just feel empty, like I have a black hole inside of me, and it feels like it's sucking the life out of me.." Stan ranted fidgeting with the loose threats on the hem of his shirt.

Kyle sighed at that. honestly, he didn't know how to actually help his friend, which was frustrating. 

"well, I know everything will be fine, and if it isn't, even if everything goes to shit, I'll be with you the whole way." Kyle finally said taking Stan's hand in his.

"thanks man." said Stan staring at their interlocked hands with a hint of a smile of his lips

"and I'll punch anyone who even tries to hurt you in their teeth." added Kyle in a matter of fact tone making Stan giggle 

"that's gay." teased Stan now smiling fully

"dude- I'm trying to be comforting!" whined Kyle

"yeah because violence is super comforting." Stan giggled 

"oh shut the fuck up" said Kyle smiling.

after a while the boys returned to their shared tent silently talking still holding hands.

"fags." muttered Cartman as he went back to sleep after being woken up by the two.

Chapter Text

Max woke up to the sound of David's voice outside his tent like he did every morning

"goood morning campers! it's time to wake up and start a new wonderful day at camp!" he heard David shout

max groaned and hugged Mr. Honeynuts closer to himself as he tried to let sleep take over once again. he already went to sleep way too late, the least he could do was to sleep a little longer..

as he was about to succeed in this as David busted through the tent door

"you too Max and Neil!- and Kenny!" David said in his usual cheery tone.

"fuck OFF!" groaned Max as he threw his pillow at David which made the counselor duck to avoid being hit in the head with the pillow.

"well- see you at breakfeast!" said David unaffected by Maxes sour mood as he ducked out of the tent.

"agh...well now I'm awake at least.." mumbled Neil rubbing his eyes.

Max also was now wide awake, his ever burning annoyance towards David must have waken him up, god dammit.

as Max put on his teal hoodie and grabbed his coffee cup he noticed Kenny was still sleeping soundly.

walking up to the orange lump he poked at them on their side with his foot, trying to wake them up.

"hey, dude, wake up you're gonna miss breakfast." Max called out turning on his coffee machine while still poking the kid.

Kenny only let out a mumbled out whine in response. (something along the lines of 'just 5 more minutes' )

Max was about to give up on the kid he saw something moving inside the kid's parka

"what the-" Max got cut off as a furry head of something poked out of the hood of the parka

"WHATTHEFUCKISTHAT!?" screamed Neil also noticing the creature jumping on his cot to get safe, this making Kenny jolt up finally waking up.

"whah?-" mumbled Kenny before looking around and casually scratching the animal under it's chin like it was nothing

"hi Pudding, did you sleep well?" Kenny asked the animal as he sat up taking the big rat out of his parka -don't ask Max what the fuck the animal actually was-

"why the fuck do you have a giant ass rat in your parka?" asked Max eyeing Kenny who was now petting the animal in their lap.

Kenny made a face at the mention of rats "it's an opossum." they said.

"also I named it Pudding, were best friends now!" Kenny muffled, their eyes squinting which probably meant they were smiling under the parka.

"whatever, I'm too tired to deal with that, just make sure it doesn't have rabies like Muack." sighed Max as he filled his coffee cup and left the tent and Neil who was still standing on his cot behind.

as Max got to the mess hall Harrison ran up to him, the kid looked like a mess if Max was honest.

he had dark circles around his eyes, and he looked terrified out of his mind.

"what the fuck happened to you?" asked Max looking the boy up and down.

"look- I need to talk to you- like now." Harrison said in a hushed tone which made Max raise a eyebrow at the boy.

"wh-" Max started but was cut off  as Harrison dragged him out of the mess hall.

"dude the fuck!??" Max screeched as he was dragged away by the other taller boy

Harrison stopped as they rounded to the back of the cabin

"okay, so-" Harrison huffed and cut himself off by taking a deep breath.

"are ya gonna confess your undying love to me or why the fuck are you so nervous?" Max interrupted -he seriously didn't have time for this.-

"no! I-it's about the new kid- the one who always wears a parka and barely speaks?" explained Harrison.

"oh Kenny? what about them." asked Max glaring at the other boy.

"something's not right with them, I- I can feel it. who ever- no whatever they are isn't normal!" exclaimed Harrison running his hands through his hair starting to pace.

Max stared at Harrison for a good minute trying to figure out if he was serious, turns out he was. 

Harrison is saying that Kenny- the fucker who brings a playboy to a summer camp and adopted a fucking opossum in the first day of being here was somehow mixed in Harrison's fairy magic? -or something like that-

look- Max believes in Harrison's magic as surprising as it is, he gave up on trying to make sense of Harrison's tricks, it just wasn't fucking worth wasting sleep over. -cough Neil COUGH- also after the incident he really didn't wanna find out anymore.. but end of the day it was Harrison's magic, it was just some weird fact that Harrison could do actual magic. 

but to think someone, completely unrelated to Harrison, was also mixed up in it? nah, that would imply there's a whole group of people who can break the laws of physics out there and Max was way too tired to try and think what the fuck that means to him. nope. not doing that right now.

"bull. shit." deadpanned Max  

"no Max-" Harrison started but Max already was walking to the mess hall doors.

Kenny sat with pudding on their lap as he went through their pockets to find something for the animal to eat -what did opossums eat anyway?-

"s-so you're like sure it doesn't have rabies?" asked Neil who was still standing on his cot

"opossums hardly get rabies so calm your boots" huffed Kenny giving up on their search for food for Pudding

hopefully whatever they serve at camp is opossum friendly thought Kenny.

"welp- ya wanna go see what's for breakfast? it's been a while since I've gotten breakfast privileges!" said Kenny getting up and letting pudding crawl up in their hood once again.

Neil looked at them weird before muttering something and finally getting down from the cot.

"so you like animals?" he asked as they walked towards the mess hall, clearly trying to make conversation.

"you could say so. except for rats." Kenny replied, deciding to humor the other.

"why rats?" Neil asked raising an eyebrow at Kenny.

"...long story." Kenny shuttered at the memories of being eaten alive by those monsters.

as they arrive at mess hall the other campers are already eating their breakfast

well some are, other are just causing chaos.

Kenny almost runs to the line of kids waiting to get served their food.

look- the most they have had for breakfast in years is a pop tard or a can of probably expired soda. they aren't missing out on free breakfast!

as they get their tray -presumably a PB&J sandwich and a juice box and a few apple slices for Pudding-  they scan the mess hall trying to find a place to sit,

they spot his friends over at one table immediately making a beeline to their table 

"hi guys!" Kenny greeted his friends 

"hey Kenny." said Stan, Kyle and Cartman were fighting again and hadn't noticed Kenny's arrival yet.

"I'LL KICK YOUR BALLS SO HARD- oh, hi Kenny" started Kyle before noticing Kenny who was trying to shove their sandwich in their mouth inside their parka at the moment.

eating with your hood up is surprisingly difficult Kenny had learned over the years.

Pudding crawled out of Kenny's hood as Kenny was inhaling their sandwich, which he boy noticed offering the opossum a apple slice which it too happily.

"dude weak! did Kenny adopt another fucking rat?" Cartman grimaced at Pudding.

"it's a opossum fatass!" said Kenny while chewing his food.

"dude- eat with your mouth closed!" complained Kyle making a face at Kenny's lack of manners.

Kenny only made loud chewing sounds to annoy Kyle even more, which earned a poorly hidden snicker from Cartman.

as the boys chatted away Max entered the mess hall kicking the doors open, he looked more annoyed than usual. not long after a new kid followed in. 

they were wearing a yellow button up with a black vest on top, they also had a top hat in their hands. they looked nervous and were glancing around the mess hall

Kenny looked up as the two boys made their loud entrance, they and the vest boy met eyes for a brief second before the boy turned away looking even more nervous.

huh. what was his problem? thought Kenny, before shrugging and taking a sip of his juice box.

that look kinda reminded of Ike, the younger brother would often give Kenny a look of horror before running away when the boy was visiting the Brovfloski household.

they never figured out why Ike did that..

well- anyway! 

Kenny shook their head brushing off the sudden thoughts.

they shouldn't worry about that now, there's a new day of camp ahead! ..hopefully a good one.

Chapter Text

"so uhm, So why did we need to go catch a change of clothes again?" 

asked Neil receiving agreements from the other campers.

they were all gathered around David after the ginger ordered everyone to go dig up a change of clothes and meet up in front of the mess hall.

nobody knew what was going on and on top of that it was really hot out so the campers were getting more and more irritated by the minute.

"spit it out camp man! or we'll all die of fucking heat stroke." groaned Max, he was still wearing his signature teal hoodie even at the baking heat.

though even he was tugging at the hem of it sweating his balls out.

dammit summer heat.

"language Max! and patience. I swear I'll tell you when we get there!" replied David ruffling Maxes hair while the child yelled atrocities at the man.

"welp! let's get going campers! I'll lead the way!" said David to the rest of the kids.

"why can't he just say what were gonna do? why does he have to wait us to get there!" ranted Kyle as the boys followed the ginger

"it's David, he always has some stupid ass reason." said Max as he catched up to group after hearing Kyle complain about David.

Max glanced at Kenny who was now lacking significantly behind the other boys. they were tugging at hood of their parka. 

seriously- why did the kid wear that thing in this heat? now that Max thinks about it, he hasn't seen the short blonde ever remove his parka, not even when they slept..

"you can just fucking take the jacket off Kenny, it's like mid day right now you're gonna boil inside that thing." huffed Max rolling his eyes as Kenny wiped sweat off the little that was shown of their face with their sleeve.

" 'm okay." they mumbled "I don't get heat stroke that easily" they added as their eyes squinted showing they were smiling- or probably in this case smirking, look- it's hard to tell with the guy.

not a long after they arrived at- as Max expected- the lake.

"aalright! and were here!" David cheered way too happy for maxes liking.

"so my guess was right. you guys swam enough for a decade last summer!" Max groaned

"oh come on Max! I won't force you to swim but you didn't last year but I thought it would be a fun second change, and the new campers will also get to go swimming!" David grinned
"go choke on a dick camp man." Max snarled back at the man.

as the two argued Kyle was clutching into the extra t-shirt and shorts he brought staring at his feet.

"you okay?" Stan whispered at him worried and ready just to bail with the ginger.

"I can't- I can't go swimming you know that! what am I going to say Stan?!" Kyle whisper yelled while biting his nails.

"wait I might have an idea c'mon dude!" Stan whispered taking Kyles hand and the two disappeared behind a bush.

meanwhile Kenny was trying not to burn to death.

Max might've been right about him getting a heatstroke.

they really don't wanna die of heatstroke again if they can avoid it.

Kenny sat (read: collapsed) in the shade of a near by tree to think how to do this.

they've known David long enough to not even try to get out of the camp activity.

not to mention with their still limited speech when it came to authority figures..they just couldn't get words out of their mouth when David was around, it would take a while yet before they could even attempt to speak to the man. and Kenny knew trying to force themselves to speak only made it worse.

Kenny sighed, guess they were going to have to heal all of their scars for this.

they really hated using this re-generation curse to their advantage, they hated that they had to deal with this problem in the first place-

but the problem is not just that but also that speeding their healing process after the wounds have already closed to the point that they look like scars takes a fuck ton of energy, and they were trying to heal all the scars they had at the moment.

they probably wouldn't be able to erase all the evidence of their injuries but leaving a few scars wouldn't probably be too bad, as long as their face didn't look too de-formed (a bomb exploded near Kenny's face a while ago and their body was still in the process of re-destructing their lower jaw. eugh..)

also they would have to go pass out in their tent right after since they were going to need to get their energy back from rest, for now they pulled out a juice box and a few candies from their parka popping the sour gummy worms in their mouth and quickly drinking the juice for some quick energy. they were gonna have such a bad sugar crash later..

"so what did you have in mind?" Kyle asked as he and Stan were crouching behind a bush

"you know how you don't like taking your shirt off and you can't go swimming because of it?" Stan started 

"uh. yes?" 

"what if you didn't have to take it off to go swimming, what if we just say you burn easily in the sun since you're a redhead and that we forgot the sunscreen in our tent! we can put the shirt drying after we go back to camp and nobody would have to know." Stan explained

"dude that might actually work!" Kyle shrieked and jumped up from their hiding place pulling Stan up with him by his hands.

"dude you're the best!" he laughed as he hugged Stan tightly.

"n-no problem man.." Stan muttered hugging back while trying to hide his burning red ears under his beanie.

"let's go back before David sees that were gone."

Chapter Text

Harrison froze mid unbuttoning his shirt.

a full body chill went through him as the hair on his arms stood up.

what the?-

Harrison turned to where around out of instinct only to see the kid- Kenny sitting at the shade of a near by tree.

they seemed to be frozen in place just sitting there, it wasn't in it's self too weird if it weren't for their eyes.

they were milky white as they stared straight ahead seeing nothing, their eyes looked dead.

and then there was the fucking feeling Harrison sensed, it made him want to run as fast as he could away from the other. if Harrison wasn't sure that there was somethin wrong with the kid before, he definitely was now.

and as fast as the suffocating feeling came, it went. though not completely, it had always persisted in the back of Harrison's mind from the moment the other had set a foot to the Camp Cambell grounds.

the other blinked a few times his eyes turning back to the deep blue with a spark of magenta they were before.

the next thing they did surprised Harrison.

they quickly zipped open their parka- for the first time since they had came to camp. they were wearing a white sleeveless shirt which looked like it hadn't been washed in a while, and the inside of their parka was full of seemingly hidden pockets, some seemingly sown on by the user themselves. they all were full of random stuff ranging from hair pins to the notebook they used to communicate, also bandages which seemed to be hello kitty themed.

though right now he wasn't focusing on that, Harrison kinda wished they kept the parka on.

almost all of their skin was scarred, there were still some cuts which were fully open and it did take a lot of self control for him to not start screaming as he saw the deep cuts. 

though as he looked a little closer he relaxed a little, sometimes Harrison could see mental things project into a "physical" form, like how sometimes Max had a dark cloud hovering over him, or how forest animals appear near Nikki when the camp activities kept them inside the mess hall too long for her liking. 

by first glance they seemed usually as real as the physical world, but often if he looked closer he could see how they were often a little faded, quite not alive enough to seem completely real.

though Harrison wasn't sure if this was only mental.

nobody seemed to see it so he knew it couldn't be actually there, but it still felt different. the scars looked like someone had tried to erase them like erasers erase pen, though they seemed to stick to the other's skin. this was something he hadn't ever seen before. and even if it was mental..then he had a totally different kind of problem. because sometimes mental pain made itself known to him as cuts or bruises, but the amount the kid had-

Harrison shook his head...he really didn't want to think about that.

as he got over the initial shock, he realized how..small Kenny really was. he had just assumed they just had a few extra pounds on them because the parka was so big, but they looked really small for their age.

he sighed, at least now he knew there was something wrong with Kenny for sure, not that anyone would believe him since they couldn't see it.

he'll just keep an eye on the other for now he thought as he shrugged off his button up.

ugh, this is why he didn't do this often. Kenny thought as they blinked the mist away from their eyes.

every time they healed bigger areas at once they would black out for about 30 seconds to an minute, and they always felt all wrong when they woke up.

now was not the time to think about that they thought as they hurried to get their parka open.

they sighed in relief as the fresh air hit their face for the first time since leaving south park. it really was hotter here than it was in Colorado.

as they got up they stumbled a little as their vision went black for a moment, this is why they ate sugar before doing this.

they checked their arms just to check how well the scars healed just in case. some of the deeper ones were still visible but they were significantly smaller and looked years old, they passed as just a few scrapes from over the years Kenny thought.

they grinned as they quickly ripped their shirt off and kicked off their shoes and socks leaving them in their shorts, it had been a while since they had the change to go swimming since they usually didn't have enough cash to afford it, and the cash they got from working went to feeding Karen and sometimes buying her a toy or two if they could afford it.

they saw Stan and Kyle come out of the near bush, Kenny hadn't noticed that they had even slipped away in the first place.

"can't go a few days without sucking face?" Kenny joked as they ran to the two who were already ready to go swimming, Kyle had his shirt still on- which fair enough, considering his insecurity when it came to his chest and dumb social rules.

"shut the fuck up" Kyle laughed back at them knowing the other didn't mean it in a mean way like Cartman often did.

"you're gonna come too?" Stan asked as he took off his hat letting his hair free, honestly Kenny sometimes wondered if the other showered at all with how greasy his hair was.

"fuck yes dude! it's been a while since I had the change, let's just hope this lake doesn't have cyanobacteria." Kenny muttered the last part

"what the fuck is that??" Stan asked as they ran to where everyone else was already swimming.

Kenny could hear Kyle start to explain Cyanophyta but the rest went unheard by them as they jumped from the deck to the lake with a big splash.

Kyle shrieked as water splashed over him and Stan as Kenny jumped from the dock.

"give a warning next time asshole!" Stan laughed and jumped in himself.

Kyle rolled his eyes at his friends.

"how cold is the water?" Kyle asked them hesitantly, he remember how they had tried to go swimming in stark bond one autumn and they all ended up getting hyperthermia, Kenny had to even stay out of school for a few days!

"it's fine Kyle don't be a pussy jump in!" Stan called wiping his wet hair out of his face.

Kyle flipped his super best friend off before jumping in while holding his nose and crunching his eyes shut, he hated when he accidentally breathed in water through his nose, specially lake water, ew..

the water is warm enough thankfully Kyle thought as he tried to get his wet curls out of his face.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY FAGS!" Cartman's voice shouted as he ran from the dock, Stan and Kyle barely got out of the way as he jumped into the water.

"I fucking hate you!" Kyle screeched as water splashed over him once again making his T-shirt stick to his skin uncomfortably.

Stan rolled his eyes as Kyle tried to hit Cartman in the face but failing as the other pushed his head in the water.

did Max learn how to swim just for camp? that is none of your business thank you very fucking much.

look. he didn't want to not be able to swim- it was embarrassing and fucking pathetic! 

it just...

he's not fucking wearing a the girls swimsuit his parent's had bought him like years ago when he still went swimming sometimes and didn't yet feel like ripping hair out when he wore anything remotely feminine, which was like when he was three.

so before camp this year, he shoplifted a pair of black swim shorts.

so now here he was with his swim shorts and the one faded green T-shirt which was a little too big for him.

he really wished he could go swimming without a shirt, though the universe fucking hates him so it decided that the trans kid with too much on their plate already needs to start their early stages of puberty at the fucking age of eleven, so he couldn't really do that anymore. though another kid seemed to be wearing a t-shirt as they tried to waterboard the fat kid, so maybe he wouldn't stand out too much.

"wait you're actually gonna swim this year? I though you couldn-" Neil said startling Max out of his thoughts

"I know how to fucking swim now Neil." Max hissed embarrassed at the reminder.

"oh." Neil said surprised that the other boy actually learned that.

"come on Neil, we don't have all day to stand around." Max said as he jogged to the dock.

he wanted to try something he hadn't done in years.

he broke to a spring as his feet hit the dock, and as he reached the end he jumped as high as he could and did a flip to the water.

good to know he still had the skill, he thought as he surfaced again.

"holy shit that was sick!" said the boy who had been trying to drown his friend earlier- he was Kyle, right?

"fucking jew-" the other coughed out water, jesus, he had been seriously trying to drown the other.

"Max what the fuck- when did you learn that!?" Neil screeched as he slipped down into the water carefully. like a pussy.

"I used to do gymnastics when I was younger." Max explained, it had been one of his parent's ways of trying to get him to be 'more feminine', even though Max didn't know what part of gymnastics is explicitly feminine but he digresses, well, at least he could do cool flips and cart wheels now.

"how much else is there that I don't know about?" Neil scoffed.

oh so much. Max almost said but he bit his tongue and instead splashed water to Neil's direction making him scream like a girl.

he had missed doing stuff like this so carefreely, even if the t-shirt was bothersome and he still couldn't get his thoughts to shut up completely. but he wasn't reaching for perfection here.

Chapter Text

Hi folks!

And before you freak out; no, I’m not discontinuing this fic lol

But as most of you know, this is the first fanfiction I ever published.

I had written some drafts before that but this was the first long term project…and I think it shows.

I’ve improved as a writer and storyteller in the months I’ve been writing this, and also I have a better grasp at what I want this story to be about.

That being said, I am going to rewrite this whole story.

I simply just am not happy with the pacing and how I told certain parts of the story, and the older chapters are just very rusty.

I will update a new chapter with the link to the new work when I have written it to the point I have the story now.

For now this work Isn’t going to be updated anymore as I write the new version. This has been an amazing start to my time in this community and I appreciate all the comments and kudos from y’all!

if you want to come talk to me you can find me on my Twitter , I’m not too active there but I do respond to dm’s and stuff like that :)

but for now, see ya! 

-Grape xx

Chapter Text

thank you for waiting so long! read the first few chapters of the re-written version here  !!!!