Chapter Text
Chapter 1
The McCormicks
Learning to live as a mortal was an interesting experience for Kenny McCormick. He had missed a huge chunk of his senior year due to his mental health regarding suddenly becoming mortal. He was involved in a major incident at his senior prom that nearly killed him for good, resulting in him missing his own graduation. He never went on to college because he was so unsure of what to do with his life. Somehow, despite all that, he found himself as a successful adult. The fall after graduation he was accepted as an intern at Mephesto Labs just outside of town, where he excelled—he was always more of a “learn by doing” type of person. Once his internship was done he was offered a job there, which he accepted before the offer was even finished.
Once he had a job that actually paid real money the first thing he bought was an engagement ring for his boyfriend Leopold Stotch. The moment was simple, but special. Kenny took Leo to Starks Pond where they had a picnic. He had brought his guitar, much like he did on their very first date, and played him every romantic song he could think of, ending on “Like Real People Do”. Once Leo was sufficiently buttered up and in the romantic mood Kenny officially proposed, and obviously Leo accepted before the proposal was even finished.
They decided to go all out for the wedding. They flew their friends and families out to Hawaii for a simple beach wedding—admittedly it took kenny a long time to be okay with the idea of flying but Leo really wanted a fancy beach wedding and he found it harder to deny him than to actually get in the plane. Kenny didn’t have much in terms of family anymore, it was just his sister, and his dad, but his dad wanted nothing to do with him so only Karen came. Similarly to Kenny, Leo’s father was banned from the wedding--though banned is a bit of a deceitful description as he was in prison. However, Leo had made up with his mom after some time passed, and she went. She wasn’t the most thrilled to be there, but Leo was still glad she came—even if she did stick to the walls for most of the event. His aunt and uncle from California were more than happy to come, and Kenny was so glad to meet them. Leo only had good things to say about them over the years. All their friends came, which was a no brainer since they offered to buy the plane tickets and the hotel rooms for everyone. Craig, Tweek, Stan, kyle, and Bebe all had roles in the wedding. The reception ended up going until the early hours of the morning. It was perfect and beautiful and they extended their personal stay for an extra few days to get as much time on the beach as they could.
Life settled, things progressed. They moved to an actual house—not a town home—they helped Karen through college, Leo bought the restaurant he was managing and continued successfully investing his money in other projects, Kenny worked his way through different positions at the lab until he found the perfect spot for himself. Things were good. In fact, Kenny’s name was starting to pick up in the scientific community. His medical science and genetic research studies were making waves, he started discovering some incredible advances in medical technology. He never did this for the recognition, though, he just wanted to help the world.
Their anniversaries came and went in no time, and each time Leo insisted on throwing some sort of huge even to celebrate. With their five year wedding anniversary it was a big barbecue in the backyard of their new house. For the ten year anniversary it was a surprise return trip to Hawaii. A few years after that it was Kenny’s turn to surprise Leo. It just wasn’t a surprise either of them were prepared for.
Kenny had returned late from work that night. Leo was just about to go to bed, used to Kenny suddenly staying late—or even pulling all nighters on rare occasions. He was just leaving the living room to go get ready for bed when the door to the garage opened in the kitchen. Leo walked to the archway leading to the kitchen and leaned against it, smiling at his husband. Kenny looked distraught, a bundle squirming in his arms.
“Ken…?” Leo looked confused, staring at what he was carrying.
“I don’t have a good explanation,” Kenny said. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”
Leo walked over and Kenny pulled back some of the blanket, revealing a baby. Not a new born, the baby was at least 4 months old. A tuft of white-blonde hair on the top of its head, dark blue eyes that stared up at Leo with a look just as curious as Leo’s. Leo looked between the baby and Kenny, lost for words. The baby cooed and it seemed to snap Leo out of his thoughts.
“Wha…where did…who…?”
“He was abandoned,” Kenny said. “At the lab. I don’t know why he was left there. I couldn’t leave him.”
“Someone just…left their baby at the lab?”
“People are messed up,” Kenny said, looking down at the baby. The baby squirmed and cooed again, and Kenny smiled.
“We don’t have anything for a baby,” Leo said.
“I’ll go out first thing tomorrow,” Kenny said. “Maybe Kyle will have something we can borrow for tonight.”
“Wha—Ken they need that stuff for their own kid!” Leo gasped.
“I meant like formula,” Kenny said. “I wasn’t going to steal his crib. You’ve seen how many bottles they have surely he can spare one for a night.”
“This is insane, Ken,” Leo said, staring down at the baby. The baby looked back up at him and cooed again.
“Did you want me to leave him at the lab? Everyone else is home by now.”
“No! I’m glad you took him if that’s the case,” Leo said. He reached down and moved some of the blanket to get a better look. A little hand slipped out and immediately grabbed his finger. Everything about Leo softened at once, melting the moment the little fingers wrapped around his finger. “Call Kyle, I can hold him for you.”
Kenny chuckled softly and handed the baby over, digging out his phone. Leo had to admit, he was immediately in love with the little bundle. He could hear Kenny talking in the background but his focus was on the baby’s face, watching the way his eyes rolled around, the way he stretched and yawned and fussed. He held the baby to his shoulder and gently rubbed his back, bouncing slightly, listening to him coo right in his ear. Kenny appeared back in his field of view, smiling at the sight of them. “Kyle said he’ll run over with some stuff,” he said.
“You have no idea who’s kid this is?”
Kenny shook his head. “Fully abandoned. The note pinned to him just said ‘use him for experiments, I’m done’. I couldn’t do that to him.”
“Are we going to keep him?” Leo asked, frowning slightly.
“Well…we were talking about maybe adopting,” Kenny said with a shrug. Leo scoffed and rolled his eyes at that answer. It was a very recent conversation that lasted maybe ten minutes at most. This was a lot to suddenly throw at the both of them.
“Do you think we could even be good parents? I mean we didn’t have the best role models growing up.”
“We’ll never be like our dads are you kidding me?” Kenny scoffed.
“I suppose you’re right,” Leo said. He was quiet for a moment, fully aware of the baby he was holding in his arms, and how weird it felt to want to keep this little stranger. “Does he have a name?”
Kenny shook his head.
“You said it’s a boy?” Leo asked. Kenny nodded and Leo changed how he was holding him, looking down at his half awake face. He was fighting sleep, but not putting up much of a fuss. He glanced at Kenny, then spotted the wall of pictures beyond the kitchen, his eyes automatically drawn to his favorite one of Kenny and his siblings when they were younger. It was that moment he decided this was his baby now, it just felt right. Whoever abandoned this child was heartless, and Leo felt such a draw to him, as if this were meant to be. This was his and Kenny's kid now, he made the decision, and he had a name to finalize it. “What about…Kevin?” Leo offered, his focus going back to Kenny.
Kenny’s eyes widened slightly, eyebrows arching. There was a look hidden on his face, something unknown to Leo under the swell of sadness and happiness at the suggestion. It almost looked like guilt. Leo frowned. “Kevin’s a great name,” Kenny said quietly. “Are you sure?”
Leo looked back down at the baby, noticing he had fallen asleep. He smiled slightly, whatever unease he had at the look on Kenny’s face had melted away and replaced with the strangest feeling that screamed “this feels right”. He nodded. “He looks like a Kevin,” Leo said. Kenny laughed softly. The two smiled at each other and kissed. “So, Kevin it is. And…I guess we’re parents now?”
Kenny somehow had some connections that made the whole process of adopting Kevin significantly easier—it was practically overnight that it became official. Kyle was obviously the first to know, having dropped off some stuff he didn’t need for his own son anymore. It was just some clothes that he didn’t fit into anymore, some spare formula and diapers and bottles to get them through the next day or so. Kenny took the next few weeks off of work to get everything settled at home, letting Leo still go to work when he wanted. It didn’t take too long for things to get set into a schedule—thank God, for Leo’s sake, he was so anxious about everything suddenly being thrown off from the usual routines. Compared to the horror stories all their friends had about their newborns, Kevin was a dream. Leo found it a bit suspicious, but honestly he wasn’t complaining. Kenny just found it funny how suddenly everybody had kids now, he and Leo had only just mentioned the idea of adopting after Kyle announced his was going to have a kid, but they didn’t think they would actually start the process for at least another few years. Suddenly everyone had kids, which was great because now their kids automatically had friends.
Over the years they participated in so many parties and outings and school events and barbecues and vacations, keeping up their relationships with their friends from high school and their families—especially since so many of the kids all ended up in the same grades and even in the same classes. Kyle hit a lot of rough patches in his life, he had gotten divorced, got back together with Stan, then Stan got pulled away for a big military mission to space just before Kyle's daughter's first birthday. Kyle spent a lot of time with Kenny and Leo after that, which they were more than happy for. They gladly helped with the kids when needed. They thought they were a tight-knit community of gay dads raising kids—only a shame Tweek and Craig had moved on from South Park. At least, they did for a bit. They had both moved out of state for school and decided to stay, but when Tweek’s father died they moved back to support Tweek’s mother and their coffee shop, bringing along their adopted daughters with them. Two more for the gay dads club, and two girls to join the friend group.
Kevin never knew about the lab. Well, he knew his dad worked there. He didn’t know that’s where they found him. Kenny and Leo swore they would never tell him, they promised to tell him it was a normal adoption, and he was none the wiser. He grew up well adjusted. Maybe a little spoiled, Kenny had a bad habit of buying him almost anything he asked for since he never got to have that experience as a kid. Leo was better about not spoiling him. It took him some time to adjust and figure out better punishment tactics other than yelling “you’re grounded!” when Kevin would overstimulate him—luckily Kenny was there to mitigate the situation most of the time, and eventually they worked out something called “quiet time” instead of “groundings”, and things seemed to work out well since that was implemented.
He was a good kid. A little reserved, not necessarily shy but he would rather be by himself and focus on whatever he was interested in in the moment instead of going somewhere overstimulating. Leo had proposed the idea that he may be autistic, and Kenny took the suggestion seriously. He made an offhand comment about autism being genetic, which Leo took as a joke, but Kenny’s reaction to realizing what he just said made him doubt it was and he just ended up confused. Eventually they did decide to get him tested—low and behold, he was autistic. At least they knew how to handle that. No biggie.
Kevin didn’t hang out with many kids growing up unless he was forced to. In classes and his dads events he was good with the other children, but he never sought them out otherwise. He didn’t think he should be forced to hang out with these kids just because they were related to his dads friends. However, things did change one day in middle school.
He had been sitting at his usual lunch table, minding his own business like always. He sat in the same spot every day, it was the end of the table closest to the door so he could get up and go to class as quickly as possible when the bell rang. Like always, he had his home lunch that Leo packed for him, but this time he was barely eating. He felt nauseous, a weird headache making the top of his head feel like it was vibrating with electricity. He ignored the rest of the cafeteria, only glancing up when one of the popular kids stood next to him, arms crossed.
Looking up, it was Cici Stevens-Donovan, the daughter of his dads best friend. He had hung out with her plenty of times growing up, and while he could stand most of the kids he was forced to be around he absolutely could not stand her. She was more spoiled than him, and at least he was humble about it. The two of them avoided each other 99% of the time, so he was confused why she was suddenly standing there. She looked annoyed at him, which he didn’t understand why, he hadn’t even spoken to her in at least a month. “What?” He asked.
“We need this table,” she said, gesturing to her friends.
Kevin glanced to the rest of the table. There was plenty of space for them. “Then sit?” He said, looking back up at her.
“You need to move.”
“But I always sit here.”
“Yeah and it’s the best table, so now it’s our turn,” Cici said.
“There’s space,” Kevin said, looking confused.
“Yeah but we don’t want you here,” Cici said.
“Yeah we’re going to gossip and we don’t need you listening in on us,” said one of her friends.
“Why would I?”
“I dunno but you’ll probably blab to your dad, who will blab to my mom, and then we’re all screwed,” Cici said, rolling her eyes.
“I don’t—“
“Will you just move? You’re seriously here every day, give other people the good spots for once.”
Kevin stared for a moment, then sighed and got up, shoving his food back into his lunchbox. He gestured aggressively for them to take the table. That’s when he heard another voice join them.
“What-? Aw dude no, don’t give in to her.”
Looking beyond the group of girls he spotted Isaac Broflovski, getting up from the next table over. He also couldn't stand Cici, and he hung out with her even less than Kevin did. Cici scoffed as he approached, looking him up and down with a scowl. Isaac ignored her and walked up to Kevin. “Seriously, dude, what are you doing giving into her?” He asked.
Kevin looked confused. Now he had beef with Isaac? What did he even do?? He opened his mouth to speak but Isaac turned to face Cici. “Just let him sit here, there’s plenty of other tables you can have your little bitch fest at,” he said.
“Why are you defending him? It’s not like you’re friends.”
Isaac sighed and rolled his eyes. “Look, he’s autistic, let him keep his spot.”
“Wha—hey—!” Kevin gaped at him.
“Shut up, I meant it in a nice way,” Isaac said, glancing at him.
“I d-don’t need you defending m-me,” Kevin stammered. Both boys frowned, hearing the stutter. Isaac gave him a concerned look, but Cici snickered to her friends.
“Yeah Isaac l-l-leave him a-a-alone,” she said in a dumbed down voice, mocking the stutter.
“Back off bitch,” Isaac snapped.
“Seriously,” Kevin said, grabbing Isaac’s shoulder. “I-I’m f-f-f—I’m fine.”
“Whoa dude, you good?” Isaac asked, turning to face him. Kevin didn’t talk most of the time anyway, but the stutter was new.
Kevin tried to nod, but instead his head jerked to the side so hard his neck popped, his shoulders scrunching up dramatically in a forced shrug. His face went pale, his skin suddenly clammy. The girls behind Cici shrieked and scattered, thinking he was about to projectile vomit—not an invalid concern, he did look like he was about to get sick. Instead he dropped to the floor, his body convulsing. Cici ran to get a teacher while other nearby students gathered to watch what was happening, Isaac tried to get them to back off and give him space.
When Kevin woke up he found himself in a hospital bed. Leo at his bedside, Kenny outside talking to the doctors. Turns out he had had a "Grand Mal" seizure. They weren’t sure of the cause and kept him for a bit for monitoring and a few tests, but when they deemed he was healthy they let him go home. One of his dads must have passed on the news to the Broflovski’s, because by the time they got home Isaac was sitting at their front door, waiting for him. Kevin walked over, stopping in front of him, staring down at him. The two stared at each other for a moment before Kevin sat down next to him. They didn’t need to speak. It was the thought behind Isaac wanting to make sure Kevin was okay. Since then the two were pretty close—no longer just forced to be together because their dads are friends.
Isaac had admitted that he had been so standoffish around Kevin for ages was because he never got a good read on him. Kevin was so quiet and stoic and serious all the time that he just thought he didn’t like him. He didn’t know why he stepped in at the cafeteria that day, but Kevin was secretly glad he did, although he did insist he didn’t need protecting like that, and that the autism comment felt wrong; he was perfectly capable of handling himself. Their friendship baffled their parents. The two barely ever spoke, it was like they could read each others minds. When they did talk it was mostly Isaac going on long rants about whatever was interesting him at the moment, Kevin interjecting with questions every once in a while so he could fully understand what was being talked about. When they hung out they were mostly found just in the same room, doing their own thing. Kevin called it “body doubling”. Whatever worked for them, right?
The seizures still happened, but they were rare. The stutter, on the other hand, was persistent. It wasn’t always there, but it would show up at the most random moments. It never lasted long. Kevin liked to compare it to hiccups—random and annoying but they rarely lasted long. The summer of sixth grade he started going to summer camps. His dads were against it at first, worried he may have another seizure while gone, but he was stubborn and always won the arguments to go. It was a different camp every year. It was his chance to get away from home and his overprotective parents, he wasn’t going to let them take that away from him.
The summer before ninth grade was an intense one. He hit a massive growth spurt halfway through summer camp and quickly outgrew most of the clothes he brought. One of the nights he did end up having a seizure. He had woken up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, felt one coming on and managed to lock himself in to prevent anyone from walking in on him. He didn’t want people to fuss since most of his seizures were small and he was fine after a few minutes. He knew how to care for himself afterwards, he had hidden seizures from his parents before—he hated hospitals, and didn’t like when people made a big deal out of it, especially when he was fine not long afterwards. He was fine, he told himself, but then his stutter came back worse than ever, and it didn’t seem to be going away. Even though he did his speech therapy exercises whenever he was alone. So he just vowed to only speak when necessary. And on top of all that, he got himself his first camp girlfriend and first camp heartbreak all in one go. He and this girl, Kendra, really hit it off at the start of camp and they spent all of their free time together, but by the end of the summer she crushed him by revealing she had an actual boyfriend back home. It was one doozy of a summer. He couldn’t believe he was actually excited to get home and see Isaac again—hell, he was even excited to go to the reunion party his dad was planning for the end of the summer. He just missed home, and it took a massive heartbreak to realize it.
The evening he got home he had to admit he was sad that just Leo came to get him. Usually Kenny was there, the two of them made it a big deal that he was back by taking him out for dinner since the bus ride home took all day and he was starving by the time he got back to South Park. Despite Kenny not being there Leo was all smiles, pulling him into the tightest hug he could without Kenny’s thick arms adding that extra good squeeze that Kevin would never openly admit he loved.
“I’m sorry kiddo, your dad’s working late tonight,” Leo said as they hugged. “But we can still go get dinner, just the two of us. I can’t wait to hear about camp.”
“Okay,” Kevin said, following him to the car.
“So? How was it?”
“Good.”
“Just good?”
“Yeah.”
Leo gave him a look that Kevin immediately looked away from. He pressed his lips together into a tight line.
“Well, maybe food will loosen your lips,” Leo said with a soft chuckle. Kevin smiled slightly as he stared out the car window. Yeah, it was good to be home.