Chapter Text
School was stressful for Kyle, brought on by his own high expectations. His schedule was full of intense courses, leaving only one period to relax; lunch. Kyle looked forward to sitting in the High school’s dingy cafeteria. The buzzing of overhead lights and the chattering of students around him felt nostalgic. Like despite all the time that’s passed since childhood, he still had this designated time with his friends. Due to his honors-level courses, Kyle didn’t see his friends in school as much. The only exception was always having one class with Kenny in his Honors Science. Sure Kenny was a slacker, but he had always been naturally good at the subject.
Directly across from him, Cartman chewed with his mouth open as he talked.
“I'm telling you, her boobs were huge! But not in a hot cougar way, but like a saggy shitty old grandma way. Unfuckable to probably anyone besides Kenny.”
Kenny shrugged nonchalantly, eyes half-lidded.
“Well, she probably didn’t care what some random-ass 15-year-old who walks into women’s locker rooms thinks of her sex life,” Kyle glared back.
“Yeah and what do you know about hot naked girls anyway, fatass? It’s not like you’ve seen any,” Stan added, picking at the lunch tray in front of him.
The boys were talking about some stupid shit, as usual. As Cartman continued, Kyle noticed how Kenny’s attention had slipped away, focusing on something off in the distance. Kyle turned to see, but couldn’t pinpoint anything out of the ordinary. Kyle knew it was normal for Kenny to space out, but there was a glint in his eyes that he picked up on. Kenny was a hard person to read and didn’t talk much. He was the most profane yet mysterious guy Kyle knew. He decided it’d be best to just brush it off as Kenny being Kenny and immersed himself back into Cartman's rant.
“Did you guys notice Butters sitting alone today?” Kenny commented out of the blue during a small gap in the conversation. It took Kyle off guard, he raised an eyebrow.
“Dude what the fuck does that have to do with girls in the locker room.”
“I don’t care about that shit,” Kenny scoffed, not even facing Cartman. Stan looked to Kyle as he usually did for an explanation, but Kyle just exchanged his own confused look.
Following Kenny’s gaze, the two turned behind them to see Butters sitting at an empty table with a few vacant chairs. He sat slightly curled in on himself, further emphasizing his small stature. Kyle and Stan turned back to Kenny only to find him still focused on the lonely table. Why did he care about what Butters was up to?
“So what? No one wants to eat with a loser. It’s probably good for him to start getting used to it now.”
Kyle knew that Cartman was being shitty, but couldn’t help but agree that Butters was a weird kid and somewhat of an outcast. Sure, Butters was sweet and generally a good person, but Kyle couldn’t help feeling a little annoyed by him sometimes. Butters would ramble on and on about the dorkiest things. He was a sensitive and skittish kid too. He’d freak out over the littlest things, especially in fear of getting in trouble. He always seemed to care of adult’s approval. It was lame. The worst part was Kyle couldn’t blame Butters for being this way, Butters was just being himself. It just so happened that Butters being himself consisted of being the school’s biggest goody-two-shoes.
Completely ignoring Cartman, Kenny stood up out of his seat and began walking away.
“Aye, what the hell!?” Over the years, they all learned that the most effective punishment for Cartman was just ignoring him.
The group watched as Kenny set pace for Butters’ table. Once Butters noticed Kenny approaching, he perked up and widened his eyes in apparent surprise. Kyle watched as the two exchanged words that he couldn’t quite make out. At something Kenny said, Butters’ face grew red, and looked over to Kyle's table.
“Oh boy,” Stan sighed, turning around to face Cartman. Meanwhile, Kyle kept his gaze across the cafeteria. Butters clumsily scrambled to collect his things. He swung his light blue backpack over his shoulder and grabbed his lunch tray with two hands. Kenny smiled, amused by Butters’ nervous scuffle. As Butters met with Kyle’s eyes he quickly turned back to face his table. Kyle didn’t realize he’d been staring.
It seemed like forever since Kyle had thought of Butters. He couldn’t really remember the last time they talked. He figured it had probably been elementary school the last time they sat at lunch together. He recalled him and his friends slowly phasing Butters out of their group subconsciously over the years. It was just a natural drift apart. If they really wanted to kick Butters out, they would have told him formally as they did in fourth grade during Kenny’s short absence. Where did Kenny go during that time anyway? Kyle could never remember but that’s besides that point. Butters never truly fit in too well with the rest of the group, being so innocent and naive.
“Heya Fellas,” Butters' corny country accent immediately brought Kyle back into the days of their fourth-grade adventures. He felt a wave of embarrassment recounting the way they used to mess with Butters. It was probably for the better that Butters left the group.
“Hi Butters,” Kyle tried to sound relaxed as if he hadn’t been watching their entire interaction.
“S-sorry I don’t mean to intrude on you guys, but thanks for inviting me over,” Butters sat himself and his items down beside Kenny and Kyle. He looked excited, yet unsure at the same time.
“Who said we wanted you here, dumbass?” Cartman jabbed, taking a particularly big bite of his sloppy joe. Butters’ eyes widened with obvious worry.
“Shut up fatass” Kyle naturally fumed.
“Oh gee, I-I’m sorry. I can just-” the blonde stammered and stood from his seat. As he reached down to grab his bag, Kenny shooed away his hand.
“You’re fine. Cartman’s always in a shitty mood. You can sit,” Kenny assured steadily. Butters glanced back and forth among the group, before landing his eyes on Kenny. He softened a little and cautiously sat back down.
Kyle studied Butters’ appearance but didn’t notice much change since they were kids. He had a baby face. He figured his pale skin, was probably from always being so sheltered by his parents. His round cheeks were there too, but now with a slightly more prominent, yet gentle jawline. His bright platinum hair remained the same too in the same goofy haircut; clean cut on the sides and fluffy on top. It was almost comical seeing Butters and Kenny next to each other with the ladder being so much more rugged. While Butters had smooth skin, soft hair, and clean clothing Kenny was ragged, with hair messy hair and his old bright hoodie littered with stains.
“What brings you here, Butters?” Stan asked with little emotion behind it.
“Well, I normally sit with Scott and Dougie, but Scott um… decided he’s gonna sit with some other kids from now on. And so I-I guess Dougie then moved to sit with some people in his grade,” Butters explained, looking down at his lap. Kyle noticed how the blonde slowly began nudging his knuckles together. So he never did lose that nervous tick. Butters attempted to smile, but it just looked forced. A silence fell over the group.
Kyle raised his eyebrows and saw Stan do the same. Butters’ friends abandoned him? Just like that? Kyle immediately felt like a hypocrite for his friends doing the same to him back when Kenny left. Seriously where was Kenny during that time?
He knew Butters was lame, but so were Scott and Dougie. He couldn’t imagine being outcasted by two other biggest dorks in school. Butters really had nowhere else to go. Kyle kinda felt bad for him. Meanwhile, Cartman exhaled loudly with a stupid grin on full display.
“S-Sometimes I’d third wheel with Tweek and Craig, but they’re starting their summer vacation a couple of weeks early. S-some family trip with Craig’s parents,” Butters added anxiously in an attempt to end the awkward silence that his last explanation brought about.
“Okay okay, so you were denied by one diabetic, one eighth grader, and two gays!?” Cartman burst out laughing. Butters' smile faltered. His face turned red and he darted his eyes back down to his lab.
“You can sit with us Butters,” Kenny quickly insisted before Kyle had a chance to scold Cartman himself. Butters lifted his head to give Kenny a small smile. That’s when something caught Kyle’s eye.
“Woah, Butters you okay?” Kyle touched his own neck, mirroring the placement of an oddly shaped mark on Butters’ neck. It would be easy to miss since the blonde’s thick teal sweater covered most of it. But the dark color gave it away. It looked purplish. Kenny leaned forward to look himself.
“O-Oh that’s just from reaching for something on a high shelf. I slipped and an old box fell right onto me,” Butters smiled tensely. He awkwardly tugged up his collar, but Kenny continued staring. Kyle couldn’t quite read Kenny’s expression. He looked attentive or maybe even bothered, still focused on Butters’ neck.
“Ow that sucks,” Stan barely frowned, attention noticeably diminishing. Stan was never good at hiding his lack of interest in things.
“Wait, wasn’t Craig assigned as your partner for that History final? But now he’s on vacation,” Kyle questioned, always focusing on school. He recalled hearing Craig mention it in passing, but Kyle decided not to share how relieved Craig was not to have to work with Butters.
“Yeah, but I can handle it alone. I’m grounded right now, so I’ll have plenty of time for the extra work.”
“Well, I was assigned to work with Tweek, so we could just be partners. You shouldn’t have to work alone,” Kenny suggested, blunt as usual. He wasn’t a chatty person, so when he did talk it was always straight to the point, no bullshit. Butters’ eyes grew wide.
“You really mean it?” Butters looked hopeful, yet nervous, like he expected Kenny to be kidding.
“Yeah,” Kenny exhaled amusedly. Meanwhile, Butters seemed to be on the edge of his seat.
“Oh wow! That’d be great!”
“Wanna start the project at your place after school? Mine is pretty shitty,” Kenny suggested. At that, Butters' breath stilled, excitement faltering and being replaced by growing nerves.
“Ah, I’ll have to call my parents to make sure it’s okay. My dad would get awfully sore if I brought a friend over u-unexpectedly…” He became lost in thought for a second before making eye contact with Kenny again. Flattening his lips and raising his shoulders, he seemed to be mustering up some courage. “But I can make it work if it’s for school,” he brightened a little but still wasn’t completely sure. Kenny smiled back. Man, they’re smiling a lot.
Kyle didn’t realize he had been silently listening to Kenny and Butters until he felt a sneaker nudging him under the table. He turned to Stan sitting next to him. Stan raised one of his dark eyebrows in a confused look. Kyle shrugged back.
“If you gaywads are done, can we please go back to the titty talk!?”
The rest of lunch seemed pretty regular but with the new, yet familiar addition of Butters. Butters stayed pretty quiet, mostly just listening. Kyle assumed he probably hadn’t heard a classic Cartman story in a while. He always found it funny to see other’s reactions to Cartman when they weren't used to his psychopathic antics. Kyle knew Butters and Cartman were next-door neighbors, but he assumed they didn’t talk much. With the way Cartman had always manipulated Butters when they were kids, it was probably for the best that they’d parted ways. But after all this time, here they all were. Kyle, Stan, Kenny, and Butters sat at a table again listening to Cartman’s shit. It felt natural like no time had passed since fourth grade.
After the bell rang, Kyle noticed how Kenny and Butters walked out of the cafeteria and into the hallway together. He did a double take hearing Kenny chuckle at something Butters had said. Kenny playfully pulled at the strings of his sweatshirt and tightened the hood around his face, only leaving his eyes unobscured. He muffled something under the hood that produced a goofy laugh from Butters. They were joking and laughing together, it was abnormally wholesome for Kenny these days. It reminded Kyle when of they were kids.
Unlike the rest of their friend group, Kenny never seemed to be bothered by Butters. Kyle and Stan teased Butters along with everyone else in their grade, but Kenny never really contributed. Kyle never thought anything of it since Kenny didn’t talk much in the first place. Although Kyle did remember Kenny and Butters going to Hawaii together for some weird family thing that Kyle never really understood. He had always wondered why Butters brought Kenny off all people. Besides that, Kenny and Butters never really hung out together outside of school. To be fair though, no one really hung out with Butters outside of school.
Kenny had always been so chill and aloof, so it wasn't easy to make him giddy. But there he was walking down the hall next to Butters with a genuine smile reaching his eyes. Kyle couldn’t really understand why such a dorky kid like Butters could make Kenny so happy. The only times he really saw Kenny so warm was around Karen, someone he was very protective over. Judging the way Kenny gleamed so happily at the shorter blonde, Kyle figured Butters was here to stay.