Chapter Text
(Friday the 1st, July 2005)
Finally, summer vacation. The South Park kids were all grown up and were quickly approaching tenth grade. But for now, they were focused on their basketball game at the town's playground.
Stan was running towards the hoop, the ball firmly held by his two hands. He passed to Kyle, who threw it as high as he could, stepping right back on his feet.
But his efforts were interrupted by a boy who, with the metallic extension of his arm, stopped the ball and caught it with his right hand.
-"Hey ! It's cheating !" Tweek exclaimed, acting as the referee because he didn't really like playing basketball. "You have no right to do that !"
-"It wasn't on purpose !" Jimmy replied, displaying a big smile. "I was b-born like that, very much."
-"As far as i know, you didn't get out of your mom’s ass with this stuff, did you ?" Eric declared.
-"Oh no, i have the vision now !" Clyde said, horrified. "I need bleach ! Bleach for my eyes !"
-"Babies don't come out by the ass, Cartman. They go by the other hole." Craig announced.
And as the debate over whether women had two holes continued fervently, Jimmy turned his head to his colleague, a little further away.
Timmy immediately understood his assymetrical eyes : it was time to implement their secret technique.
The boy backed away slowly so as not to alert the opposing team, and his best friend did the same, ball in hand.
-"Hey, what the fuck do you think you're doing ?!" Kenny shouted, alerting his team.
He tried to stop the ball flying towards Timmy, but he failed due to a very suspicious movement of it. Jimmy ran to his friend.
In a rush, he grabbed him by both legs and lifted him up, turning his slightly red face away. This calculated maneuver not only allowed no one to get in possession of the ball, but also allowed Tim to directly dunk into the opposing hoop, much to the joy of their teammates.
-"Are you all cheaters here ?!" Kyle exclaimed.
-"Yeah ! That kind of technique is illegal !" Stan added.
Tweek blew in his referee whistle loudly.
-"Timmy and Jimmy ! You both leave the field immediately !" he declared, pointing at them.
-"But how are we gonna do ?" Tolkien asked. "We're only three now !"
-"Butters, you change teams !" Stan said. "Four against four !"
-"Aw, shucks."
The two colleagues went to sit down on a bench next to the playground bathrooms, dissapointed to leave the field.
-"I can’t believe it... Our technique was g-great !" Jimmy said.
-"Jimmy, Timmy... (I do not think our awesome technique was the problem here, but rather the use of it...)" Timmy added.
-"But s-still ! They should at l-least award a half point ! For the beauty of it !"
"Timmy Timmy, Jimmy. Timmeh... (Rules are rules, Jimmy. That's sad...)
They watched the new teams play.
Amidst the fast footsteps, Jimmy was thinking. Before leaving for the bus stop this morning, his mom announced some terrible news, at least for him : she and her husband were tired of South Park.
They said it was a town full of sociopaths and mentally ill people, and when they saw the real estate prices in their old city had gone down, the couple took the opportunity to move back.
Jimmy, even if he agreed with his parents on the sociopath part, didn't want to go back to New York. He had made some great friends in this town, and even if crazy stuff happened to him sometimes, it always ended up fine, but not without scars or bullet impacts.
He looked at his, on his left arm. Even though the car chase in Denver took place four years ago now, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself when he thought about it.
His train of thought got interrupted by Timmy who had firmly gripped his shoulder, pointing at the field. Tolkien just scored a superb point !
The sideline duo cheered for their team.
-"TIMMEH ! (SMASH THEM !)" Timmy shouted, getting way much invested. "Timmy, Tim-Timmy !! (Beat their collective ass and send them to hell for your fallen soldiers !!)"
His best friend's overly evil attitude made Jimmy laugh. It made Timmy look like a mad scientist, which went kind of well with his personality.
Of all his encounters in South Park, Timmy was without any doubt one of the most memorable. Jimmy had never seem a guy who was capable of the things he did as if they were normal, like reading in people's heads. That honestly was pretty tame next to everything else going on in this town.
The two of them went through every phase : they were rivals and enemies, then friends, then best friends. Then. Then...
Jimmy was looking at his fellow colleague who was attentively observing the game, his blue eyes shining with admiration and a big smile on his face, showing his irregular teeth.
Timmy had changed a lot in five years : he had let his hair grow a bit, reaching now the bottom of his face, and he even cut himself microbangs that hid a very small piece of his forehead.
He also wore a large pair of glasses, much against his will : it's a shame that his vision decided to suddenly decline. Puberty having given him a lot of acne, he looked like a nerd, very much. But a rebellious nerd who didn't like authority, and who tried to give himself an eyebrow piercing at age fourteen that got infected and stayed disgusting for like a month, before fading into a battle scar.
Jimmy put an arm over his friend's shoulders like he often did. Timmy moved closer, pointing and following Kenny with his free hand. The comedian then felt a wave of sadness. He knew he would never see his best friend again when he'll go to Brooklyn.
-"Hey, Timmy." he said, turning to his friend. "I n-need to t-tell you something..."
Tim quickly took off, knowing that kind of sentence. As his face began to redden, Jimmy brought him back to reality.
-"We're moving...I'm going b-back to B-Brooklyn on Tuesday."
-"EH ?!"
This gasp of astonishement alerted the basketball players, who turned to the two colleagues. Timmy tried to explain with his hands what he just heard, but his friends didn't understand much. He took turns looking at them and Jimmy, his face panicked.
-"Wowowow, what the hell is going on ?" Kyle said, walking towards the duo.
-"Jimmy !"
-"I told him i was m-moving next week..." he quietly said.
-"What ?! Is that true ?" Stan shouted, shocked.
-"Y-Yeah..."
A heated discussion emerged among the friends : why move away ?
-"They said they h-hated this town." Jimmy announced. "They s-said there are only cr-razy people here !"
The discussion became even more vehement : if there was one thing the teens hated more than South Park, it was when it was talked about badly !
-"And you wanna know the w-worst part ?!" Jimmy asked angrily. "It's because they th-think that you are the m-most crazy of all, and that i'll have no right to stay in contact with you !"
Oh well ! Indignation showed up on the kid's faces.
-"They're kind of right though..." Clyde said. "I mean, at least a third of the city had already killed someone."
He glanced at Cartman, who replied in a surprised tone.
-"How dare you say that, Clyde ! It's not even the worst thing that happened here, you know..."
-"Besides, that's not a valid reason !" Stan added. "There's a lot more crime in New York than here !"
-"It's because there are a lot more people in New York, dumbass." Craig said.
The discussion continued and slowly started to get out of hand, leaving Jimmy and Timmy to the sidelines.
-"Timmy, Jimmy ? (So, you leave Tuesday ?)" the latter asked.
Even though the psychic kept his face as neutral as possible, he was devastated, both for himself and for Jimmy.
He placed a hand on his own chest, trying to stop the gaping hole from bleeding too much.
-"You know damn well i don't w-want to leave, man !" Jimmy responded. "And i was finally g-getting a little k-known here ! Like, i was making shows, and stuff !"
Indeed, if Jimmy seemed aware and proud of the important place he occupied around the town, he was very far of being aware of the place he took in the head of his colleague. Sometimes it hurt his brain, gave him gut-wrenching feelings and burned him both from the inside and the outside.
But he shall not let that away from there.
Timmy hugged his friend in a clumsy attempt to comfort him, but it was mostly to comfort himself.
-"Hey, say, you're g-going to miss me that much ?" Jimmy responded, lightly giggling. "Ooh, but i'm going to miss you too, my guy !" he continued, tapping his colleague's forehead.
-"Hey guys, stop being gay and get back on the field. Butters is lame."
After his sentence which slightly offended the two colleagues, Kenny winked at them before leaving for the field. He already knew one side of this situation, but was starting to have doubts on the other side.
The friendship of the two sides was a bit like Stan and Kyle's, Kenny told himself, but with something extra. He decided to keep an eye on Jimmy, then ask him the ultimate question when they'll start going home.
And soon after, the sun was setting and the streetlights were starting to light up. As usual, the boy in the orange parka brought up the rear. The comical duo were chatting in front of him, not without a hint of melancholy in their voices.
-"Hey, Jim !" Kenny called. "Stop for a sec, i need to talk to you about something."
The two turned around at the same time, eyes wide open.
-"Wh...Wh...What's the matter, pal ?" Jimmy replied.
-"Timmy can’t hear. It's a secret."
-"Timmy ? (In what honor ?)" the concerned guy asked, his hand flying to his chest.
-"It's not about you, don't worry. Just move forward."
He did so, and wondered if Kenny was really telling the truth. After all, he knew about his crush -oh my, how he hated that word- on his best friend. He was hesitant to eavesdrop on the conversation, with his super cool psychic powers of course, but he gave up on the idea, dreading the possibility of having to explain himself as Jimmy and Kenny became more and more distant.
-"So, when are you gonna tell him ?"
Jimmy slowed in his leisury walk, surprised by such a question.
-"What are you talking about ?" he asked.
-"Oh, come on Jim, don't be an idiot. You think i didn't see how you act with him ?"
-"Huh ? Are you in-nsinuating that i have romantic f-feelings for a guy ? Because let me t-tell you, that it’ll never happen. Never."
-"...Didn't you say once that if Timmy was a girl you'll go for it ?"
An awkward silence settled in, as Jimmy's face took some color. Kenny was bringing stuff from almost a year now !
-"It's not g-gay, it happens to everyone !" Jimmy said with trembling hands, trying to persuade his colleague who was deaf to his attempt.
-"Just to you, dude."
-"S-Stan and Kyle do the same, you know..." Jimmy continued. "And you n-never tell them anything..."
-"Yeah. That's because they're not gay."
He shrugged, and noticed than Stan had turned around at the mention of his name, his face curious.
-"We're n-not talking about you, don't worry !" Jimmy told him.
-"Yeah, we've got other businesses to attend, keep walking !" Kenny added, jubilant on the inside.
Indeed, knowing about something so important made him feel important as well, like he was the guardian at the door of the Garden of Secrets !
But every well-guarded place had its secret entrance. How many times had Kenny told his little sister Karen the stories of the comical duo, and how many times has she asked him : "How did they manage to not see anything ?" ?
It irritated her to hear them so stupid ! But each time, her brother told her that one of them was drowned in guilt, and the other burned so warm from the inside that it went up to his brain and afterward he could not think anymore.
After all these visits to Heaven, Kenny wondered sometimes if he wasn't a god in the end.
Jimmy was very quiet, glad that Kenny got lost in his thoughts.
-"Oh shit, where was i at again ?"
Jimmy sighed. Seeing that they were getting closer to his house, his friend decided to cut things short.
-"Alright, let's do something. If you don't tell him before you leave for New York, you give me fifty. Are we good ?"
His friend let out a gasp. What ?
-"You r-really are a little b-bitch, Kenny." he declared in a solemn voice as he just had been sentenced to death.
Kenny checked him and walked away to his house, a smile on his face. But of course, Jimmy couldn't see that.
Timmy motioned for his colleague to come closer, now that Kenny left.
-"Timmy, Timmy Jimmy ? (What were you two speaking about ?)" he asked once Jimmy reached his level.
-"Oh, nothing important..." he answered nervously, patting his friend's shoulder.
-"Ah finally !" Eric exclaimed. "One would have believed that..."
-"Timmy." he said to him with a stern look.
-"What did he say ? his interlocutor asked, looking at Jimmy for an answer.
-"You're p-projecting. That's what he said, not m-me."
Cartman turned around, throwing his hand in the air with a huff of annoyance.
Shortly after, the two colleagues found themselves alone in front of their neighboring houses.
-"Alright, see you tom-morrow, Tim-Tim !" Jimmy announced, this time grabbing both of the shoulders.
-"Timmy. (Goodbye.)" he replied, a slight of sadness in his eyes. "Timmy, Tim-Timmy, Jimmy... (But first, approach so i can make you a confidence...)"
He did so, and pressed his ear to his friend’s face to hear what was so important to announce. But he heard no news, and instead a quick but well-felt kiss on the cheek, and Jimmy bursted out laughing, followed by his now shy colleague.
-"Hey ! That's k-kinda g-gay, y'know ?" he said between laughter. "Anyone who w-walks by will think we're t-together ! Not that it bothers me, but... Well... Yeah, that's weird..."
What was he saying ? If he kept doing that, he would put himself into quite a quagmire.
-"Here, i'll give you one too, that way we're e-e-even !"
He leaned down again and kissed him on the cheek, noticing his friend's hand on the side of his face but not acting against it.
Then they looked away, eyes wandering for a moment, a little ashamed of this very strange events.
-"Well, I'm going, it's getting late, bye Tim !"
They each went to their respective houses, wondering why. Will they be able to look at each other in the eye when they see each other tomorrow ? Maybe.
Anyway, it's kind of late by now, and night brings advice, as the French say.