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It was a well known fact throughout South Park that Butters Stotch was very gullible. He was the only one who continuously fell for Eric Cartman’s schemes, despite having been tricked by him many times before. Nobody really knew why. Maybe he kept holding out hope that Cartman had turned a new leaf, maybe he believed everything just in case one time something turned out to be true, or maybe he was just dumb. No one was sure. Unfortunately his gullibility hadn’t really served him well in the past, causing him to be locked in a bomb shelter for a week, put in an insane asylum, and, of course, grounded. No, it couldn’t really be called an asset. But there was one time, once, when it really came in handy.
Kenny had just finished explaining his power to captain hindsight. The captain didn’t really know what to say in response so he just left the room. Kenny sighed. It was just as well, hindsight wasn’t really willing to listen, he wanted to bitch about his own “curse”, and Kenny wasn’t playing. Perfect hindsight, what a fucking joke, he had no idea what a real curse was. Kenny kept grumbling to himself until a voice pulled him out of it.
“Kenny?” He heard someone say. Crap, Butters, he forgot he was still there. He really should let him out of that cage. Now, where did Cartman hide the keys….?
“Yeah?” He said absentmindedly, more focused on trying to remember where the keys were.
“I…I believe you.” That got Kenny’s attention. He whipped his head in Butters’ direction and looked at him wide eyed. Did he hear him correctly?
“What?!”
“What you said earlier, about not bein’ able to die and all? I believe you.” Butters clarified. Ok, so he did hear him correctly, but it still didn’t make any sense.
“You do?! Do you…do you remember?” Kenny asked. Butters shook his head.
“No, but I still believe you.” This only confused Kenny.
“But why? Why would you without having any evidence?” He asked.
“Well, you just seemed awfully upset, and you wouldn’t be so sad if it wasn’t true.” Kenny considered this, Butters did have a point. “Besides, you’re my friend Kenny, friends believe each other.” Kenny let out a sardonic laugh at this.
“No they don’t.” He said. “ Nobody believes me, not even Stan or Kyle.”
“The fellas don’t believe you?” Butters asked in shock. Those guys all stuck together all the time and they didn’t believe him?! “That’s awful Kenny. I hate to think of you going through something like that on your own. Maybe if they saw how upset it made you, they’d believe you.” Kenny shook his head at butters’ naivete.
“They just think I’m crazy.” He said.
“You don’t seem crazy to me.” Butters reassured him. “I think you’re perfectly sane.” Kenny almost wished that he was crazy at this point. At least crazy could be fixable. If he’d been having delusions about dying, then he could take a pill or something to make the delusions go away. But there was no way to fix it if it was real.
“I could be trying to trick you.” Kenny pointed out. “Didn’t Cartman make you think he died once?”
“You’re not Eric.” Butters said simply, his blue eyes filled with conviction. It was true that Cartman had tricked him many times in the past, and would continue to do so in the future, but Kenny never had. Not unless he was with the full group, but the rest of his friends weren’t there. Besides, Kenny seemed so worked up, so insistent. He didn’t think he could fake that. He wasn’t that good of an actor. And he couldn’t stand to see him so upset. He understood why he would be, of course, if what he was saying was true then it must be so hard, so lonely. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to die repeatedly and have no one remember it. To have to go through that kind of pain and pretend that everything was normal the next day. What kind of friend would he be if he could help him but didn’t? Maybe it made him gullible, but Butters would rather take people at their word and risk looking a little foolish if they were lying to him than not believe them and risk turning away a friend who needed him. And Kenny seemed like he could really use a friend right now. “You’re not the type to do something like that.” Butters continued. Honestly the more that Kenny protested that he could be crazy or lying, the more convinced Butters was that he was telling the truth. He wouldn’t say something could be a trick if it was a trick, right? Seemed like that would give the whole thing away. Kenny, however, was flabbergasted. Not only did Butters believe him, he was insistent on believing him. He didn’t understand why Butters would do that.
“Wow…. I….thank you Butters.” He stuttered, a lump forming in his throat. “Thank you for believing me. Nobody ever has before.”
“Nobody?!” Butters asked, eyes widening in shock.
“Nobody.” Kenny confirmed with a heavy sigh. “Even my family doesn’t know.” Butters gasped, heart sinking for his friend. Not even his family knew? Kenny was completely alone with this? That sounded so sad. Poor Kenny.
“Oh gee, that’s awful Kenny. I’m really sorry.” Butters said sincerely. “But I believe you. You don’t have to be alone with this anymore. If you ever want to talk about it, or just want some company, I’m here for you.” Kenny was touched by this statement and started to tear up.
“Are you sure dude? My power is pretty freaky, and I know that some of my deaths can get gruesome. If you can’t handle it, I’d understand.” Kenny said. He knew Butters was kind, but he was also a wuss. All the blood and guts talk might scare him away. Butters steeled his resolve. Death was scary, and the thought of Kenny constantly going through gruesome experiences was unsettling, but he had to be there for Kenny. He didn’t have anyone else he could talk to about this.
“I’m sure.” Butters said sincerely. “You mean a lot to me Kenny, and I want to be there for you.”
“I do?” Kenny asked, his voice tinged with surprise.
“You do. You want to know a secret? You were always my favorite person in school.” Kenny didn’t know what to say. People liked him, sure, but he’d never been someone’s favorite before. “You were always so brave Kenny, even before Mysterion. Always throwing yourself into danger, though I guess I know why now.” Kenny gave a small smile at this. It was true, his immortality gave him both a reckless streak and a strong protective instinct. He was used to putting himself in harm’s way to protect others . “And you’ve always been the nicest to me out of everyone.”
“Not always.” Kenny pointed out. “I threw a ninja star in your eye and tried to cover it up.”
“You didn’t mean to.”
“No, but you should still be mad at me.” Kenny insisted, feeling a pang of guilt over the memory.
“I can’t hold one mistake against you forever.” Butters said reassuringly. “Besides, have I ever killed you by accident?” Butters asked. Kenny nods. “You don’t seem mad at me for that.”
“Everyone has killed me at some point. If I held grudges I wouldn’t have any friends.”
“Well, I guess I’m not great at holding grudges either.” Butters said. Kenny gave him a small smile.
“Thanks Butters.” He said. “I know I’ve never said it, but I care about you too.” It was true, he did care about him. He went along with the people picking on him more than he should, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care. He still felt guilty about the “ninja star in the eye” incident. And he still had the card that butters drew for him when he was dying of muscular dystrophy. Butters gave him a wide smile.
“Aw, gosh Kenny, that means a lot.” he said. Kenny smiled back at him and continued to look for the keys to let him out of that cage. Butters’ kindness had now made him more determined than ever before to free him. He didn’t deserve to be trapped like that. He didn’t deserve half of the shit the guys had put him through over the years. He kept looking until something shiny caught his eye.
“Found the keys!” Kenny said, dangling them in the air. Butters’ eyes widened in surprise and excitement.
“Really?! You’re letting me out?” He asked eagerly
“Yeah, we should’ve let you out a long time ago. It’s no fun being a superhero without a villain to fight, right?” Kenny said with a smirk. “You’ve served your sentence Professor Chaos.” He opened the door to the cage and let Butters out. Kenny was expecting a retort like “you fool! Chaos is never finished!” or something like that. Instead, Butters stepped out of the cage and gave Kenny a hug. Butters had completely dropped the Professor Chaos persona, he was just Butters now. His kind old self giving comfort to a friend. Kenny was thrown off by the kind gesture and tears started to form in his eyes. Before he knew it he was sobbing. God, this was so embarrassing, he hated crying, especially in front of other people. But Butters didn’t seem to mind, he just held him tighter and let him cry it all out.
“There, there, let it out buddy.” Butters said, while giving Kenny supportive pats on the back.
“Thank you for believing me.” Kenny said in his real voice. He was no longer Mysterion in that moment, the dark brooding superhero. He was just Kenny, the scared, lonely kid. Kenny clung to Butters, letting himself be vulnerable for the first time in a long while. The weight of his secret, the isolation, the fear—all of it poured out in his tears.
“Of course.” Butters said. This was certainly a role reversal. Butters wasn’t used to being the one who comforted people. He was usually the one who needed comfort. He found that he liked the change. It was nice to feel needed, and he liked helping others feel better. “You’re not alone in this anymore Kenny. I’ve got you.” He reassured him. For so long, Butters had been seen as weak. Too sweet and naive to handle anything on his own. But here, for Kenny, he could be strong. He could be the support his friend needed. And if he could be strong for Kenny, what else could he be strong for?
Butters held Kenny until he calmed down. Kenny stepped away from the hug, wiping the last remaining tears from his eyes. “S-sorry about that. I didn’t mean to fall apart like that.” he said. He wasn’t bothering with the Mysterion voice anymore now that he had already broken it. Besides, Mysterion would never have fallen apart like he just did. He had an image to maintain.
“It’s ok Kenny.” Butters reassured him. “Everyone needs to cry sometimes, even superheroes.” Kenny wasn’t sure about that, he couldn’t recall Batman ever shedding a tear, but he wasn’t going to argue with Butters on this one.
“I guess so,” he said instead.
“Say, you want to go out and get a bite to eat?” Butters asked. “I’m awful hungry from bein’ in that cage so long, and I think you could use a treat. I’ll even pay for it.” Kenny smiled. He wasn’t about to say no to some free food.
“Thanks Butters.” he said. “For everything.”
“Of course Kenny.” Butters replied. “And anytime you want to talk about this some more, you know where to find me.”