-this december-

-chapter 3-

TW- mentions of bad parenting, drug addiction, and homophobia
November 28
Kenny POV

No food. Again. Shit.

Karen needs to eat. I know she won't complain, but she's hungry. There's never enough food. My stupid addict parents won't leave enough money for us to feed ourselves. The money Kevin sent last month is all gone. I guess I didn't hide it as well as I thought it did.

What can I do? Karen is my first priority. Besides Butters, she's pretty much the only thing I have left.

I guess I could go to Stan or Kyle's.

I never thought I would sink so low as to ask my friends for food but....

Karen. It's hard enough for her. She doesn't deserve to be here. To have the assholes that are our parents be her parents. She's worth it.

I grab my ratty parka, the orange fading. Shrugging it on, I call to Karen.
"Karebear! I'm going out real quick, I'll be back soon! Ok?"

"Alright, Kenny! Be safe!" She shouts from the other room.

I smile. "Will do!" I zip up the parka and reach my hand out to open the door when a sudden knock on it scares me.

I open in. Butters is standing on my porch, backpack slung over his shoulder and a large shopping bag gripped in his hands.

"Oh, Ken! Hi!" He smiles at me, but something feels off about it.

"Hey, Leo. What's up?" I ask, leaning in the door way. He fidgets.

"Aw, not much, I guess. Can I come in?" He bites his lip worriedly. I hesitate. My mom and dad aren't home, but if they do come back suddenly, he could be in danger. From them. He must notice my reluctance because he holds up the shopping bag.

"I brought some food," He offers it to me. I feel guilty for taking it, I don't want him to feel like he has to bribe me. But Karen.

"Yea, sure," I say, stepping aside so he can enter. "Come on in." He smiles and walks past into the dining room. Butters motions for me to set down the bag.
"I bought some food for you and Karen on the way here. It's not much, but I sure hope it'll last a few days for you guys." He smiles again, and it feels more real this time. If that makes sense. He looks back up at me, catching me staring, and turns pink.

"I-I'll go check up on Karen now," He mumbles and walks off. I can hear Karen's shouts of excitement. She's always liked Leo.

And....I really like him too.

I begin to unpack the bag. Inside is a loaf of bread, peanut butter, jelly, cheese slices, lunch meat, a juice box (which has Karen written on it in pen), a pack of Skittles, a box of cereal, and a small carton of milk.

I think I might actually love this boy.

Butters laughs from the other room. I sigh. He's just so... perfect. For lack of a better word.

I'll probably just make sandwiches for dinner. It's much better than nothing. I'll have to thank Butters later.

-

"I can believe you got me a juice box!" Karen exclaims sipping excitedly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She's full of energy now that she's got food in her system.

"Aw, don't mention it," Butters laughed, rubbing his knuckles together. "It was the least I could do."

"Kenny," Karen looks over at me. "I finished  my dinner, can I have my treat now?" She makes puppy dog eyes.

"yes," i laugh, pulling the Skittles packet out of my pocket. "come over here."

she gets up and hurries over, holding her hands out expectantly. I tear open the bag and pour a few into her cupped hands. She stuffs them all into her mouth, smiles at me and Leo, and then walks away to her room.

I take advantage of her leaving to talk to Butters.

"Thank you so much, really," I tell him. "I don't know what I would do if you hadn't come." He blushes.

"Well, thanks Ken. But...that's really only part of why I came here." He rubs his knuckles together again, looking scared. "I  suppose I was wondering if you could let me stay here for the night?" He looks up. "It's ok if I can't or you don't want me here," he adds quickly. "i-i can find somewhere else to stay. you and karen can keep the food, of course."

stay here? at my house? i can't imagine why he'd want to be here, i'd be long gone if it wasn't for Karen....

and him.

"Uh, yea," I tell him, making up my mind. "You can stay."

"Aw, really? I sure appreciate it, Ken." He smiles. My face heats up.

"If you don't mind me asking, why do you need to stay here?" I ask.

He looks surprised, then looks away. "Well, I don't know how they found out, but one of the girls, I think Annie, made a post outin' me as bi-curious. My parents saw it and got real upset and we fought a bit. My dad said he didn't wanna see me in his house tonight, so I packed up some of my things and some money I had saved up, and headed over here."

"One of the girls did this?" I asked, incredulously. "That bitch, doesn't she know-"

"It's alright, Kenny. I ain't mad about it. She probably didn't know. But, uh, thanks for lettin' me stay." He smiled again and my anger melted away.

"Of course, Leo."