Medicine( A South Park fanfic)

Chapter 5

Three Years Ago

A peaceful frost had settled over the sleepy town of South Park. It was an unusually warm winter so far, most days capping out at 45°F. 

Many of the townsfolk had already begun hanging their decorations for the upcoming holidays. Everywhere you looked houses were twinkling, with large ornaments and animatronics littering yards and businesses. A festive cheer danced through the air, gliding upon snowflakes. 

By the time the Marsh family had decided to set up their decorations, everyone else on their street had beat them to it. However late in the season Randy had decided to set things up, he was never beaten by another family on their street. Randy took pride in the decorations he set up every year with his son, Stanley. It was their personal tradition, the two would have a beer in the morning and get to work. 

Holidays were deemed worthy of letting Stan drink, but his dad never let him have more than a can or two. At least, not that Randy would ever know about. Stan had a habit of hiding away an extra can every chance he got, especially in the winter. Of course Stan still had his connect through Kevin, but he didn't love trekking through the snow to get to his house on the other side of town. 

Pulled from yet another night of dreamless sleep, Stan heard a pounding at his bedroom door. Groaning, he pulled the covers over his head. "What do you want, the sun's not even up yet." 

Barging in, Randy turned on his son's light. "Gooooood morning, Stanley! Today's the day!" His voice was booming, the only other sound that could be heard over it was the cracking of one of the cans he was holding. "I even snuck you one of these before your mom wakes up!" 

Letting his eyes adjust from under the blanket, Stan finally popped his head out. "Oh, thanks dad." He quickly took the can from his father as he sat up. 

Randy sat down next to his son, cracking his own can open. "I was thinking we could go for a grinch theme this year, y'know, since you've been acting like one." He chuckled, nudging his son with his elbow quickly before taking a long sip from his can. "Nothing like a good S'moors in the morning. Drink up, we're got a lot of work to do."

Stan was unresponsive to his father's teasing as he took a sip from his can as well. He wanted nothing more than to finish his can and go right back to bed. Tradition was tradition and all, but Stan never understood why they had to start at the ass crack of dawn. The sun wouldn't even be out for a few more hours. At least he had plans when they were done that he was strangely looking forward to.

And so the two of them spent the next 7 hours covering the house in lights. Randy had clearly planned his grinch joke, as there were a couple grinch theme decorations in the mix this year. Stan had to admit the grinch in the usual Santa sled on the roof was a nice touch, especially the open presents scattered across the yard. As much as he might have complained, he did enjoy decorating the house with his dad every year. 

"I gotta say, this might be our best work." Randy beamed, wrapping an arm around his son with pride. The two looked at the house from the street, a beer each in their hands. What? 2pm is 5pm somewhere! After taking in their work and finishing their beers outside, the two went inside to warm up. 

It wasn't long before Stan was pushing his way out of the house again. Putting his hands in his pockets, he began to walk across town. Recently Stan had been heading over to the McCormick residence more often, especially without needing a reup. Stan found a kinship in Kevin that he hadn't been able to form with anyone else in his life. He felt he could truly be himself without needing to mask how fucking depressing he could be, and Kevin never seemed to mind.