South Park: Dragging Me Down

Anguish

Kenny was feeling numb.

His encounter with Pip the evening before had really messed him up. The Brit had decided to end their friendship, right there and then, as if nothing had mattered.

As if Mysterion hadn't mattered.

"That's fuckin' bull." Kenny hissed to himself as he lapped the school for the third time, anger reaching boiling point. "Something's terribly wrong here, and I'm not about to let him escape that easily."

Ignoring the weird looks from a few students he walked past whilst muttering to himself, Kenny looked for Pip. He could play the bully for a while if it meant he had a reason to talk to Pip. It was just a case of finding him.

He checked numerous different school toilets and it suddenly occurred to him that they had gym first period, meaning Pip could've gone there early to wait for lesson. Kenny made his way down the courtyard and towards the sports hall. He entered the building to find it empty and approached the boys' changing room.

The sound of running water greeted Kenny and he momentarily paused against the wall, peering into the room and around the corner to see the bathroom part of the changing room. Inside was Pip, a smack mark gracing his cheek.

Pip scrubbed his face with a wad of toilet paper, trying hard to get himself clean. Narrowing his eyes, Kenny saw that the corner of Pip's mouth was bleeding quite heavily. He bit his lip to stop himself verbalizing his anger.

"Please just stop bleeding." Kenny heard him murmur as he padded the tissue against his mouth. "Please..."

Pip ceased his scrubbing and stared at his damaged reflection in the mirror. Admittedly he was looking rough... and tired. He let out a shaky breath and clung to the basin, eyes closed tightly. He could hardly concentrate on anything but Mysterion.

I can't believe I did that. I can't believe I told him to leave me alone. He's going to hate me, I don't want him to hate me. Why did I do it? I didn't want to do it. He was so nice to me and now he's never going to talk to me again. I don't want to go back to being alone...

Kenny watched as Pip built himself up in quite a state - so much so that he started hyperventilating and trembling as he attempted to snap himself out of the aura of panic descending on him.

That was enough for Kenny.

"Hey, hey, calm down. You're going to have a panic attack." he stepped over to him, taking him by the arms.

Pip shook his head and pulled away from the stranger, falling onto his knees. He shakily took in a few deep breaths and gasped as tears crept into his eyes. He crawled forward and collapsed into a ball, knees drawn up to his chest. His breathing became more and more irregular until it stilled completely and Pip let out a choked gasp. "I can't... breathe."
"You're okay. You're okay. I've got you."

The two remained in an awkward embrace as Pip calmed himself down. The lucid reality pulled Pip back to his senses and Kenny removed his arms, looking down at the smaller teenager who was remembering where he was.

Mysterion?

Pip took a step back and calmed his breathing down, briefly looking up to see who his saviour had been.

It was Kenny McCormick.

Pip gasped loudly and fell onto his rear, his heart caught up in his chest. He let out a wail and covered his head with his arms. He'd broken down... in front of Kenny? This was bad. Super bad. Kenny was one of the popular ones. He was going to tell everyone. They would taunt him endlessly.

He was in trouble.

"Dude, you're snivelling all over the floor. Don't you have something better to do?"