South Park: Dragging Me Down

Hunger

Pip stirred his spoon around the thick porridge in his bowl and eyed it thoughtfully, mind elsewhere.

Sitting on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chest, he watched as the other students ate lunch with their friends. His stomach rumbled desperately.

Pip scooped up a hearty spoonful of porridge and stared at it with prying eyes.

"Do you really think you deserve something to eat after dropping a grade?"

Pip's face dropped and he lowered the spoon back into the bowl once more, ignoring the loud groans coming from his stomach. He held his head down and stared at the bowl with sadness in his eyes, trying to decide whether the voices from his past were telling the truth or not.

Being able to eat food so readily was something Pip was really struggling to comprehend. Throughout the different periods of his childhood, he'd always been denied food. He couldn't have it because he hadn't earnt it, hadn't been good enough to have it, or there had never been enough for him. He'd come to accept this as he grew older and taught himself to fast, his naive mind pretending that skipping meals was normal. He ignored any cravings of hunger and concentrated all his attention on not being hit instead, but the lack of food often made him tired and unable to focus, especially in his later years.

It was his reality.

"Pip, when was the last time you ate something?" the vigilante's question had come as a bit of a surprise.

"I... a few days ago I think. Why?"

"A few days? Why didn't you say something?"

Pip tilted his head. "I-I don't quite understand..."

"Aren't you hungry?"

"I-I haven't really thought about it..."

The superhero frowned. "Haven't you eaten? How many times a day do you normally eat?"

"Um, I don't really... uh... sometimes once, maybe? I don't really have any money to buy stuff..."

"Because your classmates keep stealing it, right?"

"I-It's okay, it's not that big of a deal." Pip flushed, smiling it off.

Mysterion's face grew dark.

Mysterion had been the first person to query his eating habits; the first person to seem genuinely worried that he wasn't eating properly. After that moment the vigilante would go out of his way to bring him food during his alley visits, and in hindsight, knowing that Kenny was Mysterion made that thought even more tragic. Kenny didn't exactly eat well either.

One of the first 'gifts' Mysterion had brought for him to try was an apple, and Pip couldn't quite get over it.

"A-Are you sure I can have this?"

"Yes, I got it for you."

"B-But are you sure? D-Do you want payment in return?" came the Brit's shaky response.

"Payment?"

"I-I can do anything you want me to do..."

"Pip..."

"A-Are you really sure though?" he bit his lip. "I-I'm sorry, nobody's given me anything before. I don't know what I'm supposed to do." he gave an awkward smile, holding the apple out to Mysterion.

The hero gently pushed the fruit back towards Pip. "You eat it."

Pip blinked, surprised by his kindness, "You eat it..."