Dark on Me [South Park Stenny Fanfic]

To Be Known...

Craig tapped his foot on the floor impatiently, already seated in his homeroom class. He glanced over at Stan's desk again for the tenth time in the last three minutes, exasperation and frustration building up within him. He had been keeping an eye on their friend this school especially with the strange return of Kenny, Kyle's unsettling behavior and now mysterious hospitalization, and Cartman's sudden interest in curing Stan's drinking habits instead of enabling them. This school year had been the strangest by far, and for Craig that was saying something since in his elementary years, townspeople literally created art and painted giant murals of him and Tweek throughout the town.

A simultaneous hate and love for the place existed within him. He wasn't sure if he wanted to hightail it out of South Park like some others or commit to staying forever. When he considered leaving, he remembered his trip to Peru and it made him hesitant to ever leave South Park again. Definitely stuck in an infinite catch-22. He supposed he still had plenty of time to work things out unless he died early. Stan walked into class with a couple minutes to spare. Relief flooded Craig, he had left in such a state of anxiety and panic yesterday. Stress and tiredness were clear in the drag of Stan's feet but at least he was present and in the correct class.

Stan smiled dimly at him. "Good morning, Craig," he greeted him. Craig didn't smile back but nodded in response. Stan sat down heavily in his chair. "Token told you about Kyle?"

"Yeah, he said it wasn't good."

"The doctors don't know what's wrong."

Craig pursed his lips, uncertain what to say. The situation wasn't ideal. "It's Kyle. He's been sick before and pulled through."

"Yeah, but..." Stan trailed off, that strange feeling that something wasn't right turning his stomach into knots. He sighed. "I should have told his mom when he thought Kenny was dying and coming back to life like a zombie. Maybe it was, like, a brain aneurysm or something."

"Wouldn't the doctors know that by now?"

"I don't know. Kyle did keep saying he had headaches and was missing so much school. I don't know why I didn't realize...."

Craig shook his head slowly. "None of us did. Not even Kyle. And if the doctors still don't know, I wouldn't beat myself up over it."

Stan sighed, his response to Craig full of doubt. "He looked really bad, man. This sucks."

Craig could only nod in agreement, not sure what he could say to comfort or reassure his friend. He felt pressure in his temples, a headache starting to form from the worry over his friends. He wanted a cigarette.

The teacher announced the start of class and anything he could think of to say to comfort his friend and classmate was lost to time. He and Stan each heard their teacher, but weren't listening, their minds in completely other places.

𝝮

Lunch was by far the most awkward part of the day. The regular group plus Token sat awkwardly at their lunch table. Word had spread throughout the day regarding Kyle and Ike's whereabouts. Many of their peers shot pitying looks towards the table full of boys.

Man, this sucks. I feel like I'm suffocating here. Cartman thought, staring at his plate, having no appetite for once. Nug had an effect on him despite his efforts to never look at the horrid creature straight on. He had been too panicked about the terrible states of Wendy and Kyle to even realize that the scent of Nug was stuck in his nose, food especially causing him to feel ill with ease . He wished he'd stayed home again.

Kenny glanced over at his friend, mostly keeping eye contact with his plate of food. Stan had given him lunch, so he planned to eat it, but lacked the motivation, with everything that had happened. Yeah, well. Kenny didn't think anything else in response. He knew Cartman knew that he was still irritated; he'd gone behind his back and allowed Wendy and Kyle to get so far along in their quest of information regarding R'lyeh. Cartman didn't say or think anything else, guilt still eating at him for how bad off Kyle had been and still was. He knew he only felt this guilty because of Kenny, but he lacked control over the situation. He had no choice but to deal with the overwhelming feelings of guilt, unease and anxiety over the situation heavy on his heart and mind.