Dark on Me [South Park Stenny Fanfic]

Four Years

Stan briskly walked in the direction he thought Kenny would be. He had to be sure his friend wouldn't try to kill himself, the thought had plagued him all day. He was tempted to stop by Cartman's first to see if he was there but based on their interaction or lack of it at art class, Stan suspected Kenny probably went straight to the old Target building. Part of him still wanted to stop at Cartman's just to ask him to explain why Kenny had said some of the things he had said, how he had found Kenny, why Kenny refused to stay with Cartman. So many thoughts were bouncing around in his mind as he approached Kenny's stomping ground.

All the noise in his mind fell silent when he found Kenny already asleep on the bench. Stan took note of the needle on the bench, sunlight glimmering off of it making it look deceptively pretty. He sighed sadly before sitting near the blonde hair that was splayed out on the bench. He didn't really know what to do right now. Should he try to wake up Kenny? Would that be worse than waiting for him to come down from whatever high he was on? He wasn't even sure what drug he had used, Stan really didn't know that much about street drugs, not that he was some angel. His vice was alcohol, always had been and he suspected always would be. He would give Kenny some time before he woke him up he decided. He took one of Kenny's hands in his, putting two fingers on his wrist checking for a pulse- no way was Kenny going to have a drug death on his watch.

Kenny blinked coming down from his high, it had felt so nice to just disappear into a world where he forgot who he was. He assumed he'd been out for a couple hours; he had never actually timed any of these drug induced highs. He just liked the escape. This time was different as he had sensed another presence but shrugged it off as another druggie getting hopped up. They tended to come here. It took a couple minutes before his mind was finally able to catch up with his vision. Stan, Stan was with him, sitting near him and holding his hand- wait, was Stan checking for a pulse? Had he nearly died? Kenny suddenly shot up surprising Stan.

"Hey, welcome back to earth," Stan said with a sad grin.

Kenny looked around confused. "What- why are you here?"

"I was worried about you after today. I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to do anything stupid."

Kenny looked down at his arm where a fresh needle mark was apparent. "Sorry to disappoint," he said looking at Stan.

"I can't judge you, I have my own issues."

Kenny pursed his lips. "Really? You seem to have it pretty together to me."

Stan burst into laughter at this finding it hilarious. It took him a good minute to stop laughing. "Hey, maybe you can put in a good word for me with everyone? Even Craig thinks I've turned into a total space cadet."

"Oh. I didn't notice." Stan resisted the temptation to tell Kenny that of course he hadn't noticed because he rarely looked away from the floor when at school. Stan sensed Kenny might be baiting him though and simply shook his head.

"It's been four years Kenny. A lot of us have changed." As have you.

"Yeah, of course." Kenny agreed and then became very interested in his fingernails. Stan said nothing and silence ensued for several long minutes. Stan was starting to feel pretty comfortable until Kenny spoke up again. "Stan, you don't have to stay here. You can go home," he said looking over at his friend. The tone was apologetic.

"No, I do have to stay here," Stan said simply.

"No- you- you don't have to," Kenny stumbled with the words. He hadn't had much contact with other humans over the last few years, sure he had seen some but none he had been close too. He wasn't used to this, having to come up with excuses on the sly or making sure his assurances didn't seem empty. It had been a long time since he'd worried about any of that. He was having to essentially relearn social interaction and Stan was tripping him up. He glanced away from his friend, putting one hand on his forehead as thoughts raced through his mind. He wished he could tell Stan everything.