Hide me (Crenny)

Call Eric

They arrived at Kevin's apartment exactly when they said they would, as Craig was painfully punctual. However, when they walked in, Kevin immediately put a finger to his lips, silently telling them to be quiet. The phone pressed against his ear was enough to tell them why.

"Yeah ma, I still haven't seen them... well the South Park police are incompetent, you know that... uh-huh... uh-huh... yeah yeah, I love you too... okay, bye." He hung up and looked at his brother. "She's scared to death dude. She's really worried you're..." he trailed off, finally acknowledging Craig, who had been sitting there so quietly he barely even noticed him until now.

Kenny waved it off. "I'll be fine. I've been careful."

Of course, Craig wasn't naive enough to not notice that. "Careful?" He questioned.

"Don't worry about it. It's family stuff," Kenny assured him. Craig, though not fully convinced with that response, decided to let it go. At least until he and Kenny were alone again.

Sherrie brought the girls over within the hour, and they had a repeat of the previous day. Eventually Kevin and Kenny stepped out onto the balcony to be alone. The door was practically soundproof, so they didn't bother trying to be secretive.

"You know you can't keep this up forever," Kevin reminded him, pulling a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of his hoodie pocket. He handed Kenny one and threw him the lighter after using it for himself.

Kenny wasn't much of a smoker. He only did drugs when he was stressed. Of course, the whole situation was incredibly stressful, so Kevin didn't feel the need to ask.

"Yeah," Kenny admitted. He leaned his back against the railing, before jumping up again and stepping away from it. He was being reckless earlier, but now that it's been nearly a week, he couldn't risk anything. One wrong move and it was all over.

"Mom doesn't want you to come home," Kevin started, sounding somewhat absentminded. He stared off into the distance, eyes focused on nothing in particular as he exhaled smoke. "I think she knows you're here, but I can't confirm anything, just in case someone's listening in, you know?"

"Yeah," Kenny sighed.

"She wants you to get as far away from South Park as possible," Kevin continued. "She said she hoped you and Karen ran for as long as you could." He scoffed. "I knew it was only a matter of time before she ordered something like that."

"I wish she was here," Kenny murmured, more to himself than to his brother. "But I still think she's stupid for staying with him."

"She thinks there is no life after him," Kevin said simply. "Whether we like it or not, that's her other half until the day she dies..." Kevin looked back into the apartment through the sliding glass door. "But you'd have an idea what that's like, wouldn't you?"

"Hmm?" Kenny followed his gaze to the male lounging on the couch, Craig was hunched over with a few cards layered in his hand, playing a game with the three girls he'd been left with. "Craig?" Kenny laughed awkwardly, "I don't know about 'other half,' he's just my... friend with benefits?" He tried to make the term work, but it felt oddly cold to him when describing Craig.

Kevin rolled his eyes. "Don't try to play it off this time. I can tell you're attached to him." He took a drag on his cigarette. "And he is to you too."

"I... I think I'm done." Kenny put out his cigarette and went back inside. Kevin followed shortly after.

* * *

The day passed without much issue, until it finally occurred that they were supposed to go back home today. It was around nine pm when they recalled this, but unfortunately that was around the time when they got a sudden, unexpected knock on the door.