Butters felt alone. His mom loved him a bit harder than his dad. But he got grounded still. And that made it hard. He wanted to be saved. They got really mean sometimes. Very mean. He didn't like it but his aunt bought him an art kit. But he kept it hidden after Cartman called it gay. He didn't know what was wrong with that but they thought it was wrong so he didn't want to be called it again.

Butters stayed after school a bit though, to work on school work. So he didn't have to be around his parents. He was happy he would see Kenny there sometimes.

"Do you drawed?" Butters asked, mindlessly coloring in a picture. There were only a few other kids there, which was lucky cause Kenny didn't keep his parka as tight. Butters liked being able to see his face and his freckles.

"Not really, never tried" Kenny answered shading in the corner of the page he should have been working on. It was a questionnaire but Kenny kept getting stuck on the question 'what is your favorite thing about your parents?'.

"You should! It's really fun I swear. It makes me happy so it'll probably make you happy" Butters told, picking up a different crayon. Kenny only hummed back in response, leaving a soft silence between the kids.

"My sister is turning two," Kenny told, keeping his eyes on the questionnaire paper. Butters eyes widened, smiling at the news.

"That's so cool! Can she talk?" He asked, turning his full attention despite the fact Kenny only glanced at him.

"Yeah, of course. She likes to run around a lot too but we don't want her to get hurt so she stays in my room to play with me."

"Awwwee. Babies are so cute" Butters shifted in his seat, thinking about it. A smile small staying on his face as he continued coloring in his picture. He had ripped it out of a coloring book. He wasn't too good at drawing but he was good with the colors.

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to her getting a bit bigger. Mom stopped drinking so much cause of it. She still smokes but yeah all the time, it maked the house quieter"

"That's good! And I bet she loves you a lot too. So you have a new best friend!" Butters told, beaming to Kenny as if this was his own happy news. Butters optimism made Kenny smile more, but neither of them noticed.

Another silence, except this time Butters hummed. And Kenny hummed with him. Laughing when they messed up. But they were their own world, so they didn't care.

After school was theirs. School made Kenny stick with the boys and enjoy his time with them. And Butters was thrown around in friend groups. Never really hated but never loved. Which seemed to be the constant with him. But that's how it always was so he didn't complain. And he had after school with Kenny so that made things okay. Kenny made Butters feel less alone.