Chapter Text
Butters sat in his room doodling in a sketch book. Kenny had died a few hours ago, but it stopped affecting Butters a few years ago, he was for some odd reason the only person who was able to find out Kenny was immortal and came back the next day after every time he died. All he had to do was just wait for the clock to strike 3:00am. He did miss him when he was gone but it was just because he felt lonely, he just had to keep hope for his arrival. He drew Kenny, he liked drawing the boy since he was an interesting subject. His face had been covered in scars from all his last deaths but only Butters paid attention to them; they never made a difference to anyone else. He wondered why that was, he guesses that with them not knowing Kenny had died also made them ignore anything showing he was previously injured. He laid on his bed his pen moving, it was around 9:00pm-ish, despite it being a weekend and Butters now being fourteen Butters had a very strict bedtime of 9:30pm on Fridays and Saturdays (10pm if he was really good which in his case was very very rare.) Suddenly, there was a blue flash in his room, Butters looked around.
“Hello?” He called out into his room but not too loudly, don't wanna get in trouble. He looked around his childish room before deciding it was a figment of his imagination before going back to drawing despite being nerve-wracked from the flash of light. “Just think of Ken… just think of Ken…” he mumbled to himself trying to get himself to calm down. It was really embarrassing to admit but his good friend Kenny is what usually made him calm down, Kenny was just so sweet and kind to him…
“BOO!”
The loud sound came from behind the blonde boy. Butters fully jumped up from where he was sitting, he was absolutely terrified! His heart was pounding, his vision blurred for a second due to the fear and when he shakily looked up once again there was a… ghost? Standing in front of him laughing. What the-?! It was Kenny! Kind of… he had the gruesome cuts and injuries of his last death (it was being hit by a car) but he looked kind of, sewn together and he wasn’t any humanly color. He was a turquoise translucent figure with wide angel wings, how curious! Butters sat there in shock looking at the apparition laughing his head off at the other boy. This had never happened before, Kenny just well… died! And then came back, he never came back as a ghost, he was just gone until he was rebirthed in the morning. Kenny’s laughing was stopping a little bit but he was still clearly gasping trying to stop himself, his voice was echoey.
“I’m sorry! It was not that funny! I shouldn’t have scared you like that Leo.” Kenny’s voice was no longer muffled, his hood had been apparently ripped off from the accident (though, the parka would just fix itself tomorrow). He still giggled, finding the prank very funny but he felt a little guilty, Butters looked like he had seen a ghost, well he did. But you get the point.
“Ken…?” Butters mumbled out looking up at the spirit, his eyes reflected the blue he was seeing.
“Yeah, it's me.”
“How?! You’re dead- this never happens! Why are you a ghost?! No! No! This is just- just a big joke like Eric did there is no ghost! You’re just being mean, right?!” He stuttered out, he felt terrified, why was Kenny a ghost?!
“Okay! Okay! Calm down! I don’t know either! I just appeared and I tried talking to my sister but she didn’t see me, and then I went to Kyle's house… he didn’t see me! And I was gonna give up but then I thought maybe because you know I’m immortal… that maybe you can see me. And I guess you can. It’s good only you can see me I was messing around in your parents room… anyway I’m not dead! I think! I mean maybe that wouldn’t be the worst thing…”
“Hey don’t say that! Well uh… I guess I can see ghosts! Or just a ghost… You… So what do you wanna do now?” His face suddenly lit up, “Oh we can hang out! We can have a sleepover and it’d be so much fun! And I wouldn’t get in trouble because they can’t see you and we can play games and-”
“Yeah. That sounds great… we can try.” He glanced down at Butters’ bed, noticing the left open sketchbook with the unfinished drawing. “Is that me?” Kenny asked, looking at the very clearly Kenny drawing and then back at Butters.
“Wha- no! No!... Yes.. It is… I just wanted to draw and I just kind of missed you,” Butters responded very clearly, flustered, like he had been caught doing something wrong.
“Lighten up. I’m not gonna judge you.” Yeah, that was Ken always sweet on him. “You’re a good artist, buttercup”
“Thanks, Ken.” He said blushing… Buttercup, that word always felt funny when it rolled off of Kenny’s tongue. But there was something much more pressing! The fact that Kenny could now suddenly be a ghost! He didn’t have an answer to this at all and Butters was very very curious on why he can be an apparition just now and not before despite the fact he was also super excited just to see his best friend once again. “Wait Kenny! Before we do anything or talk about something else! How are you a ghost?! You’re never a ghost I mean- I know you don’t know but there has to be a way unless- unless you’re just really special suddenly..” He was super perplexed, who wouldn’t be?
“Special suddenly? That’s stupid!” Kenny paused, “Huh… well I guess I turned fourteen just a little bit ago, and I was on a lucky streak, didn’t die for awhile this is my first time in a while.. Maybe it’s connected.”
“Like… a power up?”
“I guess so. If immortality is my “power” then it’s an upgrade. Like in comics when the cool alien hero grows older and gains a new ability! But this isn’t cool or useful at all. I’m just stuck with no body, and only being able to see one person.”
“Hey- do you not like having me around?”
“I didn’t say that! I just have more friends than you.”
“Yeah, I know.” Butters mumbled looking back at Kenny he was still in shock, he couldn’t lie. Everything about this was just so strange and foreign the last time he had “seen a ghost” it was really just Cartman lying to him. But Kenny was dead. Kenny was truly a ghost. Kenny was a ghost, and Kenny was right in front of his eyes staring back at him.
“Come on. We can hangout like you wanted.”
“Okay…”
So, the two blondes hanged out. They watched shows for thirty minutes until Butters’ parents came in and to tell Butters that he needed to go to bed or else he’d be grounded, Butters parents like Kenny said didn’t see Kenny they just thought Butters was all alone in his room. It was perfect. Butters turned off his lights but he didn’t go to sleep. He stayed up whispering with Kenny about the other kids at school, and about his favorite shows. He loved this, he loved being able to hangout with his best friend Ken much longer than he normally gets to, there was no more begging for sleepovers if Kenny could just be here as a ghost. There was an overriding question though, did Kenny stay as a ghost now? Butters wondered it as Kenny talked about something Kyle and Stan had been doing this week, would Butters ever get to see Kenny at school again? Butters didn’t even know if he could touch or hold Kenny when Kenny was a ghost, but he was too shy to go in and hug him or ask to hold his hand. He started to feel himself get more drowsy too, it was now 11pm, he did like being “rebellious” but it was much past his bed time and he just wanted to go to sleep at this point.
“Ken… I’m tired, I think I’m gonna go to bed.”
“Oh. Okay. Can I like- stay here? I mean I don’t know what else I’d do, there’s not much fun at night at least when you can’t interact with basically everyone.”
“Oh! Yes! It’ll be like a sleepover, right?”
“Sounds about right. I guess I can just lay on your bed.”
“That works” Butters felt his face redden slightly at the idea of Kenny sharing a bed with him but he didn’t mind, he trusts Kenny he’s his friend. Butters tucked himself into bed, “Good night Ken…” He mumbled, feeling himself grow even more sleepy now that he was under his blankets. Kenny didn’t lay directly next to Butters but instead he laid inverse of him, to avoid their faces being next to each other and them being really, really close. Kenny’s feet brushed against Butters, instead of feeling the weight of something that was over the covers Butters felt a weird fuzzy feeling, as if Kenny was clipping through Butters in his ghost form. He guessed he had the answer to his earlier question, he couldn’t really hold Ken could he. He would only phase through him. Kenny felt it too, he was very aware of it but he didn't say anything. Butters closed his eyes shut and he drifted off into sleep. Kenny couldn't fall asleep though, he wasn't able to, just forced to stay awake. When Butters was drifting off all he could hope was to see Kenny when he rose and shined in the morning.
But when awoke once again, there was no Kenny or his ghost, just the rising sun.