"But you said we could go home today, dad. Why do I gotta stay?" Butters asked, pressing his knuckles together.
"Because your mother and I paid for two weeks of camp and, by golly, you're going to stay here for another week," Chris responded, leaning on his elbow so that he could lean out of the car window without falling.
"But I have school, dad, and Principal Victoria says that if I miss anymore school they're gunna have to –"
"Butters!" The blonde flinched at the familiar tone. "Are you going to argue this with me, young man?"
"No, no sir…" Butters mumbled, looking at his feet. His knuckles were starting to ache from how hard he was grinding them together. "I'll see you in a week, then, dad."
"That's a good boy. Good-bye, Butters."
Butters watched as the yellow car drove away and sighed. But quickly, he wiped away the sadness from his mind and perked up, realizing that he was going to be able to continue camping for a whole week and, even better, he'd still get to room with his new friend Bradley! 'It's not going to be bad,' Butters told himself. 'Bradley said he likes me and he's already my friend. I hope he doesn't kick me out of his friendship anytime soon.'
"Come on, Butters," the camp counselor said hesitantly. "Let's get you and Bradley back to… your room."
Butters forced himself to grin, cheering, "All right!" He spied the poofy-haired blonde approaching from behind the counselor, still nibbling his thumbnail. "C'mon, Bradley! We still got lots 'a scripture to copy, don't we?"
The counselor gave a little sigh of relief and began to usher the boys back to their room.
"I like it here," Butters found himself saying after the measly dinner served to all the campers. His hand was beginning to cramp a bit from copying the tiny text and his stomach was growling, but he steadfastly ignored it. "It's nice and quiet, and the scenery isn't too bad, neither."
Bradley, who had been watching Butters write, quickly looked away at that last comment. "Y-you're right. It's really nice…"
"Mm-hm," Butters continued. He put down his pencil and flicked his wrist, though that just made it hurt more. Still, he continued to smile as he picked it back up and resumed his writing. "The trees are really pretty at sunset and there are cute birds and animals and you can hear the cars on the bridge and – oops, I don't think you'd want to talk about that."
"Why wouldn't I?" Bradley asked, biting the tip of his thumb.
"Well, you did try and kill yourself there this afternoon," Butters said quietly, not looking up. "I didn't think you'd want to remember it so soon."
Bradley looked at Butters, seriously considering the other boy's features. He knew that he'd memorized them the first time he'd seen the precious blonde, but he still couldn't get enough of Butters.
"You said you'd like-liked me, didn't you?" Bradley asked suddenly, not liking the pained expression Butters was trying to hide.
"Well, a'course I like you, Bradley," Butters stated matter-of-factly. "You're a great friend."
Bradley kept the tip of his thumbnail between his front teeth, not trusting himself to speak, thoughts rushing through his head, ranging from Butters innocent comments to what God would think of him to what the counselors would do to both of them if they found out. 'Screw it,' he thought. 'I can't not do it.'
"I'm sorry," Butters said quickly, mistaking the silence for annoyance. "If you don't wanna be my friend, that's ok to–mmph?"
Bradley pulled away, his face heating up from the quick kiss administered to Butters' lips. He swallowed harshly and bit into his thumb again as Butters touched his lips gently.
"Bradley…?" Butters asked, emotion swirling in that one word.
The other blonde refused to acknowledge the name and looked away. "Are you really gay, Butters?"
Butters blinked, lost. He licked his lips and said, "Well usually I am. I mean, sometimes I get sad, but I try my best to be happy all the time."
"That's not what I meant." Bradley continued to nibble his thumb. "Are you a homosexual? A fag? A queer? Not right? Sinful? Sick in the head?" He could hear his own mother's voice overlapping his with each new word and phrase that spouted forth from him.
He would have continued on, had Butters not suddenly thrown his pencil on the table, the clatter of wood on plastic much louder than it should have been. Butters looked as close to furious as he could get, fuming and pouting so cutely.
"That's not right," Butters scolded. "You shouldn't be calling yourself those things and you shouldn't let no one else call you those either."
Bradley watched as the pencil rolled across the table, almost falling off the edge had a stack of doodled-on paper not been in its way. 'Just like me,' he thought. He then looked up and said softly, "That doesn't answer the question."
"Well," Butters began to knead his knuckles together, "if liking you more than a friend should like you makes me gay, then yes." He looked up shyly, blushing. "Yes I am gay."
Bradley removed his thumb from his teeth and smiled a small smile reserved only for Butters. "I'm really glad. Cause I'm gay too."
I just had to write this after seeing tonight's episode. Butters and Bradley are just too cute together in my opinion. Anyway, I don't own South Park, so, till next time!