Edit: So it looks like when I uploaded it the first time there was some kind of glitch because obviously I didn't write it that way. So I apologize to the people who read it and were like "what the fuck?" Honestly that's exactly what I thought when I saw the weird coding thing. *shrugs*

'Oh man. Gosh darn it I'm late for dinner. I'm so grounded. I am going to be grounded for sure if dad finds out or worse, oh hamburgers.' Butters was practically sprinting in the direction of his house, he had seriously lost track of the time while he was at Eric's house. Like the saying goes 'time flies when you're having fun'. Butters wishes it wasn't like that though because it seemed like every time he's having fun the time passes in between the blink of an eye. How annoying. Why couldn't time just pass slowly when you're having fun so you can savor the time you have with your friends? Is that too much for Butters to ask? I mean it would help with getting homework done on time and with English essay deadlines… that would be so helpful for school.

As Butters dodged pedestrians on the sidewalk he continued his mad dash home, now at full speed. It seemed like he might just make it before his mom and dad notice that he had snuck out of his bedroom through his window. That was the only way to get out of the house unless Butters' parents weren't home but they always were so that's why the window was useful. His mother and father seemed to be more attached to him and on his case all the time now that he's turned sixteen. It's as if they're trying to prevent him from having a social life because that might make him bad or something. Who knows maybe they're just being paranoid and overbearing again. If they found out that he's been sneaking out for the past couple months they might just ground him for the rest of his life and that would be awful. He certainly didn't want to get his father mad… that was something that Butters tried to avoid at all costs. But being grounded means no more D&D games with Eric, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny, but who would take his spot if he wasn't there? Oh no they would just replace him with someone like Craig or maybe even Tweek.

Or it could be even worse Butters could be pulled out of school and become like the homeschooled kids. Butters shivers at the thought of that happening to him, his dad would surely do it too if he put his mind to it, he once had sent Butters to some Christian camp for being 'confused'. Back then he hadn't really known what was going on but now he knows. Jeez all of this sounded really terrible.

At the scary thought Butters started running as fast as his legs could take him, unfortunately he wasn't paying much attention to what was in front of him because just as he turned the corner into an alleyway he hit something hard. Butters went sprawling onto the snow covered pavement with a soft snow-muffled thump and a yelp of surprise. Butters had crashed into a person who was exiting the alley just as he was speeding through it. A bump began to form on his head because Butters hit it against the cold ground when he went down; its good thing there was snow to break most of his fall so it must not be as bad. The person he had run into who was wearing an awfully familiar orange parka... Oh it was just Kenny that Butters had run into, it was still embarrassing but at least it was one of his good friends. Kenny was facing down on the sidewalk with Butters lying across his back, keeping him pinned to the ground.

'Oh no, Kenny face planted! Uh oh, this is not good.' Butters scrambled to his feet quickly with a loud exclamation. "Kenny! Are you okay?! I'm so sorry… I wasn't looking where I was going. I was just trying to get home quickly, I'm sorry that I bumped into you! Do you need help up? Here take my hand. I-" Kenny slowly rose to his feet by himself even though Butter's had extended a hand to help the fallen boy up, which now dropped back to Butters' side. With a wince Kenny turned around to face Butters, his hood had fallen back so now his face was exposed to the cold and Butters' anxious stare.

At the sight of Kenny's face Butter's swallowed the next words he was about to say. Kenny's face was bruised and bloody the side of his face looked scraped, probably from where he hit the ground, and it looked like his nose was broken, still bleeding a heavy flow as well. It stained Kenny's face, neck, and his bright orange parka. 'Did I do that?' Butters' stomach dropped at the thought of him being the one to cause that physical harm to his friend. Kenny closed his eyes, one of them was already purpling as it began to swell shut, and he took a shaky deep breath. "Kenny, you're bleeding. You're bleeding a lot! Oh jeez! Here come with me; my house isn't too far let's get you cleaned up before anything gets infected!" Butters reached for Kenny's wrist and took it gently. But even if it was gentle, Kenny cringed back and shook his head but even that was enough to make his world spin.

Kenny's silent protest made Butters frown with confusion, why was Kenny refusing? He took Kenny's wrists again; a little more firmly he tugged at his sleeves. "I'm not taking no for an answer mister, we're going to my house right now and you are going to let me take care of you. You can tell me what happened after we fix you up okay?"

"Okay fine." Kenny replied with as he was dragged along down the street behind the ever more anxious Butters. Butters kept glancing back at Kenny as if the other boy would disappear into thin air unless he continued to check on him. Kenny seemed to not notice, he was looking at the ground the whole fast walk to Butters' house. It didn't take very long since they weren't very far away in the first place, so they got to Butters' house quick. But Butters couldn't exactly make Kenny go through his window in the bad shape he was in so that meant he would have to take Kenny through the front door and risk getting caught by his parents. Man, the things that Butters does for his friends are beyond expectation and yet he never asks for anything in return. Not that he would really ever think of charging his friends for him helping them out, he just liked doing it because it was the right thing to do. Besides he didn't need anything so long as Butters had his great friends and a smile on his face.

Quickly and quietly Butters tried to get the front door unlocked, but the key always got stuck in the lock and took a lot of work to get in and then out. A lot of jiggling the lock is necessary before the door even clicks open to give way into the nice warm house. It took about five whole minutes for the door to finally unlock, when it finally opened Butters saw that the living room was empty at the moment which is good for him and Kenny. So with that they walked up the stairs to get to Butters' room, where there was a first aid kit that he kept under his bed along with a bottle of rubbing alcohol and aspirin (that Kenny took without hesitation). Butters kept them there for when he needed to clean up his own wounds, some wounds that were accidental others were inflicted upon him. "Okay w-well the good news is that it looks like your nose stopped bleeding. But the bad news is that your nose is broken here. Also your eye is all swollen." Butters was examining Kenny's face for any horrible injuries but there wasn't as much as Butters had initially thought. He prodded the site of the break gently to find the fracture, Butters knew he hit the sore spot once Kenny sucked in a painful breath. "This is going to hurt. Are you ready?"

"No. But you have to do it anyways, so just do it quick." Kenny then smirked at his choice of words. Carefully Butters shifted Kenny's nose in the right direction, but this seemed to hurt Kenny very much because he cried out. "God dammit, ow fuck! That fucking hurts, Butters. Ow dude."

"Sorry! S-sorry, pal! And keep it down so my parents don't hear ya. Oh Kenny, it's going to hurt for a long while, you broke it bad. Since I'm not a doctor it's probably going to heal all weird and stuff. Then you'll have a crooked nose. I'm sure you'll add that to your list of face modifications below the time you lost that one tooth. Now how did this happen?" Butters taped a small piece of sterile gauze over the bridge of his nose with medical tape once he had cleaned up the blood around it. Kenny sighed softly when that part was all over and done with, a broken nose probably isn't that big of a deal to him compared to all the other extensive injuries he has gotten in the past.

Butters had rolled up his sleeves so he wouldn't get anything on his sweater as he cleaned the rest of the dirt, mud, and blood off of Kenny's face. Kenny reached out and touched a large purpling bruise on Butters' forearm, he had the strangest look on his face it was a look of deep sadness and sympathy. Butters quickly pulled his sleeve down to hide the bruises from sight, it wasn't something he was too excited for people to know about, but his friends already suspected about goes on in the Stotch household. Now Kenny had saw and Butters is sure that by the pale look on his own face that Kenny just confirmed everyone's suspicions. Tears gathered in Butters' aquamarine eyes and his cold-chapped lips trembled, he had hoped that he could've kept it all a secret until he could get out of this house. He had years to go still, but he believed that he would make it without telling a single soul about his father's abusive tendencies.

It started as spankings with a hand or a belt to the butt when he was around 10 years old, at first he had cried but after a while it seemed not so terrible. But then it got worse around the time Butters turned twelve. Butters could still remember that day where it all changed, he was sorting the cabinet because he had messed it up again by putting the mashed potato flakes where the cereal went. His father had just come home, Stephen had looked on edge, his face was red it looked like he was about to explode, and when he saw Butters put the sugar in the wrong place he just snapped. It had felt like Butters had been hit with a ton of bricks as Stephen's fist connected with his jaw, it left the twelve year-old Butters crying on the floor while holding the site of the punch. Stephen yelled at Butters and hit him some more, so many abusive words flew out of his mouth and into his innocent impressionable son's ears. That might have hurt worse than the punches, to hear his father call him things like 'worthless' and 'a terrible mistake', those words definitely impacted him and left wounds deeper than anything. But it just got worse from that day on, especially when Stephen had an encounter with large amounts of alcohol.

"Hey, Butters. Don't cry. It's okay, don't cry dude. You're okay. Aw fuck, man." Kenny wiped the steady stream of tears that rolled down Butters' cheeks. Soon Butters had wrapped his arms around Kenny and was holding onto him as if his life depended on it. Kenny had carefully pulled the other boy onto his lap and held him tightly until he was all out of tears. Violent shutters racked Butters' body as he sobbed into Kenny's shoulder, tears and snot were all over Kenny's jacket shoulder at this point but he could careless he just wanted to help out his friend who always helped him. "Fuck. I'm sorry. You don't deserve that kind of treatment, you're a good kid. Your dad is a bastard; I swear if he fucking touches you again he will have to answer to me." Kenny said softly as he rubbed the other boy's back soothingly. Kenny's way of handling the crying Butters seemed to pay off, because soon he began to calm down and his tears stopped.

It looked like the cease in crying was due to him falling asleep. Slowly Kenny pressed a small kiss to Butters' forehead as another sign of reassurance and his affection for him. "I won't let his happen anymore, Butters. I'll protect you as best as I can from now on. Your dad won't get away with this shit." Kenny whispers, his words are muffled by the other's pale blonde hair even if it wasn't muffled Butters was sleeping and wouldn't have heard him anyway. He was careful not to wake the sleeping boy as Kenny slowly laid him on the soft bed, pulled the covers over Butters, and then curled up next to him. He was also exhausted from a long day in the typical life of Kenny, with that he closed his own eyes and eventually drifted to sleep with Butters in his arms. Butters relaxed in his arms, it was due to the first sense of feeling safe in quite a long time and now he slept without being scared for the first time in four years. All thanks to one special, Kenny McCormick.

A/N: Just as a clarification, Kenny was hurt because he was in a fight and not just because of Butters. In my fics, Kenny is a drug dealer who sells illegal narcotics to addicts but doesn't usually do it himself. Occasionally when Kenny cuts people off from their supply due to them not paying or he ran out for the time being, they get violent and that leads to Kenny obtaining many injuries due to his line of work. Butters knows that Kenny gets into lots of trouble and fights a lot but Kenny has kept him from the cause of his fights and injuries. I will incorporate this later if I decide to continue on with this fic.

You can send in prompts/ideas/headcannons that you may have for whichever character and I will do my best to write them in.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.

~River