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Kenny was typically a really confident guy. In all honesty, it was easy not to give a fuck about what people thought of him; most of the town already thought the worst about him and his family, and nothing he did was going to change that.
He certainly was feeling some type of way today, though. Tonight, Kenny had a date.
Kenny had been on lots of dates in the past; he was a people-pleaser and couldn’t say no when one of the girls asked him out.
This time was different, though. He really liked Clyde and was so nervous about making sure everything went well.
Besides, it was barely a date, they were grabbing a bite to eat together before going to a party Tolkien was hosting.
Kenny sat in his English class, half paying attention to the assigned chapter, his brain far too preoccupied to focus on Lord of the Flies. His knee bounced up and down as he counted the minutes till the end of the period.
The bell finally rang, and he walked to his next class. It was a study hall that he ditched as soon as attendance was taken.
He walked through the hallway to head out to the back of the school for a smoke.
As he was walking, he passed by the last person he wanted to see at the moment.
“Oh, hey, Kenny!” Clyde said excitedly.
“Hey Clyde,” Kenny said.
“Where are you off to?” Clyde asked.
“Smoke break, what about you?” Kenny said.
“Retaking a math test,” Clyde said, mildly annoyed.
“Lame,” Kenny said.
“Yeah,” Clyde replied.
“I’m really excited for tonight, though,” Clyde said with a smile.
“Me too,” Kenny smiled back.
“Meet you there at 6?” Clyde confirmed.
“Yeah, see you at 6,” Kenny said.
“Bye!!” Clyde said before heading to his class.
Kenny continued walking and quickly got outside to the smoking area.
Of course, since this was a high school, it wasn’t actually an official smoking area, but more so a place his older brother had discovered the cameras didn’t reach.
The cold air hit him as soon as he stepped outside. It was a welcome change to the stale air inside the school.
He went to sit on the ledge, finding only one other person out there: Craig Tucker.
They weren’t really friends; they didn’t talk outside of bumming cigarettes off each other or occasionally being paired up in their shared science class, since they didn’t have any of their actual friends in the class.
No, Craig wasn’t really friends with anyone save for, like, four people, other than his boyfriend, whom he rarely separated from.
But Craig’s best friend was Clyde.
Kenny, as well as most of the school, was all kinds of confused about how that happened. Clyde was a football jock, loud, obnoxious, and friendly to everyone, and a stereotypical popular kid in every sense of the word; he was everything that Craig hated.
Craig was the exact opposite. Sure, he played baseball, but he spent more time with his nose in a book or on AO3 than anything else. He was antisocial, generally disliked most of the people in the school, and with his RBF and generally off-putting attitude, most people left him alone.
Kenny had no idea what drew the two together, being that they were such polar opposites at their cores, but whatever it was, they had been best friends since kindergarten.
Kenny sat down next to Craig, who barely glanced over at him when he approached. Craig silently reached into the pocket of his hoodie and held out his open pack of cigarettes, offering one to Kenny.
Kenny reached into his own pocket and grabbed his brand-new pack, holding it up. Craig shrugged and put his away. He looked at Kenny for a moment as if he were reading his mind. Craig was incredibly perceptive and noticed everything.
“What’s wrong with you?” Craig asked.
“It's nothing, I'm just kinda nervous,” Kenny said.
“About?” Craig already regretted asking.
“My date tonight,” Kenny said.
“Ah,” Craig said.
“Were you nervous for your first date with Tweek?” Kenny asked.
“No,” Craig replied.
“Not at all?” Kenny asked.
“Nope, I was excited, I liked him, he liked me, the rest happens naturally,” Craig explained.
“You’ve been on a ton of dates, why are you so nervous about this one?” Craig asked.
“I don’t know, this time it's just, it’s different, I really like Clyde, I just don’t want to mess this up. Kenny vented.
“Well thats good to hear because he really likes you too,” Craig said.
“Oh?” Kenny perked up.
“Yeah, if you breathe a word of this to anyone else I’ll fucking kill you, but he’s been crushing on you for awhile and he was so excited when you finally asked him out,” Craig revealed.
Kenny smiled, that was reassuring to hear.
“Oh, and also if you hurt him in any way, shape, or form, I’m sending Tweek to kick your ass,” Craig said.
“Noted, thanks,” Kenny said. Craig nodded.
They both finished their cigarettes and returned to their respective classes.
The rest of the school day dragged on as it always did, but Kenny was much less nervous. Still, he was very excited when the final bell rang, and he got to go home.
He quickly walked home since it was nice out and faster than the bus.
He had two hours to get everything ready before he left for the night. He started making dinner for his sister and cleaning the living room and kitchen before taking a shower and getting dressed.
He met Clyde outside one of their favorite taco trucks and took their food across the street to a picnic table at Stark's Pond. The sun was jsut beginning to set and it was beautiful outside. They talked and ate, and once they were finished, they walked to Tolkien’s house together. Only once they reached the gate they realized they had started holding hands at some point.
The party was alright; it was a typical high school party with everyone in their class, pretty much. The music was loud and bad, and there was way too much weed and too much alcohol.
Even Craig and Tweek were there, though if history stood as a reference, they were probably just there so Craig could snag a bottle of something from the kitchen, and Tweek would get a couple joints from people, and then they’d sneak out the back door and do their own thing. Tweek’s parents were rarely home on the weekends.
The two boys made a beeline for the kitchen to say hi to everyone and get drinks.
Clyde was a self proclaimed master mixologist and came back 5 minutes later with a cup of something orange that smelled like straight up rubbing alcohol, that he handed to Kenny. After a long drink, he determined that it tasted like rubbing alcohol but still proceeded to drink the whole thing.
After about an hour there, Clyde found Kenny again and asked him a question.
“Wanna bail and go back to my house?” Clyde asked.
“Sure!” Kenny said.
Clyde waved goodbye to Tolkien who was happy to have two fewer people in his house.
The two boys walked back to Clyde’s house which wasn't far.
“You’re dad’s not going to be mad?” Kenny asked.
“Nah, he’s at his girlfriend's house for the weekend, besides, it's not like were doing anything bad,” Clyde said.
When they got inside, they took off their shoes and settled onto the couch. Clyde went to the kitchen and put a frozen pizza in the oven before grabbing a couple of sodas and turning on his Xbox.
The next few hours were filled with laughter, and videogames untill they were both so tired they could barely keep their eyes open. Clyde opened one of the many streaming services they had and picked a random movie to put on for background noise.
“I’ve had a really nice time tonight, it’s been really fun,” Clyde said.
“Me too, I’ve been looking forward to it all week,” Kenny said smiling.
They both smiled at each other for a moment before they both leaned in for a kiss. When they pulled away they both looked at each other for a moment before turning beet red.
“I’m so sorry,” Kenny said.
“Thats ok, we could… do that again if you want,” Clyde blushed.
Kenny leaned in with practiced ease and kissed Clyde for a much longer time than he had before.
“I guess I should be going now,” Kenny said standing up.
“Wait,” Clyde grabbed his hand.
“Stay here tonight?” clyde asked.
“ok, “ Kenny said, sitting back down on the couch.
Clyde lay his head on Kenny's shoulder, and that's how they fell asleep, Kenny holding Clyde tight in his arms.