Chapter Text
There was a little boy with blonde hair cowering against the wall. He was cradling his arm in a way that suggested it was damaged, and several dark bruises coated his right eye, a small trickle of blood dribbling down his nose and mouth.
“Brat!” came a loud shriek, causing him to flinch. “Where are you?”
At the sound of the sharp voice, the boy shivered and rested his head on his grazed knees. He just wanted to be left alone.
“Where the fuck are you?”
The child trembled and struggled to his feet. He tried to compose himself, but the pounding of his heart increased. He exhaled softly, trying to force his nerves down. His badly bruised visage winced in the mirror back at him.
He knew he couldn’t hide from her forever.
“PIP!”
“Pip? You there, bud?”
Pip zoned back into his freshly painted bedroom to see his raggedy friend smiling at him, a plastic tumbler full of fresh apple juice in hand. “Sorry Kenneth, did you say something?”
“I told you, it’s Kenny, dude!” Kenny chortled, nudging him playfully. “I asked how you’ve been getting on since I last saw you.”
“Oh!” Pip squeaked, pressing his fingertips together. “I’ve been getting on well, thank you.” his head bounced as he nodded vigorously. “Apparently I-I’m making progress. My therapist told me to write down a list of positive affirmations and stick them around the house as optimistic reminders for myself.”
“I wondered what the post-it notes were all about.” Kenny glanced at the ones nearest to him. “How’s it been working out for you?”
“O-Okay, I think. Most of them are in here so I see them when I wake up. I’m trying to repeat them like mantras to see if they stick.”
“That’s a good idea.” Kenny smiled, taking a sip from his cup. He shuffled up a little from where he was leaning against Pip’s bedframe. “And I see the bedroom’s getting there too.” he acknowledged, appreciatively.
“Oh, yes, most definitely!” Pip beamed, looking at all of his brand new furniture. “Mr Honeydew- I mean, Gerard, made me some shelves so I can display my things on there.”
“That sounds great, Pipsicle. I’m really happy for you, honestly.” Kenny grinned, thinking how far the British teenager had come since Mysterion first discovered him in that alley.
He now had a home, and people who loved him.
“So, um, did you want to play a game, or something? Liam keeps buying me games for my Xbox. I still haven’t gotten around to playing them - not that I know how to use the controllers anyway!” Pip laughed anxiously. “Perhaps you could teach me?”
Kenny placed his juice on the bedside table’s coaster. “I’m up for that. What games do you have?”
Pip opened a storage box and showed Kenny the selection of games. “I’d like to start off with something easy, i-if that’s okay?”
The scruffy blonde picked one out of the box. “I think we should start with Lego Batman. That one should be easy to pick up for you.”
“Okay!”
Once Kenny had inserted the disc into the Brit’s console and explained the controls to him, both friends started happily playing levels of the game together on multi-player. Kenny played Batman, and Pip played Robin.
Halfway through one of the street-based levels, Kenny chuckled.
“What’s up?” Pip queried.
“It’s just that playing this game- well- it gives me Mysterion vibes.”
Pip was surprised by his offhanded comment. “W-Well, I suppose Mysterion is used to dealing with similar situations to Batman. There’s lots of crime on the streets.”
“Yeah, and with an inept police force such as ours, I don’t think that will ever change.” Kenny yawned.
He’d had a rough few nights as South Park’s trusted vigilante. There seemed to be crime spree after crime spree at the minute, so Mysterion felt pressured to get it under control as it was his duty to look after the town. The police had been nothing but useless - preferring to hit up the local strip clubs whilst on duty or verbally abuse innocent families rather than get any real work done. As a result of this Mysterion had been doing everything himself, which meant Kenny was constantly exhausted.
“Are you… okay?” Pip asked, noticing for the first time how worn out he looked.
Kenny gave him a thumbs up, “Yeah, I’m cool.”
“Are you sure?” Pip asked so innocently it made Kenny want to squeeze him into a hug. “If you’d like to stop playing the game now-“
“Nope, I’m good, honestly. Come on, Robin. Let’s go beat up the Joker.”
“Aye aye, Batman!”
The two friends burst out laughing.