,Sometimes Kyle and Stan liked to think they knew Kenny best and knew best for Kenny.
Sometimes they thought Eric was bad for him - that he was toxic with sarcastic comments, bullying with words and constantly dragging Kenny into schemes the blond didn’t want anything to do with.
But when everyone was picking on Kenny, when some older kid they didn’t know the name of yanked away the small blond’s safety net ruthlessly and laughed, spurred everyone else on to laugh at the boy’s startled look, the ten year old’s big brown and blue eyes darting left and right for some escape that wasn’t the orange parka in the asshole’s hand, Eric was the first to stand up and call out the older kid.
Kenny bolted, and it was up to the trio to loudly lay into the older boy - to insult, be as ruthless and scolding as they themselves could be, spurring Kenny’s other friends - Craig’s whole group and the girls to join in the disappointment for the rude, uncalled for action.
Tweek had been the one to snatch the parka back from him, and Eric, to everyone’s surprise, was the one to quietly take the coat with more care than they’d ever seen from him, uttering that he knew how to find Kenny. Kyle and Stan followed after him and from the worry and confusion in their eyes, Eric didn’t tell them to stay behind.
He only surprised them more and more as he led them out of school toward Stark’s pond, a little further into the woods to a tree house tucked away. They didn’t hide their surprise, stopping just a little ways away and watching with wide eyes as Eric stepped up to the ladder but didn’t climb up, instead calling up. “Kinny, are you up there?” No response.
“I have your coat.” Silence.
“Knock once for no and twice for yes. Do you want your coat back?” A long silence, and as they considered leaving, saying Kenny wasn’t even there, two knocks sounded from the inside of the tree house. “Can one of us come up? It’s just Stan, Kahl and I.”
More silence followed, but they waited it out until Kenny peeked out from the opening, looked pretty crushed - somewhere between devastated and angry with tear tracks down his pale, freckled cheeks.
Eric wordlessly held up the parka and Kenny grabbed it with a shaking hand, disappearing from view. Another minute before the blond climbed down with his parka back in place around him. It wasn’t zipped up, but his hood was back up and he looked so much calmer with it around him.
To further their surprise, the first thing Kenny did when he settled back in the snow was throwing his arms around Eric, hugging him tightly as he pressed his face into the other’s shoulder, his own shoulders shaking.
A moment later and a nod from Eric had Stan and Kyle wrapping their arms around them as well, feeling the blond just melt between them.
Later on, when all four were laying around in Stan’s bedroom, Kenny finally spoke again - little more than a simple, “Thanks, guys..” through the fur and fabric of his hood. Stan and Kyle just smiled wide at him, and Eric’s hand held his tightly, something so much more grounding than they could ever have imagined, seeing a whole different side of the two of them.
“Since when are you two so close?” Kyle pondered aloud, and Kenny didn’t seem very offended by it, thinking instead before he sighed, rolled to drop his head on Eric’s shoulder and cuddle up like it was the most normal thing in the world. Then he was tugging under his shirt and showing the two of them half of a BFFs necklace Eric had, sat up just to show them his own.
Grinned weakly as he took Eric’s hand again and gave it a firm squeeze. “Eric’s my super best friend.”
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