Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hell, contrary to most mortal imaginings, had seating. Not the spiked kind or fire-throne kind. It had those too, but there were also just benches. They were worn, the dark metal scorched from their environment.

A young boy found himself sitting alone on one of them, elbows on his knees, chin resting on his knuckles as he watched the river of molten lava flow. It wasn’t very often he found himself alone like this. He was either training or with Pip or someone else. 

But then someone showed up. It was a boy his age. He had the same long honey blonde hair and violet eyes as he always did, but Damien had never seen them this close in person. He blinked, almost feeling like he’d been caught doing something as the blonde slowly walked closer, face unreadable. 

Damien never really knew Kenny McCormick growing up. He knew of him, the boy awfully close with his father for some reason, but he never really understood why. He just knew that his father wanted to keep them separated. 

Satan’s excuse was that he didn’t want them to corrupt each other. Which of course, was the polite way of saying Damien’s existence was just a slow acting poison he didn’t want his son to infect the human he had some fondness towards. 

This, of course, only made Damien more intrigued by the blonde. But now that he was right in front of him, he was at a bit of a loss. He was cute, Damien thought. But not like Pip or Leslie. Different. Maybe that was part of the human charm. He’d been around humans before though. For a bit. He shoved the thought down.  

The important question was, why was Kenny in front of him? Usually, he went straight to Satan, never to be seen by Damien except maybe a fleeting glance. And yet here he was, standing on the blackened shore of the Lake of Wrath. 

“Hi,” he finally said, shifting slightly. 

“Um, hi,” Damien responded, the sound barely coming out. The boy was never awkward, nor did he ever really care about anyone’s opinion, mortal or otherwise. But he was taken aback by this situation. 

“What’s up?” he asked, a bit more confident. 

“Watching the lake… You died?” The antichrist tried not to inwardly cringe at the stupid question. 

Kenny laughed, actually brightening up. “Yeah. A car got me” 

“Oh. That sucks.” 

Kenny shrugged, smile remaining. “Eh, I get some off time to come down here. Not the end of the world.” 

Maybe this was why his father favored him. He seemed to take his immortality status on the chin. “If you don’t mind my asking… Why are you here?”

Kenny made a face at him.” I died?”

“I mean, you always go to my father.”

“Oh!” He laughed. “Satan seemed busy and I know I’ll probably be here a bit so it’s not a big deal. Also, I’ve been coming down here forever but I’ve never really gotten to explore.” 

“Oh. Well… How’s it going? Exploring?” 

“I like it down here. Gets a bit worse of a rap than deserved, I think.” 

Damien always thought he knew how to talk to people, but the odd blonde made his mouth feel dry and his words difficult to place. “Yeah…” 

“Well, I’m off,” he said, practically beaming. “I just wanted to say hi since I found ya.” 

“Wait.” 

Kenny paused, tilting his head slightly. 

Damien actually didn’t know what he wanted from the blonde. But there was something he wanted. Maybe something Kenny could actually help with. “Um. You… You can sway my father, right?” 

“To some degree… Why?” 

“Could you perhaps… Ask him to give me the twelfth? He’s told me no several times, but I have something important.”

He leaned forward slightly. “The twelfth?” 

“I’m supposed to shadow Asmodeus, but it’s Pip’s birthday. He’s excited about it… I feel kinda bad.” 

Kenny seemed as interested as he was taken aback. “How is Pip?” 

Damien forgot the two actually knew each other when they were younger. “He’s doing well.”

“And you feel bad about missing his birthday?” he questioned. 

Damien felt heat crawl up his neck. Now that it was being thrown back at him, he felt a little embarrassed he’d admitted it. He glanced at his hands. “He’s my friend. Why wouldn’t I feel bad?” 

Kenny let out a quiet laugh. “I just didn’t know you knew how to do that.” 

Damien’s eyes narrowed into a slight glare. “I do.” 

He put his hands up slightly in mock surrender. “My bad…” He laughed again. “So what? You just want me to have your dad cut you loose for a day?” 

“Yes.” 

Kenny’s lips curled up into a smirk. “Okay. I can do that…  But what are you gonna do for me?” 

Damien blinked. “I’m sorry?” 

“That’s how deals with the devil work.”

“I’m not the devil though.” 

“Nope. You’re better.” 

The simple response made him nervous. And vaguely nauseous. It wasn’t often he found himself on the receiving end of compliments or anything of the sort. And never once had it been from a human. It was weird. “Um… What do you want?” 

The blonde shrugged. “I’m not really sure. Do you have something to offer?” 

Damien shook his head.

“What about an I owe you?” 

“Like, a favor?” 

“Yeah. Unless you’re not comfortable with that? I totally understand if you’re not.” 

Damien, being twelve and not well versed in such things yet, did not realize just how dangerous an open offer could be. He wasn’t even supposed to be making deals yet. But here was the blonde that lived on a pedestal down here and Damien had found himself under his weird spell. “I don’t see why not.” 

Kenny reached into his pocket, producing a small switchblade. He flipped it, revealing perfect sharpened silver. 

Damien curiously watched him look at his palm.

Kenny didn’t hesitate to split his hand open. He passed the blade to Damien without much thought. “Here ya go,” he chirped.

Damien looked at the blade in his hand, confused as ever. 

“It’s how you make a deal.” 

The heat was back, crawling over his ears, threatening to overtake his face. “I know that.” He didn’t. And now he felt stupid that some human was educating him on things he should’ve known and would’ve known, had his father decided to actually teach him about such things. But he was waiting for God knows what. Damien cut his palm open with a tiny wince. 

Kenny smiled, violet eyes twinkling as he stuck his hand out. Damien took it. 

And he felt it. He felt the heat rush down his spine before the shock of cold that scrambled back upwards. He felt a second heartbeat for just a moment. He felt the pulse under his skin. He felt the nausea that came with it. The rush. Euphoria. 

He felt Kenny. 

Needless to say, it rattled him. But he was determined to stay neutral in the presence of the blonde who seemed completely fine with this. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but he didn’t expect it to feel so real. 

Kenny just smiled and said he’d see him later. 

Then he disappeared. 

Damien was released from his responsibilities that day. Kenny had followed through. 

Now it was just a matter of when he’d have to return the favor. 

Chapter Text

The bottle hit the table like a warning shot. “We’re technically not out of tequila,” Tweek slurred, leaning into Craig as he gently slid the bottle out of his hand. “We’re just…” 

Craig snorted. “Babe, we’re out of tequila.” 

Tweek let out a quiet sigh, the flushed blonde slamming the rest without a wince. The room that was once a clean operations center had devolved into laughter. That was how it had been lately. They had two. This one had just been turned into more of a disaster bunker with better chairs, maps and half scribbled sigils that layered the walls like graffiti, and a whiteboard that had given up on hosting actual plans. Now it just featured a poorly drawn goat, a list of potential end dates, and a passive aggressive note from Wendy to ‘STOP USING THIS TO PLAY HANGMAN DURING DOOM BRIEFS’ despite the fact that she was literally doing it at that exact moment. 

She was red in the face, quietly giggling as her and Bebe went back and forth, unable to stay still on the wheely chairs they were currently hogging. The topic was ‘people who can save us.’ The current one, Kenny was sure, was going to wind up being ‘Jesus’. 

He looked back at Stan who was head in arms, drunkenly lamenting. “Guys, I just—” he let out a tiny whine. Kenny, Clyde, Cartman, Tweek, and Craig were stuck watching his next round of what could only be described as inescapable longing started up. His wallet was still on the table, thankfully unopened and not showing off the picture that had stayed in it since Kyle left. “I want him to come home.” 

Cartman just sighed. “I can’t even make fun of you when you get like this, Marsh. It’s fucking pathetic.” 

“Don’t be mean to him!” Clyde scolded, more of a knee jerk reaction than an actual defense. 

“Fuck you, queermo!” 

Clyde laughed, rolling his eyes as he flipped him off. 

“It’s just like–I called him again,” Stan continued. 

“Oh god,” Clyde and Cartman muttered in unison. 

Kenny propped his cheek up on his hand, looking at Stan intently as he listened because someone had to and Tweek and Craig were sort of in and out, more absorbed in each other than anything else. 

“And I asked, I asked him to come home and he said he was. For summer. Like we fucking talked about!” He dropped his head back in his arms. “Because he’s a fucking asshole whose convinced everything’s going to work out and he doesn’t want to get sucked back into this!” 

“I mean, it’s not like Kyle’s gonna help us save the world anyway,” Craig deadpanned. 

Stan let out a dramatic groan. 

“Craig, baby,” Tweek sighed, throwing an arm around him, lazily pulling Craig into him. “Shut the fuck up.” 

Craig nuzzled into his shoulder, obviously proud of himself, promptly shutting up to avoid upsetting Stan further. 

“You know, if you just told him how you felt, maybe it would work out and he’d come back. Just a thought,” Bebe chirped. 

Stan whipped his head back up. “Oh yeah, Bebs, because I’m just gonna call him and be like ‘no! Come back! I am actually so in love with you and that totally makes a difference!’ and he’ll just magically decide ‘hey, oh my god, this guy that’s been my best friend our entire lives is secretly fucking in love with me and has been forever and that’s totally not weird at all! This is actually exactly what I wanted and you know what?? I’m coming home right now to help you save the world and fuck it while I’m at it lets be together!’ That’s not how that fucking works!” 

“That would probably literally be exactly how that works in this case,” Cartman deadpanned.

There was a lazy chime of ‘sunshine!’ around the room. 

Stan threw his hands up in exasperation. “He has a fucking boyfriend!” 

Wendy bit back a laugh, trying to respond matter-of-factly. “People can have two boyfriends, Stanley. Don’t be close minded.” 

“I know,” he whined. “But I’m pretty sure I’m too needy and miserable to be someone’s second boyfriend.” 

“Yeah, you fuckin’ are,” Cartman responded with a nod. 

“Okay, agreed, but how is Kyle saving the world?” Craig muttered. “We need, like, the fucking army.” 

“Army’s out,” Clyde reminded, sinking into his chair, finally taking the shot in front of him now that he realized Tweek had been eyeing it like some sort of feral booze-goblin. 

“Okayyyyyy,” Tweek hummed out, releasing Craig as he stood, walking towards the full sized fridge that had been recently added in the back of the room. He grabbed a bottle of wine, summoning an icicle at the tip of his pointer finger, popping it into the cork and releasing it, sipping the bottle as he sat back down. “Soooooo. We have a cult.” 

The group let out a collective groan. Tweek gamed things out aloud. Which was always fine and welcome, but the last three times this had happened, they’d hit a wall. They were now on doomdrink Tuesday number four with a questionable end in sight, they just didn’t know when or what that end would be. 

“Shut the fuck up. So we have a cult. We have a cult. Full of super villains.” He stood again, Craig letting out a quiet huff of disapproval as he let him go. “Sorry I need to pace.” And of course, Tweek started to pace, hands on his head. “We have a cult full of super villains. That was to rEfOrM the world. Meaning we’re all dead. And they’re using tech?? Something we don’t quite understand.” 

Kenny sighed. As far as he saw it without the group having a clear understanding, they were good as dead. But there wasn’t a very good way to just explain it.

“But the army’s out. Cops are out. Because they’re not actually doing anything big enough yet for the army and cops can’t fuck with big time villain stuff because gayass politics. Despite the fact that we’ve been seeing a clear uptick in villain activity and legitimate power plays and they’re literally running shock and awe gambits like we’re fucking stupid enough to fall for it.” 

“Correct,” Clyde chirped, grabbing the bottle of vodka from the middle of the table. 

Tweek lazily nudged the side of Bebe’s head as he walked past her. 

“Hey!” 

He let out a quiet snicker. “So. We need to snuff this shit out before it gets crazy. But there’s seven of us. Jimmy and Tolk once we hit, like, red alert territory. So that’s nine. I would argue we’re all pretty up there as far as pros go, but it’s nine of us against, like, what?” 

“We’ve tracked 108 major players below The King.”

“We’re down to seven. Monstra got killed,” Clyde informed. 

Tweek smiled slightly. “Wins are wins, I guess. But still. We need a way to level the playing field. There’s no one person that can like—We need more power.” 

“Yes, but getting power is the problem. There’s no fucking heroes really left in Denver. So we’d be trying to outsource, leaving home unguarded, or we’d be bringing in civilians,” Cartman argued. 

Kenny blinked. They needed power. He looked back at the little hangman Jesus on the whiteboard. There were no more heroes. At least within grasp. But there was someone who wasn’t exactly a civilian, not by any means, that was an option. Someone who was incredibly powerful. He felt stupid for not thinking of this sooner. He never actually picked something.

The deal was still there. He could feel it deep in him whenever he couldn’t sleep. 

Fuck, he’s probably gonna be so mad at me.

He let out a slow exhale. Satan could be mad all he wanted. He wasn’t about to let this opportunity pass him. “I… I might have an idea. Maybe,” he offered, tuning back into the conversation. 

Everyone paused. 

“Tell us??” 

“If I…” His nose twitched. “If I had a way to bring someone really powerful onto the team, someone that could help us, would you guys be opposed to it?” 

Tweek’s finger tapping halted as he stared at Kenny from his seat. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, suspicious, but not closed off at the legitimate prospect of an outsider. “Who.” 

Craig leaned onto his arms. “My same question.”

“You guys don’t know him.” 

“Oh my god, guys! You don’t know her, she goes to a different school, I swear!” Bebe teased. 

Cartman sputtered. 

Kenny shot her a glare. 

“I’m sorry, it was right fucking there.” 

“No seriously who are we talking about right now?” Stan redirected. 

“His name is Damien.” 

Tweek made a face at him. “Damien who.” 

Kenny, not thinking anything of his reaction because only one of them should’ve known who he was talking about and it certainly wasn’t Tweek, responded without a thought. “Thorne?” 

Tweek blinked slowly. “Damien Thorne…” 

“...Yes?” 

Craig quickly grabbed the wine bottle before it could topple as Tweek shot up. “KENNY WHAT THE FUCK?!” 

“Bro, what??” he responded, confused and defensive. 

Craig shot Tweek a look. “Babe, what are you on about right now?” he muttered. 

Tweek’s palms smacked on the table as he leaned forward, eyes narrowed. “You just have a connection with Damien fucking Thorne right now? Are you fucking kidding me??” His voice had dropped into something lower. Kenny hated when he got like this. There was not a twitch in sight, the blonde perfectly still. It was a near terrifying reminder that they were lucky Tweek was on their side. That they found him first. 

“You know him?” Kenny muttered. 

The stillness escaped him, a pit viper transforming back into a frayed nerve. “What are you talking about?! We went to fucking school with him!” 

“Who?” Craig asked. 

Tweek looked at him with bewilderment. “FUCKING DAMIEN! You know??? The fucking antichrist?!” 

“Who the hell are you guys talking about right now?” Clyde asked. 

The only other person in the room who had a clue of who they were talking about was Cartman. Which made sense. Cartman should’ve known who Kenny was talking about. He did not speak up, however.

“Why the fuck do you guys not know him?! He went to school with us for like, two weeks and he was fuckin’ crazy! He set that Pip kid on fire! While Kenny was out because he got–” He slapped a hand over his mouth. 

“Because I got what.” 

“You… Y’got hit. And you didn’t come back for a while that time.” 

“I got hit by what, Tweek.” 

“A-a car, man! Why are you making me talk about this??” 

Kenny and Cartman looked at him in shock. “You remember that??” They asked in unison. 

“Tweek, seriously what the fuck are you even talking about right now?” Bebe questioned. 

“No seriously,” Stan breathed. 

Kenny put a hand up, effectively shutting everyone up. “Tweek, why do you remember that?” 

He blinked, corned animal demeanor escaping just as quickly as it showed up as he fell into pure confusion. “What do you mean?” 

Kenny looked around the room. “Does anyone else remember me getting hit by a car? Ever??” 

Complete silence descended on the room as they all looked at him like he was crazy, save for Tweek and Cartman. 

“Does anyone remember me ever getting stabbed? Or shot?” He shot a pointed look in Bebe’s direction. “Drowning, spontaneously combusting, the whole syph incident…” He looked back at Tweek. “Do you see the issue here?”  

“What…” He looked around the room, eyes narrowing. “Are you guys fucking with me right now??” 

“What is even happening?” 

“Dude, they’re not fucking with you,” Cartman said carefully. 

“Why–How the hell do you guys not remember?? Any of that?!” 

Little murmurs of confusion started up. 

“I’m cursed,” Kenny explained. “My confusion here is why you remember. And how we didn’t know you remembered sooner?” 

“I thought we, like, weren’t supposed to talk about it!” 

“Tweek, we’ve been friends for literally, like, almost twenty years. An’ we’ve been close since high school. You have never once brought this up in front of me.” 

“I thought you didn’t want to talk about it! I’m your friend, not your therapist! Why the hell would I make you relive something that obviously hurt you?? You don’t do that shit to me!” 

Kenny paused. That was actually a good point. 

“Wait so no one remembers???”

“Nope.” He glanced around the group. “Not in a talking about you guys like you’re not here way, but they’re literally gonna forget this conversation even happened.”

“This is a really lazy prank,” Clyde commented, standing with a stretch. “I’m gonna do a tequila run.”

“Kay princess,” Kenny responded unbothered as Clyde would forget anyway, not taking his eyes off Tweek. 

“So why the fuck does Cartman remember??” 

“The short answer is cannibalism,” Cartman responded. 

Tweek and Stan sputtered. 

“What the fuck,” Craig breathed out, dropping his head on his arms. 

“Fucking cannibalism?! I never fucking cannibalized you, dick!” Tweek shot back indignantly. 

“I’m not saying you did!” Kenny rushed out. “That’s how he got here!” 

“Wait so then why the hell–” He let out a huff. “Fucking—What’s the long answer?!” 

“Thought his ashes were chocolate milk mix. Started remembering after that happened.”

Tweek’s mouth formed a small ‘o’. “Oh my god, that’s when you were possessing him. For like two whole fucking months!! How did I forget about that?!” 

“HOW THE FUCK DO YOU REMEMBER THAT?!” 

“I DON’T KNOW!!” 

“Okay, all three of you shut the fuck up,” Craig said flatly. 

Tweek shot him a glare. 

Craig shot him a tiny smile, quickly throwing an arm around his shoulder, pulling him closer and kissing his temple. Tweek tried to break away, but was now trapped under the arm of a clingy boyfriend with super strength. “So, Kenny’s cursed. And for some reason Tweek remembers. But Cartman remembers because of cannibalism. Correct?” 

“Yes.” 

“And this curse is… what? Like, you die and come back?” 

“Yeah.”

“Okay…” His nose twitched. “So, you have extra powers, pretty much.” 

“Yeah.” 

“And we don’t remember because us mere non-cannibalistic mortals and non-schizophrenics are just that.” 

“Seriously?!” Tweek protested. 

Craig ignored his complaint, just giving him another tiny kiss to the top of his head.

“Yes, that is my understanding,” Kenny responded slowly. He was beginning to realize that there was a real chance this issue probably could’ve been worked around years ago if he consulted Craig. 

“Okay. And you want to bring the antichrist on our team. And we don’t remember him because of the previously stated.” 

“Can you stop doing the business man drunk thing at least?!” Tweek whined. 

“You’re no better,” Wendy snarked.

Tweek shot her a glare.

Kenny nodded. 

“So how are you going about this antichrist business?” 

“He owes me a favor.” 

Craig blinked, looking at him with mild disbelief for a moment. “Alright. When are you going?”

“Okay, even if we’re all just jumping on board, shouldn’t we maybe talk about bringing the fucking antichrist in on this??” Bebe argued.

“I mean, we’re running out of options by the day. Also, we grew up in fucking South Park. Are you guys really that surprised right now?” 

“I mean, no, but–”

“Okay, so then are we cool with this?” Kenny butted in, confidence growing ever so slightly. “Because this can work. I know it can.” 

Wendy threw her hands up slightly. “Sure. If you aren’t fucking with us, go right ahead. Just know I’m not gonna be thrilled about it.” 

Craig continued to ignore everyone else, eyes trained on Kenny. “When are you going?” 

“Tomorrow, assuming this is actually fine?” 

“So how’s this cannibalism thing work?” 

“WHAT?!” 

Craig was so casual about it, demeanor not faltering even as he dragged the same reaction of shock and horror from everyone else. “I’m sorry but if you really are cursed and we’re legitimately having our memories overwritten and shit, not only is that really annoying, but it’s incredibly inconvenient. I’m assuming this has affected work before.” 

“More than once,” Kenny admitted. 

“Yeah, so my point stands.” 

“Are you fucking serious right now?” Stan asked. 

“Yes?” Craig responded, looking at him like he had six heads. “What, I’m sorry, have we suddenly turned into literal cowards now that we’re not in South Park??” 

“No, but what the fuck, man?! You can’t be serious right now.” 

“So serious. I don’t like things fucking with my head without my permission. Also my boyfriend has literally just been witnessing this shit for years with no one to talk to about it like… Why the hell would I not want to fix this?” 

“Meanwhile Stan can’t even tell Kyle he has feelings,” Cartman muttered under his breath. 

“WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT ME RIGHT NOW!” 

“Oh, the Stan show’s finally done for tonight?” Wendy teased. 

“Can we stop bullying me and get back to literal fucking cannibalism?! Because honestly at this point, I prefer that,” Stan complained. 

“Y’know what, in the event that we are all being so serious and this is not a really annoying prank where the punchline is we’re so fucked even god or the antichrist can’t save us, I’m totally down to cannibalism,” Bebe chirped. 

“That’s not even the right English?” Wendy said, giving her a look. “Babe, you literally have a pHD.” 

“I don’t need to English good, I’m a doctor. I just gotta put stuff together.” 

Kenny looked around the room, laughing as everyone decided to be willing participants in whatever the hell was actually happening. 

“Alright. So we play last supper tomorrow while you go pick up the antichrist,” Craig said, monotone voice carrying an alarming amount of finality, the contrast between what he was saying and how he was saying it throwing Kenny off so badly he almost choked. 

Kenny dropped his face in his hands, unable to stop the laughs from bubbling out. “What about Clyde?” he managed.

“He’ll catch up,” Cartman responded casually.

“We’ll tell him,” Tweek corrected. 

There was a beat. Kenny was still silently laughing to himself as his shoulders shook, forehead flat against his forearm. 

“WE’RE GONNA TELL CLYDE ABOUT THIS, RIGHT??”

Kenny could hear Craig and Cartman trying not to laugh. 

“SOMEONE PLEASE CONFIRM THAT WE ARE NOT ABOUT TO JUST THROW CANNIBALISM AT CLYDE WITHOUT TELLING HIM PLEASE.” 

“Alright! Alright!” Cartman finally relented. “He’s not gonna believe us though.” 

“Believe us about what?” Clyde chirped, walking in. 

“We’re doing cannibalism tomorrow,” Craig said flatly. 

“Oh! Okay,” Clyde chirped. His chair scraped, signifying that he’d taken his seat without a care in the world. 

Kenny just started laughing harder. 

They were always fine before.

This would work out. 

They would be fine.

Chapter Text

Damien was twenty five and enjoying it. Truly. 

Hell had its moods. 

Today was a lazy sort of inferno. Molten rivers bubbled and raged, ash drifted through the air like snow. The screams were lackluster today. And Damien thrived. 

He was lounged on a throne, long legs draped over an armrest, drink in hand. His horns had a lazy gleam to them. His practiced apathy was abandoned for a soft smile as he enjoyed the solitude. Pip was off galavanting. Leslie was doing whatever the hell it was that she got up to. 

It was a perfect day. 

Or at least it was, until someone strolled in without a care in the world. He walked through the veil like it was mist instead of vaporized agony. Damien sat up slightly, brows raising. He recognized him instantly. Of course he did. 

“You’re not supposed to be here.” 

Kenny didn’t stop. Didn’t even flinch. He just approached like Damien’s comment was an invitation. 

Damien stood, slow and wary. “We don’t let anyone so boring-looking past the second circle. So who the hell–” 

Kenny looked unimpressed. “Cut the shit, Damien. You know exactly who I am.” 

His smile faltered, just slightly. “It was worth a try,” he responded passively. 

Kenny shot him a lazy smile. “Been a while.” 

“Yeah…” he responded awkwardly. Damien never saw Kenny again after their first meet. Not like this. But he caught glimpses of him when he came down here. Sometimes he’d watch him for a little bit while he was on Earth. He never really stopped being curious about the blonde. Sometimes, when he couldn’t sleep, he’d remember the deal Kenny never cashed in. It would make him undeniably anxious. But he’d never seen anything to suggest Kenny would even think of something nefarious, so he never dwelled on it. And now that he was standing right in front of Damien once again, he realized just how long it had actually been. “Hi.” 

“I’m here to cash in my favor,” he said, smile still present. It was soft. Disarming. 

“Oh.” He swallowed the bit of anxiety that came with the revelation. Kenny was immortal. Cursed. But he was normal. “What do you want? Fame, money–” 

“I want you.” 

That gave Damien pause. He looked him over, stomach doing a tiny flip. He wasn’t a prude or anything of the sort, he was just taken aback. A laugh escaped him. “I mean, okay,” he said, stepping closer, smirking slightly. “Didn’t expect you to be lacking in that department, but–” 

Kenny’s cheeks tinted as a laugh tumbled out of him. “Okay, that is not what I meant. I mean like, sure, but that’s not what I’m here for.” 

Damien froze. “What are you here for then, exactly?” 

“I want you. To join me.” 

Damien’s stomach did an actual flip this time. “In what…” 

“Are you aware of what I do? On the surface?” 

His panic was back, settling deep into his bones. He was very aware of what Kenny did on the surface. He refused to show what he was feeling though. “Vaguely, yes,” he responded flatly. 

“Good. I need you. To help me. As a favor.” 

Damien swallowed. He didn’t like where this was going at all. “On the surface…” 

“Yes.” 

Damien just looked at him. 

Kenny waited. 

“By doing what you do,” he added hesitantly. 

“Yes.” 

He shook his head slightly. “Absolutely not.” 

Kenny smirked, stepping closer. He was shorter and human, but Damien felt genuinely intimidated by the blonde. “I wasn’t asking.” 

He stood his ground. “And I wasn’t offering.” 

“See, I really hate to pull this,” he sighed out, very clearly enjoying this, “but you already did. This is me collecting a favor I’m owed.” 

The antichrist was really trying to keep his cool. But he was rapidly rotating between genuine fear and unadulterated rage. On one hand, how dare a human try and pull something like this? On the other, he bound himself to Kenny by blood like a fucking idiot. He could feel him when his thoughts lingered for too long. He knew better now, but he was pretty much asking for this. He just didn’t realize this back then. But Kenny knew that. 

He needed an out. 

“I can’t interest you in anything else?” he tried. 

Kenny just gave him a casual shrug of his shoulders as he crossed his arms. “Sorry babe, no can do,” he responded nonchalantly. “So, I’m gonna cash this in. I just need you to help me save the world. Once this cult is done, you’re free to come back here and hopefully make better decisions.” 

This was the moment that made Damien realize his father was being serious when he said he was keeping them apart so they wouldn’t corrupt each other. Damien was not the only problem child lurking around Hell, as it seemed. And now he was stuck—realizing that over a decade too late. 

The worst part was there was this weird self deprecating part of him that found this entire thing incredibly enrapturing. A human had gotten one over on him. This sent heat to the tips of his ears, only serving to aggravate him more. 

“No.” 

Kenny didn’t falter, looking him over once before meeting his gaze once again. “I did some research. Spoke to some people too. Y’care to take a guess of what happens when you break a deal founded on your own blood?”

He was trying desperately to shove down the genuine fear responses Kenny was dragging from him. This was deranged. Embarrassing. Degrading. His breath tried to catch. He let out a slow exhale, swallowing every bit of pride. He leaned closer, elbow resting on Kenny’s shoulder. “I really can’t interest you in something else?” He dropped his head to whisper. “I can make your wildest dreams come true, y’know.” 

Kenny let out a genuine laugh, having the audacity to ruffle his hair before pulling away. “Sorry. Can’t seduce your way out of this one, bud.” He shot a finger gun at him. “Good attempt though.” His smirk returned with Damien’s quiet fury. “You gonna answer my question?” 

Damien was a hair away from trying to light him on fire with his mind. 

“You’ll die. And I’ll take your powers.” 

That did it. “I’ll fucking kill you,” he snarled. 

Kenny tapped a finger to his chin, feigning innocence. “Y’see, that would be great. Except for the part where you killing me doesn’t nullify our deal.” Kenny nudged him. “Because I’m immortal. And I’ll just come right,” Kenny nudged him again. “Back.” He punctuated it with another nudge. 

Damien felt like his entire body was on fire. “Fuck you,” he hissed. 

“You’re cute, hellspawn,” Kenny responded, undeterred. “Hate to say it, but I kinda own you right now.” 

Damien didn’t even respond, he just reacted. His hand jutted outwards, a sharpened claw slicing cleanly through Kenny’s throat without a thought. But Kenny was Kenny. He blinked once. A thin purple tendril escaped the wound, quickly threading him back together like it never happened. And then he started to laugh, actually laugh. “C’mon, babe. You can’t do shit like that to me, you know that. ‘Specially not here.”

Damien just stared at him. This guy had him. 

He had him so completely. 

What the fuck have I done? 

“You ready to go home?” 

He couldn’t do this. “My father won’t stand for this.” 

He leaned back slightly, eyebrow raising. “Okay.” 

“Okay?” 

“Let’s go talk to him then.” 

He felt like he was getting emotional whiplash and he couldn’t even tell if he was making it worse or if Kenny was. “What?”

“You said your father won’t stand for this. Let’s go talk to him.” 

“Why the fuck are you doing this?” he exasperated. 

“I told you. I need help. I have the means to get you to help me. Kinda need to take an opportunist approach to the situation I’m in right now.” 

Damien shook his head slightly, at a loss. 

Kenny just shot him a smile. “C’mon, Luc,” he chirped. 

Damien’s heart tried to claw up his throat at the nickname. “What did you just call me?” 

Kenny stopped, throwing a look over his shoulder. “Your middle name’s Lucien, no?” 

Damien was at a disadvantage in every aspect of this. Kenny had more information. More power. A better relationship with his father. He was all but walking to the fucking gallows, forced to keep moving. “Yes,” he responded with a glare. 

“Very cute,” he commented, continuing forward. 

Damien was at his mercy, forced to follow him through Hell. It was quiet today but demons were out. Seeing this god awful display. He kept his eyes down, jaw clenched so hard it hurt as he followed Kenny towards the signature red double doors that hid his fathers office. He could feel gazes locked on him and the strange immortal that might as well have been parading him around tarred and feathered. 

Kenny didn’t knock as he pushed the doors open, holding one open for Damien. He walked through, not yet meeting his fathers eye. 

The devil sat at his desk, staring at the two from the moment they walked in, mouth slightly ajar. 

He waited. Damien didn’t want to look up. 

He could feel them both looking at him. 

He let out a quiet sigh, looking up at Satan. 

His father carefully clasped his hands together, resting them on his desk as he looked between Damien and Kenny. “And why are the two of you together in my office right now?” He blinked. “Oh fuck,” he sighed out. “Please don’t tell me you two are like, running away together.” 

“What?! No! Your fucking asshole pet has decided to torment me today!” Damien fumed. 

“Oh!” Satan laughed. “Kenneth, what are you doing to my son?” 

Damien looked at Kenny. 

Kenny remained calm, but it was weird. Damien sort of just knew he was starting to get nervous about this whole thing. It was like something he wasn’t supposed to be privy to just gave. He just needed to find a crack. Maybe he could leverage this. 

He let out a quiet laugh. “Well, as it turns out, Damien and I made a deal. A while ago. And he owed me one. I’m just collecting.” 

Satan blinked. He looked at Damien, flames roaring in his irises. “You owed him one?” 

“To be fair, he didn’t know any better,” Kenny rushed out. “This was before you taught him.” 

“And let me guess, you suggested it?” 

“I did.” He cleared his throat. “His blood was involved.” 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Damien’s stomach churned as his father looked back at him. “Do you understand why I told you I didn’t want you around him now?” He looked back at Kenny. “No offense.” 

Kenny just laughed, nodding slightly. 

“I… Yes, I can see that now,” Damien replied quietly.

Satan looked back at Kenny. “What are you asking of him that you guys are involving me?” 

“I need him to come to the surface with me. To deal with that thing I told you about.” 

Satan looked between the two of them before he barked out a laugh. “Wow.” 

“Wow?? Dad, what the fuck?!” 

The two were unphased by his outburst, only making his anger burn hotter under his skin. He was going to explode. 

“This…” Satan bridged his fingers together. “This is actually a wonderful idea,” he said evenly. Out came the comically tiny glasses and on went the monitor in front of him. “Son,” he said, not looking up. “You fucked up. Majorly. Frankly, even if I could save you, which I can’t–” Satan looked up, meeting his eye. “Just a lesson in not using your fucking blood to make bargains–”

“It was a long time ago! I didn’t know!” 

“Yeah, well this is what happens when you don’t ask.” 

“That’s—what then, that’s it?! You’re just gonna let this fucking filth take me?! I’m your only son!” 

Satan looked back at Kenny. “How long do you plan on keeping him?” 

“Just ‘til the cult’s dealt with. Then I’ll have ‘im back here like nothing ever happened.” 

He leaned forward. “Like nothing ever happened, Kenneth.” 

He put a hand over his heart. “Cross my heart.” 

“If so much as a hair on his head is hurt, I’ll start extending your stays here.” 

“I promise. I just want my family taken care of and safe. Once this is over, he’s yours.”

“Can we stop talking about me like I’m not right fucking here?!” Damien shouted. “Seriously, dad?! You’re actually letting him do this?!” 

Satan looked back at him with a quiet exhale. “My hands are tied here. This is quite literally your mess, Dame.” 

“So what?! I have to go up there and play superheroes with all his douche canoe little friends?!” 

“Don’t talk about them like that,” Kenny snapped, voice full of venom.

“Or what?” 

“I will make this very fucking difficult on you. Believe me.” 

“Enough, you two,” Satan sighed out. 

“He fucking slit my throat not even an hour ago! I am trying to be patient but, god,” he looked at Damien, “you are fucking insufferable.” 

“Then let this drop!” 

“No!” 

“You’re going,” Satan said, cutting them off. He looked at Kenny. “And you are keeping my son safe.” He paused. “And if you two kill each other, I’m not helping you. I’m not speeding up resurrection times. I will slow them down. So fucking. Behave. Got it?” 

He was scolding them like they were twelve rather than twenty five, something undoubtedly hilarious about it all. But neither of them were laughing. 

“I’m taking the night,” Damien stated coldly.

“I’ll wait,” Kenny responded, crossing his arms. 

“Go home.” 

“If I have to come back–” 

“Is your body back?”

Kenny looked at Satan. 

“It’s back,” Satan informed, watching them as if he were watching a nature documentary. 

“Great.” Damien snapped, a ring of fire encircling Kenny. “Get the fuck out of my sight.” 

He slowly started to sink into the portal, ashen hands reaching out, grabbing onto his legs in attempts to pull him down quicker. “Are you fucking serious?!” 

“I know where you live,” he informed. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

Kenny glared, flipping him off before he was pulled through, being transported back to Earth and far enough away from Damien where he could actually breathe again. 

“That may have been a bit unnecessary,” his father commented. 

Damien glared at him. “This fucking sucks.” 

“Kenneth is probably the nicest person you could’ve gotten stuck with for something like this.” 

“Are you kidding me? He’s fucking terrible!” 

“Is he terrible or are you reverting back to your compulsive need to keep people at a distance now that there’s the prospect of a new person entering your life.” 

“First of all, he is fucking terrible. Second of all, you’re the devil, not a therapist.” 

“Same thing.” 

“He can’t just—” 

“Take it up with him.” 

"I thought you wanted to keep us apart!" 

"I did. But I don't need to sit here and tell you that that ship clearly sailed ages ago." 

“But–” 

Satan put a dismissive hand up. “Damien, you are stuck here. I can’t help you. Understand? You can make this miserable for yourself, or you can try and comply.” 

Damien dragged his hands across his face with a slow exhale. “Fantastic. Thank you.” 

—

Pip was incredibly contradictory. The blonde looked soft and bright, cheery, but the demon was mischievous and vengeful. Brightly sadistic. He really came into himself once he’d been brought to Hell. Damien couldn’t stand the Pip he met, but he loved the Pip he knew. 

He was Damien’s go to.

And so he went, walking into his chambers without knocking. Blue eyes looked up at him in surprise, quickly morphing into bright red, a bit softer than Damien’s own. “Out,” he ordered. Damien didn’t even notice the half dressed demon until Pip had said something. They both ignored the man making himself scarce. “What do I owe the pleasure, love?” 

“Pip, I fucked up,” Damien admitted, floating further into the room. 

Pip sat up properly, patting the bed next to him. “Stop making that face,” he said with a quiet laugh. “What happened?” 

“I’m going to be returning to the surface for some time, it seems.” 

Pip’s face fell. “What?” he breathed, red bleeding back into soft blue. “Why?” 

“I made a deal that I didn’t…” He frowned. The way Pip was looking at him made him feel genuinely incompetent. “I didn’t think. It was a long time ago.” 

“How long will you be gone?” 

“Uncertain.” 

“I–What am I supposed to do?” 

“Hang out with Leslie. Your job.” Damien smirked. “Whoever that was.” 

Pip smacked his arm, brows knitting together. “It’s not funny, Damien! What the fuck?!” 

Damien sighed. “I’m sorry, Pip.” 

“Will you be back for my birthday?” 

“I hope so.” 

“You’re always here for my birthday, Dame.” 

“I know.” 

“If you aren’t here, I will find whoever has you bound and kill them so you can be here.” 

Damien’s smile returned, softer this time. He reached up, lazily nudging at Pip’s cheekbone. “I adore you, Phillip.” 

“I know.” 

“Though that wouldn’t do what you’d hope.” 

Pip blinked. “Sorry, what?” 

“I’m bound to an immortal.” 

His mouth fell open slightly. “Damien, my love,” he said brightly. “Please tell me you are not spending an indefinite amount of time on the surface with Kenny McCormick.”

Damien looked at their hands, heat crawling up his neck. He was so stupid. 

“Damien.” 

“I can’t tell you that.” 

“I should strike you.” 

If anyone else said it, that would be the last thing they said. But this was Pip. He was allowed to say things like this. “Will that make you feel better?” Damien asked with a laugh. 

“No.” 

Damien nodded slightly. 

“When are you off?” 

“Tomorrow.” 

“Oh.” There was a beat before the blonde crashed against him, wrapping his arms around his midsection. “You brainless oaf,” he muttered. 

“Yup,” Damien responded, just accepting it. 

“Will you at least spend the night before you go?” 

“Of course,” he responded, smiling softly as he hugged his friend back. “That’s why I’m here.” 

Chapter Text

Kenny nearly fell off the chair he was balancing on the back legs of when the doorbell rang. It was so easy to forget that base had a doorbell. It was early. Or late. Time had been moving weird since he got back with a head full of conflicting thoughts. 

No one slept. Tweek was making a second pot of coffee. 

“Well, we know it’s not a package,” Wendy said flatly. 

“Maybe Amazon delivers sulfur and bad attitudes,” Tweek muttered. 

“He’s not that bad anymore,” Kenny tried, not at all agreeing with his own sentiment. 

Tweek raised a brow, disbelieving. 

“We’re not going to make a thing out of this. We’re just gonna train him and act like he’s one of us until this is over.” 

That didn’t stop Stan from plopping his nail gun on the table. 

“He gets crazy and I'm throwing salt at him,” Bebe said. 

Kenny stood with a slow exhale. He started towards the front door, carefully shooting a look over his shoulder before he stepped into the hallway. “Everyone fucking behave.” 

Cartman threw his hands up in mock surrender. 

Kenny started down the twisting hall, hesitating once he’d made it to the door. He carefully pulled it open to see Damien standing in the front, casual as ever. He looked at him for a moment. His skin was still deathly pale, features still strong, eyes still that same blood red that occasionally glimmered. But his horns were gone. And he was dressed far more casual. Kenny blinked at the hoodie wearing antichrist that was definitely hungover. On his front doorstep. What the fuck is my life? 

Damien didn’t say anything, he just looked him over, silently waiting. 

“You came.” 

He offered him the sort of smile that knew how unwelcome it was. Kenny had the upper hand yesterday, but now Damien had the night to think. It was only mildly worrying. “We agreed I had the night. I took it.” 

“Right. C’mon in.” 

He locked the door behind them, awkwardly walking back to the main room with Damien in tow. They lingered in the doorway as the group stared. 

“Hi, everyone,” Damien said apathetically. 

No one said hi. 

“You’re late,” Tweek said awkwardly. A subtle push. Kenny shot him a warning glare.

“Late implies I agreed to a time. Or any of this.” 

Kenny could feel the heat radiating off of him.

“You’re really the antichrist,” Stan said flatly.

“Oh, such a pleasure to see you Marsh, I’m almost sad you forgot me.” 

“I remember you.” 

Kenny had to bite back a laugh as the half smirk was wiped from Damien’s face. 

“You what.” 

“Don’t fucking remind me,” Clyde whined, practically slamming his head on the table. 

Damien, catching on but clearly not wanting to looked at Kenny. “You didn’t.” 

Kenny smirked. 

“Please tell me you fucking didn’t.” 

“I did, actually,” Cartman chirped, raised his hand with a smirk. 

He looked around the room with genuine bewilderment. “They all partook. Knowingly.” 

“Been a busy twenty four hours,” Craig offered, leaning back in his chair. 

“You’re all sick,” he muttered, somehow paling further. 

“I feel like mild cannibalism is pretty vanilla for the antichrist?? Do you not have, like, blood orgies and shit in hell??” Bebe questioned.

“Bebe, I swear to god,” Kenny and Cartman breathed in sync. 

“Okay, genuinely tell me why I’m wrong for asking that and I’ll take it back.” 

Damien looked at her, a laugh bubbling out of him. The sort that Kenny had never heard. It was so normal. Boyish, almost. “It’s astounding to me that you’re one of the most brilliant minds on this planet.” 

She waved a dismissive hand. “I bet you say that to every hot blonde.” 

“I see two and I’m only saying it to one.” 

Clyde looked between Kenny and Tweek. “Wait, who’s the–” he shut his mouth once he saw the look on Craig’s face. 

Damien was unbothered, clearly trying to cause a little bit of chaos, sights now on Bebe as he leaned on the doorframe. 

Bebe laughed, hand coming up to her mouth. “Excuse me, I was not aware the antichrist had game.” 

“Are you actually serious right now?” Cartman asked, cutting into a disaster waiting to happen. 

“What?! I’m living by ‘if bad, why hot?’ right now. The fuck did you guys expect?? The world is literally ending and I’m tired, give me a break!” 

“The whole point of him being here is so that the world doesn’t end,” Clyde reminded. 

“I’m sorry do you want to flirt with him?” 

“No??” 

“Then let me live??” 

“I feel like we are really off topic right now,” Stan cut in. 

Damien smirked slightly. 

Kenny wanted to slam his head on the wall and take a nap. It was so easy to be the fun one until he had to deal with some shit like keeping the literal antichrist on a leash in the form of a blood bond he could literally feel. Now he just wanted to go beat up muggers and small-time villains so he didn’t start screaming. 

He took a breath. 

“You’re training with me,” he said. “I wanna see your powers. Physical abilities. Everything.” 

He raised a brow. “Everything?” 

“Shut the fuck up.” He dragged a hand across his face. “Someone who’s not going to piss their pants over being alone with him show him to his room, please?” He glanced around the room, shooting Bebe a pointed look. “Not you.” 

She rolled her eyes. 

“Go cure cancer or something. Please,” he begged. Bebe had all but given up in the face of the end. 

“I already cured two. And I’m working on gene editing for three.” 

“I thought you quit,” Cartman said with a hint of suspicion. 

“I was working on it last night,” she muttered, looking down at her phone. 

The room paused. 

“Wait seriously?” Tweek asked, a small smile taking over. 

“It’s not a big deal.” 

There was a collective look exchanged as Bebe continued to look at her phone and avoid just how big of a deal that was to them. It was a tiny indicator that there was hope and she saw it. Clearly, it made the others perk up a bit. 

“I got you on your room,” Tweek offered with a sigh. 

“Your boyfriend gonna beat me up?” Damien teased. 

“Really thinking about it,” Craig muttered. 

Tweek stood, kissing Craig before flicking his forehead. “You’re cute.” Craig’s nose scrunched as he walked towards Kenny and Damien. “C’mon,” he said with only a little bit of hostility. 

Damien nodded, letting Tweek pass so he could show him where he’d be sleeping for the next bit. Kenny waited. The room fell into such a silence Kenny was sure no one was breathing. Kenny leaned back to see Tweek and Damien turn the corner towards the stairs. He counted to ten in his head.

“Guys, I’m considering jumping from a window,” he admitted. 

“Can I just say he is fine?” Bebe gushed.

Wendy did her little finger bend of approval. 

“OFF! LIMITS! BOTH OF YOU!” Clyde scolded.

“Are you sure it’s not just because you want him?” Bebe teased.

“Yeah, cause it was lookin’ a little gay in insect corner,” Wendy added. 

“All three of you!” Kenny interjected. “No.” 

“Seriously why are you guys trying to start a hear me out train on the literal antichrist right now?” Craig asked. 

“No seriously. He literally looks like Craig? Like, quite a bit?” Cartman added. “Do y’all not find that weird??” 

Bebe waved a hand. “Craig’s gay, married, and a fucking nerd. It’s different.” 

“Yeah, well, I’ll just go fuck myself.” 

“Craig, I would date you even if you were gay, married, and a nerd,” Clyde drawled. 

“Yeah, tell Tweek that, see how it goes,” Craig snarked. 

“I’m sorry, did the world ending suddenly shrink our attention spans so bad we can’t stay on topic for like, five minutes?” Stan asked.

“Yes, actually,” Cartman responded. 

A laugh bubbled out of Kenny. Honestly if he didn’t have them, he’d be crying and crumbling. He’d take their antics any day over literally any alternative. “Alright, everyone behave please. I’m gonna go set up the training room.”

—

Kenny was sitting in the middle of the actual training room—not the gym or the mini city. This place felt like a relic, rarely used, barely maintained, but everything proofed. He was comfortable on the crashmat, adorned in sweatpants, a t-shirt, and no shoes, lazily spinning an age-old switchblade against it with the tip of his finger. 

Damien showed up bringing the smell of ash and something Kenny couldn’t place along with the overall stormcloud that had been hanging over him, practically screaming that he didn’t want to be here. 

He was not going to let this guy get to him. “You look hot when you’re brooding,” he teased. “I take it your field trip with Tweek went well?” 

Damien rolled his eyes. “I can’t say he likes me very much.” 

“Oh, pumpkin,” he responded. “I like you very much.” 

“Uhuh.”  

He stood up, arms going up as he stretched, popping his neck. “How long are we gonna keep this attitude up?” he pushed. Damien glared at him. He sighed. “You’re no fun, princess.” 

“How are we starting this?” 

“Fine. What powers we got to work with?” 

Damien made a face at him. “I thought you knew, like, everything about me.” 

That was sort of true, but Kenny didn’t feel a need to confirm it. “Refresh me.” 

“Well, temptation doesn’t work on you. Which, fucking annoying, by the way.” 

Kenny smirked. “Doesn’t work?” 

“If it did I wouldn’t be standing here.” 

“So that’s what that was,” he responded smugly. “Cute trick.” 

Damien rolled his eyes. “I know what you’re doing.” 

“Uhuh. What else you got?” 

“Hellflame and a demon form I cannot control so don’t ask.” 

“Why would you tell me if you’re not offering?” 

“Because I can practically see you formulating follow up questions in your insufferable little human brain from here.” 

“Fair,” Kenny relented. “Can you fight?” 

“Obviously.” 

“Great,” he responded, lips curling up as he stepped closer. He was slow, every step intentional. 

Damien stood still, watching him carefully as he participated in a practiced dance without needing to be told what to do. 

Kenny wasn’t sure if it was from confusion or if the antichrist had peeked in on him the way he’d peeked in on Damien at times. It didn’t really matter as he approached, gently invading his space. There were a lot of ways to go about this, but Kenny wasn’t really shy about his mean streak anymore, nor was he afraid to show it to someone who lived in hell. So he settled with a simple poke to the chest. 

“Seriously?” he asked flatly. 

Kenny shrugged, taking a tiny step back. 

Damien took the invitation, lunging forward with a brutal hook aimed for his jaw. Kenny caught it with a hand. No magic. No show or fanfare. Just a hand wrapping around Damien’s wrist. 

Kenny shoved his arm down, keeping his wrist. “I thought you said you could fight, princess,” he teased. 

Damien smirked. “You sure you’re not just stalling?” 

He moved quick, a knee coming up. Kenny sidestepped, but the edge of it grazed his ribs, knocking a breath out of him. He let go, grinning up at him. “There we go.” 

It devolved from there. The exchanges were fast, filled with power like Damien grew up fighting demons larger than him without stopping. He was a monster of wide swings and powerful kicks. 

Kenny wasn’t as strong as him, but he was quick. He dodged, redirecting as he danced with the devil. 

It was a fair fight, no powers involved. 

Until it wasn’t. 

Damien threw a punch meant to end things, flames brimming around the edges of his knuckles. 

It was an honest fear response, but he’d been meaning to kick things up anyway. Kenny caught his ankle. Damien’s body jerked mid-motion as Kenny stepped out of the way. Damien crashed hard into the mat. 

He scrambled, practically growling at Kenny. “The fuck was that?” 

Kenny shot him a toothy grin, as he opened his palm, letting the thin purple tendril retreat back into his fingertip. “Whoops.” 

“You always had those up here?” he muttered, anger seemingly thinning out. 

“Not always. But you’ve had, like what? Twelve years to notice? Bit slow for Hell’s golden child.” 

That seemed to do it. Damien launched at him. Kenny’s powers were out in the open now. He sent six tendrils outward, grabbing onto Damien’s wrist and flipping him without even moving. Damien landed with a snarl, burning the tendrils off of him, scorching the mat slightly. 

“So that really does burn through everything,” Kenny commented. 

Damien was up, swinging more powerful than before. But he wasn’t landing. He got sloppy when he was emotional. 

Kenny wasn’t much better and probably had very little room to talk, but he was focused on Damien at the moment. He kept sidestepping, blocking him with tendrils or tripping him up. He saw something new in blood red irises. He’d seen glimmers of gold before. He’d never seen the inky blackness that was currently threading through them. Embers crackled off his fists as he swung, either unaware or uncaring about what was going on in his eyes. 

Kenny pushed harder, intent on seeing just how far this would go. A couple dozen wisps of purple flooded out of his hands, spiraling around Damien, throwing him onto the mat, not letting go. “Come on,” he taunted. “I’m sure you can burn your way out. Or are you just good at being an emotional trainwreck?” 

“GOD, YOU ARE FUCKING ANNOYING!” he shouted, a ball of fire exploding out of him, clearing the tendrils, scorching the mat. Kenny took a wide step back, trying to avoid a bit of the violent heat. 

Damien’s chest was heaving, more ink consuming his eyes, but he didn’t move. He just laid there like he was debating if he needed to calm down or actually murder the blonde provoking him to feel better. 

Kenny crossed his arms. He might’ve been projecting a little bit. He crossed his arms, observing him for a moment before he dropped onto his knees. “You’re hella strong, y’know,” he said after a moment. 

“Fuck you.” 

“Stronger when you’re pissed. Just gotta work on your control.” 

“I don’t need control,” he responded coldly, not looking at him. 

Kenny rolled his eyes. “You’ll figure it out. I’m patient.” 

Damien’s eyes trailed over, gold stitching over black, red trying to fight for dominance.

Kenny had to force himself to not drop on his elbows to get a closer look. He stood, shooting him a lazy smile. “Bright an’ early tomorrow, Luc. Be ready.” 

—

Kenny crashed into Tweek and Craig’s bed, stealing Craig’s spot as he showered. “I think I was a bit of a shithead today,” he breathed out. 

“If you’re expecting me to tell you to go apologize, I’m not doing that,” Tweek responded, letting out a quiet yawn as he threw on Space Odyssey. 

“Dude, I’m gonna fall asleep if you put that on,” Kenny complained. 

“Like either of us give a shit,” Tweek responded with a laugh. “We’re all tired today.” 

Kenny yawned. “Fuck, man. I know.” 

Craig stepped inside, hair still damp. He looked over the two blondes in his bed, shrugging slightly as he walked over. He gave Kenny a lazy nudge. Kenny moved over, letting Craig in next to him. “You’re not sleeping in here tonight,” Craig muttered. 

“I just wanted to complain, don’t worry.” 

“Oh, are we talking shit right now?” he asked, perking up slightly.

“Nooo,” Kenny whined. “Well, yeah.” 

“Kenny thinks he was too hard on him,” Tweek informed, smirking slightly. 

Craig snorted. “Seriously?” 

“I mean… He was just going about his life and I sorta just stormed in, strong armed him into coming up here, and then proceeded to be a total dick today.” 

“You’re getting results though?” Craig asked. 

“Yeah. He’s… really fuckin’ strong,” Kenny muttered, the way Damien moved around the room practically looping behind his eyes—the feeling in his gut still stuck with him, long after it escaped.

“I personally think he’s still a total dickhead. So you being a total dickhead back kinda cancels it all out,” Tweek reassured. 

Craig adjusted slightly. “Babe, I don’t think that’s as helpful as you think it is.” 

“Okay, you be the good cop then, the fuck?”

Kenny snorted. 

“Will you feel better if you try being nice to him?” Craig asked. “Or maybe apologizing?” 

“Maybe.” Kenny’s nose scrunched. “He’s kinda seriously got a stick up his ass though. Kinda why I went about it the way I did in the first place.” 

“Fair, fair. Do you think you’ll get similar or better results by changing your approach?” 

“I’m afraid he’ll take control of the situation.” 

“Oh, fuck that then.” 

“Am I wrong for not giving him a chance? I mean, I’m good with his dad. And I’ve been like… Adjacent to him our whole lives.” 

The two both seemed to give it thought for a moment. 

“Has Satan said anything to you about this either way?” 

“Just like, y’know. Keep him safe and all that shit. As for how, he seems to not give a shit.” 

“Can I just state how weird it is that Satan is asking you, some regular cursed human, to keep the antichrist safe?” Tweek asked. 

“No, dude, that’s totally fucking weird,” Craig added. 

“It was just the same old precautionary bullshit. Feel like I’d get that from anyone’s dad.” 

“Is that how that works?” Tweek muttered. 

“Fuck if I know,” Craig responded, just as part of the absent fathers club as his boyfriend was. “I mean, my mom told me she would kick my ass if I was ever mean to you, but…” 

Tweek snickered. “Laura also told me she would kick your ass if you were ever mean to me.” 

“Course she did. She’s catholic. She ever heard I hurt an angel and—” 

“Oh my god, I will vomit in your bed,” Kenny whined, dropping a pillow on Craig’s face. “You’re so insufferable!” 

Tweek bursted out laughing as Craig threw the pillow back at Kenny with a huff. “Excuse me for being gay about my gay boyfriend.” 

“Tweek, how do you put up with this?” 

He grinned, exposing the little gap in his teeth. “I personally love my super gay boyfriend.” 

“You two are a match made in Hell, I swear to god.” 

“I believe you might be taking the cake considering the antichrist sleeping down the hall,” Tweek snarked. 

Kenny rolled into Craig’s shoulder with a dramatic groan. “I don’t wanna train him tomorrow,” he complained. “What if one of you just go like… kick his ass or something.” 

“Thought it was all you the first few days while he acclimates?” Tweek responded. “I mean, if you really want me in there with him,” he started.

Kenny popped his head up, looking over at Tweek with narrowed eyes. “On second thought, nevermind.” 

Tweek responded with a lazy shrug and a soft smile. “Offer stands.” 

“It’ll be fine. I just gotta, like, find the groove or something.” 

Craig ruffled his hair. “Exactly.” 

Kenny sunk into the mattress slightly. “Okay, what if I just sleep here tonight?” 

“Kenny,” Craig warned.

Tweek poked at his side, making him flinch. “Okay, okay! Fine! I’m going.” He sat up, rubbing at his face as exhaustion tried to take him. “Night,” he chirped climbing out of bed, ready to go to his own. 

“Night!” 

Chapter Text

It was a grueling three days of Kenny and Damien going at it in what felt like almost all of Damien’s free time. It was exhausting. His reprieve: pairing up with the others. They all had their own challenges, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t necessarily handle. Amongst the group, there were three exceptions to this. Kenny, Tweek, and Bebe. Though he only trained with Bebe once. 

His main concern was Tweek. Damien wasn’t even sure why he was here with what the blonde was capable of. Damien was hitting him with hellflame. Tweek healed himself as he fought. Frankly, Damien had given thought to asking him to come back to hell with him. But Tweek wasn’t a fan. 

Damien had all of two legitimate allies, as it seemed. There was Cartman who was more than thrilled to be in good graces with the antichrist, which was not at all surprising. 

Then there was Clyde Donovan. He was an odd creature. He was sweet but short tempered—prone to both crying and fits of rage with no real rhyme or reason. It was just whatever hit him first. He spoke to insects, each one special, an individual in his eyes. He understood them. He drank blood. Drained blood in attacks. Outside of those two very specific contexts though, blood seemed to freak him out. He seemed to commit to things with his entire soul. He was easy to make stray unless it was something the bright brunette had sunk his claws into. Damien found himself especially enthralled by him. Unfortunately, the feeling was not mutual. Clyde just didn’t see being the antichrist as being a big enough issue to have a problem over. That and Damien had validated a half drunken ramble about rh null blood being something ‘from God himself.’ This, of course, made them ‘blood brothers’ though Damien was sure he didn’t understand half of what actually came out of Clyde’s mouth that night, or ever, for that matter. 

Everyone else seemed to want to keep him at a distance, save for Kenny who was always sort of looming. It was ridiculous that someone so small could have such presence and make him feel so on edge. 

He was already awake when someone knocked on his door. He sat up, rubbing at his face. When he opened the door, Kenny leaned on the frame, looking up at him with that lazy half smile. “Mornin’, tiger.” 

It was easier to be civil when he’d just woken up and they had yet to piss each other off yet. “Morning.”

“Ready for Hellspawn’s first mission?” 

“Don’t call me that,” he sighed out. 

“Want coffee before we head out? Breakfast maybe?” 

“Coffee would be nice”

“Kay. Get dressed.” 

“I really have to wear that shit?” 

Kenny shot him that look that he was terrified to admit he was getting used to. He hated it. He hated the silent threat, no need for it to even be verbalized. He hated the control Kenny had over him. He hated that somewhere, some fucked up tiny part of him deep deep down, he felt sort of relieved giving control to someone else for once. 

Neither of them said anything. Damien just closed the door as rage simmered in his gut. At least Bebe and Wendy granted him mercy when designing his uniform. It was simple. It consisted of a black, almost mesh long sleeve undershirt with a black short sleeved shirt overtop. He had ashen shoulder pads and crimson elbow pads along with knuckle guards meant to enhance the flames that sparked from them. His pants were black and baggy, good for movement. The black boots they gave him were honestly comfortable, similar to a pair he owned, but the tips were red. It was all topped off with a detachable mask that rested over his nose and mouth. It was black, part mesh, part machine. He didn’t really get it, just that it was supposed to work in tandem with his ability to tempt people. Human technology was odd. 

He took a long look in the mirror, sighing because he hated this, but also because he looked good and he hated that more. The hallways felt longer, but once he was in the meeting room, he felt like he’d shown up too quickly. 

Craig and Tweek were sitting too close, as they always were. Their uniforms matched. Simple. Arguably lazy. Apparent relic designs from when they played superheroes as kids. The two were adorned in navy sweatshirts and black joggers, Craig’s having an embroidered ‘S’, Tweek’s having an embroidered ‘WS’. 

SuperStrike and WonderStorm. 

More notably, Thunder and Lightning.

There was something oddly endearing about the pair that had and probably always would be a duo. 

Stan was here. He had a white t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and black boots. The stars of the show here were the black and red harness that laid over top with gloves and a tool belt to match, the yellow shoulderpads and visor glasses, and the blue com earpiece and elbow pads. His uniform was so plain and yet it demanded attention. 

Bebe seemed to be something of a uniform pioneer, but she wasn’t here. Wendy was though. She wore a hot pink pleated skirt with an eye mask, gauntlets, and knee high boots to match and a soft purple bodice. She had a harness similar to Stan’s, though hers carried phones instead of tools. 

And then there was Kenny. Damien looked at him for all of a second before his stomach did something ugly and he looked away. It wasn’t even anything special. His bodysuit was a mix of soft, desaturated purples. He had an army green utility belt, gloves, and ‘M’ across his chest. His dark gray cowl covered up his shaggy mullet. His black eye mask was meant to leave more to the imagination, the bottom thinning out into two points mid cheek, covering up the little splatters of freckles he got from the sun. Damien had seen it before. But never in person. 

He didn’t look like a hero. 

He looked like a problem. 

A really attractive problem that was obnoxiously flirtatious and yet unpredictably cold. 

“Alright,” Kenny said, eyes landing on Damien. “It’s just us today. Clyde and Cartman are following up on a lead. Bebe’s playing mad scientist.” 

Stan propped his cheek up on his hand. “So what’s the plan?”

“Solin’s defecting in exchange for immunity. He has critical information. I’m leading. Wendy, you’re playing guardian angel, Stan’s with me on negotiating, Tweek, Craig, and Damien are backup. This isn’t a brute force thing. We need to take him. Alive and talking.” 

“So we’re just babysitting from the shadows?” Damien asked.

“Yes. Because I need you to not set him or anyone else on fire.” It was calm. Firm. It left Damien in a spot where he felt like he had to just nod along and go with it. 

—

The abandoned church was a mass of crumbling concrete and partially shattered stained glass windows. There were half-formed burnt sigils seared into the building. The air felt heavy. Damien’s chest felt heavier. In all of his years, he’d never done anything like this. It made him feel on edge. Vaguely annoyed. 

“Alright, everyone,” Kenny said sharply. “Eyes on every exit. We get twitchy, you move. Not before.” Kenny shot Damien a look before defaulting to Craig. Which did make him feel a bit better.

Wendy’s voice crackled through Damien’s earpiece. “Visual’s clear. Just us and them.”

Craig stretched with a quiet sigh. “Famous last words,” he muttered, kissing Tweek’s temple before taking off. “I’ll take the back.”

Damien and Tweek took the front after Kenny and Stan breached. And fuck, it was boring from there. Support roles were boring. He’d been ripped from his home to stand around. He flicked a fingertip against the wall beside him, watching a flicker of ember sizzle and fade. “Just saying, I could end this in five seconds,” he muttered.

“You could end everything in five seconds,” Tweek replied, clearly bored himself. “Gotta have some patience.” 

Damien laughed.

The time dragged. Damien was fidgeting, stealing glimpses of a benign conversation. He hated this. He was going to go fucking crazy. His blood felt heavier. Hotter. 

“I’ve got a heat signature circling south. Craig, do you have eyes on anything?” 

“No.” 

“One more twitch and we pull.” 

“Hold,” Kenny ordered. 

Damien’s jaw clenched. He was terrible at patience. At waiting and not knowing. He didn’t like holding. He didn’t like wasting time. He could smell something burning. “You sure they’re not baiting?” he muttered.

“Even if they are, we don’t bite until they swing first.” 

“Two more are closing in from the treeline. They know we’re here.” 

Kenny’s voice remained unpanicked, but it was clipped. “Tweek, Craig, get ready for fallback. Damien, do not engage.” 

Damien didn’t answer. He’d already slipped away from Tweek, hands in his pockets. 

“Damien—!” Tweek hissed. 

Damien ignored the attempt to reign him in. His eyes landed on a figure. He walked over, calmly, head tilted slightly, observing the person. They paused, noticing him. “Odd hour for a stroll,” he commented. 

The masked human didn’t say anything. They just lunged, enchanted blade raised—horrible form but fantastic intent. Damien grinned, stepping closer as he caught the blade mid swing. The metal hissed, melting slightly. 

The attacker screamed, clutching at burned fingers as they practically teleported backwards. “Told ya,” he muttered. “Odd hour.” 

Another figure barreled in from the side, faster and more prepared. They tried to strike low, blade flashing silver. They caught Damien, nothing more than a flesh wound, but it made him stagger. He knew what it was, but only now did he realize his point of reference for things like this was how Kenny’s blood felt. 

“Oh,” he hummed out. “That’s blessed. Who blessed that for you?” 

Of course, he didn’t get an answer. But it didn’t matter as the blade melted. “What are you?” the first breathed. 

He shrugged before his attention was back on the second. Something flashed out of the corner of his eye. He ignored it. A right hook sent them straight to the ground. Damien didn’t realize he’d torched it so bad parts glowed a sickly orange. 

That’s when the alarm blew. It wasn’t a subtle flare or a low alert. It was a full fledged blare, a shriek that rattled his bones. 

“Damien, stand down,” Kenny ordered, voice chilly. 

Damien glanced over his shoulder to see more figures charging from the woodwork, fleeing. The two just within reaching distance made a break for it. “They’re running. Let me at least finish it.” 

“You’ve compromised this, you fucking shit. Do you want us all dead?!” 

Tweek yanked him back towards the front. “You just fucked this,” he barked. “Fantastic.” 

Damien let himself be dragged, not wanting to get into an all out fight with the blonde who had clearly just done some fighting himself. 

—

The war room was quiet, air heavy like everyone had already screamed it out, despite the fact that no screams ever came. Stan sat with his arms crossed, lip split. Clearly mad as all hell. Tweek was quietly drumming his fingers on the table, needing to get some of the energy out, little sparks disappearing into the table every few taps. Wendy had her head propped up on her hand, clearly fed up. Craig was avoiding looking at him, but he also wasn’t visibly angry. 

He wished he could say the same about Kenny. Damien sat with one ankle balanced over his knee, elbow popped on the table, just barely looking nonchalant. Meanwhile, Kenny stood at the head of the stable, just barely looking calm. He was not calm. Damien could see it in his set jaw. He could see it in the furrowed brows and fury burning in violet eyes. He could feel it somewhere deep within—alive, writhing, raging against him internally. 

“Everyone out.” 

No one said a word, everyone just standing, retreating. Damien went to stand. 

“Not you.” 

Damien’s stomach whirled. Kenny watched everyone leave. Damien couldn’t take his eyes off him. The silence dragged between them, making Damien’s skin feel like it was buzzing. 

“You blew our fallback route.” Despite what he felt, Kenny’s voice wasn’t angry. It was even. Measured. Cold.

He didn’t flinch. “They were closing in on us.”

“That’s not the point. You weren’t supposed to engage. We had him, Damien. And then you kicked off what spooked him.” 

The indifference didn’t escape him, but he felt something flicker. “You put me on backup. I backed you up.” 

“What you did out there wasn’t backup. It was an impulsive power flex that cost us important information.” 

Damien expected screaming. Not genuine disappointment. “They would’ve hit us anyway,” he responded quieter. 

Kenny stared at him, seeming to think over his words. It only made the antichrist squirm slightly. When he spoke again, his voice was a bit softer. “You’re right.” He righted himself with a sigh. “They would have hit us anyway. But if you waited, it could’ve been on our terms. Dame, you’re a nuclear option. The whole reason I’m even making you go through all this shit is because I need to be able to rely on you.” 

“I didn’t ask for—”

“I know. But you’re here. So just help me close this out and we can go back to how we were, okay?” 

He wondered if Kenny could feel all the deep seeded things the way he could feel Kenny. There was this undeniable conflict there. But it was from both of them, so incredibly similar, so vastly different. 

All he wanted was to go back to how things were before. 

So why did that suddenly feel not quite right? Was it now because Kenny wasn’t this object just out of reach? He was no longer a concept that Damien would feel comfortable peering in on. He was a living, breathing person. Real. Or maybe these annoying humans and their annoying sentimentality were just rubbing off on him. He stood with a quiet sigh. “Are you done?” 

Kenny frowned slightly, seeming to give it a thought before relenting. “Yeah.”

—

One thing Damien liked about the surface was cigarettes. There was always comfort hiding in the little sticks of warm poison. He sat on the steps, leaning back on a hand as he watched the few glimmers of stars above the building. 

The door opened.

Closed. 

He didn’t look. He’d had enough awkward and uncomfortable encounters with Kenny for the day. Maybe if he just ignored him Kenny would do him the kindness of pretending he wasn’t there. 

Someone took a seat next to him. But it wasn’t Kenny. Craig lit up a cigarette of his own with a quiet sigh. Neither of them said anything for a minute, but Damien actually didn’t feel very awkward. 

Craig didn’t seem like he cared about very much that wasn’t Tweek related. It made him a lot less intimidating, despite him nearly breaking Damien’s jaw during training. He took a drag of his cigarette. Let out a tiny cloud of smoke.

“I want to be mad, because what you did today wasn’t cool. It’s clear you don’t respect us or want to take this seriously despite the fact that the terms were made very clear to you. And I think for being the literal antichrist, you’re being such a whiny bitch about a deal you made. But… I have also always had to fight back doing what you did today.” He laughed. “Can’t condone it, but nice.” 

Damien’s lips quirked up involuntarily as a tiny laugh bubbled out. “That so?” 

“Mhm.” 

“I figured Tweek would be the harder to control of you two.” 

“In most cases.”

“Huh.” 

They fell back into quiet for a while, enjoying their conduits of cancer in peace. The stars were out, the breeze was almost nice. 

“Thanks,” Damien said after a while. “For talking to me.” He cleared his throat awkwardly. “And not being scared of me.” 

“You could say the same thing to Kenny, y’know.” 

“Fuck Kenny.” 

“Believe me when I say I personally don’t care about your issues with each other as long as shit gets done, but he’s one of my best friends. And we are still struggling to find options outside of you. There really aren’t many besides lay down and die, y’know.” 

Damien didn’t say anything. He didn’t know how to respond without this potentially turning this into an argument he didn’t feel like having. He just let it drop, the two going inside after a bit. 

He laid in bed that night, sleep unwilling to take him. He thought about calling Pip, ultimately deciding not to. He felt confused—stuck. Bothering Pip would likely get nothing done but piss both of them off. 

Eventually, he gave up trying, stewing in the still darkness.

Maybe tomorrow would be different.

Chapter Text

Kenny woke up with the sensation of guilt whispering deep in his soul. He was getting used to it. He knew he was going about this the wrong way, but there was also no right way. And things were getting done. Sort of. They were making progress taking out small hideouts. Damien was making progress. He was an honest to god star in anything brute force related. 

Kenny’s issue was that he didn’t know how to actually be nice to him about it. Every attempt at his normal Damien seemed to take as a taunt, only making him retreat further inwards, which was Kenny’s own fault. The whole situation was a fucking headache. It was a persistent, tiny hammer droning away at the base of his skull, waiting for him to crack. 

He sat up with a sigh. It was still early, but sleep wasn’t going to come back to him. He moved about their base like a ghost, starting a pot of coffee. He took a slow sip as he floated into the war room, intent on just sitting and existing. His eyes went towards the whiteboard as he walked in, they always did. But they didn’t land on the whiteboard. He froze. 

Someone was standing there, arms crossed, intently staring at the board in question. Someone with a mop of copper curls barely held together by a hair tie. 

His mug shattered, causing both of them to look down at the thing that was now in pieces on the ground. He looked back up, blinking hard. “Wh-what are you doing here?” 

Kyle smirked. “That happy to see me, huh?” 

Kenny’s brain snapped back in place as he hopped over the mess, running across the room and straight into Kyle’s arms. “What the fuck, man?! Why are you here right now?! Aren’t you supposed to be in–” 

“Chris broke up with me.” 

Kenny pulled back, thoughts immediately running in six different directions. He looked exhausted. “What? Why? Fuck, are you okay? Dude–”

“One at a time, dude. I just got in,” he responded quietly. 

Kenny hugged him tighter. “Are you okay, man? I know you really cared about him.” 

“I’m fine,” he murmured, finally hugging Kenny back. 

“What happened?” 

He let out a hum. “Sort of… Conflicting desires, I guess.” 

“The fuck does that mean?” 

Kyle laughed quietly. “I think… I am under the impression that relationships are supposed to compliment your life, not be your life. Chris seemed to lean more towards the opposite.” He sighed. “We’ve been fighting for a bit. ‘Bout stupid shit. And Stan called me the other day while he was over. It turned into a thing. I admitted I wanted to come home after the semester ended. Make sure everything was okay. He told me I might as well just go and not come back.” 

“Kyle, what the fuck. Why didn’t you tell anyone?!”

“Semester ends next week. I was busy taking my finals and shit early.” 

“They let you do that??” 

“Said someone died. Worth it.” Another laugh escaped him. “So like… I’m back.” 

“Fuck, I’m happy to have you back, man what the hell! Are you like, here? Or are you just visiting, I’m–”

“I’m back. For real. At least until whatever has you guys so fucked up is done. Harvard will still be there if I skip a semester.” 

“Did you even tell anyone you were coming back?” 

“Figured I’d surprise you guys.” 

“Color me fuckin’ suprised man,” he responded with a laugh. 

Kyle tensed up slightly before letting go of Kenny. “So you’re the antichrist,” he said carefully. 

Kenny quickly looked between Damien and Kyle. “Stanny told ya?” 

“Mhm.” 

“And you believe him?” 

“Always believe him. We’re gonna have to do something about the whole…” He awkwardly waved his pointer finger around, not taking his eyes off Damien. “Curse business.” 

“Nice to see you,” Damien said flatly. 

“Right. We’ve met.” 

Damien nodded. 

The tension was palpable. “Um… Dame, you wanna go grab Stanny?” 

“Nah, it’s fine,” Kyle said, brightening up slightly. “I’ll go get him.” 

Kenny nudged him. “Alrighty. Enjoy.”

Kyle brushed past Damien, quickly disappearing down the hallway. Damien was left staring at him like a deer in headlights. 

Kenny shifted slightly. “Hi.” 

“Um… Hi.” Damien seemed equally uncomfortable. He also seemed to not have slept very much, a bit too tired for confrontation. 

“What’s up?” Kenny asked awkwardly. 

Damien sidestepped the broken glass, taking a seat. “I wanted to apologize,” he said quietly, voice coming out stiff and genuinely uncomfortable as he avoided eye contact. 

Kenny blinked hard. “I’m sorry?”

“For last week.”

It was like the universe was trying to send him into shock today. “What?” 

“I didn’t follow orders. When it’s clear you’re in charge here. And I jeopardized something important to you, despite that being a violation of our contract.” He cleared his throat. “Very unbecoming of me.” 

There was something really cute about all this. His lips quirked up slightly. “Very.” 

Damien looked up, eyes narrowing slightly. 

Kenny closed the gap, taking a seat across from him. “Thank you. For saying that.” He smiled softly. “Means a lot.” 

“Yeah, well... Needed to be said.” He looked back down at his hands. “I will try and do better.” 

“You’ve been doing better,” Kenny responded. “Really.” 

“Careful,” he responded, lips curling up slightly. “Sounds awful close to a genuine compliment.” 

“All my compliments are genuine. You just choose to think I’m making fun of you.” 

“Right.” He caught his cheek on his hand. “So what’s his deal?” 

“Kyle?” 

He nodded slightly. 

“He left us to go to law school. Wanted more than just hero work. So he’s been doing that for a while.” 

“Law school is more than hero work?” Damien questioned, genuinely curious.

“To some, yeah.” 

Damien squinted at him. 

“Mortals are weird. Even powered ones.” Kenny blinked. It was a slip. 

One that Damien clearly caught. But he decided not to call attention to it. “Huh. So why’s he back?” 

“Seems like everything holding him back gave.” 

“Oh, to be free,” he breathed, quiet, almost playful. 

Kenny felt his lips curl up. “And here I thought we were making a breakthrough.” 

Damien stood, reaching out and ruffling his hair, the action sending warmth and goosebumps through him simultaneously. “Good first attempt. Can’t get too overzealous.” He let out a quiet yawn, exposing that stupid little fang. “I’m gonna try and nap though. Later.” 

And Kenny spent the rest of the morning trying to pretend he wasn’t stuck on that. 

—

“Okay, wait wait wait,” Kyle interrupted as Kenny tried to brief them. “They’re using actual paranormal shit. This isn’t just, like, villains?” 

“They seem to be using the paranormal to get a leg up so they can reform this world into a better place for people like them,” Kenny informed.

Kyle dropped his head into his hands. “Oh my fucking god.”

“I know,” Tweek breathed. 

“Okay. Thank you. I’m sorry. Continue.” 

“Thanks. So Wendy found coords on another relic they’re trying to use to summon something.” He nodded at her. “Wends?” 

“The abandoned station under third that got evacuated and never opened back up.” With a flick of her wrist, a phone was in her hand. She tapped it, the projector displaying a simple back orb onto the whiteboard. “As far as I can tell, there’s not much human activity down there. As for guardians of the non-alive variety, I can’t really be sure until we get down there. Surveillance has been out for decades. Worst case, I can always try for an EMP.” 

“Yeah, so you can vom all over the place while frying us too,” Kyle snarked. “Lunatic. Between Tweek and I, it’ll be fine.” 

“And Damien,” Craig said, leaning into his arms with a tiny smirk. 

“What?”

Kenny looked between Damien, Craig, and Kyle. Craig was his usual nonchalant self, Kyle was vaguely confused, and Damien seemed a bit on the bashful side. Again. He didn’t seem to do compliments very well. 

“Damien has fire,” Craig responded.

“Oh, yeah, cause that’s gonna be real helpful if we run into tech guardians.” 

“It’s hellfire. Melts anything.” 

“Anything?” 

“Yes??” 

“Like even steel and shit?”

The two were having a genuine conversation that Tweek trampled into with a tiny sputter, the blonde’s ears tinting red. “Pleasestoptalking I havehad this jokeoonthetipofmytongue for weeks and noone wants me to startblurting out bad 9/11 jokes.” 

Kenny bit back a laugh. 

“Oh my god, like jet fuel?” Stan asked, partially clueless, partially feeding into it. 

A laugh forced its way out of Tweek before he clamped a hand over his mouth. “Shut up!! We’re supposed to be taking–” A tiny laugh bubbled out, interrupting him. “This seriously!”

Craig and Kenny were now both trying really hard not to laugh over what they were all thinking. 

“Okay, I will not be sending out any EMPs,” Wendy relented, shooting Kyle a pointed look. “But I don’t throw up. Anymore.” 

Everyone stayed silent, looking at her, unimpressed. Including Damien. 

She scowled. “Fuck all of you.” 

Kenny dragged his hands across his face, pulling himself together. “Alright. Everyone suit up. We’re out in ten.” 

—

Kenny was staring at Kyle as they walked down the abandoned block towards the entrance, unable to help himself. It was genuinely unreal to see him back, un-shapeshifted, in his hero uniform. Kenny completely understood why he dressed up as human, but he thought Kyle was adorable the way he was with his pale skin, gunmetal scleras and orange ringed irises. Aliens weren’t necessarily a big deal anymore. But it did come with issues that Kenny didn’t blame Kyle for wanting to avoid when he so easily could. 

His same muted teal shirt and baggy pants topped a dark gray and black body suit. He still had the same silvery gray cowl and goggles that sat on his head in an attempt to keep his hair at bay. It was obvious he was excited to be back. He even threw on his eye makeup—an orange circle just below each inner corner of his eye and streams of orange ran down his cheeks, perfect sleek lines with just a bit of shimmer. 

Stan was staring too, though that was less of shock and more of undying adoration that bordered on genuinely upsetting. He was so completely devoted to him and Kyle seemed to have no idea. Some fucking how. 

He could practically smell Tweek wanting to make a comment because he wanted to make a comment. His eyes darted over. Tweek looked at him, biting his lip. 

Don’t you dare, Kenny mouthed. 

He raised his hands up slightly. I’m not!! 

Kenny glanced over just in time to see Kyle fall in step with Stan, bumping his shoulder against his. He looked back at Tweek. 

There’s no way he doesn’t know!!

Kenny shook his head. He doesn’t!

Tweek rolled his eyes. I hate gay people. 

“Pot meet fucking kettle??” 

“Huh?” Stan muttered looking at him. 

Kenny dragged a hand across his face, letting out an exhale. “Nothing.” He took the lead as they found the crumbling subway exit. They were left at the mercy of flashlights and a ball of fire courtesy of Damien. Kenny kept throwing glances at him. He was actually focused. Ready. 

He didn’t comment when Damien took the lead with him as they breached the door that would lead them down to the tunnel they needed to go to. The air was heavy and moist, smelling like a mix of ash and rot.

“Mold poisoning for ten bucks,” Stan muttered behind them, barely audible. 

“Toxic mold sickness,” Tweek corrected, just as quiet.

“Or mycotoxicosis,” Kyle added. 

Damien breathed out the tiniest of laughs, fang poking out. Kenny looked back towards the bottom of the stairs, ignoring the way the warm orange from the flame seemed to perfectly highlight his face. 

The air felt like it changed the moment they stepped off the last stair. There was a single floodlight that just barely kept the tunnel illuminated, right above the artifact they were looking for. It was a smooth black orb, hovering motionless at the center of the room. The occasional pulse of white seemed to glow out of it. It looked harmless. Like a decoy. Though Kenny knew it wasn’t. 

He could hear it whispering. 

The concrete walls were covered in grime and old graffiti, curving towards the top. 

No one spoke. 

Kenny’s steps were slow and deliberate. There was nothing alive down here except for them. But something was off. Kenny kept glancing around the room before glancing back at the orb. He nudged Damien slightly. If anyone had any clue, it would probably be him. 

“Do you hear it?” It was so quiet Kenny wouldn’t have been able to hear it if he wasn’t staring at him. 

He heard it alright. 

It was speaking in something old and demonic, the words twisting and coiling, sending auditory static into the air around them. 

Then it blinked. It wasn’t a pulse. It was a blink.

That was all the warning they got before tall shapes unfolded from the surfaces around them. Rigid geometric bodies forced themselves up revealing arms that doubled at the joins and uneven legs. They didn’t have faces, just grooves in the metal where faces should be. 

In a breath, they were almost completely surrounded. 

The metal beasts moved fast and fluidly. Kenny didn’t flinch, he just made space, letting tendrils explode out from him, piercing the ones closest. 

“Three on your left, Storm!” Wendy shouted. 

The room devolved into a series of different colors of light, cracks and crashes, and heat. Kenny was focused on the monsters coming for him. He snapped tendrils outwards, wrapping around and piercing writhing forms, cutting into them. It was fine up until one of his tendrils severed—gone in a tiny flash of light. 

The things were learning. 

He sent three more appendages forward, whipping through the air. The beast dodged the first and second before the third shot straight through its chest. It froze, flickering slightly, before crashing into the ground. 

Kenny saw silver movement out of the corner of his eye. He whipped, seeing one of them going towards the orb.

But Damien stepped in before he could even react. Fire came to life in his right palm—quiet and elegant. Practiced. Controlled. He didn’t say anything. Didn’t shout. He just burned.

The flames ran up its back peeling away layers. The thing shrieked. Damien’s eyes were locked on the orb. 

Kenny risked another glance as he took down another amalgamation of metal. He really was getting better. It was almost like he was finding his element. 

The beasts that weren’t completely fried or torched kept pulling themselves together, trying to get back up. 

“GUYS I’M JUST GONNA CLEAR THIS PLACE!” Tweek barked. 

“SUNSHINE!” everyone but Damien shouted. 

Kenny ran for him, grabbing him by the wrist and yanking him towards the steps. “Wha–” 

“I promise you don’t wanna be in that.” 

The group quickly escaped, running halfway up the stairs before Wendy quickly let an approval rip through their coms. Bright purple and white exploded below, a silent, scorching flashbang. There was a beat where no one even breathed. 

Their coms crackled to life. 

“Fuck guys,” Tweek breathed. “I’m getting fucking old.” 

Craig pushed past everyone, running down the stairs two steps at a time to grab Tweek before the poor blonde could potentially pass out. It happened one time and Craig never let him hit the ground again. 

Kenny and the others were quick to follow him down. Tweek was in Craig’s arms, lazily swatting at him, already complaining as Craig ignored him, intent on carrying him home. Kenny walked towards the quiet lull, not even realizing Damien was right next to him. 

“Can you understand it?” Damien whispered. 

Kenny shook his head. 

“I think it’s meant for me.” 

Kenny blinked before looking at him. Damien looked uncomfortable. “Do you think they know you’re here or something?” 

“No… I think they’re trying to summon me.” 

“Oh.” 

He just nodded, plucking it from the air before turning around, pulling himself together. “Alright. Time to go.”

—

Kenny had the orb in Bebe’s office, lazily turning the thing under a magnifying glass. There were dozens of sigils and phrases carved into the smooth stone. He had spent nearly an hour looking at the thing, trying to figure out exactly what about it was throwing him off so badly besides the whispering. Because that wasn’t it. There was something. 

And then he finally figured out what the something was. 

The handwriting. 

He wouldn’t have even caught it had it not been written out for him. 

Right there, wedged in between dozens of other letters were two signatures. 

Professor Chaos

Doctor Chaos

He placed it down, dropping his head in his hands. “Oh, fuck me, dude,” he breathed. 

“What?” Bebe asked, looking up from her computer.

“Bebe, how sure are we about the Chaos twins being dead?” 

She paused, blinking slowly, face blank. Then it contorted into something of frustration and vague panic. Betrayal. “Don’t you dare fucking tell me—” 

Kenny sighed. “Time for a meeting.” 

Chapter Text

Everyone was already seated. Wendy was rapidfire typing on her laptop. Stan was fidgeting with a utility knife. Kyle was sitting right next to him, arms folded, laser focused. Cartman and Clyde were sitting towards the back, quietly talking to each other. Tweek and Craig were in their usual seats, as absorbed in each other as they always were. But this briefing was a bit odd. Bebe was actually here. 

Kenny strolled in with a tablet in hand and a new set of bruises that weren’t from their training sessions. He didn’t waste time. 

“Orb’s secure, but we found something.” 

The room shifted. Wendy finally looked up from her computer. Damien looked back at Kenny, eyes narrowing slightly. 

“Craig, Tweek, and Bebe are coming out with me. Wendy’s on comms and command. We’re following up. Confirming some things.” 

There were tiny agreements around the room, save for Cartman. 

“Why the fuck are we deploying Bebe right now?” 

“It’s a personal matter,” Bebe responded, almost clipped despite the fact that she was speaking to her best friend. 

Cartman took the hint. 

Damien did not. “And the rest of us?” 

“Staying here,” Kenny responded. “Training. Patrolling. Being on standby for our actual jobs.” It was calm. Chilly. Damien didn’t like it. Kenny clasped his hands together, smiling slightly like this was the most casual thing in the world. “Alright, kids. Field trip’s in two hours.” 

And just like that, the meeting ended. 

Everyone slowly started to file out, the energy amongst the group all types of weird Damien hadn’t exactly gotten to figure out yet. Craig gave his shoulder a tiny squeeze as he passed him. “Don’t push it,” he warned quietly. 

Damien’s eyes flicked towards him for a moment, but he didn’t respond. He caught Kenny trying to slip down the hall behind everyone else. He caught up, gripping onto Kenny’s arm. It wasn’t tight, just enough to give him a minute to get the words out. 

Kenny blinked, looking at him with mild amusement. “Are you gonna kiss me or kill me right now?” 

“Why are you icing us out?” he asked, very unamused. “What’s going on?” 

Kenny shrugged. “A lot of things are going on. What’s botherin’ ya?” 

“Whatever it is you’ve decided to hide and make a field team for without me.” 

Kenny tilted his head, just slightly, eyes scanning over Damien’s face. “Doesn’t concern you.” 

Damien made a face at him. “This very obviously has to do with the weird fucking orb that only me and you can even hear. Feel like that concerns me a little fucking bit.” 

Kenny stepped a little closer, still nonchalant in a way that made Damien want to pull his hair out. “Aw, Luc, are you worried about me right now?” 

“Don’t flatter yourself.” 

There was a beat between them. 

“I can feel it,” he admitted quietly. 

He didn’t need to say what. Kenny seemed a bit surprised. They never talked about it, Damien now realizing because neither one of them was actually sure if they could feel the other and it was an incredibly weird topic to broach. “I’m fine,” he responded, voice falling into something that was actually growing to bother Damien. 

“I didn’t say you weren’t." 

“So then what?”

“You summon me here. Make me go through all this shit. Make me learn how to be a hero and then the second you get a little too stressed out you try to ice me out. That’s—it’s frustrating.” Putting names to his feelings felt like enough to actually make him want to vomit. He was trying so hard not to hate humans but shit like this made him want to reconsider. “I don’t like being benched.”  

“Well not everything’s about what you–” He paused. 

Damien sort of froze, waiting for the rest of the argument, now feeling incredibly uncertain because Kenny just stopped in favor of looking him over. “What?” he managed after a moment that dragged impossibly long. 

“You want to come with us?” he asked quietly. 

Warmth crawled up Damien’s neck. He couldn’t stand when Kenny did that, but Kenny had already made him back down enough to last several lifetimes. “Yes.” 

He blinked, face softening a bit. “Fine. You step out of line and I’m putting you in timeout. With your dad.” 

Damien smirked. “I think he’d drag you right in with me.” 

“I’m serious, Damien.” 

Damien’s smirk softened into a tiny smile, hopefully reassuring, though he wasn’t sure why he cared so much to be reassuring. “I know. I’ll behave.” 

“Okay. Get ready. We’re not turning around if you forget anything.”

“Think you should tell Tweek that,” he snarked. 

Kenny’s teeth caught the corner of his lip. “He’s aware.” 

Damien laughed. “Alright. I’ll be ready.” 

“Good. See ya.”

Damien nodded, taking off in the direction of his room. 

—

The air outside felt like static. The building was unmarked, just an unassuming warehouse deep in an industrial stretch of plain buildings. It was the sort of place that was condemned but never taken down—the windows all blackened, the metal rusting underneath the cover of vines and too tall grass. 

Kenny, Bebe, Tweek, Craig, and Damien approached. 

Wendy’s voice crackled in. “Two heat signatures upstairs. Place is covered with cams though. You’re being watched.”

Kenny was unsurprised. “Figured as much. Keep us updated.” 

Damien was still clueless. 

Tweek approached, kicking the handle off the door, silently pushing it open. 

Craig coughed into his hand. “Showoff.” 

Tweek shot him a halfhearted glare but didn’t speak. None of them did as they breached. They moved fluidly, all ready, especially Bebe who looked like she was dying to break something. It was empty inside, like it had never been occupied at all. The lights were bright and working though, so clearly someone had been here. 

A quiet whir got their attention. A screen slowly dropped down from the ceiling, revealing two people, grinning. They were both blonde, almost platinum. They both had warm skin and bright blue eyes, though one was clearly blind in his right eye, a scar running from just above his eyebrow to below his eye. 

Bebe let out a quiet breath. 

Damien looked around the group to see a look on Craig’s face he’d never seen from him before. It was a weird contortion of grief and confusion. Kenny’s jaw was clenched. He looked back at the screen. 

“Look who finally showed up!” The girl beamed. 

“I really thought y’all would be quicker.” 

“Can you hear us?” Bebe asked, voice full of venom. 

The boy faltered slightly. “Yes.”

The girl remained unbothered. “You guys here on official business or?” 

“No,” Kenny responded. 

“Who’s the noob?” she asked. 

“A friend. We’re here as friends. Your friends,” Kenny tried.

“I thought us splitting off onto the dark side was the end of our friendship,” the boy singsonged. 

“Wanna try that again?” Bebe asked. 

He flinched, just barely noticeable, but Damien saw it. 

“Where the fuck are you hiding?” she snapped. 

“You guys have backup?” the girl asked, unphased by Bebe who clearly had a bone to pick with her brother. 

“You know we don’t have backup, Marj,” Tweek sighed out. 

Marj, as Damien now knew, beamed. “Had t’ ask!” 

A loud hiss rang out before a quiet whir thrummed around them. Kenny stepped closer to Damien, leaning into him to whisper. “Do not start anything. Even if they look like they’re about to do something. Someone will die. Got it?” 

“Understood,” he murmured, ignoring the goosebumps that ran down his spine. Bebe was already marching up the set of stairs that had opened for them before they could even fully touch the ground. Kenny was quick to grab Damien by the wrist and pull him up as Tweek and Craig practically ran after her. 

He made it up just in time to witness a backhand so loud he grit his teeth. The taller of the two, the boy, just took it as Marj leaned back in her wheely chair, arms crossed, letting out a low whistle. “Told ya that was gonna happen,” she said smugly. 

He didn’t respond, he just looked down at Bebe, looking like he was a second away from crying. “I’m sorry.” 

“You’re a fucking asshole!” she shouted. “You know that?!” 

He nodded slightly. His hand came up, freezing when she spoke again. 

“If you touch me, I'm going to hit you again.” 

He still reached out, wiping her tears. 

She hit him just as hard if not harder. “What the fuck is your problem?!”

Damien blinked hard. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but walking into something straight out of a soap was not it. He glanced around the group. Everyone was just watching with varying levels of amusement. Craig was clearly rapidly rotating between enthralled with what must’ve been some sort of long awaited update and his own anguish. 

“You couldn’t even give me a fucking hint?!” she shouted, voice getting louder. “I would’ve figured it out! And I wouldn’t have told anyone! You know I wouldn’t have told anyone! I have kept so much in for you, you fucking asshole!”

He nodded, accepting the verbal lashing without input. 

“You’re a piece of shit!” She dragged her hands across her face before glaring up at him. She glared back at Kenny. “Congrats! You were right! They’re alive!” She looked back at the boy like she wanted to explode him with her mind. “Fuck you.” She started towards the stairs. “I’ll be waiting ‘til you guys are done.” 

“Bebe, wait–” 

She paused, turning back around to look at him. “What.” 

He faltered. “Just stay up here until it’s time to go, okay?”

She glared at him, walking over and settling a step behind Damien. “Do not let him near me,” she muttered practically into the back of his shoulder, barely audible. 

Damien just nodded slightly.  

“Now that that’s out of the way,” Kenny breathed, genuinely awkward. “What the fuck, guys?” 

“Basically, we got into some shit, had to bounce out of existence. We were kinda just living on quiet time in Costa Rica until someone made a power play for Chaos Incorporated, we raised from the dead, and by then we decided to just stay quiet about it,” Marjorine explained, making eye contact with Damien for what had to be at least the fifth time.

It was starting to unsettle him. 

“You guys could’ve talked to us,” Tweek said bitterly. “At any fucking point.” 

“We’re talking now,” the boy responded. 

“Lee,” Kenny sighed out. 

Now it clicked in Damien’s head. That was Leopold. He blinked, looking back at Marj. As far as Damien knew, he didn’t have a twin. But this obviously wasn’t the sort of situation where he could just call that out. 

“Why are you doing this? Why the fuck are you working with these people? Like, I get it. I understood Chaos. There was a reason things were the way they were. And why we only checked you guys on occasion instead of going for blood. But this? Seriously? These fuckers are gonna break this world and you of all people should be smart enough to see that.” 

Marj, casual as ever, just shrugged. “We didn’t have anything better to do given our fake dead status.”

She looked back at Damien again. 

“Are you serious?” Craig asked quietly. He looked more hurt than he did mad. 

Marjorine shot him a look that Damien couldn’t place before looking back at Damien once again. “I know. I know we’re the worst but that kinda comes with the territory of deflecting. And as much as I get it, if I don’t say something I’m gonna throw up.” Her eyes met Damien’s again. “I know you.” 

“...No?” Damien responded. 

“No, I swear I do.” 

“No, you know Craig,” Leopold said lamely.

She glanced at Leopold. Towards Craig. Made a face before looking at Damien. “No shit I know Craig. But I know you.” 

No one else seemed to want to get involved. 

“We don’t know this guy Marjie,” Leopold muttered.

Marjorine nudged her brother. “Dude, I swear we know him.” 

There was a beat. “No. You’re thinking of that dream you had.” 

“What dream.” 

“The one where Craig but not actually Craig was the antichrist. You were flipping out about it for like two days. ‘Cause you missed—” 

The girl practically teleported, clamping a hand over her brother’s mouth. “Yes, yes. I remember, Jesus, okay, thankyou."

Damien blinked hard. He glanced around the group to see everyone sort of just standing there in shock. 

“Um, no,” Kenny responded, awkward and confused. “That was not a dream and this is the antichrist.”

“Oh!” She let go of her brother, eyes scanning the group before landing on Damien again. She brightened up. “Oh!” She looked back at Kenny. “So you guys are officially making a play for winning then?” 

“Yes,” Kenny responded. 

She shrugged. “Okay. I’m defecting then,” she said with all the casualty in the world. 

Leopold looked at her with mild bewilderment. “Seriously??” 

“Can’t beat 'em, join ‘em. I ain’t fighting eternal damnation.” She looked at Craig. “Also I really fucking miss you.” 

Craig’s anguish disappeared in favor of a laugh, like he was so used to her he couldn’t even be surprised. It was almost weird how much love was there in comparison to the others that weren’t Tweek. “I miss you too.” 

“Do you hate me?” 

He shook his head slightly. There was a beat. “Oh my god, get over here.” 

She took the permission, running towards him and jumping into his arms. 

He caught her with a laugh, hugging her tightly. “You’re a fuckin’ asshat,” he muttered. 

“I know," she said quietly, hugging him tighter. “Gimme t’ Tweek.” 

Craig tossed her at Tweek who caught her like they were used to throwing her instead of just hugging their friends like normal people. “You really wanna deflect. Again," he said, disbelieving. 

“Fuck you, I’m already deflected.” 

Tweek laughed, hugging her tightly. “Happy to have ya.” 

When he put her down, she looked back at Leopold. “You don’t have to join me. I’ll understand if you don’t want to. But I’m taking HD.”

“Are you stupid?? Obviously I’m joining you.” 

“No!” Bebe protested. “Marj? Fine. But I’m not fucking working with you!” 

“Can we talk? Privately?” he tried. 

“No! Anything you have to say to me you can say in front of everyone else. We have nothing to talk about.” 

He cleared his throat, glancing at Tweek before looking back at her. “Disappearing on you was the hardest thing I have ever done. There were so many times I just wanted to call you and tell you that I was okay. And there were so many nights where something happened and even years later my brain immediately defaulted to you. And you’re still my emergency contact. You've ruined my mind and no matter how much time and space I take, you're still right here with me. And there is no language that contains even a fraction of the words needed for me to explain how sorry I am for doing that, but I am so sorry, Bebe.”

“You’re a fucking asshole.” 

“I don’t expect you to forgive me,” he said quietly. “I’d still do anything for you. So just let me help, okay?” 

Bebe looked at Kenny. Then Tweek. Back to Kenny.

Kenny raised his hands in mock surrender. “This one’s your call.” 

Bebe looked at Leopold, biting at the corner of her lip. She looked towards Marjorine. Neither said anything. “Are you going to change your mind? If I say no?” she asked quietly, voice hesitant. 

Marjorine looked at her for another long moment, clearly picking up on her request for an out. Or at least that’s what it felt like to Damien. “I could… I might.” 

Bebe sighed. “Fine.” She looked back at Leopold, jaw clenching. “Just stay the fuck away from me.” 

Damien felt so completely relieved. It took him by surprise until he realized it wasn’t him feeling it. He glanced at Kenny. 

Marjorine let out an audible sigh of relief, detaching herself from Tweek as she walked back towards her brother. “Great. Now that that’s out of the way, we have some shit to take care of. See you at home tomorrow?” 

Kenny laughed. “That’s it?” 

“Yup. Y’all still got those, like, eighty million spares, right?” 

“Sorry?” 

“You want reinforcements or not?” 

“We cannot house all your minions.” 

“Who the hell said I was talking about minions? They have housing,” she responded, seemingly offended at the insinuation that their minions weren't well taken care of. These two were weird.  

“Who the hell are you talking about then?” Kenny pressed. 

“Kenneth, my love,” Marj responded sweetly. “Can we not have surprises with you anymore?” 

“No the fuck you can’t!” Bebe cut in. 

“This is a good surprise, babe. I swear,” she responded, crossing her fingers as she held them up.  

“Alright,” Kenny sighed out. “I want you two at base by noon.” 

“No can do. Five.” 

“Three.” 

“Four thirty?” Marj bartered. 

“Fine.” 

“Cool! Alright, hate to throw y’all out, but we have shit to do so we can be on your doorstep by four thirty,” she glanced at Leopold, “and I think brother dearest is about to have a stroke.” 

“Copy. Later.” 

“Bye guys!” Tweek and Craig chirped in unison. 

And just like that, they were leaving. 

Chapter Text

Kenny had dropped into his own bed with a quiet sigh, intent on staying there sprawled out and vaguely anxious for the rest of the night. There was a lot to unpack from today alone. Marjorine and Leo were alive. And coming home. Damien could feel him like he could feel Damien. Which was weird to think about. He generally tried not to think about it as they had never confirmed it and it was weird to him. He didn’t actually know that would happen when they made a deal like that. All he knew was that Damien wouldn’t be able to get out of it. That was part of the reason why he did it that way. The other part was that he simply didn’t know the other way yet. And Damien clearly didn’t. 

He was also worried about Bebe’s wellbeing. He didn’t need to be. She was an adult who was perfectly capable of handling herself, probably better than he could handle himself, but he was still vaguely on edge over that. He dragged his hands across his face. There was also the surprise. Chaos and surprises always made his stomach whirl. 

He needed a cigarette. 

But he also needed to not get up. 

There was a quiet knock at his door. 

“It’s open!” he tried, committed to not moving. 

There was a beat. 

His door opened slowly. Hesitantly. Which was weird. 

Then Damien appeared. Which was really weird. 

“Um… hi,” he greeted awkwardly. 

“Hey,” Kenny responded. “You here to take me up on my offer?” 

Damien raised a brow. 

Kenny shot him a lazy smirk.

“Get your head outta the gutter, freak,” he shot back, trying to suppress the tiny smile that showed up. 

Kenny lifted his head up, shifting over. “Alright, gone.” 

His smile grew ever so slightly. “That was so fucking corny.” 

Kenny laughed. “What’s up?” 

“Are you good?” 

“Yes? Why?” 

Damien didn’t say anything for a moment. 

“I am.” 

“You’re totally fine and you’re just all starfished on your bed while not answering anyone because you’re fine.” 

“Have I been summoned?” 

“Few times.” 

He laughed. “My phone’s… Somewhere, I don’t fuckin’ know. Why are you checking on me?” 

“I wanted to… Ask you something? Maybe? If that’s allowed?? But then I got here and um… Yeah.” 

“Coy’s cute on you. C’mere.” 

He rolled his eyes, trailing in further. He stopped just before Kenny’s bed. 

“You can sit y’know. I’m not gonna bite you. Or enslave you.” 

“You’ve already done both of those things, may I remind.”

Kenny made a face at him. “I never bit you?” 

“Uhhh. Yeah you did. Like last week.” 

“When?!” 

“When we were training? I had you pinned.” 

Kenny blinked, trying to think back. “Mmm, doesn’t sound like me.” It hit him. He absolutely did bite Damien’s forearm after flames started to overtake every part of him. Kenny did not want to die or deal with severe burns. 

“Right, must’ve been some other feral blonde,” he snarked.

“Hey. It could’ve been Tweek.” 

“Like I could pin Tweek in a fight.” 

Kenny snorted. “He’s still besting you?” 

“Does he not best you?” Damien questioned, mildly taken aback.

“Oh he does. But pretty sure there’s a huge difference between me an’ you, pumpkin.” 

Damien rolled his eyes. “Anyone ever tell you you’re annoying?” 

“You. Frequently.” 

He let out a tiny huff that was absolutely a laugh. 

“So what are you here to ask me?” 

Damien sat on the edge of his bed. “Um… I have some questions. Regarding Leopold.” 

Kenny let out an honest laugh, finally sitting up. It was a mistake in the way that he’d landed closer to Damien than they’d ever really been outside of training and when Kenny went to retrieve him. But Damien didn’t move away. “Are you here to gossip?” he asked playfully, ignoring the odd little twist his stomach did. 

“I was just curious.”

“Didn’t peg you for the gossipy type.” 

“I’m not. I just like to know who I’m working with.”

Kenny shot him a look. “Sure.” Damien rolled his eyes. Kenny let out a quiet laugh. “Ask away.” 

“What… Leopold didn’t have a twin. When I came to the surface. When we were younger.” 

Kenny blinked. “It’s so weird that you were here for weeks and I wasn’t,” he mused. He’d circle back, but the thought was here now. 

“Yeah,” he responded quietly.

“Y’ever think about what things would be like if he let me up? While you were around?” Kenny did. Whenever he thought about it, that was the first place his mind went to. 

Damien just nodded. 

“Weird how things work out.” 

He let out a quiet laugh. “We’re a weird bunch though.”

“We are, aren’t we?” They exchanged a tiny smile, laughing when they made eye contact. Kenny wasn’t really sure if he was warm because Damien was sitting right there or if that was a genuine reaction. “Sorry. Um, no. He didn’t have a twin.” 

“So what… How the hell did that happen?” 

Kenny was now very aware of how intimate this felt. They were so close, voices practically a whisper. And now he wanted to stay in this for a bit. “Um…” He laughed. “Crazy story. Leo, he’s… Bit of a genius. Early on in his career, back when things were… different… He got really into gene editing and the lot. And they were working on all these crazy projects at the time. It was one of those things. He was already on the other side, but this was to help people. Really.” He cleared his throat. “They weren’t supposed to be sentient. Or aware at all. They were just supposed to be blanks meant to give people another chance. But then Marjorine finished growing. An’ when they took her out, she screamed. And then she started to talk. So they pulled the plug on the project, Leo got a twin sister.” 

“So she’s a clone?” he murmured. 

“Yup. Been around since we were nineteen.” 

“And she’s aware?” 

“Yup. Was a bit of a rough patch, but she’s chill. To everyone else, she’s just his sister. Just as much our friend as he is.” 

“More in Craig and Tweek’s case, it seems.” 

“Oh yeah. Her and Craig got really close at some point. Tweek’s basically attached to Craig at the hip, so y’know.”

“And Bebe helped with this?” 

Kenny blinked. He had specifically not mentioned that. 

“No I still can’t read your mind,” he joked, barely audible. “You’re just kinda… easier to read now.” 

He leaned onto his hand. “That so?” 

“A bit.” Damien’s eyes left his for a moment. 

“She did,” he murmured. “They were really close–” 

“You mean dating,” he interjected with a tiny smirk. 

Kenny laughed. “I shouldn’t confirm that.” 

“I give them a few weeks.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Totally.” 

“I say two knowing them.” 

Damien laughed. “What happened?” 

“Bebe was neutral. She didn’t care that he was doing the whole villain racket. She loved him, y’know. She loved us too. And she loved her job. So she just sort of stayed out of it all. For the most part… They broke up. It was unrelated to,” he waved a hand around, “all this.” 

Damien nodded slightly, trying and failing to not look like he was hanging on every word here. 

“There was still a lot of love there though. They’ve always kinda been…” A laugh cut him off. “Pretty sure they’ve loved each other since like… The end of middle school? It was that kinda forever thing. But yeah. They broke up. Neither would actually talk about it, but it was obvious they would’ve gotten back together. Then he ‘died.’ Like, two years ago.” 

“Wow.” 

He frowned. “Fuckin’ destroyed her, man.” 

“That’s horrible,” Damien muttered. 

“It was a really shitty time, but we all kinda just dealt with it. She couldn’t. Then she joined Freedom Pals and just sort of threw herself into her work. And hero work, for a bit.”

“I could tell,” he muttered. “She’s a firecracker, that one.” 

“Yeah, that’s why she’s mostly here. We’d be out of jobs without her.”

“Y’know, between her, Tweek, and you, I kinda fail to see why you needed me in the first place.” 

“You saw the database,” he responded. “There are so many logged. We’re fine on small takedowns and the lot, but if there’s a big confrontation…” Kenny frowned. “I don’t want any of them to die,” he admitted. “I honestly don’t think I could handle it.” 

A hand landed on top of his and fuck, it was the warmest, most comforting thing he thought he’d ever felt. “Don’t worry about that stuff so much,” he murmured. 

Kenny just looked at him. 

“Seriously, it makes my bones hurt.” 

It went from genuine reassurance, something soft and questionably sacred to something that made Kenny laugh and roll his eyes. He was being dumb. And reading into things because he couldn’t help himself. Damien made him feel a bit out of control. He hated it. Still, he really couldn’t get himself to stop. “Now that, like, that’s out in the open… Is that also extremely fucking weird for you?” 

Damien laughed. “Never felt anything quite like it.” 

“Me neither.” Kenny paused. “Wait… So you’ve never…?” 

“Not with blood. Not like that.” 

He breathed out a laugh. “Sorry.” 

“You pulled one over on me,” he murmured. He glanced down at their hands before looking back up at Kenny, gold threading through crimson. “You really got me with that.” 

“If I told you it wasn’t on purpose, would you believe me?” 

“Not entirely.” 

“It wasn’t entirely on purpose.” 

“No?”

Kenny shook his head slightly. He was definitely closer. One of them was leaning closer. Or maybe both of them were. He wasn’t sure, just that the warmth was spreading and it was dizzying and becoming very much very quickly. “Nope. Just got kinda lucky.” 

“Lucky, huh?” 

“Mhm.” Kenny’s eyes trailed downwards.

That seemed to bring Damien out of whatever hold they currently had on each other. He blinked, pulling back slightly. “It’s getting late,” he murmured. “I should probably get going.” 

“Alright, yeah.” 

Damien was gone as quickly as he showed up, leaving Kenny staring up at his ceiling, red faced and confused repeatedly asking himself, what the fuck was that? 

—

Kenny woke up with a start, his phone screaming at him. He scrambled, picking up without looking. “Hello??” 

“Mornin’ sunshine!” Leo greeted like this was some sort of everyday occurrence and he hadn’t just risen from the dead from everyone else’s point of view. 

He pulled his phone away from his ear to see he was, in fact, speaking to a blocked number at the moment. “Uh. Morning, babe,” he responded, laying back down. “What goes on?” 

“Preparing!” 

“That sounds fucking ominous,” he mumbled. 

“You’re gonna be thrilled, Mysty.” 

“Can’t wait, Professor.” A sleepy laugh escaped him. “Totally not terrified by you and surprise in the same sentence.” 

“Y’shouldn’t be!” 

He rolled over. “Is there a reason you’re calling me this early?” 

“Yeah, um. I just wanted to say I’m really sorry. To you. I was so focused on Bebe last night I didn’t even–” 

“I know, Lee,” he murmured. “And I know you always have reasons for doing the shit you do.” He let out a quiet laugh. “It’s dumb and I should be furious with you, but I’m honestly just happy you’re alive.”

“Happy to be alive,” he muttered. “Thank you.” 

“Don’t get soft on me, it’s too early,” he whined. “I’ll literally vomit.” 

“Speakin’a gettin soft… You and the antichrist, huh?” 

Kenny scrambled back upwards. “What?? No! No. Absolutely not.” He paused. Why am I being so defensive? He never cared about shit like that before. 

“Seriously?? You two would be perfect!” 

Kenny stared at his wall, stupefied. “How you figure.” It was more of a demand for insight than an actual question.

“Almost morally bankrupt immortal that still has a violently strong sense of justice, easy access to hell and the literal antichrist? That is like… perfect.” 

“Speaking of,” Kenny said, cutting off that thought along with the subsequent ones already trying to form in his head because he had a point and Kenny really didn't want him to have a point. “Everyone knows now. Time to stop playing dumb and bring Marj in.” 

It was weird enough that Leo knew and Marj didn’t. Neither of them were really sure why that happened, just that it did, despite the fact that she came into this world years after Leo knew. “Oh god, finally,” he sighed out.

“Y’know, if you wanted her to know so bad I would’ve bit the bullet and let that happen, right?” 

“Yeah, that’s my problem with you. Can you value your life for, like, five minutes please?” 

“It is too early for you to be playing psychotherapist,” Kenny whined. “Aren’t you busy?” 

“Yeah. I just wanted to hear your voice.” 

“You’re cute.” 

“Before I hang up…” His voice had fallen into something tinier. Hesitant. Meek. Very un-chaos. “Is she okay?” 

“She’s fuckin’ mad.” 

“I know. I just… She’s okay though, right?” 

“You know her. She’s always okay.” 

“I know, I know. Just like–” 

“You worry about her more than anything on this planet? You’re going crazy because now that you’ve gotten to see her the tabs you’ve definitely been keeping on her aren’t enough? You still love her and you know you fucked up and you don’t know how to cope? I can keep going.” 

He let out a tiny huff. “I thought we weren’t playing psychotherapist!” 

Kenny laughed. “I’m nosy. You gonna try and fix this or are you gonna let her hate you?” 

“I don’t—I don’t want her to feel like she needs to do anything or feel a certain way.” 

“So you’re gonna stand by and let her be angry?” 

“I didn’t say that.” 

“But there’s no grand gesture in the works.” 

“No.” 

“Bebe loves a grand gesture.” 

“This isn’t the type of thing I can just fix with a grand gesture. Nor do I want to. I can’t just boost her a priceless rock or fill her apartment with flowers and apologize and expect everything to be okay. There needs to be, like—honesty. And communication. And time. I don’t wanna pressure her or do anything that causes her to make a rash decision that she winds up regretting or feeling some sort of way over. I don’t–I don’t want to hurt her anymore than I have. I already fucked up not telling her. I was so wrong for not telling her.” 

“Oh my god, you’re finally growing up. You can’t see it, but I’m on the verge of tears right now,” he teased. 

“I’m really trying,” he sighed out. “It’s fine. It’ll be fine. But I gotta go before you can make fun of me some more! I’ll see ya in a few hours.” 

Kenny laughed. “Okay.” 

“Love you!” 

It was so weird to hear, but it made him grin like a damn idiot. “You too. Bye.” 

Leo hung up, leaving Kenny to dramatically roll around his bed for way too long before he actually got up. His mind was a bit of a whirlwind. Being around Damien so much was messing with his head. And there was no escaping that considering they were supposed to train together this morning. 

He rolled out of bed, walking straight towards the training room. Damien was already there, lazily stretching. “Morning, princess,” he greeted flatly. 

“Morning, hellspawn.” 

Kenny rolled his neck as he stepped onto the crashmat. The air felt more charged than usual this morning. Kenny let his tendrils flicker around, just grazing the edges of vision, mildly taunting. Damien didn’t take it. 

“You’re quiet. Still asleep?”

Damien shrugged. “Come find out.” 

Kenny closed in, opening with a quick jab. 

Damien blocked it, trying to trip him up as he did. 

It moved from there the way it always did—the two moving fast, neither wanting to back down. They stayed close. Too close. Kenny tripped him with a tendril, yanking his ankle. He pinned him—chest to chest, breath to breath. 

There was a pause. A long one and made Kenny’s head spin a little. 

“You gonna burn me, or?” 

Damien smirked, taking control of the situation. 

He felt like he blinked and he was staring up at bloodied gold, a palm full of hellflame too close to his already scorching face. His breath caught for a second. “Alright, alright. I’ll let you have this one.” 

“Again?” 

“You know I suck at losing.” 

Damien laughed, quiet, a bit shaky, getting off of him and putting a hand out. 

It went on for a while, Kenny testing something, though he wasn’t quite sure exactly what. All he knew was that whenever he got too close, he could feel like something was about to snap violently. A tiny part of him wanted it to. 

But he was busy and Chaos was on the way. 

Whatever that was could wait. 

Chapter Text

After a too long, too hot shower, Damien found himself back in the meeting room, low in his chair. There were varying moods throughout the room. Bebe was a ball of fury. Cartman was tight lipped but pissed. Clyde and Craig were all sunshines and rainbows. Tweek was neutral, a bit grumpy because Craig wouldn’t let go of him. Stan was rotating between being genuinely upset and excited. Kyle was unimpressed, stating that he ‘fucking knew it’ and wasn’t surprised. Wendy was typing away on her computer, smiling slightly. And Kenny was also low in his chair, tapping his fingers against the table. He kept looking at Damien. Damien kept looking back. 

It was weird. 

Very weird. 

They got very close the previous night as Damien tried to keep his mind from wandering. It was weird that he kinda wanted something to happen. He wasn’t sure if it was just the general boredom of being up on Earth or something else. It didn’t really track though. This time around, he didn’t feel all that bored. He just felt like he was constantly doing something or feeling conflicted. He was trying to just shove it down but it was kinda hard to do when Kenny was letting touches linger during training and he wouldn’t take his eyes off of him. 

He felt like he was being pinned in place by violet. Kenny just kept finding ways to make him feel powerless. 

It was honestly fucking insufferable. 

Kenny’s eyes trailed over him and it was like he could feel dozens of phantom touches and tendrils grazing over him. Damien’s eyes narrowed into a glare. He knew what he was doing. Kenny’s eyebrows raised slightly before he smirked, looking at his phone. 

The doorbell rang. 

Kenny stood without a word, disappearing into the hallway. 

Damien practically deflated. 

He returned, followed by the two blondes Damien had met the previous day. But that wasn’t all. 

“What.” 

“The.” 

“Fuck.” 

As it turned out, the agents of Chaos had decided to bring more chaos with them. “Everyone role call for the class!” Marjorine chirped. 

“IKE WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” Kyle shouted. 

The tall guy who was just maybe old enough to drink with black hair and dark brown eyes pushed his way to the front of the room, looking like he was about to explode as he rushed towards Kyle. “Kyle!!” 

“What the fuck!” Kyle tried again, despite the fact that he was being pulled into a hug. “Why are you here?!” 

“I’m part of the Chaos Hero Division!” 

“You’re supposed to be finishing your engineering degree! Six states away!” 

“Whoops!” 

“Whoops, Ike, what the fuck?!” 

“My boyfriend needed me home so I came home.” 

“How long have you been back?!” Kyle fumed. 

“How long have you been back??” 

Kyle pulled away, glaring at him. “We’re discussing this later. Also who the fuck is your boyfriend?!” 

“That would be me,” one of the shorter ones said. Damien vaguely recognized this one. His dark hair was a bit longer, grayish eyes lightly lined. He wore all dark clothing still. He was looking at one, much older Firkle Smith. 

“Oh god,” several of the people around the room muttered. 

“Since when have you guys been dating?” Cartman barked. 

“Um. I don’t know, when did Tweek and Craig start dating for real??” 

Tweek and Craig looked at each other for a minute. Everyone looked back at them for a minute. “Um.” 

“Great, there’s your answer.” 

Craig looked back at Ike. “Tell me my sister’s not standing behind you fucks.” 

“No, but your cousin is!” A woman chirped, pushing her way in. She had bright red hair that demanded attention. Craig was up, quickly breezing through the group to pull her into a hug. 

“What the hell.” 

“I signed up a while back. Was waiting for a time to tell ya, but y’know how it goes.” 

“Oh my god, you’re insufferable.” 

“I know.” 

The two brought a handful of people in, unconcerned with filling up the room. Once everything was said and done, their usual group had the addition of Leo, Marjorine, Henrietta, Michael, Pete, Firkle, Ike, Red, Scott, Kevin Stoley, and the anomaly everyone seemed to know as Dovakien, though Damien had no idea how they got here or why they were here in the first place, nor was he going to ask. 

He quite liked the Chaos Hero Division. They were a weird batch that he honestly had much more in common with than the people he’d been around. They weren’t fighting for justice or operating on the random sense of righteousness based on constructs that felt like they went over Damien’s head half of the time. They were just enjoying their powers in a way that didn’t necessarily hurt people. 

“You still got the shrinky dink city?” Leo asked, stealing everyone’s attention.

Kenny shot him a smirk. “What do you think?” 

“I think we’re going training.” 

“Oh, fuck yeah!” Ike cheered. 

There was a pause. “What kind of training?” Clyde asked hesitantly.

“Power gauge. We play tag. Last man standing.”

“You want us to play tag,” Cartman said flatly. 

“Yup.” 

Kenny stood. “Alright,” he sighed out. “Let’s get to it.” 

Damien was confused, but that was pretty much par for the course. He followed the group into a room he hadn’t been into yet. There was a large machine against the wall. Then a glass container that started next to it and spanned the rest of the room. Inside was a tiny model city. Leo walked up to it, giving the side a lazy tap. “Good to see this bad boy’s still in good shape.” 

“We don’t use it very often,” Tweek admitted. 

Leo pouted at him. “You should be abusing this thing.” 

“Well, no one would be around to fix it if it broke because you were dead,” he retorted. 

“Fair point. I’m going in.” He paused. “Wait. Who’s gonna be it?” 

“Are you asking because you want to be it?” Marj asked. 

“Kinda.” 

“We cool with Leo being it?” 

There was a round of agreement before he stepped into the machine. A beam of light hit him. Damien watched him shrink with quiet awe. Human tech had gotten insane since the dawn of meta-abilities. It felt like he was one of the only people left in the room in a blink. Kenny lazily dropped a fist on his shoulder. 

“You’re up, Hellspawn.” 

Damien rolled his eyes. “This shit gonna give me cancer or something?”

“Okay, so the best part is that it actually doesn’t. Also, I feel like that might be sort of a nonissue for you.” 

Damien made a face. 

“Are you, like, nervous right now or something?” he teased. 

“No.” 

“Good. Just fight like hell and don’t let anyone touch you.” 

He let out a quiet laugh, relenting. “Alright.” 

The machine didn’t actually feel like anything. He was just him one moment, small and walking towards the equally small door on the side of the glass enclosure. It was incredible. He looked around as he walked through a perfect model of the city. It was meticulous—obsessively crafted down to the tiny details. 

There was an explosion somewhere in the distance. Damien whipped around when something gently grazed his cheek. 

Kenny shot him a lazy smirk, retracting a tendril. “I thought I told you fight like hell and don’t let anyone touch you.” 

Damien rolled his eyes. “That doesn’t count.” 

“Uhuh. Good luck!” 

Kenny put a hand out, tendrils exploding towards the roof of the building next to them, and just like that he was gone. Damien started to pick up pace. As he turned the corner, he could see the sky lit up with different colors of lightning, people, and magic he didn’t quite get just yet. It was fine until white brimmed with teal headed straight for him. He spun around, trying to run like he even had a chance. 

Marjorine dropped down in front of him, beaming. “Hey!! I’m not it yet! Wanna team up?” 

Damien manifested a ball of fire in his palm. 

“Nonono! I’m being so serious right now!” She pulled out her phone quickly typing away before turning it around. There was a small list of all their names, empty circles next to them, save for Leo, Kyle, and Firkle. 

Damien raised a brow. “Why do you wanna team up?” 

“Am I so wrong for wanting to get to know the one new face here?” 

It was better than avoiding him or vague hostility. “I suppose not.” 

“Cool. C’mere.” 

Damien hesitantly walked towards her. 

She reached out, taking his hand. “We’re gonna skip, so just keep up okay?”

“What?” 

“Just don’t stop running and you’ll be fine!” That was all the warning he got before she pulled him into a run. It was like running up a hill on flat land. It took a moment to register why it felt that way. They were running on her lightning. He gripped her hand tighter, intent on keeping up as they got higher. “Crazy, right?!” 

“Yeah, kinda!” he responded, a laugh tumbling out of him. 

He kept glancing downwards to see pops of color that made him feel something entirely new regarding humans and their world as a whole. It was beautiful. 

Then jagged cracks of purple came rushing towards them. 

“I promise you’ll live!” Marjorine chirped before pushing him off. 

Damien was plummeting, falling faster than he’d ever fallen before. His stomach quickly fell into shambles. Of course he would live, but not after falling to his death. He let out a slow exhale through his nose, trying to get ahead of it. But then something, several somethings, wrapped around his waist, slowing him altogether before gently placing him on the ground. He immediately ran after the receding tendrils, only for a flash of green to pop out in the corner of his vision. 

He picked up his pace because the only person wearing green was Ike and at some point it was explicitly mentioned to stay away from him. Ike was some sort of false prophet, as it seemed. 

Though he could’ve never expected what came out of his mouth. 

“I PRONOUNCE YOU, PREGNANT!” 

Damien nearly dropped to his knees as his body reacted, aches, pains and a violent need to pee rushing over him. “WHAT THE FUCK?!” 

Ike actually stopped, laughing so hard he looked like he was gonna be sick. “Enjoy your symptoms!” he got out. 

“What did you just do to me?!” 

“I can give people symptoms of whatever I diagnose them with!” 

“Are you even it right now?!” 

“Nope! Just leveling the playing field!” 

“And you chose pregnancy?!” 

“Yup! Hope your ankles don’t swell too much!” 

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?!” 

“No, dude. It’s like really fucking funny. Later!” 

He ran off. Damien didn’t even try to chase after him. He just let out a slow, frustrated exhale, deciding to take cover and take a beat before he could consider killing himself to get out of this. But after a few minutes, the god awful feeling retreated. 

In the distance, he heard it. 

“IKE, I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD!” 

Damien stopped dead in his tracks as he saw a literal star cross the airspace before dissolving against the glass. The chaos heroes were on another level. 

“Oh shit, hey man!” 

Damien snapped his head towards Kenny, summoning flames without hesitation. 

“Woah, woah, easy. I’m not tagged yet,” he responded, hands coming up in mock surrender. “I just saw you, like, zonked and I wanted to check on you.” 

“Oh. I’m alright. That fucking kid just diagnosed me with pregnancy??” 

Kenny barked out a laugh. “Yeah, I don’t know why that’s his go to, but it’s very effective.” Kenny took a step closer. Damien took a step back. “Oh my god, relax. I’m coming to sit. I need a beat.” 

Damien kept his distance, taking a seat against the brick of the alley. “So, you know the others’ powers?” 

“From what I’ve seen so far, yeah I think so.” 

“Wanna give me a heads up?” he asked with a laugh. 

“Course. The twins have lightning. As I’m pretty sure you’ve seen. Scott has superstrength. Kinda like Craig but also not. Kevin has star manifestation. Or something like that. Ike has his whole little phantom doctor shtick, as you’ve seen. Basically people get symptomatic of whatever he diagnoses them with. But he can only hit one person at a time so big groups kinda fuck him up. Firkle has touch of death so he’s basically useless here and probably already tagged. Pete has this poison gas that he’s immune to. Michael can turn anything into a mirror, I think. Henrietta can puppeteer dead people. Apparently. That girl Red’s a changeling. And I don’t know what Dovakien has.” 

Damien paused, looking at Kenny for a moment. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, just that he’d know when he saw it. 

“You good?”

“Just looking at you,” he murmured, smirking slightly. 

He flushed. 

Damien saw it, fire practically exploding in his hands. Kenny had been pushing him, getting far too close way too frequently. This Kenny was missing the one very distinct beauty mark in a sea of soft freckles that only showed up during the warmer months. It was mortifying that he caught it, but Damien was a little competitive. 

Before he could even say something, he was being airlifted against his will. By the actual Kenny. Kenny pulled Damien up, dropping him right next to himself as he shouted at Red. “Y’KNOW, STEALING PEOPLE’S FACES ISN’T VERY CHILL!” 

Damien watched her flick a hand across her face, revealing her own. “HOW LONG WERE YOU WATCHING?!” she shouted, equal parts amused and bewildered.

“I wanted to see how long it’d take ‘em,” he responded with a smirk. “Later!” he flipped her off, walking towards the door that led to the stairs. 

Damien just gawked at him for a moment. “Um. Thanks for the save?” 

Kenny paused, looking him over. “What did it for you?”

“Huh?” 

“I mean, that was close enough that it threw me for a second.” 

“Um.” The warmth he was growing much too familiar with came back. “Her freckles were off.” 

Kenny’s brows furrowed. “Seriously?”

“Uh, yeah. She was missing the dark one right here.” He pointed at the spot just below his right eye. 

Kenny’s eyebrows shot up as he nodded slightly. “Sick.” 

Damien just awkwardly nodded. 

“Well, I suck at losing, so I’m off.” 

“Okay…” 

“If we make it to the final two, I’ll come find ya.” 

Damien sort of stuck to the shadows for the most part after that point, avoiding all but one person. He watched Kenny get into several confrontations, unable to stop watching. This was training. It was a way to show off their powers while working towards a goal. 

And Kenny treated it like it was war. He had no problem using his tendrils to rip fire hydrants from the ground and throw them at Scott. He moved around tight spaces like gravity was a suggestion. 

Damien found himself enraptured by the embodiment of dedication. 

Right up until Tweek, very much so now ‘it’, went after Kenny. 

Kenny practically disappeared, taking off without hesitation. Tweek’s attention got stolen by a very much so not ‘it’ boyfriend of his who was trying to pass through undetected. Damien made a break for it in the chaos. 

They managed to kill nearly an hour before there was a loud blare. 

“WE ARE AT THE FINAL TWO!” 

He was pretty sure that was Leo screaming. Damien honestly had no idea how he made it this far, but seeing as he had minimal confrontations, it made sense. Damien started towards the heart of the city, moving quickly—efficiently, but clueless that he was essentially being plotted against by his other competitor. 

“Pssst.” 

Damien bit back a laugh, spinning around. “You keep sneaking up on me today.” 

“I got about, like, five more in me before it gets old,” Kenny snarked. 

“Just for today though, right?” 

“Obviously.” 

He looked him over carefully, taking just a moment to make sure. He was definitely looking at the real Kenny. “You’re not it?” 

“Baby, you know I can’t lie to you.” 

Damien rolled his eyes. “I don’t think that’s how that works.” 

“I don’t needa know that.” The two laughed. “You’re not it, right?” 

“Very late to be asking that.” 

“I mean, I’m pretty confident. Indulge me.” 

“I have yet to be tagged.”

“Exactly.”

They started to walk again. “So what’s the plan?” 

“Go to the center. Grand finale or somethin’.” 

Damien looked up. The skies had gotten quiet as the ‘it’ count went up. 

“No idea what they’re plotting,” Kenny commented. 

Damien’s lips quirked up. “Not even a bit? Seems like you’re always thinking.” 

“Bout you, maybe,” he teased. 

He rolled his eyes. “Do you ever get sick of me having to tell you you’re annoying?” 

“Nah, it’s cute to see you all flustered.” 

Damien shot him a glare. “I am not flustered.” 

Kenny paused, which made Damien stop. Kenny took a step closer to him, smirking slightly. Damien took a step backwards. “No?” 

“No,” he responded evenly, despite the fact that he was letting himself be walked backwards. 

“Really? Because you’re startin’ to look a little flustered, Dame.” 

“This seems like the worst possible time for your shit right now,” he said flatly, ignoring the heat crawling up his neck. 

Kenny was getting closer, but Damien had backed himself into a corner. Kenny’s hand came up, cupping his jaw. “Not flustered at all, huh?” 

Everything in him would beg to differ from his little head shake. 

“Cute.” Kenny’s hand retracted, before Damien received a lazy poke to the chest. A loud blare went off. 

“HENRIETTA WINS!” 

“Wow, that was an easy fucking win. Thanks!” That was not Kenny’s voice. Damien stared at him wide eyed and confused. 

Kenny’s eyes rolled back in his head for a minute before he lurched forward slightly with an exhale. “Fuck. Fucking asshole,” Kenny breathed. He looked back up at Damien, face flushing slightly. “Sorry. Fucking dickhead just bodysnatched me.” 

“What?” 

“She can control the dead. I felt bad that her and Firks were essentially powerless this whole time so I let ‘em have it.”

“They… They know about you?” he murmured. 

“Me and Henri did a few jobs together back when things were still new. Pretty good duo when you have someone who doesn’t stay dead and someone who can pilot their body while they’re out of commission.” He laughed awkwardly. “I wasn’t expecting her to, um.” He took a step back. “My bad.” 

Damien laughed, dragging a hand across his face. “Don’t worry about it. Nothing I’m not used to.” It was an honestly mild escalation to the shit Kenny did regularly. It was not a big deal nor did it make him feel like his heart was trying to leap out of his chest. “Surprised you lost though.” 

“Made it to the top three,” Kenny responded with a lazy shrug. 

Damien nudged him, starting his walk back towards the exit. “Should’ve won.” 

—

The newcomers were very welcome, but they didn’t come without disagreements. Damien found himself in the middle of the biggest one just a few nights later. 

“We need to talk about contingencies. If we start hitting walls, we need to use everything we’ve got,” Leo said carefully. 

“You mean him,” Tweek said in a way that threw Damien off. He couldn’t tell if he was being defensive of him or the overall situation. 

“Okay, that’s great, but as far as I’m aware, we don’t even know what everything looks like.” 

“Yeah, um, no offense, Dame,” Clyde added. “I don’t feel like everything would be too pretty.” 

Damien crossed his arms, sinking in his chair. “If it makes you feel better, I don’t know either,” he responded dryly. 

“I mean, I don’t think we need to go that far,” Bebe argued. “I don’t think we’ll need to go that far.” 

“Seriously. Between him, Tweek, and Kevin, I think we have enough firepower to kick off the apocalypse ourselves at this point,” Craig added flatly. 

Everyone paused, looking at him for a moment. 

“I’m just saying. We’re all up there. As it is. We’ve just added an additional two nukes to our arsenal.” 

“Wait, you really think I’m as powerful as Tweek?” Kevin asked, taking up a much softer tone than Damien had heard from him since they got here. Damien was pretty sure the guy was an honest to god sociopath, though this just made the jury need to take a longer walk. 

“Kevin, you tried to incinerate me with a literal star while we played tag,” Craig deadpanned. 

“I only threw it because I knew you’d dodge!” 

Craig looked back at Leo and Marj, arms crossed. “My point.” 

“Okay, we should just revisit this,” Kenny cut in after looking at Damien again only to find discomfort that he was undoubtedly feeling. 

Damien didn’t say anything, but he nodded just slightly, trying for a silent thank you. 

Kenny shot him a tiny smile before shutting down the topic for the second time, moving them onto their actual briefing. 

Chapter Text

Kenny was definitely on his way to burning out after two weeks of small missions and Chaos gently pushing to center Damien more. It would be easier if Damien expressed that he wanted a bigger role in doing things, but he was doing so good in the spot he was and he didn’t seem to want to change that. 

Kenny retreated back to his room early, just wanting to stew in the quiet. But three soft knocks made him sit up. He let out a tiny exhale before getting up, opening his door to find Damien. “Hey.” 

Damien’s nose scrunched slightly. “Hi.” 

“What’s up?” 

“Can I come in?” 

Kenny’s stomach twisted. “Yeah. ‘Course.” He stepped aside, letting Damien in. 

He paused when Damien took a seat on his bed without Kenny having to tell him to. Just a tiny pause. He crawled back into bed, flopping against his pillows. 

“What goes on, Luc?” 

“I… I don’t like this idea of me going nuclear,” he said hesitantly. 

Kenny sat back up, looking at him carefully. It was clear he didn’t, but Kenny didn’t think he’d outright say it. “Why?” he asked quietly. 

Damien pulled his knees up, wrapping his arms around them. “Everyone’s under this impression I’m supposed to, like, destroy the world. So obviously I’m capable of like—mercilessly wiping these people out. But I don’t want to do that. I’m not supposed to do that. I’m supposed to observe. Learn. Take over for my pops in a couple thousand years. All this rapture and burning was never part of the plan and I don’t like being looked at like I’m supposed to do some of that for the greater good? I don’t know. I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m–” 

Kenny cut him off, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. He couldn’t fathom why Damien was so nervous to just tell him that, but he could see it all over him. He could feel it. “I didn’t know that either,” he murmured. 

“No one does. Outside of me, pops, and Pip, it’s kinda–” He let out a slow exhale. “I was a boogeyman before I was born. Which I’ve always been fine with.” 

“But things are different now.”

“Yeah.” 

Kenny’s stomach lurched. He inched closer. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. 

Damien finally looked at him. “What?” 

“I’m sorry. I brought you into all this and it’s obvious this is fucking with your head and I wasn’t exactly nice about the way I brought you into this. I haven’t been very nice to you in general.”

A laugh tumbled out of him. “You’re serious?” 

Kenny shot him a halfhearted glare. “Yes.” 

Damien smiled softly, looking back down. “Thank you.” 

“What do you want me to do?” 

“I don’t know. I kinda stumbled here annoyed without a plan.” 

“Didn’t seem very annoyed when I opened the door,” Kenny teased. 

“You’re weirdly disarming.” 

His stomach twisted again. “Anyone ever tell you you are too?” 

Damien laughed. “No.”

“You kinda are,” he responded softly. “I enjoy our little talks.” 

“I think you enjoy me being clueless.” 

“A little.” 

Damien rolled his eyes, trying to suppress the tiny smile Kenny caught a glimpse of. 

“Look, you’re doing me a favor. And you’re here because of me. I know I’m making you do, like, a shitton of stuff that you don’t want to as is, but I’m not going to make you do more than that.” 

“Okay.” 

“I mean it. You being here is kind of a really fucking big deal. And I promised I’d look out for you.” 

“I believe you promised you’d keep me from harm.” 

“Close enough.” 

Damien looked back at him, smiling in a way that made that cute little canine pop out. Kenny wanted him to stay, but that wasn’t really how this went. He’d show up. Ask questions. Leave before they got too comfortable. 

There was a beat. 

“What about you?” 

“Sorry, what?” 

“Your curse… How’d–” He paused. “Is it okay if I ask you about that stuff?” 

“Yeah. Yeah. You can ask me anything, I told you that.” 

“I’ve just been curious, I guess. Dad never told me anything about you. Not really. It’s just sorta been… The way it’s been?” 

“‘Til now,” Kenny muttered. 

“It’s weird.” 

“Good weird?” 

“I don’t find it too unpleasant,” he murmured, eyes meeting his again. 

“What do you wanna know?” 

“What do you know?” 

“Too much and yet too little.” He let out a tiny sigh as he flopped against his pillows. He wanted to stay close. Lean in. Actually feel whatever the hell was going on here. But he was tired and all things Cthulhu sort of exhausted him. “Get cozy.” 

Damien looked at him, raising a brow. 

Kenny moved over. “I’m not doin’ anything,” he joked. “But I’m sort of over being upright, so feel free.” 

Damien hesitated before actually laying down, practically on the edge of the bed. Kenny was a bit surprised he actually took the offer, but he wasn’t complaining. “I’m here,” he muttered. 

Kenny let out a quiet laugh, resting his head on top of his arms. “Give me a place to start.” 

“Okay… You don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to though.” 

Kenny squinted at him for a moment. Damien squinted back like Kenny was the one going all soft on him on a random Thursday. “I won’t,” he murmured. 

“When–Or I guess, how did you get your curse?” 

Kenny let out a quiet sigh. “So, the curse of respawn is sort of an in-utero-only deal. My parents went to these cult meetings for the free beer. But nothing’s free, y’know. Not really. They didn’t know. They were always too fucked up to really get just what they were doing. Couple months later, I came out and I’ve just sort of been this way since.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

Kenny offered him a lazy half shrug. “Never knew any better.” 

Damien frowned, shifting slightly to look at him. “I never really thought about how young you were the first time we met. ‘Cause that was normal to me. But you had to go back... That must’ve been so scary when you were little.” 

“The first few times it was,” he responded quietly. “But I had God. And your dad. More so your dad.”

“Happy you did.” 

Kenny smiled slightly. “Me too.” 

“Do you remember? The first time you died?” 

Kenny shook his head. “All kinda blurs. I know when I was tiny, it was all, like… Getting sick. Accidents. Then it was weirder shit. Like, yeah it was mostly stupid shit like me getting hit by a car or pushing someone out of the way of a car, but like, elementary through high school in South Park was rough. I got hit by a space station that fell from the sky…?” He laughed. “Fucking twice?? I’ve gotten turned into a literal zombie I think, like, three times. Fuckin’ ridiculous.” 

“Do you think death seeks you out ‘cause of your curse?” 

“Either that or I need to play the lottery more.” 

Damien laughed.

Kenny felt pinned in place for a moment as he watched gold spiderweb through crimson. 

“What about the worst one?” 

Kenny winced. “Embarrassing.” 

Damien shot him a look. “You’re embarrassed?" 

“Yes.”

“I didn’t know you knew how to do that,” he teased. 

Kenny adjusted, lazily swatting at his shoulder. “I do.” 

Damien shot him a lazy smirk.

“You’re kinda a dick, you know that?” 

“Kinda.” 

“Mhm. And you hold onto things. For like, ages.” 

“Pot meet kettle.” 

Kenny rolled his eyes, adjusting again so he was almost on his side. “We were, like, sixteen, I think.”

Damien mirrored the action, nodding slightly.

“I’d done it once before. Um. Killed myself in front of other people. Intentionally. The first time we were, like, eight. And I was so angry that no one remembered. And after that I sort of gave up hope. I don’t even remember what caused it the second time. High school was…” He made a face. “It was a fuckin’ nightmare for me, to be honest. And I was just really going through it.” His eyes trailed back up to the ceiling. “Didn’t really have the money to get the help I needed and I dunno. Going through crazy shit all the time makes you crazy, I guess. I remember screaming about just wanting someone to believe me. And I just went for it. I dunno if it was supposed to be some sort of divine punishment or somethin’. Or like, just a really cruel way of someone telling me to never do that again. But I didn’t leave right away. I was stuck hearing the confusion… The inevitable break.” He frowned. “I will never forget how badly that ripped them apart.”

“But they forgot.” 

“Yeah. But that was just disgusting on my part. And so fucking selfish.” He laughed, falling somewhere between bitter and genuine. “It’s how I found out Cartman knew though. How I found out about the whole… How to remember business. But still. That has to be the worst one.”

Damien was now on his side, looking at Kenny with something. It wasn’t pity. And it was really nice that it wasn’t that. It was also really weird because it was so gentle. “I don’t think you should feel guilty for that,” he said quietly. “I can see why you do, but you were hurting. And a literal child. Kids just kinda do fucked up shit to cope. That’s sort of the point.” 

“Feel like that might be easy for you to say.” 

“I feel guilt. Often. It’s not coming from a lack of understanding.” 

Kenny looked him over for a moment. “You’re so…” He started, not exactly sure where he was going. “What is the difference between you and us?” 

“Power. Birth place. All the nurture stuff. An alarming amount of prophecies. Some physiological stuff.” 

Kenny let out a quiet hum. 

“Could’ve told you we’re not all that different.” 

“Weird to think about.” 

“Good weird?” he murmured. 

Kenny nodded slightly. 

Damien smiled for a moment before making a face. “That’s really your worst one?”

“Definitely.” 

“Y’know, my father once gave me a talk about autoero–”

Kenny quickly clamped a hand over Damien’s mouth. “Hey. Hey. We’re not talking about that and it is very rude your father brought that up to you.”

Damien didn’t fight him, but his eyes crinkled slightly and it was one of the cutest things Kenny had ever seen. He started to laugh as he pulled Kenny’s hand away. “Excuse me,” he managed. “I wasn’t aware that was off limits.” A fucking giggle interrupted him and now Kenny was laughing, unable to help himself. 

“I was onto something, okay?” he got out through laughs. “Twenty was a weird time.” 

“Yeah, I could fuckin’ tell.” 

“Oh yeah, ‘cause I’m sure your dad loves to talk about me that much.” 

“I mean, he talks about you quite a bit.”

There was no good way to ask the question that occasionally popped into his mind, so he just redirected. “What about you?” 

“Oh god,” Damien sighed out. “I spent, like, eighty percent of the year bouncing in between the gluttony and lust wards like I was trying to prove something, Pip dealing with my antics like the patron saint of patience, and then the rest I was working.”

Kenny had gotten more than a few glimpses of that during his time in hell. He couldn’t help it, he was painfully curious. Now it was like the floodgates had been opened and he didn’t want it to stop. “So you and Pip are close?” 

“Phillip’s my best friend.”

“I always thought he wouldn’t be your speed.” 

“Oh, when you knew him, definitely. Once he got to hell, he got comfortable.” 

Kenny blinked, sitting with that for a moment. It didn’t sound right at first, but then he remembered the literal explosive rage Pip had. Or the way his hands would shake when people would push a little too hard. The way his face always betrayed him for a split second. “Yeah, that actually tracks,” he murmured. “He gonna rule with you?”

“He’ll come into his prince role with or without me.”

Kenny squinted at him. 

Damien squinted back. 

“I’m just gonna ask. Are you guys not, like, engaged?” 

This time, he was the one with a hand being shoved in his face. “Oh my god, propaganda,” he whined, dragging out the last word. 

Kenny laughed, catching his hand. “Seriously?” 

“Yes and it’s terrible! I love Phillip, truly, but being with him in a romantic context is—” He made a face. “Never. And if you do get the chance to see him down there, do not breathe a word of that to him. He will fight my father tooth and nail to keep you down there.” 

“What?” 

“He loathes the implication. He enjoys his freedom and I’m pretty sure there’s someone, though he’s not ready to tell me who.” 

Kenny snorted. “Seriously?” 

He nodded, nose scrunching slightly. 

“How long’s he been keepin’ it from you?” 

“A while. I know it’s not serious. He still sees others. But–” He tilted his head slightly. “Phillip’s very odd.” 

“He’s always been odd.” 

“Oh yeah.” 

Kenny yawned, blinking hard. 

Damien tried to retract the hand Kenny didn’t even realize he still had. “It’s getting late,” he murmured. “I should probably get out of your hair.” 

Kenny tapped his fingers across Damien’s wrist. “Or you could stay and tell me about your side of Hell for a bit.”

“You seem tired.” 

“I’m enjoying this.” 

He smiled slightly. “Okay.” 

—

Kenny woke up without a start. He woke up without the most recent nightmare nipping at his heels and without a sharp breath that made his chest hurt. He just sort of opened his eyes. It was a weird thing that didn’t happen very often.

He blinked, looking over Damien, confused for a moment before he remembered Damien fell asleep and he couldn’t be bothered to wake him up to tell him to go to his own bed. In his head, it was a nonissue at the time because of how tired he was. It was still a nonissue. He just felt a little flustered to wake up next to a sleeping demon. 

A sleeping demon who looked so peaceful despite the fact that his hair was all over the place. His face held the same softness Kenny got to see on occasion when they were alone. It was adorable, like anything about him should’ve been adorable.

But Damien also wasn’t exactly what Kenny thought he was. 

He wanted to reach out, let his fingers graze soft skin. Damien was always so out of reach to him. Now he was right here. Part of him figured this was why he felt the way he felt. There was this overwhelming newness that came with him getting something he’d admittedly wanted for a long while. But the rest of him was concerned it might be more than that. 

The butterflies and jitters. The way he wanted to be close. The way Damien always just invaded his mind. At some point, he’d gone from being genuinely aggravated and infuriated by him to actually enjoying his presence. 

The feeling only grew when Damien met them in the war room, wiping sleep out of his eyes an hour later. Their alarm went off. Damien left and came back in a flash. “Why is no one ready?!” he barked. “I thought alarm means go! Pretty sure robberies aren’t waiting for us to finish our coffees!” 

Kenny wasn’t sure Damien even processed just how quick he’d disappeared and came back. He just looked at him in awe for a moment before taking off to suit up. 

He was sure when Damien took the lead. He’d been paying attention. Estrayn was on their list. A target. He was small, but he was there. He’d evaded Kenny’s grasp by a hair. He could feel his stomach fall as shame tried to grab him by the throat, but Damien just clapped his hands together, boxing the villain in in a wall of flames. 

There was no hesitation. 

Just a goal in sight. 

Damien shot him a knowing smile as Tweek and Craig were busy evacuating people. “Y’gonna give me cuffs or should I expect to meet this one at home?”

Kenny’s breath caught, but he threw his spares at Damien, realizing it was stupid that Damien didn’t have a pair in the first place. Though he just never saw him taking initiative like this.  

He didn’t say anything before he walked through the fire. There was a long moment of Kenny just standing there, uncertain. The wall dropped, revealing Damien walking back towards him, Estayn cuffed on the floor, shaken but perfectly fine. Damien placed a gentle hand on his shoulder as he leaned down to whisper. 

Kenny’s stomach felt like it liquified itself. 

“There’s a facility on East and Pine. I have an address.”