tiny headcanon that, while kyle doesn’t remember kenny’s actual deaths, he remembers kenny getting injuries in place of the death(s). his brain latches onto things too tightly to forget completely, so the unexplainable, eldritch curse that surrounds kenny writes around him.
kenny got torn in half? no, he tried to climb over a fence, slipped, and groaned for hours about his balls.
kenny got his limbs dismembered one by one? obviously that’s not what happened, kenny just broke his leg, or his arm, or his wrist, and that’s why he’s mumbling that he’s in pain.
kenny got shot/stabbed through the brain? no, what actually happened was that kenny hit his head, and he got a concussion that was so bad, he threw up (blood). it was so embarrassing, poor fucker.
kyle lives with this belief that, sometimes, kenny keeps getting hurt because he just isn’t as careful as he should be- he’s always bruised or limping in some way, doing something reckless that he shouldn’t be anywhere near, and “it’s dangerous, kenny, you know the universe has it out for you for some reason” and “you should really be more careful. one of these days, you’re gonna get hurt in a way you can’t just walk off” (little does he know-). nobody else seems to say anything about it, so he does.
kyle also likes to check in on kenny after a death an injury. slips him leftovers from his lunch so he can recover quicker. fusses over his coat and helps him sew it (because of course it’s ripped, remember when kenny tried to fight cartman’s stupid phonics monkey, and got his shit rocked for it?). ices his mangled bruised arms, ankles, and ribs, hands gentle and eyes hard, sighing through his nose, because it’s not really kenny’s fault, is it? sometimes, he’s just unlucky. the most unlucky kid alive, and somebody should make sure he’s ok. nobody ever comes to check in on him.
kenny’s not stupid (regardless of what cartman and the town tells you-). he knows that kyle does this after he dies, the timeline never wavers, but he’s too scared to ask why kyle’s doing it. what he remembers (or doesn’t remember).
it’s enough that someone’s checking in on him. that someone wants to be there. that someone… cares.
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
titsay
amandla
