Just Not Enough~

Kyle Broflovski was smart. And, quite frankly, he knew it. He was smarter than all the adults in South Park…probably put together. Certainly he was smarter than that joke of a teacher, Mr. Garrison. Kyle's classmates learned more useful information from Wendy's rants and, sadly, Cartman's schemes than from their actual teacher.

Still, no one had ever come out and told Kyle he was smart. No one had ever used it as a reasoning, as a rationale. Stan would often say it in passing, or as a comparison. And his parents would say it in the hopes that he would work harder in school, instead getting into crazy "adventures" all the time. But until that one night in his bedroom, nobody had really ever looked Kyle in the eye and told him he was smart.

Or, if they had, it hadn't made quite the impact that it did this time.

It was understandable that Kyle was so flustered by the occurrence. It was Mysterion, after all. The mysterious, masked vigilante that all his classmates secretly wished they had thought up first. Mysterion was awesome and brave and probably the coolest kid Kyle had ever not really known. So much cooler than Cartman's dumb alter-ego by name alone. And, here the shrouded hero was, on Kyle's bed, crouched like a predator, asking him quickly for information and muttering those 8 words in that low voice of his, his body turned away, not daring to look the redhead in the eye.

I think you're the smartest kid in class.

For the first time in his life, something seemed real. Mysterion was a kid. And, while Kyle was used to risking his life and doing dumb things, this was possibly the most threatening moment of his life. Those other things, "adventures" as Stan called them, they were games or schemes. Nobody would ever get hurt. Sure, Kenny disappeared for a while quite often. But he always came back .This was real. These kids, kids from his class, they were fighting.

But he nodded and mumbled, "Alright, yeah." Kyle gave the masked hero what he asked for. And the other boy was gone with the swish of a dark cape.

Kyle followed the Mysterion story very meticulously. Down to the last detail. He stopped paying attention in class, choosing to watch his classmates instead. Looking for the kid who moved, spoke, or acted like Mysterion. A kid who was perhaps sleeping through class, too tired from being the symbol South Park needed the night before. He had an entire bulletin board dedicated to figuring his identity out. But, for the life of him, Kyle could not.

He was there that night. Goofing off with Stan near the nursing home, blowing raspberries against the windows. They followed the congregation to the police station. Kyle was surprised to find the townspeople gossiping quietly, rather than "rabble"ing.

When Mysterion lifted his mask, Kyle's jaw dropped as well.

It was Kenny. Mysterion was Kenny. Kenny McCormick. Kyle's best friend.

He stared and stared and then realized that it made sense. Kyle had brushed the possibility of Kenny being Mysterion aside. The usually hood-covered boy didn't sound like the hero because his words were always muffled. And Kenny always slept in class, so it hadn't struck Kyle as out of the ordinary. The only thought that filled the redhead's usually busy mind was "Duh".

After the initial shock, a blush crawled up Kyle's neck and cheeks. Kenny thought he was the smartest kid in class. And Kenny didn't usually notice much. Kyle wasn't exactly sure why this made him so happy, but it did. It really did.

Kyle knew that this super hero business was kind of real. Later, when they all joined (Tool Shed, The Human Kite, Tupperware, Mosquito, Mint Berry Crunch, and, of course, Mysterion) they did good things, tried to help with the oil spill. People looked up to them. Cartman hated them. Butters was locked up and whining in their makeshift prison. Life was good. It was a game, but it was real and it was fun.

He thought that was how everyone felt. But, that day in the basement, when Hindsight showed up with pictures of Butters dressed as a girl (again), Kyle was scared. Scared of something he had thought was just a game. Like detectives or Laundromat or lambs. "Look, dude, we don't need to play super hero anymore; we can just go home," Stan said.

Kyle agreed. It was almost 5 o'clock and his mom was making potato pancakes for dinner.

But, Kenny, Mysterion didn't agree. He walked with his head tilted down until the gun was pressed against his hooded head. The caped boy asked someone to kill him. And Kyle was fairly certain that gun was pretty damn real.

While climbing the stairs after being sent away at Kenny's insistence, Kyle realized that, to his friend, this was no game. To Kenny, this was life- threateningly real.

And he didn't know why.

No matter how smart Kenny thought he was, Kyle did not understand why this game was different for the hooded boy than for the rest of them. So he climbed the stairs, went home, ate dinner, and went to bed.

To Kyle's relief, the next day, at Clyde's house, Kenny was still there. Still Mysterion. Still stronger and braver than the rest of them.

For some reason, a few mornings later, Kyle has the image of blood seeping across the cement of a cold back alley and the echo of the words, "Oh my God! They killed Kenny!" stuck in his head.

But, Kenny was in bed and most definitely alive when they went looking. So, Kyle figured it all must've been a dream.

Kenny sat in his bed and wished with all his being that Kyle was as smart as he needed him to be. After all, he was the smartest kid in class.

A/N: I wrote the first few paragraphs of this forever ago and for some reason had a strike of inspiration during my Spanish class today. So, I sat down and wrote the rest while watching Mysterion Rises. The quotes are actually from the episodes. Therefore, I do not even own what the characters say in my own fic...wow. I'm pretty proud of this. It was supposed to end much more K2-ish. But I like the way it is :DD