"Tweek honey! Your father and I are off to our book club meeting. See you in a few hours, 'kay?"

"Okay Mom!"

Tweek heard the front door close, followed shortly by the family sedan starting up. He waited at the window, watching his parents back down the freshly-shoveled driveway and disappear in the orange haze of the setting sun. He collapsed back on the duvet cover, staring up at the painted ceiling, fingers dovetailed over his chest.

They're gone you know.

Tweek's brow furrowed. He had a lot of stuff to take care of before bed. There was Miss Kunkler's algebra homework, Mr. Fogherty's essay, and he still needed to read a couple of chapters on the book he was gonna get tested on in a few weeks.

That can wait.

Tweek sighed. "I'm ignoring you."

Aww… c'mon baby. Don't be like that.

Tweek only shook his head, rolling over on his side. He tried to close his eyes, to make the voice go away. But a part of him knew there was no escaping it.

C'maaan. Just a few minutes won't hurt.

With a heavy exhale, Tweek twisted back around, facing the wall. Or rather, facing what was resting against the wall.

Spanning almost the entire length of the bed was the Sobakawa body pillow his parents had given him out of their room when they'd gotten a new duvet set. Five feet long and stuffed with buckwheat pellets, the thing was super comfortable. It also didn't stain, which was a plus.

"Uggh," Tweek groaned, pinching the space between his eyes in frustration.

I won't judge.

Palming his face, Tweek scooted a little closer to it, allowing his eyes to close. Slowly he found his center, his breath evening out to a gentle rhythm as he went to his happy place.

When next Tweek opened his eyes, there was a boy lying beside him where the pillow had been. A boy with dark hair, warm olive skin and piercing blue eyes.

"Hi."

Tweek shook his head, nuzzling his cheek into the bedspread. "Hi."

The boy edged closer to him, propping himself up on an elbow. "You passed by me at school today. Why didn't you invite me over?"

Tweek reached out a trembling hand, placing it gently against the boy's chest. He marveled at how warm his skin felt through his shirt. Goddamn it… why was his imagination so vivid?

"I d-dunno. These feelings have just been getting worse and worse. It's… it's like I can't even look at you anymore." Tweek groaned as the boy shifted against him, brushing their hips together. He sent a playful wisp of focused air against Tweek's forehead, making the blonde's skin break out in goosebumps.

"But… don't you wanna hang out with me?"

The boy's big puppy-dog eyes made Tweek's heart melt. "Of course! I just…" Tweek chewed at his bottom lip. "I'm scared that… if you come over to my house… I'll end up saying or doing something that'll scare you away."

The boy's fingers slipped beneath Tweek's shirt to stroke his back, making the blonde coo softly. "You know I don't scare that easily." Tweek nuzzled the top of his head against the underside of the boy's chin, sighing as toned arms banded around his midsection, holding him close.

"Better?"

Tweek nodded against the boy's throat. He could smell his companion's deodorant, could taste the salt on his skin. In the boy's embrace, Tweek felt warm and protected. He felt… loved.

"You know…" the boy whispered into Tweek's dandelion fluff hair. "…if you never tell me how you feel, you'll regret it someday."

Tweek shook his head. "You're not gay though."

"You don't know that. Maybe I'm a little bi-curious. You've seen what a softy I can be. Remember that time in the park with that cat?"

Tweek did remember. Almost a year ago, a bunch of rowdy 4th graders had chased a stray cat up a tree and were making a sport of throwing rocks and sticks at it. The boy had shown up out of the blue, pummeling each of the 4th graders in turn. Then, once they'd fled, he'd spent the better part of ten minutes trying to coax the cat down from the tree.

Tweek smiled. He and the boy had fed the shivering cat slices of leftover turkey from Tweek's school lunch, petting the thing's emaciated backside as it ate.

That was the moment when Tweek first realized he was in love.

"I put on a tough guy act. But you know that there's more to me. Deep down."

Tweek was growing warm. The boy's hands on the small of Tweek's back seemed to radiate a tingling that spread through his entire body. His breath rasped against the boy's throat, growing heavy and irregular.

"Tweek… don't you wanna know what this would feel like? In real-life, I mean?"

He did. Dear god, he did.

"You know… I would get you into so much trouble," the boy teased. "Skipping classes to go make out. Sneaking into your bedroom late at night for unauthorized sleepovers." He left a trail of kisses along Tweek's forehead. "Your parents would hate me."

Tweek's hips ground gently against the boy, his thin arms coiled around his back, fingers finding the soft bumps and grooves of his vertebrae.

"Promise me."

"W-what," Tweek moaned.

"Promise me that you'll say something. That you won't just bottle it up inside anymore."

"…I can't…"

"Tweek," the boy growled sternly. "Look at me."

Fingers tilted Tweek's chin up. His gaze opened on a world of brilliant blue. Just as they always did, Craig's eyes seemed to swallow him up, making him feel insignificant and all-important at the same time.

"Craig," Tweek whimpered. "I… I love –"

"Don't tell me. Tell the real me. Promise?"

Tweek chewed his bottom lip. After a moment's hesitation, he gave a faint nod.

The doppelganger smiled. "Good boy." Then he leaned in to press their lips together.

"Hggn," Tweek moaned as the shivers overtook him. His fingers gripped painfully into Craig's back, holding him tight. Their lips kneaded together as Tweek's hips began to buck.

All too soon the wave crashed and Tweek felt his astral body being tugged back down to earth. His happy place was now somewhere far above him, closing off behind a wall of white clouds as he was unceremoniously plopped back into his body.

Tweek's eyes shot open. He was alone again. The last flickering embers of evening streamed through his window. His pillow, firm and white, seemed to stare up at him, judging him silently.

"Gaah!" Tweek shoved the thing back against the wall where it belonged, sitting up suddenly, wincing at the faint dampness he felt along the front of his underwear.

"Son of a bitch," he growled to himself, palming the sweat from his face. It was late. He still had a mountain of homework left to do. And worst of all, he'd just made a promise to his love pillow that he was going to have to keep.

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