Chapter One

:Tweek Tweak:

"Gah! I-I-I have no idea what I'm doing here!" I thought to myself as I looked around the cafeteria. It was after school, and I was in detention for the first time in my life. I have no idea how I got to be here, when something wrong happens, I tend to block it out of my mind all together. My old elementary school counselor had told me that sometimes our minds try to cope with large amounts of stress by blocking out bad memories. If that was the case, I was pretty well screwed -my entire life has been nothing but a large amount of stress- ever since my early childhood years.

"Tweek, quiet down! Jesus Christ, this is detention for fuck's sake."

Cue the involuntary twitch.

"Yes ma'am Mrs. Garrison. I-I'm sorry."

My eyes twitched nervously as I averted my gaze away from the detention monitor. For being a terrible elementary teacher, Garrison was lucky to have been promoted to high school English teacher. Maybe the school board was just incompetent, or maybe it was a plot by the gnomes! Maybe this is phase two! Gah, no, probably just the school board.. But I'm still making a mental note of it..f-for science.. Either way, my parents are going to be pissed to know that I've gotten detention.

As I sat quietly, I reflected upon my day: so far I'd had a fairly normal day, aside from punching Eric Cartman in the face hard enough to give him a black eye and a broken nose. He had started it -as always- by taking my thermos. Normally he would take my thermos, and make me beg for it back, and eventually get tired of my stuttering and twitching and just give it back to me. Today he had crossed the line. He DUMPED my coffee into the toilet. All of it! And it was a full thermos! But of course, he had gotten away with it, because I had made him bleed.

It wasn't the fact that I had gotten detention that bothered me so much as the fact that the principal had called my parents. I was pretty likely to get a beating tonight when I got home.. Tears welled up in my eyes as I began to think about going home to my angry and abusive parents.

"I don't want to go home, please, God, don't make me go home!" I thought to myself.

Just then, Garrison announced that detention was over, and for all of us "little shits to get the hell out". I lingered at the table for a moment and looked around at all of the people leaving, only to be scared shitless by someone grabbing my shoulders.

"Gah!" -twitch- "Craig, J-Jesus Christ don't do that to me! I thought you w-were a cannibal!" He just made that stupid grin of his that he always made when he scared me.

"Sorry man, figured maybe you wanted to talk about what happened today?"

I sighed and nodded, gathering my books and thermos. We chatted as we walked out of the school.

"I didn't mean to c-completely snap on Cartman like that, but he dumped my F-FULL thermos into the toilet!"

"Dude, you're a fucking legend! If I could punch Cartman is his stupid smug face like that, I would be sooo happy." Craig jabbed me in the ribs with his elbow. "Wanna stop and get a coffee at the mall before you go home?" I nodded.

If I had to face my parents after getting into a fight at school, I was going to need all the help I could get.

Chapter Two

:Craig Tucker:

Tweek and I walked out of the mall and down the street toward his house. Normally we would just walk directly to his house after school, or to mine if we were planning on having a Call Of Duty gaming marathon. Tweek used to have Call Of Duty, but during one of his panic attacks he managed to spill boiling hot coffee on the disk. He had warped it pretty bad, and to make matters worse, his parents bought it for him.

I groaned as I thought about his parents. They were the truest form of assholes. To keep Tweek from getting another black eye, I had told him to tell his parents that he'd let me borrow the game. Apparently his parents were as stupid as they were mean, because it's been two years and they still have no idea what really happened.

I laughed to myself as I thought about how close of friends Tweek and I were. We had been best friends since the day my family had moved to South Park. One thing that drew us together was our dislike of Eric Cartman and his gang. I mean, Stan and Kyle were okay, but Kenny had become a perv in middle school, and Cartman had always been a dick.

I must have been lost in my thoughts, because as Tweek began to speak I jumped.

"C-Craig? Do you think m-my parents are going to be pissed? What if they kick me out?!" He twitched violently ."W-what if they give me to the gnomes!? AAH! T-to much pressure!-"

"Tweek! Get ahold of yourself!" I stopped walking and grabbed his arm. "I'm not going to let that happen to you, alright?"

He looked at me, only his normal shaking continued instead of the violent twitching he had been doing previously. Tweek sighed.

"B-but Craig, you know how they are.. Last t-time I pissed them off like that my dad almost broke my arm.."

I winced thinking about how my mom had taken Tweek to the hospital that night. He hadn't broken his arm, but his shoulder and elbow were dislocated. My mom didn't trust his parents with his pain medicine, so he had stayed at our house for two weeks to heal and recover from the incident. I smiled; it was nice how my family cared about Tweek so much, even my dad liked Tweek. Maybe it was because they felt bad for him, and how he had such a shitty life. Either way, he would always have a home with us.

We got to Tweek's house and I pulled him into a hug, I could feel his heart beating a mile a minute. I whispered to him,

"Tweek, I'll be right next door. If I hear things going wrong I'll get my dad to come over for you, okay?"

"O-okay Craig."

He twitched violently and started walking toward his door.

Chapter Three

:Tweek Tweak:

I watched Craig walk slowly toward his house. I took a deep breath and opened the front door to my house. I peered around quietly and walked inside. It was 3:40PM, my parents would be home any minute. The coffee shop closed at 3:00PM on Fridays, so after they cleaned up the shop they would be home. I twitched and groaned as I walked into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. Maybe that would calm them down a bit, coffee always calmed me down... If you could call that being 'calm'.

While I was sitting in the kitchen drinking my first cup of coffee I heard the front door open, and then slam shut. My whole body tensed and I gulped down the rest of my coffee. My dad walked into the kitchen looking thoroughly unimpressed. I looked up at him, trying to avoid eye contact.

"H-hello sir.." I squeaked. He grunted in return.

"So you got into a fight today you little spaz? You think you're tough?" He stepped angrily toward me, the blood drained out of my body. "You better be glad that little shit-head Cartman boy's mom didn't decide to press charges on you!" He ripped me out of my seat by my hair, and I screamed in pain as he smacked me in the face with the back of his hand.

My dad threw me onto the floor and kicked me in the ribs, and a second later my mom walked into the kitchen and started screaming something at me. Not that I could understand what she was screaming. My vision started to fade and the last thing I remember before blacking out was my mom knocking a chair down onto me, and then a familiar voice saying my name.

"Tweek? Tweek, can you hear me?"

Someone was gently touching my shoulder. I opened my eyes slowly and saw Craig and his mom standing over me, and I could hear Mr. Tucker on the phone with someone. I realized I was laying on their couch, and tried to sit up slowly, only to be told by Mrs. Tucker to lay still. I nodded my head and lay back down, my whole body felt heavy. I looked over at Craig's face, and noticed that he was very, very, pale. I had only closed my eyes for what seemed to be a minute and when I opened them again I was in an unfamiliar room. Although it was pleasantly sterile and clean, the moment when I realized I was in a hospital room I freaked. (Coming from someone who was known for being a 'freak' 24/7, that's bad)

I went into panic mode at that very minute, sitting up and trying to rip my IV tubes out. The nurse rushed over to my bed to try to calm me down, but it was no use.

"Doctor, I believe the patient is going to need to be sedated."

"I agree nurse, prep the needle. I'll hold him still."

I tell you what, the moment I saw that needle, they had no need to sedate me. My spastic ass passed out. As you can tell, I don't do well with needles.

The next time I awoke, I was much calmer. When I turned my head to look around the room, the physical damage I sustained finally hit me. My head throbbed, and I could barely catch my breath. One of my eyes was swollen shut, and when I touched my face there was a large piece of gauze taped over my forehead. I groaned miserably and lay back in the hospital bed. At least the gnomes couldn't get me here.. I hope..

Chapter Four

:Craig Tucker:

Oh my God was tonight awful! If I had any idea of what was going to happen to Tweek when he got home, I never would have left him go.. My poor Tweek..

"Nngh... Gnomes..."

My head shot up. I got out of my chair and walked over to Tweek's hospital bed.

"Tweek" I whispered, "Are you alright?" I looked at the shaking boy with a knotted mop of blonde hair. He blinked and looked up at me weakly.

"C-Craig.. What happened?"

I sighed and sat on the edge of his bed, making sure that I didn't accidentally sit on him.

"Your parents didn't exactly take the news of you getting into a fight so well.. When I heard you scream I got my dad to go over and check on you.. You uh, you got hurt more than I was expecting.. I'm so sorry Tweek, I shouldn't have let you go home, I-" I tried to choke back a sob, but it turned into a full blown mental breakdown right there on his bed.

"Dude, it's ok.. I'm pretty sure that you are the reason why I'm not dead right now." Tweek said before my mom walked over to the bed and got me up. She had my dad drive me and Ruby home, while she stayed with Tweek overnight to give the doctors and police information about what happened.

When my sister, dad, and I all got home my sister went to bed. My dad took me into the kitchen and sat me down at the table.

"Craig, son, do not tell your mother that I did this for you." My father said as he opened the fridge and handed me a beer. I looked at him dumbfounded.

"Uh.. Dad? You know I'm only 17 right?"

He laughed.

"You've been through a lot tonight, I think I can make an exception to the rules. Just don't tell your mother, or anyone else for that matter. Anyway, I'm really sorry about Tweek. Nobody should have to see their best friend like that.."

I nodded and opened the can of beer, taking a swig of the bitter drink. I really preferred PBR over Budweiser.

"Dad, do you think Tweek's going to be okay?" I looked at him. My father nodded and popped the top on his beer.

"Yeah, but he's got a long road ahead of him. This whole situation isn't going to just blow over, the police and Child Protective Services are already involved. Plus now that we have multiple incidents of abuse towards him from his parents on record, there is no way that he won't be taken from his parent's home."

I fought back tears again, I didn't want Tweek to be taken away from South Park! Taken from his parents, yes, but not from Sourh Park! Not from me.. My dad must have noticed my discomfort, because he pulled me into a hug.

"It's going to be ok Craig, I promise that your mother and I are going to do everything in our power to keep Tweek from having to leave South Park."

Chapter Five

:Tweek Tweak:

Tweek's flashback-

...

Mrs. Tucker had always seemed like more of a mother to me than my own mother had.

I remember being little, somewhere around the age of four when Craig's family had moved in next door to me. I was outside in front of my house, and I was playing with my toy truck when the Tucker's moving van pulled up. I looked up from playing to see a little boy about my age, and his parents getting out of their car. Craig saw me, and immediately asked his mom if he could go play with "that shaky kid". You see, Craig USED to be social.. A long time ago. Anyway, his mom must have said yes, because he came running over to me.

"Hey, my name's Craig. What's yours?"

"T-T-Tweek, it's n-n-nice to meet you."

Craig smiled, "You wanna play?" He asked. To this very day, Craig Tucker is the only person who has never asked me why I have a stutter. He's also the only person who has never asked why I shake and twitch. From that day forward, Craig and I were together every day.

Craig's family was the closest thing I had to a real family. They had given me gifts on Christmas and my birthday, they fed me, they had even taken me to the hospital a few times. I remember being four or five and Craig and I were playing on the sidewalk when I fell. I had cut my knee open and was convinced I was going to die from an infection. Craig helped me inside and his mom cleaned my knee and put a bandage on my cut. Her maternal instincts must have kicked in when she heard me cry, because you would have sworn she was my birth mother. She kissed my freshly bandaged knee and gave me a hug.

Ever since that day, it's like something inside of her knew that I needed someone to be my mother. I will owe that to her for my entire life, because honestly I believe that if Mr. and Mrs. Tucker hadn't cared about me, I'd be dead right now.

...

It was somewhere around 3:00AM when I finally woke back up, my head was pounding so hard that I involuntarily groaned loud enough for the nurse to give me more Morphine. I looked to the right of me and saw that Mrs. Tucker was sleeping in the chair by my bed. She stirred and woke at the sound of the nurse coming in, she smiled when she saw that I was awake.

"How are you feeling Tweek dear?"

"I.. I th-think I'm okay.. My head feels fuzzy and I h-h-have a dry mouth, but I think I'm okay." I gently touched my bandaged forehead with a shaky hand. "H-how bad is my head?"

She sighed and sat up in her chair.

"Your head got busted open by a chair, you ended up with.. I believe 8 stitches on your forehead. Your shithead father managed to give you a concussion, a black eye, and two cracked ribs.. And he tore out a handful of your hair." I reached up to touch the sore spot on my head and found that I was, indeed, missing a large handful of hair. I groaned thinking about how sore that would be tomorrow.

Mrs. Tucker looked at me sadly and put her hand on my head gently.

"At least you can come home with us around noon today. We will figure out what to do from there. The police said that because you are already 17, and turning 18 in November, that you may be able to get emancipated from your parents. Either way, you'll have to answer a few questions for the police before you get to go home.."

I twitched and shook my head.

"That's too much pressure! Ack-" Mrs. Tucker cut me off.

"You can do this Tweek, we are all here for you."

I nodded and closed my eyes, that Morphine was starting to kick in.

"C-Can I have a drink of water?"

"Of course you can Tweek."

Chapter Six

:Craig Tucker:

I don't think I had gotten any sleep that night. I tossed and turned in my bed as I thought about Tweek being in the hospital. He absolutely hated the hospital.. And the doctor's office.. And the dentist's.. And shoe stores for some weird reason.. But I could only imagine how stressed out he was right now. At least my mom was with him, that would help him a bit. I just wish that I was there with him.. Tweek may be the one who worries about everything, but that doesn't compare to how much I worried about him.

I finally drifted off to sleep, only to wake up what seemed like seconds later. It was my little sister, Ruby. I groaned and sat up, she flipped me off and I returned the gesture.

"Craig? Do you think that Tweek is gonna be okay?" I picked Ruby up and sat her in the bed with me.

"He's going to be okay, he's probably going to come home today. He's just going to be really sore for a while."

Ruby nodded and snuggled up against me, I pulled the blanket up and wrapped her in it. She'd had this habit of sneaking into my room for years, and there was no way I could tell her to leave. Believe it or not, I actually loved my little sister, even though she was a pain in the ass sometimes.

My dad came in around 8 o'clock in the morning and woke us up. I was too anxious to eat breakfast, so as soon as my dad and Ruby were done eating we left to go to the hospital to see Tweek. When we got there the police were already asking him some questions about his home life and his parents. He looked surprisingly good for what all he had been through, I mean yeah, he was bruised and stuff, but he looked perky.

We stood quietly by the door to his room until the police left, when I walked through the room I saw Tweek's face light up.

"H-hey man!"

I smiled and walked over to him.

"Hey dude. How are you feeling? Your face looks better than it did yesterday!" I watched him twitch and subconsciously touch his forehead.

"I feel like I've b-been hit by a truck, but every once and a while the Morphine ki-kicks in and I forget about the pain." His face relaxed and I could tell that his meds were working. "I-I'm just worried about them taking the IV out. W-what if they rip out my vein and I bleed to death?! Or-or they-" Tweek yawned and stopped mid-sentence, they must have upped his dosage.

Contrary to what Tweek thought, they did not rip out his vein taking the IV out. It did take me and my parents to hold him still for the nurse to take out the IV though. Tweek may only be 17, and 120 pounds, but boy did he put up a fight. After that ordeal, the doctor decided Tweek was free to go home under supervision. Naturally, he stayed with us at home.

...

I helped Tweek up the stairs and into my room, and gently sat him on my bed. Tweek smiled and lay back on the bed, happy to be out of the hospital. I could tell that his pain killers were starting to wear off though, because every time he took a breath he would grit his teeth. I felt so bad for him, my poor Tweek.. I touched his hair gently, avoiding the tender red spot where his hair had been torn out. It pissed me off that ANYONE would be able to hurt such an innocent person..

"C-Craig.. I love you.."

I froze. Did he just? He said?

I looked at Tweek, and realized that he was asleep. I sighed and pulled my blanket over him, I turned the lights off and turned on my Xbox. I turned the volume all the way down and played Call Of Duty while he slept.

Chapter Seven

:Tweek Tweak:

I was so glad to be out of the hospital, hospitals really freak me out. I knew that I would have to answer questions about my parents, and about what all happened yesterday, but I had no idea how... In depth.. The questions would be. The police asked me the basic stuff I suppose, like 'Can you tell me everything that happened yesterday' and 'Can you describe your relationship with your parents'. Then the Child Protective Services people asked a shit ton of questions.. Questions I was afraid to answer.. The worst one was, 'Has something like this ever happened before', I felt like ripping out all of my hair at that point.

I was very grateful to have the Tucker's take me in. They already had two kids, and they were basically going to take me in like one of their own. I often wondered if all families were like them, they were just so.. Perfect! At least compared to my psycho family. All my family did was fight and make coffee.

...

When we got back to Craig's house, he helped me into his room where I managed to fall asleep in the middle of his bed at only 2:00PM. These meds were really messing me up. I had some messed up dreams, and I swear that in one I told Craig that I loved him. It's not like it's a lie, I really do love him. I've been in love with him since the 4th grade, but I've always been too afraid to tell him.. It's not like I can risk losing my only friend. If I knew that it wouldn't freak him out and make him hate me, I would tell him the truth. Maybe I'll work up the courage s-some day...

When I woke up, Craig was asleep on the floor in front of his TV, with the TV still on. I smiled and watched him sleep. He was so cute, laying on the floor snoring. He still had his hat on, he barely ever took that thing off. He told me once that he hated his hair, and that's why he always wore his hat. Craig stirred in his sleep and now laid flat on his back, with his mouth open, snoring louder than a bear. I laughed softly and clutched my side, God did my ribs hurt. I must have groaned and coughed a little too loudly, because Craig stopped snoring and sat up. He looked like he hadn't slept last night.

Craig stretched as he yawned, and then stood up.

"You okay Tweeker?" He had called me that name since we were little, it was his form of a pet name.

"Y-yeah, just a little sore. You didn't need to sleep on the floor," I chuckled, "I can scoot over and w-we can share the bed." Craig blushed slightly.

"I don't want to hurt you or anything. You know that I roll around a lot in my sleep." He chuckled, thinking of the time he accidentally hoofed me off the bed.

"D-don't worry dude, it's fine." I carefully scooted to the right side of the bed and Craig lay down beside me. He was so warm, I didn't realize how cold I was until he was beside me in the bed. Craig looked at me as he pulled the blanket up over us.

"Tweeker, I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday.. I had no idea what was going to happen.. If I knew what your dad was going to do, I would have never let you go." I could tell that he was upset, at least he had calmed down since last night. I hated seeing him so upset over something he couldn't control.

"I-it's ok Craig! There was n-no way for you to know that my dad was going t-to act like that." I could tell that Craig was trying to hold himself together, he always made the same face when he was trying not to cry. I squeezed his hand to reassure him.

The room was covered in an awkward silence, the only sounds were my spastic groans and Craig's breathing.

Chapter Eight

:Craig Tucker:

Tweek was holding my hand, and I had no idea what to do. In all honesty, I never thought I was attracted to Tweek until now. Let me reword that, I never knew that I was 100% in love with Tweek until now. I mean yeah, I always had this thought of being with Tweek, but I never thought he would feel the same way..

I never really thought of my sexuality much. I always kind of assumed I was straight, I had only ever dated girls. Tweek had only ever dated girls too. Well, I should say 'girl'. The only girl he ever dated was my cousin, Red. They dated for about 2 months until Red got sick of Tweek's involuntary mannerisms. He wasn't exactly heartbroken, he never expected it to last. I still felt bad for him though.

I realized I was still holding Tweek's hand, my face turned bright red. When I looked at Tweek, he was already looking at me. I cleared my throat and let go of his hand.

"Uh, s-sorry man. I wasn't paying attention. Heh.." I looked down at my hands, trying not to make even more of a fool out of myself. I suddenly realized that I hadn't eaten anything all day, and I was famished. I got out of the bed. "I'm gonna go make a sandwich, do you want one?"

Tweek nodded, he must have been starving too. "Y-yeah man, I'm starving!" I laughed as I walked out to get us some food.

I came back in a few minutes later with sandwiches, snacks, and drinks for us. Along with Tweek's pain medicine, which my mom said he would probably appreciate. Tweek was sleeping when I came back in, so I had to wake him up to get him to eat and take his medicine.

"Tweek, dude, you gotta take your meds."

"Th-th-thanks man, can I have a drink?" I handed him a coke and his pills. Tweek gulped them down and sat up in the bed. "I didn't realize how dry m-my m-mouth was until now." He laughed.

I smiled, and handed him his sandwich. We knew each other so well, we knew how each other liked their sandwiches. Tweek preferred ham and cheese with one slice of lettuce and the crust cut off. Haha, he was so weird. We sat together and ate our dinner. I asked Tweek how he was feeling.

"N-not too bad, definitely sore, but not killer bad. Hopefully the meds kick in soon, m-my ribs bother me the most.." He touched his forehead softly where it was bandaged. "I wish I could s-s-see my stitches though."

I chuckled at the thought.

"I doubt that you want to see them, it'll probably freak you out. You don't exactly do well with gory stuff." He freaked out.

"Ack! D-do you think they will leave a scar!? That's way too much pressure! W-what about when they take them out? W-w-will it hurt-"

I kissed him. I have no idea what came over me, but I kissed him. On the lips. My best friend. Who is also a boy, and whom I have no idea if he's gay. I could feel my whole body turn red and hot..

Chapter Nine

:Tweek Tweak:

Well I can't say that wasn't pleasant, but I think my heart is going to explode from beating so hard. I could feel my whole body get really hot, and I KNEW I was red.

"C-c-Craig?" I was shaking so bad.

Craig looked away, his face bright red. I knew he was about to cry.

"I'm sorry Tweek.. I, uh.. I don't know what just came over me.. I hope you don't like, hate me or feel weirded out.." I smiled and took his hand.

"You have n-no idea how long I've wanted you to do that. I l-love you Craig." Craig looked back at me, he was still bright red.

"I love you too Tweek. I'm sorry it took me until you got hurt to finally tell you." He took my hand and squeezed it. I don't think I've ever been this happy in my whole life! I sighed happily and leaned against Craig in the bed, putting my head on his shoulder.

"I'm just glad you feel th-the same way as I do, I was a-afraid that you'd never make a move and I'd die alone! With 50 cats! A-and the gnomes!" My eye twitched. A life without Craig would be worse than a life of drinking nothing but decaf coffee!

That night he and I fell asleep together on his bed, my head on his shoulder and his arm around me. I only woke up once with a panic attack, but when I did Craig squeezed my hand, which calmed me down. When I woke up around 4 in the morning from pain, Craig got up and got me my medicine.

...

Later that day, Craig's mom said I was allowed to walk around a bit, but not too much because I was still healing. So Craig and I got dressed and took a little walk to the park. We avoided my house, even though we were sure that my parents were in custody, we didn't want to risk it.

We walked together to the park, and I was glad we chose to go there; it was a beautiful day out. We sat on our favorite swings by each other. We laughed and talked while we sat on the swings, this was the best day I've had in a long time.

"Man, I am so glad that you're okay Tweek. I don't know what I would do without you. I also wanted to ask you about last night.."

Oh God! Don't tell me he changed his mind! Ahh too much pressure!

"W-what about last night, C-Craig?"

"Did you really mean what you said? About loving me? It want just your medicine was it?" I've never seen Craig so.. Open. And exposed.. It almost made my heart hurt.

"I meant every word of it C-Craig, I've loved you since we w-were little kids."

I grabbed Craig's hand and looked him in the eye. "I will always l-love you Craig."

"I love you too Tweek." He smiled and squeezed my hand.

It was a great moment! Until I heard a too-familiar voice followed by heavy footsteps. I groaned, knowing this wouldn't end well.

Chapter Ten

:Craig Tucker:

Leave it to fucking Cartman to ruin a romantic moment.

"Ah! So the spaz is also a fucking fag! Oh, just wait until all the guys hear about this!"

I let go of Tweek's hand and clenched my fists.

"Oh shut the fuck up fatass! At least I have someone who loves me."

He marched around the swings so he was facing us, Tweek was shaking so badly, I thought he was going to fall off the swing. As soon as I saw Cartman's face I busted out laughing. He had a black eye, and his nose was a bright blackish-purple color. That pissed him off, I could tell because his ugly face turned bright red.

Cartman looked at Tweek and got an evil grin on his face.

"So fag, I see that Craig's a rough lover huh? Or did your mommy hit you again?" He bust out laughing at his own joke. Poor Tweek was white and fighting back tears.

"Back off, fucker." I stood up, gritting my teeth.

"Oh come on, it's fuckin' funny! Poor little fag, his mommy and daddy never wanted him. Is that why that always hit you? Is that why-" One punch to the back of his head was all it took to drop that fat little fucker.

He fell flat on his face, and that's where Tweek and I left him lay. We walked back to my house, holding hands the whole time. I had no idea what life was going to throw at us, but I didn't care. As long as I had Tweek, things were going to be okay.