Craig blindly stared at the scenery rushing by the dirty car window – watching absently as darkening clouds rapidly concealed a full moon and engulfed the moving vehicle in darkness. It was late, probably nearing midnight and it had been hours since him and Tweek had made a proper pit stop on their spur of the moment cross-country college tour.
He was bored and a little tired, and if spotted Tweek's eyelids droop shut one more time he was going to reach over and physically remove his boyfriend from the behind the wheel. Craig was kind of surprised the car hadn't veered off the poorly lit road already. He was brought out of his disinterested musings by a jaw-achingly loud yawn spilling from Tweek's mouth.
"Tweek?" he gently reached a hand out to nudge at the boy's shoulders. "Pull over, babe. Let me drive for a while, yeah?"
"Gah!" Tweek jolted in his seat at the sudden break in silence – his hands tightened their hold on the steering wheel to an almost white-knuckled grip. "Jesus! I-I'm fine! I swear!"
Craig snorted with disbelief – he didn't believe his for a second. "You can barely keep your eyes open, babe. You're exhausted. Let me take over for a couple of hours so you can rest for a bit."
Tweek's gaze shifted from the road ahead to glance at his boyfriend's concerned face for a brief moment. "Are you sure? Because I can keep going! I'm not even that t-tired!" he replied, chewing his bottom lip in thought.
"Yeah… no," Craig shook his head before pointing to an abandoned gas station that was coming up on their left. "Just pull over there and we can switch. Actually, why don't you slip into the back and lie down for sec. I packed your favourite pillow and that old patchwork quilt of mine you love so much. It's under one of the seats, I think."
"Mm, okay…" Tweek nodded, murmuring sleepily as he followed Craig's instructions. When the car came to a halt he sluggishly unclipped his seatbelt and awkwardly hoisted himself over the gearbox – stopping only for a second to place a soft kiss on his boyfriend's cheek. "Thanks, Craig. Wake me up in two hours, alright?"
"Will do, love," Craig quickly answered even though he had absolutely no intention of waking Tweek until the boy had at least four hours of uninterrupted sleep. For the past week and a half, Tweek had woken up in the middle of the night, gasping for breath as he agonised over nightmares he never seemed to remember. No matter how much they cuddled or Craig consoled him, he was always too shaken up to be able to fall back asleep again.
'If he can make it to sunrise without waking' Craig thought to himself as he climbed into the seat Tweek had just vacated, 'I'll buy him coffee and chocolate chip pancakes as an apology breakfast.'
An 'I'm-sorry-I-lied-but-you-haven't-been-sleeping-much-lately-and-I-had-to-do-something' breakfast.
Tweek deserved it.
I love my stubborn, sleep, soft boy.
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