It was like some sort of fucked up arranged marriage. Tweek Tweak, the paranoid kid who hated having attention on himself, and Craig Tucker, the boy who loved things nice and boring, were now forced into the top of the current social hierarchy by a group of Asian girls.
Craig sighed heavily, staring across the table at the twitchy blonde who was now labeled as his 'boyfriend'. Around four days ago, a group of exchange students had spread drawings of the duo- mostly romantic, but some sexual- around town. Craig had no idea why everyone took their fantasies as the truth, even with both of them being very openly opposed, but even their parents didn't believe them.
Craig had talked Tweek into acting like they 'broke up', to stop all the rumors; however, after seeing everyone so upset by their split, Tweek convinced Craig into acting like they got back together. At the very least, Craig was convinced that his new 'boyfriend' was a very good actor. He was now faced with a more difficult task- keeping things normal between them.
"... Tweek." He watched as the blond let out a surprised "gah!", darting his olive eyes to meet the raven-haired boy's deep blue ones.
"J-Jesus Christ, wh-what?" He tugged nervously at his tie. When they started high school, Craig and all his friends chose to reinvent themselves- Token grew out his hair and braided it neatly, opting for mostly music-related clothing. It was a good look for him. Clyde had gone the opposite direction, lazily growing his brunette hair into a messy mop and wearing only graphic t-shirts and baggy jeans. Craig and Tweek ended up with a similar style, possibly because Tweek was desperately grasping for an identification at the time. When Craig died a cobalt streak in his raven-colored hair, Tweek followed like a shadow and decided on a pastel green. When Craig got snakebites and a tongue piercing, Tweek got a bellybutton ring and an industrial bar. Their closets would practically be interchangeable if Tweek wasn't so lanky... No wonder the Asian girls thought they were a couple.
"Calm down, dude. We just need to talk about this while our parents aren't breathing down our necks." He watched as the blond's eyes darted around in a frightened way. "... Breathe, Tweek." He'd known for years that he had to be gentle with the jittery boy, and it was even more important now that they were 'dating' and people could tell him off for verbal abuse if he was rough with him like he was with anyone else. He slowly stood up, retrieving another cup of coffee for the coffee addict. He swore, Tweak Bros. coffee had to be laced with something by the way Tweek acts about it. After sitting the cup in front of Tweek and watching him gulp down the scalding black liquid, wincing at how many burns this kid must have in his throat, he sat back down. "... Better?"
"A-ah! S-sorry Craig... I-I'm fine!" He continued to stutter in a screeching voice. Even after his voice changed, it was still pretty shrill- not that Craig was one to talk, with his voice still being extremely nasal. Tweek closed his eyes for a moment, seemingly regaining some sliver of calm. They were in his parents' coffee house, Tweak Bros. Coffee, which made him a bit on edge to begin with after working there since he was a kid, but talking one-on-one with Craig did cause the blond to stutter a little less. "What do we need to talk about?" Craig calmed down somewhat as well when Tweak stopped being as on-edge.
"Well, if you thought acting during our 'breakup' was hard, now we've got to act like a couple. Like, all the time. Until this stupid town and our parents get bored of all of this and forget it ever happened." He watched Tweek's occasional muscle spasms from across the table. He was thinking very intently.
"How was my acting last time...?" Craig was a little surprised at the sudden question, but his eternally neutral face wouldn't show it.
"You... did fine, Tweek. You took it a little too far, but it was believable." All of this was an incredible understatement, considering Craig was trying to make their 'breakup scene' short and simple, whereas Tweek got intense and angry. He even through in an accusation of cheating and manipulation. At the time, Craig was completely pissed off; looking back, however, Tweek genuinely tried to do as the taller boy said. He got too into the role, sure, but in his own words: Craig made him believe in himself. He couldn't stay mad at the twitchy, jittery boy over something like that. The blond thought to himself again, twitching and spilling a little of his coffee on his hand.
"I think we'll b-be able to do this..." He tugged at his tie again. The raven-haired boy watched him, wondering how Tweek never choked himself with it, but it was still better than tearing his hair out. "W-we just have to... Ah! ... Make it believable...!"
Craig watched with his mouth somewhat agape, though still nearly expressionless. He was half-expecting Tweek to yell his signature 'it's too much pressure!', like the last time Craig told him they had to act. Had he... enjoyed acting? Tweek started to shake and twitch yet again, his anxiety growing from Craig's silence. "... That's a good attitude, Tweek." a sliver of hope flashed across Tweek's face before the door to the coffee shop creaked open. Craig peered over in time to see Mr. Tweak and, without hesitation, grabbed one of Tweek's warm, rough hands. Tweek jumped, nearly spilling more of his coffee, but stifled his normal shrieks by squeezing his eyes shut for a moment.
"You boys play nice," he heard the man's voice ring across the room before taking his place behind the counter. Craig gently turned Tweek's hand around in his own while waiting for Mr. Tweak to take his attention off of them. The somewhat younger boy had several callus-like burns on his hands, likely from his jittery hands trying to hold onto scalding coffee. His fingernails were messily coated in a pastel green polish. He did it himself now, more or less painting his entire fingertips and hoping it washes off of his skin in the shower, but Craig helped him the first time. Tweek had thought Craig painting his nails black was cool, so he wanted to do the same... They had both taken being able to hang out as friends for granted. The blue-eyed boy let out a large sigh before standing up, keeping Tweek's hand in his own.
"Let's go for a walk, Tweek."
"C-Christ, okay...!" he was shaking as he stood up, getting nervous yet again. Craig was staring at the ground, avoiding eye-contact with Tweek's dad and interlocking his fingers with his 'boyfriend' as they left. He gave Tweek's hand a reassuring squeeze as he held the door open for him. Tweek was getting on edge again, likely because of his dad. While Craig's parents initially reacted negatively to the news that the two had gotten 'together', they eventually came around. Tweek's parents, on the other side, responded very positively- too positively. His dad saw having a 'gay son' as a business opportunity. This might have been why Tweek changed his mind about wanting to keep their charade up... It was too much pressure for the poor guy.
They walked down Shi Tpa Town in silence for awhile before Craig released the other boy to pull out a lighter and a pack of Newports. He noticed the immediate discomfort creep across the blond's face as his muscle spasms started again. "Calm down, Tweek." It didn't work so easily this time.
"Cr-Craig, you're not even old enough to smoke...!" The raven lit his cigarette, taking a long draw.
"Only by a few months, relax." The smoke poured out of his mouth as he talked, filling Tweek's lungs with second-hand smoke and causing him to cough.
"G-gah! Jesus Christ, y-you're gonna kill both of us!" Craig shook his head in response.
"I read online that it's not that risky. Maybe if I were a chain-smoker, but I'm not." He'd started smoking when Clyde did when they were sixteen. Clyde's smoking was short-lived, due to wanting to keep his place on the football team, but Craig enjoyed it. He would smoke when he was stressed, and being around Tweek admittedly didn't help his stress levels. He watched Tweek's widened eyes dart around. "... Deep breaths, Tweek." He captured the thin boy's hand yet again, holding on tightly.
"A-ah...! O-oh... Alright..." He was still twitching and darting his eyes around, but he stood still as Craig blew a ring of smoke at him, trying to show him that the smoke wouldn't kill him. Tweek squeezed his eyes tightly shut, coughing somewhat. "... I-it sort of smells like mint..." Craig snorted a little through his nose before giving him a short, monotone laugh.
"They're menthols, not mints, Tweek." The blond opened his eyes, staring at the ground. He seemed a little embarrassed, but Craig didn't see anything particularly weird about what he said, so he just gave his hand another squeeze as they walked forward.