Every step he takes is agony. He holds his hand against his side, trying to put as much pressure as possible on the wound. He's already lost a fair amount of blood and his body is weak, but the adrenaline coursing through his veins keeps him going. He just has to make it to the house up ahead. The proverbial light at the end of the dark tunnel. Sure, he could just lie down in a ditch somewhere and die, but every time he does that, it just hurts so fucking much. Physically yes, but more so on a mental and emotional level, especially if he dies alone. He really only chooses to let himself die like that when there's no other option. He'd rather have the one he loves help patch him up. To make everything better. The one he loves somehow always could. But of course, of all the nights for a patrol to go wrong, it has to be a goddamn Thursday.

Craig was currently cuddled up on the couch under a giant blanket with one of his beloved sweeties. The glow from the television illuminated the other man's disheveled blond hair. He really needed to get a haircut soon, but now was not the time to bring it up. Tonight was date night. In the meantime, Craig could at least appreciate the extra length and body. He gently stroked the fluffy hair, sometimes lightly scratching the scalp underneath. Every time his nails made a pass at the young man's scalp, he made a slight purring noise and nuzzled even deeper into the crook of Craig's arm.

The coffee on the table next to them was long cold, which would usually be odd for Tweek, but on date night, he rarely finished ever it. He chose instead to drink in Craig. His smell, his taste, his touch, all of it. He had to in order to get through the rest of the week. Sure, he got to see Craig in passing during the other six days, but this was the only night a week that they both had off from work, hence Thursday date nights. Craig's other night off was reserved for his other special someone, which was fine with Tweek because he worked those nights. He occasionally had some pangs of jealousy, but he had gotten very good at communicating and talking out these feelings as soon as they were noticed.

Another episode of Doctor Who was wrapping up, the credits rolling across the screen.

"Do you wanna watch another one, honey?" Craig kissed the top of Tweek's head and muttered into his hair. "You know I can keep watching all night, so it's up to you."

"Ngh, how about one more and then we'll go to bed?"

"Sounds great." The raven-haired man squeezed his partner's hand and pressed a few buttons to get the next episode to start up.

A few minutes into the episode, both men startled when they heard a strange bang from upstairs.

"What the fuck was that?!" Tweek shrieked, pulling the blankets up over his head.

"I have no fucking clue…" Craig replied.

He wanted to stay by Tweek's side and make him feel safe, but he also knew that he had to go investigate the noise. It could have just been something falling down, but it also could have been someone breaking in, for all he knew. Tweek knew he had to do this, too, so he took a deep breath and reassured his boyfriend.

"I'll be okay. I'd rather you find out what it actually was because it's probably worse in my head."

Craig stood up and moved toward the closet by the stairs. He opened it and retrieved a sturdy wooden bat that he had kept from his high school baseball days. He never really enjoyed the game, but he'd been surprisingly good. He'd also learned that being a sports star in school got you some extra leeway from teachers, so he stuck with it until graduation for the sweet perks. He kept the bat nowadays as a weapon, just in case someone ever broke into his house…or in case of a zombie apocalypse. He held the bat loosely in his right hand and rotated his wrist, swinging the bat around a few times like he'd done before stepping up to the plate. He took a deep breath and began up the stairs.

The floor creaked under his weight and he winced at the sound. So much for trying to sneak up on the hypothetical intruder. He heard more noises coming from his bedroom, his eyes darting to the closed door. He carefully approached the door and slowly turned the knob as quietly as he could. He swung the it open and stepped back with the bat up over his left shoulder, ready to swing if a thief suddenly jumped out of the room.

"Craig?"

That didn't sound like a robber. That sounded kind of like Kenny? What would Kenny be doing in his bedroom on a Thursday night?

"Ken?"

"Craig…I…" His voice sounded so small and frail. "…help…please."

Craig dropped the bat and rushed into the room, flicking on the light as he passed through the doorway. He saw Kenny in his Mysterion uniform collapsed onto his knees on the bedroom floor. He was doubled over and panting heavily. Both of his hands were pressed into the right side of his body. His face was starting to look pale.

"Oh shit, hold on, Kenny!" Craig rushed down the hallway to his bathroom and rummaged under the sink for any supplies he might need.

This wasn't the first time that Kenny had showed up at Craig's place in the middle of the night dressed as Mysterion. The first time it happened had obviously taken Craig by surprise. He had been sleeping in bed when there was a loud banging at the window. He nearly had a heart attack being woken that way. He had rushed to the window and opened it in one big motion, pulling Kenny inside and closing the window behind him. That night, Kenny had been beaten up pretty badly and was bleeding from his mouth and his ears. Craig had insisted that he bring Kenny to the hospital to get looked at, but Kenny yelled at him that he couldn't go to a hospital because he was quote 'a fucking vigilante' and they'd turn him in to the authorities. It was the first and only time that Kenny had ever raised his voice around Craig, so he quickly dropped the issue and decided to just trust that Kenny knew his body best. Craig had been so put on the spot and at a loss for supplies the night that all he could do was hand his boyfriend a bottle of whiskey. He'd told him to swish and spit so that the cuts in his mouth would be disinfected. Kenny had chosen to swish and swallow, but the swishing was the important part. Since that night, Craig had made sure that he had plenty of first aid supplies around, including suture supplies, just in case.

Craig moved swiftly back into the bedroom and dropped the supplies in a pile on his bed. He spread out a towel for Kenny to sit on so that the sheets didn't get dirty.

"Can you stand, babe?" he asked while putting on a pair of disposable gloves.

"Ungh…yeah…kinda."

Kenny reached his arms up to Craig, who helped lift him onto his feet. Once he was standing, Craig guided him to the bed and tugged down on his blood soaked pants before sitting him back down onto the towel.

"Jesus Christ, what happened?!" Craig asked, his eyes widened at a deep cut into his right thigh.

Kenny pulled up on the bottom hem of his top, exposing another large gash along his upper right hip. "I was fighting with this guy who was trying to break into the Stotch's house and he suddenly pulled a knife out and stabbed me in the side." He glanced down at the wound. "Luckily for me, he was a lousy shot and ended up stabbing downward, so he got me more in my pelvic bone than any important organs. It still bled like a motherfucker."

"I can see that."

"I was able to gain the upper hand because of his mistake, but he managed to get me one more time in my thigh before I was able to knock him out."

Craig helped him finish taking off his shirt, leaving Kenny completely naked. He used a warm wet cloth to begin wiping off any access blood from the intact skin around the wounds.

"Don't scare me like that, babe. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you. Especially if it was because of some fucking two-bit robber douche," Craig replied flatly, but his eyes showing love and concern.

"Thank you for this," Kenny mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "And I'm sorry for interrupting you and… I wouldn't…you know I wouldn't normally…"

Before Craig could respond, they heard a high pitched battlecry from the hallway as Tweek burst in with a frying pan above his head. Once he saw what was going on, he stopped so quickly in his tracks that he stumbled to the ground.

"What the hell was that, Tweek?" Craig asked, half surprised and half amused.

"I heard more banging around up here and then you didn't come back down, so I thought the robber caught you and tied you up and was torturing you! So…I was coming to save you!"

"With a frying pan?" Craig laughed.

"Well…I…you already had the bat!"

Tweek paused to get a better look at the scene in front of him. First he noticed the blood, and then he noticed that Kenny was there, but his clothing was not.

"Oh Jesus!" He covered his eyes and cheeks with his hands, trying to hide his growing blush. "What the fuck is going on?"

"Kenny was the one who snuck in through the window…like an idiot, by the way…" He gave Kenny a dirty look.

Kenny muttered, "But that's Mysterion's thing…" before Craig continued.

"And he was bleeding pretty badly, so I had to stay with him and get him fixed up. I'm sorry I didn't call down to you, honey. You must've felt worried and scared."

"Yeah, I did." Tweek grabbed at his shirt and twisted the fabric between his fingers.

An awkward silence washed over the room as Craig began to pour betadine over the wounds now that he had finished cleaning them with some normal saline. The two metamours knew each other well from growing up in the same small town, but ever since they both started dating Craig, they were rarely in the same room together. Neither of them knew what to say to the other. Kenny grunted when Craig stuck the needle into the skin of his thigh, beginning the process of suturing him up.

Kenny looked over at Tweek. He looked nervous and disappointed. Kenny couldn't blame him. He'd just shown up at Craig's house on their designated date night in the most invasive way possible, and it must've felt like Kenny was taking away from their precious time together. Kenny knew he'd feel similarly if he'd been the one in Tweek's shoes.

"Hey Tweek…I'm so sorry. I didn't want to interrupt your date night…" He chuckled to himself. "I might not have lost as much blood if I hadn't fucking hesitated coming here. I stood around trying to figure out who else I could go to since it was Thursday, but I couldn't think of anyone else who knows how to sew me up and wouldn't judge my reckless ass."

Tweek was silent for a moment. He stared into Kenny's blue eyes and it looked like he was searching for something unspoken. His lips twitched a little before he broke into a smile.

"Thank you for that. I'm okay, though. This is definitely a priority situation. It's not like he snuck up here to have sex with you while he was still on a date with me."

Craig paused what he was doing to look up into Kenny's face. "Don't you dare get any ideas, fucker."

Kenny's responding laugh was cut short by an agonizing scream when Craig began to stitch him up again. The adrenaline of the earlier fight was starting to wear off and he was beginning to feel the pain much more intensely now.

Tweek jumped up and ran over to Kenny's side, grabbing his hand and squeezing it gently. "You can squeeze my hand as hard as you have to. You're allowed to break my fingers if you need to." Kenny looked at the twitchy blond man in stunned silence. "It's…it's something Craig always says to me when I get panic attacks," Tweek continued. "It helps me a lot…helps me focus, and…it looks like maybe you could use it, too."

Kenny stared into Tweek's face and could only find care and concern. Kenny squeezed Tweek's hand hard and grit his teeth as Craig continued to work. Tweek squeezed his eyes shut and did his best to not fixate on how strong Kenny's grip was. It was like he was trying to absorb Kenny's pain into his own body. Craig continued working, first on the thigh, then on the hip. Finally he finished up the last of the stitches before carefully tying off the suture and cutting the thread.

When Craig stood up and began to discard of his materials, Kenny didn't immediately let go of Tweek's hand. Tweek opened his eyes and saw Kenny looking at him and smiling. Kenny put his other hand on top of Tweek's and squeezed gently. Thank you, he silently mouthed.

Craig brought Kenny the extra set of clothes that he kept at his place, just in case. Kenny gave Tweek's hand another squeeze before letting go. He stood up and began to get dressed, deciding to keep the blush he'd noticed across Tweek's face to himself. Tweek got up and gave Kenny some space. He moved over to Craig's side, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend's waist and pulling him close.

"I promise I'll make this up to you, Tweek. I'll ask for an extra day off work and we can go somewhere. Maybe Aspen?" He placed a kiss on the shorter man's forehead.

"Gah! You know how I feel about ski slopes and the possibility of an avalanche! But no, really, you don't have to do that. I'm not upset, Craig." He rested his head on Craig's shoulders and lowered his voice to a whisper. "I'm glad he came here and I could help. I don't want anything to happen to Kenny either."

"Well," Kenny interrupted, "I should be heading back now. I'll put some gauze over the stitches when I get home, babe. Thanks for your help…" He glanced over to Tweek and winked. "…both of you."

"Hey, where the fuck do you think you're going without a kiss goodbye first?"

Kenny grinned as Craig ran over and grabbed his shoulders, first planting a rough kiss on his lips, then a second one that was longer, softer, gentler.

"Be careful out there, okay Ken?"

Kenny silently nodded and put his foot up on the windowsill.

"Y-you don't have to go!" Tweek sputtered out.

Both Craig and Kenny turned to look at him with questioning looks.

"I mean…if you don't want to."

"Honey?" Craig inquired.

"Well…I mean…clearly Kenny's been through a lot tonight and he must still be in a lot of pain, so…so I was thinking maybe he'd want to stay with us so we can keep an eye on him…" He began to play with the buttons on his shirt, unable to look either man in the eyes. "We still have a Doctor Who episode on downstairs…" he mumbled.

Craig chuckled at Tweek's sudden shyness. "That's true. We also have a warm blanket that could fit three people under it." He looked at both men, a smile on his face so large that his teeth were showing. "To have both of my boyfriends with me at the same time? I think you know what my answer is, but it's up to you, Kenny."

Kenny paused, thinking over the proposition in his head. He always wanted to be patched up by the one he loved, but the potential of the one becoming two was a little thrilling. It surely wouldn't happen overnight, but he was interested in seeing where the possibility could lead.

"I'd love to stay."

They all headed downstairs to the couch and got comfortable under the blanket, hand in hand in hand. Maybe Thursday nights weren't so bad after all.