"What?"
"Huh?"
"Never?"
Three pairs of eyes were fixed on a small blond teen, who was twitching and pulling nervously at his clothes. His aquamarine eyes darted from face to face quickly, one occasionally blinking out of turn.
"Tweekers, tell me you're joking," said one of the other teens. He wore a blue hoodie and dark jeans. Black bangs stuck out form under his deep blue hat and fell into one of his dark eyes, both of which were focused on the pale blond in front of him.
"I think Clyde went into a coma," said the black teen standing next to the blue clad boy. He was the tallest of the boys there. His purple long sleeve shirt and blue jeans were form fitting and complemented his muscular build. One of his hands was hidden under his dreads as he scratched his head. His eyes had switched from the twitching blond to their last companion.
The boy he had been joking about may as well have been in a coma. The teen hadn't moved since the blond had made his surprising statement. A shocked expression was frozen on his chubby face, brown bangs falling into wide, chocolate eyes, and mouth hanging open. The brunette wore a red 'Cows' jacket zipped over a t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. His arms were full of different kinds of fireworks, a few of which were falling to the ground. He was so stunned by his friend's news that he didn't notice them fall.
"Oh my god!" the blond yelled, pulling at his wild hair that was sticking up in every direction. He wore a green button up t-shirt and tight worn-out jeans. Red and white striped sleeves poked out from under his green shirt, hugging his forearms. "I killed Clyde! What do I do Token?"
"Relax Tweek," the black boy said. "He's still breathing." Token paused to glance at the comatose teen, a small smirk forming on his lips. "Still though, you shocked him pretty good." The blond twitched again.
"Ack! It really isn't that bad, is it Craig?" he asked, turning to the black haired teen. He raised a single dark eyebrow at the question before casually shrugging his blue clad shoulders.
"Sorry Tweekers, but it's pretty sad that you've never set off fireworks before," Craig said to the pale teen twitching in front of him. "I mean, you're fifteen. Almost everyone else has been setting them off since they were like five."
"They scare me. Nngh," Tweek defended, trying hard to hold back his twitches while he explained himself. "What if something went wrong, and I ended up losing an arm or a leg or dying?! I could end up like the kid in North Park," he said, referring to the boy that lost a hand because of a firecracker when they were nine.
Clyde chose this moment to snap out of his statue-like state, startling Tweek, causing said blond to jump up screaming. The brunette readjusted his grip on the fireworks in his arms, shifting them so that no more fell.
"I'll admit that's alright for you, seeing as how the toaster freaks you out, but never even watching them Tweekers?" he asked, eyeing the blond curiously. A light blush colored Tweek's pale cheeks as Clyde continued. "How do you explain that? I've seen toddlers at fireworks shows. Why have you never gone to see them?"
"All the debris scares me," replied the pale blond, pulling at the bottom of his shirt. "What if it falls in my eyes and I go blind? Plus they're really loud, like an explosion or something." He was waving his arms around wildly, trying to emphasize his point.
The other three teens stared blankly at their spazzing friend, watching how his flailing arms stopped for a large spasm that affected his whole body.
"You're still lighting these with us," said Clyde, readjusting the firecrackers in his arms. He wore a determined look as he placed them on the nearby picnic table. Ignoring the blond's protests and random noises, such as 'Gahh!', 'Nngh!', or 'Ack!', the chubby teen reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter.
"It's okay Twitch," Token said, placing a gentle hand on the smaller boy's shaky shoulder after a pathetic whimper escaped the pale lips. "We'll start you off with something small." He went over to the table with Clyde, sifting through the different fireworks. As the searched for the perfect one, he would mutter things like "To loud," "To flashy," and "Hell no!" The brunette would make suggestions, pointing to a box or a small rocket, only to have the black teen shake his head in response.
"What about snakes?" Craig asked, slowly moving away from the twitching blond and towards the small explosives. His simple question caused the small teen to let out another strangled screech. "Relax Tweekers. I'm talking about the firework, not the animal."
"That makes it worse," Tweek exclaimed, pulling at his hair again. "No snakes! Not after the giant one that almost destroyed South Park." Just thinking about the large snake made the jumpy blond more nervous.
"I almost forgot about that. The whole town was covered in ashes because of that thing," recalled Clyde, looking up from the pile of explosives in front of him. Token and Craig both stopped what they were doing to join in on the memories. The blue clad teen chuckled a bit at the black boy's impression of Cheif. The tree teens returned to their previous task of finding just the right firework, once they were done joking about their past. Tweek watched them sort through their goodies, getting more and more nervous.
"Ah-ha!" Craig exclaimed, showing his prize to Clyde and Token. Both of them nodded their approval at the object in his hands. "Finally found the perfect thing for you Twitch." The blond gulped loudly at the news before a box of something was shoved into his hands.
"Sparklers?" Tweek asked, holding the box at a safe arm's length away. The black haired teen nodded his capped head in return, a satisfied smile on his face. The blond's eyes quickly shifted between the box in his hands and his friends several times before they stayed on the group of teens. "I'm not getting out of this, am I?" he asked slightly defeated.
To answer his question, Craig grabbed a lighter and one of the blond's thin wrists, pulling the smaller boy closer to the house. Tweek tilted his head in confusion at the black haired boy's actions. "Clyde and Token are lighting the bigger ones in the yard back by the fence," he explained, gesturing to the other teens. The brunette had his arms full again, racing to the opposite side of the yard with a huge grin on his face. Following him at a much slower pace, the black teen also had his arms loaded, remembering to grab the lighter the other had forgotten in his rush.
Craig took the box from the smaller boy, opening it and pulling out one of the thin, silver wands. He handed it to the blond, who reluctantly took it after a small threat. It took his a few tries, due to the other's constant twitching, but he finally got it lit. The sudden sparks made the blond jump. He tried to throw the sparkler, but Craig was quicker.
He grabbed Tweek's small hand and the end of the sparkler in one hand, gripping then both with a firm gentleness. One of his blue clad arms wrapped around the blond's thin waist, holding him in a protective way. Feeling his friend's body, Tweek opened his eyes, looking up at Craig's face. Craig smiled softly and gestured towards the sparkler.
The blond's aqua eyes focused on the dazzling sparks, fixated with how they jumped and danced around. Sensing that he was comfortable with the sparkler, Craig started moving the small hand in his grip. He drew in the air with the wand, creating patterns, writing names, or just moving it randomly. Tweek's eyes followed the sparking tip until it burned out.
"See. That wasn't so bad, was it?" the black haired teen asked, placing the used wand on the concrete steps. The blond looked down and shuffled his feet nervously. Slowly he looked up and met his friend's dark eyes with his bright aqua ones.
"Can we light another one?" he asked hopefully. Craig pulled another wand out of the box, wrapped his hand around Tweek's again, and lit the end of the stick, sparks instantly leaping to life once more.