This story takes place immediately after Tweek and Craig hold hands walking down the street in the episode Tweek X Craig (S19 ep 6)
Chapter One – What now?
"S…s…so what do we do now Craig?" Tweek asked anxiously. Craig looked to his left and studied the boy walking next to him holding his hand. He noticed that yet again Tweek's olive shirt had been incorrectly buttoned and had resulted in a flash of pink skin being on show just above his trousers.
Craig couldn't imagine being so stressed out that he wasn't even able to dress himself properly. Tweek's blonde hair, unkempt and scruffy, was constantly falling across his face and in a weird way Craig found himself fighting the urge to brush it aside.
He was pulled away from his thoughts by a few sharp squeezes of his hand the source of which, he realised, was Tweek twitching nervously beside him.
"We could go to my house and play X-box?" suggested Craig as the boys waited to cross a busy road.
"O…okay, that sounds…Ahh…okay!" stammered Tweek.
Craig tugged at the flaps of his trademark blue hat with his free hand making sure that none of his jet-black hair had escaped. He wasn't used to organising activities which involved more than one person. Although he would be considered one of the "popular" kids and had lots of friends Craig spent most of his time outside of school on his own. He preferred to spend time with his guinea pig Stripe than with other people. Stripe was easy to get on with and didn't piss him off like everyone else did eventually.
Craig did not have much patience with people and because of this he had the reputation of being cold and emotionless at times. Despite this he was still considered one of the "guys" and was always welcomed into the group when he could bring himself to socialise.
As they got further away from the town centre and all the unwanted attention, Craig noticed that the squeezing of his hand, from each of Tweek's nervous twitches, gradually reduced. Craig had never really given much thought to Tweek's erratic behaviour and had always assumed that his nervousness was brought on by the large amount of caffeine he drank. It was very rare to spot Tweek Tweak without a cup of coffee in his hand. Because of this Craig had never felt any real sympathy for him but seeing (and feeling) him physically calming down the further from the crowds they got Craig began to realise that maybe it wasn't just the coffee after all.
He wondered what it must be like to be inside Tweek's head and to always be so highly strung and terrified. Craig was the exact opposite and people often wondered how he stayed in control of his emotions all the time. Even with everything that had happened over the last few days Craig had remained calm and not lost his cool.
Tweek had never held anybody's hand before apart from his mother's. He never imagined that the first hand he held other than hers would belong to a boy and he certainly wouldn't have believed it would be Craig Tucker's! The only time they had ever made physical contact before was to fight!
As the two boys made their way to Craig's house Tweek thought about how crazy the past few days had been and how exhausted he felt by it all. All he wanted to do was go somewhere where there would be no staring eyes or whispering behind his back. Tweek always tried to blend into the background and not draw attention to himself, that way there was less pressure. The last few days however this had not been possible, ever since the pictures started all eyes had been focused on him and Craig.
The enormity of having so many people invested in them was weighing down on Tweek and he wasn't sure how much more he could cope with. He didn't want any of this and for once wished that he was at work in the back room of the coffee shop trying to find the perfect new "summer taste" blend for his father.
As they arrived at Craig's house and closed the front door behind them Tweek let out a huge sigh of relief and felt his shoulders untense as he leaned against the wall behind him. He looked over at Craig who was stood motionless across the other side of the room. A strand of his black hair had come free from under his hat and as Craig ran his hand over his face he noticed this and hurriedly tucked it back under. Tweek could see that Craig was just as relieved as him to be away from all the prying eyes and he found it strangely comforting, he always felt so isolated and alone that to be sharing these feelings with someone else was a new experience for him.
As Craig turned around his eyes met with Tweek's and he quickly looked away. Tweek thought how strange it was that the pair had been holding hands only moments before, but now they were alone it felt awkward to even meet each other's gaze.
"Do you want something to drink?" Craig asked hurriedly as he made his way across the living room towards the kitchen.
"…do you…have coffee?" Tweek asked hopefully.
"We haven't, my parents don't drink it. We've got lemonade if you want?" Craig replied.
"O…o…okay…thanks". Tweek could feel his anxiety starting to rise and tried to control his breathing. He couldn't understand why he still felt so tense, it was just him and Craig here now, so the pressure should be gone. Why did he still have that churning, nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. As Craig disappeared into the kitchen Tweek wondered how he would survive the afternoon without his coffee fix.
Craig made his way into the kitchen and got 2 glasses for the lemonade. He felt bad as he had seen Tweek flinch when he told him there was no coffee. It must be hard to be so dependent on something Craig thought to himself.
He poured the lemonade and watched as the bubbles jumped their way to freedom over the sides of the glasses. He wasn't sure why but every time he thought about going back into the living room his stomach did a flip. It was the same feeling he got when he was riding the roller coaster at the amusement park and it was about to drop from the highest peak. He searched through one of the cupboards and found a bag of pretzels, he hoped this would make up for the lack of coffee in some small way.
As he slowly walked back into the living room he noticed that Tweek was still stood in the same position as when he had left, his eyes nervously darting around the room. Craig wasn't sure why, but this made him laugh.
"You can sit down if you like" he chuckled "You don't have to stand there the whole time". Tweek's cheeks turned red and he forced an embarrassed smile onto his face as he moved over to the sofa and sat down. Craig put the 2 glasses of lemonade and the bag of pretzels (which he had been carrying under his arm) down on the table and sat down next to Tweek.
The TV remote and X-box control pad were on the table next to the sofa on the other side of Tweek. Without thinking or hesitation Craig leaned across and grabbed the items. As he did so he was surprised by the clean, fresh scent that greeted him. He had never thought about what Tweek would smell like before but if he had been asked to guess then he would have said "bitter and probably a lot like coffee". Without even being aware he was doing it Craig allowed himself another intake of Tweek's pleasant aroma before returning back to his position on the sofa.
"Do you want to go first?" Craig offered, holding the controller out. As soon as the question had left his lips he saw the panic in Tweek's face. His eyes darted from Craig's face to the controller and then back again. No words came from Tweek's open mouth, only those high-pitched squeaks that Craig was so familiar with. Craig pulled the controller back towards himself hoping that this would relieve the pressure he had unintendedly inflicted.
"Actually, do you mind if I play first?" he enquired trying to erase his original question "I've just remembered that I've got to a part on the game I'm playing that I really want to get past. Is that okay?"
"Sure Craig" Tweek replied, giving a relieved and grateful smile. Craig loaded his saved game and began making his way through the latest enemy filled level. After a few minutes of playing Craig was totally immersed and was oblivious to everything else around him other than the images rolling across the TV screen. He eventually got to the end boss of the level and let out a long, exaggerated exhalation of air. He jumped slightly when a small voice next to him said encouragingly
"You can do it Craig!". He had been so engrossed in his game that he had forgotten all about Tweek! He thought how strange it was that he had been sat there, silently for so long.
Craig quickly turned to look at Tweek while the cut scene was still playing. His green eyes were fixed to the TV screen and he had a huge smile on his face. Tweek looked as excited as Craig felt on the inside. He had never manged to get this far on his game before and was surprised at how pleased he was to have someone to share the excitement with.
As the cut scene finished and Craig began the fight he leaned forward on the sofa and could feel Tweek do the same. It was common knowledge in the gaming world that if you leaned forward and moved along slightly with your character it helped massively.
After ten minutes of jumping, dodging and slashing, the hero raised his sword and swung for a final blow on the enemy. As the sword made contact the boss fell backwards and let out a dying scream and the two boys jumped up from their seats.
"Woo-hoo!" Yelled Craig
"I knew you could do" Beamed Tweek who had never seen Craig this animated before. They both fell back onto the sofa, big grins on their faces and watched the scene of Craig's victory against evil. When the hero vowed to continue his quest until all enemies had been vanquished Craig and Tweek both cheered and looked at each other with anticipation.
Craig continued to progress through the game but this time there was a difference from before. The shy, nervous boy who had been sat silently next to him was now happily chatting away and devouring pretzels.
Tweek was warning Craig of incoming dangers and reminding him to jump when the hero was approaching a hole in the ground. We make a pretty good team Craig thought to himself as he allowed his eyes to leave the screen for a second and steal a look at Tweek who was shaking the last few pretzels free from the bag.
Craig suddenly realised that Tweek had not been twitching or making those nervous little noises for a while now. He had a different look on his face which Craig had not seen before. It took him a while to work out what it was…it was content.