Disclaimer: I don't own any character from South Park. They belong to Mark and Trey. Only the plot is mine.
This story can stand alone as a one-shot. However, it is also part of my four-chapter story "When We Go Dark" (in progress). The reason this chapter is separated from that one is that it does not follow the same narrative line. Of course, they both complement but each can be understood without the other. If you want you can read both -I would appreciate that a lot.
As in the other, I've found that a song can describe some feelings with the story. You can also hear the complete song on Spotify or YouTube. Happy reading!
…
Geeky and Twisted
"You will never realize
What darkness lies inside my mind…"
-My Mind's Eye (Sirenia)
"Hey Kyle!"
A high-pitched voice screamed my name. I was at my locker grabbing some books for the rest of the day when he said my name. I closed my locker and found that it was no other than Tweek Tweak holding hands with Craig Tucker -the first gay kids couple.
"Hey Tweek. Hey Craig." I replied suspiciously. I didn't have any problems with their relationship, but it was strange that they would approach me.
Craig just nodded his head as if acknowledging me without having any face expression and hold harder Tweek's hand. Tweek was starting to shake and was pulling his blond hair with his other hand. I just stood there waiting for whatever they wanted.
"Stop pulling your hair Tee. I've told you, you're going to get bald soon." Craig said to Tweek.
"GAH! I can't man, it's too much pressure!"
"You can do it." Craig sighed. How many times has he told him that? "Just tell Kyle."
"Tell me what?" I interfered in defense. Tweek had been my friend ever since that project Mr. Garrison put us in, but with Craig I had my reservations due to that Peru incident.
"WE HAVE FOUR TICKETS TO THE STAR WARS PREMIERE!"
"So?" I arched my eyebrow. Craig said nothing expecting Tweek to go on.
"Ngh. What I mean is that- agh- we have four tickets to the Star Wars premiere and Craig and I were wondering ifyouandStanwouldliketocomewithus." The last part came in such a hurry I wasn't sure I had heard it right. Were they –the famous Creek couple- inviting Stan and me to go with them to the movies as in a double-date?
"Why us? Aren't you going with Clyde and Token?" As soon as they heard that, their faces turned sad. Well, at least Tweek's did; Craig's blank expression was the same but his eyes seemed to have fallen to the ground.
"They are going with Kevin, Jimmy, Kenny, and Butters." Was Craig's answer.
"Oh…" I managed to say. "Well, I guess I'll ask Stan if he wants to come."
Tweek's face cheered up a little. "YES! And tell him that we have everything planned. You can come to Craig's house after school, then his parents are driving us to the movies and will be picking us after. You can stay the night at Craig's; we won't come to school the next day. Please?"
Stay the night? In Craig's house? That was weird. As far as I knew, Craig never invited anyone to his house, aside from Tweek of course. And if he did, I wouldn't think that he might invite Stan and me. The whole thing was pretty strange.
"It's ok, really." Said Craig, as if he were capable of reading my thoughts. "Dad said Tee can't stay unless my other friends stay too. And it would make us sooo happy if you stayed." My other friends? What the hell was happening to Craig Tucker? Surely his relationship with Tweek was changing him a lot.
"Alright. I'll talk to him after class." was all I could say. Now they both cheered up.
"One last thing Klye…" Craig came closer to me and whispered "Don't waste this opportunity. We know you're like us. Just go for it. It's worth it." And with that they both left.
What the fuck was Craig talking about? An opportunity for what? And then it dawned on me. Craig and Tweek knew that I was gay for Stan. Indeed this was a double-date for me to confess my feelings to Stan. They wanted me to overcome my fears and just tell him. I was touched. Hope Stan doesn't freak out about this whole date.
...
Two weeks later Stan, Craig, Tweek, and I were walking after school towards Craig's house. It was Wednesday, December 16th, the day when Star Wars The Force Awakens premiered. Stan accepted, not very convinced, Tweek and Craig's invitation, but only because Kenny was going with the others and didn't tell us. I was rather nervous because I'd finally tell Stan what I really felt for him, even though he might reject me and return to Wendy. Tweek and Craig gave me the courage to do it. If they were happy, why couldn't I?
"So guys, aren't you excited?" I asked casually trying to break the ice.
"Yeah dude, of course! I've been waiting for this since they announced the sequels!" Stan started making sound like he was shooting like a Stormtrooper. He looked adorable.
After 10 minutes we arrived at Craig's house. Stan and I recognized it from when we came and asked him to join our Peruvian band "The Llama Brothers". That was a complete disaster. Now we were here because he invited us -this was different. The moment we stepped in, a little girl with pony tails ran towards us. Well, more like she ran to tackle Tweek.
"Tweeeeeek my love! You're home!"
"GAH!" Tweek screamed rather shocked. Craig looked annoyed and grabbed her sister off Tweek.
"How many times do I have to tell you Ruby to stop tackling Tweek by surprise?" Craig flipped her off to which Ruby only responded with the same gesture. She then noticed the two other boys that arrived with his brother.
"You're Kyle, right? Ike's big brother?"
"Um…yeah, you know him?"
"They go in the same class." Craig answered, interrupting us. "Come on guys, let's go to my room while Mom arrives." Tweek followed him immediately. Stan and I looked at each other for a moment and then went upstairs. This whole interaction was something new to us.
Craig's room was not very different from Stan's or mine- we three had the same Terrance & Philip poster from the "Not Without My Anus Movie". The only difference was that Craig was a space-nerd, he had a Solar System poster on the wall where his bed was and a spaceman doll on his bureau. I never knew he was such a space enthusiast. When we four entered, Tweek threw himself onto the bed.
"Tee, tomorrow it's your turn to make the bed, ok? You always make a mess with the sheets!" Although Tweek did something that annoyed the hell out of Craig, the latter just scolded him with a baby tone, dropping completely his stoic expression. Come to think about it, whenever Craig was with Tweek he would indeed show some feelings.
"I promise Craig, don't worry." Tweek smiled and Craig went to sit near him.
"You can sit on those chairs if you want or on the floor. Make yourself comfortable." Craig was being way nicer than I had ever seen him in my whole life.
I went to Craig's desk, grabbed two chairs and brought them were Stan was. He ignored me and sat on the floor. He was acting strange, too. Normally, he would have accepted the chair, or whatever I was offering to him. He was more interested in the way Tweek and Craig would interact.
"So Craig, why do you call Tweek 'Tea'? Is it because of his liking to tea?"
Tweek giggled softly. "I don't like tea. I like coffee. Dark and strong that I can't sleep at nights."
Craig hold Tweek closer to himself and gave him a little peck on his forehead. "It's for Tee as in his initial. I don't really like to call him something related to twitchy or anything like that. It's not cool."
That made sense to me. Sometimes Stan would call me, when Cartman and Kenny wouldn't be around, Ky. How I wished he would say that sweet nickname all the time without a worry in the world like Craig did. Then I remember that my only mission right now was to change that.
"Yeah, I understand what you mean Craig." I said. Stan looked at me and grinned.
We four spent the rest of the afternoon playing videogames and chatting. I never knew I could spend a great time with this newly formed group. The 4 gay kids. Everybody would be calling us like that, but I didn't care. Tweek & Craig were cool to hang out, be it gay or whatever.
Dinner with Craig's family came before going to the movies. It was pretty normal, if you ignored Tweek's shaking- his silver would clack against the plates every now and then. Apparently this was something normal, as nobody seemed to pay attention to this detail. Yet, Tweek hadn't shake in Craig's house until we started having dinner and I don't think it was because of Craig's dad, as they were on good speaking terms.
Finally, it was time to leave. After a 10 minutes ride all of us five kids squeezed on the back seat of the car (Ruby was coming too, but only because she couldn't stay alone in the house), we were at the cinema. It was packed with people dressed with something of Star Wars or even with full cosplays (e.g. we saw a Chewbacca and a Darth Vader). Tweek clutched onto Craig's arm in order not to lose him in the crowded place. I timidly did the same with Stan and surprisingly he said nothing. Good, one step at a time.
We went to form a line. Far from us were Clyde, Token, Jimmy, Kevin, Kenny, and Butters. Clyde waved us happily in a greeting way, as did the rest of them, except for Token. He just glared at us to which Craig flipped him off.
"Don't Craig." Tweek begged him. Having spent only an afternoon with them I came to the realization of many things. On one side, they invited us because they wanted to help me with Stan. However, on the other hand Tweek and Craig weren't friends anymore of their gang –at least from Token, but that resulted in also stop hanging with Clyde and Jimmy. Craig had bought the tickets long before the whole Yaoi ordeal happened. When he started dating Tweek, their gang split up leaving them alone.
"Yeah, Token's an asshole dude. Don't bother." Stan said. He also didn't like Token since that break up with Wendy. Still, I think he was being supportive with Tweek and Craig for other reasons.
"Come on guys, let's find our seats." I said.
Naturally, I sat next to Stan, while to my right sat Tweek and to his right was Craig. The only thing that was uncomfortable was Stan complaining again about the stupid commercials. Ever since he turned ten, going to the movies with him had changed. He became better and on the majority stopped being a cynical asshole, but sometimes his cynic side would appear again. To be honest, I didn't think he was better, more than he just shut himself. And I was right, but it was too late when I tried to do something for him.
The movie started and it was awesome! Laser shots, Stormtroopers, Han Solo, the Millennium Falcon, BB-8, the Force, everything was awesome! Boy, were we excited. Tweek never stopped holding Craig's hand and neither did I with Stan's. But then I noticed Tweek was shaking again and had his eyes firm closed as if trying to block everything around him. Craig was so enthralled on the movie that he didn't pay attention to this, so I softly whispered to him:
"Are you ok, Tweek?"
He let out one his common little shrieks. The people around us stared at us annoyed to which Craig flipped them off. Typical reaction of him.
"It's just there's a lot of darkness, man." Tweek replied. I didn't know what to say.
The movie finished. We then were picked up and went again to Craig's house. We were so excited that we weren't sleepy, but we had to go to bed anyways. Tweek slept with Craig on his bed, of course, and Stan and I on the floor in our sleeping bags. When the lights went out, Stan came closer to me and gave me a little peck on my forehead, just like Craig had done with Tweek, and whispered to my hear:
"Good night Ky, sleep well." Thankfully he couldn't see myself going as red as my hair. I fall asleep with a smile.
I don't know how much time passed, but after a while I was waken up from my dreams. Tweek had yelled and was far on the corner shaking, biting his nails and murmuring things. The three of us stared at him.
"Tee? What are you doing over there?" Craig asked worried. He came closer to embrace him.
"The darkness, man. It's too much pressure."
This wasn't my first slumber party with Tweek. I knew that he had a wild fear of underpants gnomes at night, but this was the second time Tweek mentioned the darkness. Was he talking about the dark side of the Force? No, this was more serious, for Craig was puzzled too.
"I'm here Tee, there's nothing to be afraid of." He said trying to comfort him.
"NO! This is not my silly fear of the underpants gnomes Craig, this is real. I don't think I can handle it." Tweek broke into tears on Craig's arms. The latter was speechless and only stayed there holding the blond.
Stan and I were confused and didn't know what to do. This was a very private moment. What does somebody do?
"It's ok guys. Please go back to sleep. I'll stay here with Tweek." I wasn't sure it would be ok, nonetheless we went back to sleep, hoping Craig would be able to calm Tweek down. We weren't so sure anymore if he could.
…
It was Friday morning, two days after Stan and I had gone with Tweek and Craig to watch Star Wars. We were at the bus stop with Cartman and Kenny.
"So Kenny told me he saw you at the movies with Tweek and Craig. Did they turn you into fags as well?" Cartman teased. I couldn't expect less from him. I was about to shout at him, when Stan suddenly said calmly:
"So what if we are fags too, fat-ass?"
Kenny bursted into laughter. Cartman wasn't offended with Stan's reply. In fact, he smiled wider.
"Well, I certainly don't want us to split like Craig and those guys, and I don't want one of you to turn bat-crazy to be hospitalized. That's a terrible thing you guys."
"What fat-ass? What the fuck are you talking about?" I exploded. What was happening to Tweek and Craig wasn't to be made fun of.
"Oh, you didn't know? The spaz had to be institutionalized. The whole town is gossiping about it."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. We had just spent the morning before with him at Craig's house. Yes, he had an attack at night, but the morning after he seemed getting along as always. He even beat us at Smash Bros. several times! Cartman had to be joking.
The bus arrived and I climbed up searching desperately for Tweek and Craig. Neither of them was on the bus, but Clyde was. I went to him immediately, not caring that he was with Token.
"Is it true? Where's Tweek?" I asked him. He just stared at me with tearful eyes.
"He's not here and perhaps won't be for a long time." Token and Craig might had their differences, but the first still cared about his former friends.
Stan grabbed my hand and guided me to my seat at the bus. During the ride to school I was stunned. It had been a great date with them and Stan was being friendlier to me, but I was having a whole in my stomach for Tweek. See, he was a role model for me.
As soon as we were at school, I went to Craig's locker. He wasn't there, so I went to Tweek's locker, the boys' bathroom, the cafeteria, the infirmary and nothing! Lastly, I went to the principal's office and there he was. Craig Tucker was sitting in front of PC Principal's desk watching the floor while Mr. Mackey and PC Principal were standing next to him.
"What is going on? Why has Cartman told me some horrible rumors?" I demanded.
PC Principal and Mr. Mackey stayed quiet, not knowing what to say. Craig broke the silence with his monotone voice: "They aren't rumors. It's the truth."
I was taken aback.
"It's true, bro." said PC Principal. "Unfortunately, Mr. Tweak had to be hospitalized. Mr. Tucker here said that he had a nervous breakdown yesterday's afternoon."
I was perplexed. I left without saying anything else. Stan was waiting for me outside –somebody must had told him I was there. He grabbed my hand, just as he did when we were at the movies and at the bus, and we started walking towards our fourth grade classroom.
Stan never said anything again about that double-date we had with them, but we both knew it had been a turning point. I didn't confess my feelings to him, but it was not necessary. It took months for Stan to actually ask me out on a date alone and to declare his feelings for me, yet our relationship changed since the Star Wars premiere. While our love sprung, Creek's went through some hard times. Tweek Tweak's darkness was real and on Thursday, December 17th, he couldn't take it anymore. His parents took him that day to a mental hospital. He only stayed three months there, and after Spring break he was back at school. Everybody pretended that nothing happened, in fear that Craig might fight them, and Tweek seemed normal again. We all knew this was on appearance.
Tweek and Stan were not sane. Today I know that. Craig tried the inevitable to happen, but to no use. It happened again to Tweek and a year after to Stan. I wasn't ready. Hell, I thought his condition was in control. But it wasn't. In some sick way, Cartman had been right. High school broke Tweek and Stan down, and Craig and I had to face the fact that our beloved boyfriends were mad as a hatter.
…
I wanted to write "The end", but it isn't. Again, more about Tweek's and Stan's illness can be found on my other story. Thank you very much for reading!
Happy New Year 2016!
Miss MoKa
December 30th, 2015.
