Disclaimer: South Park and all related nouns (people, places, things, ideas) are property of Matt Stone and Trey Parker. I don't own them, or ipods, or anything really, so no profit is being made through this thing.
A/N: This thing was inspired by that Tonic song If you could only see. Also, this is just a short one-shot that I wrote when I got stuck on my Craig/Tweek multi-chaptered fic I've been working on... Just really wanted to get it out of my system. What else? It's rated T for some language and I guess adult theme, I guess. After all, abuse is an adult theme, right?
There were a lot of things that scared Tweek Tweak. The underpants gnomes sprung to mind, for instance, and being sold into slavery. Most of his fears were irrational at best, or so everyone he had ever known told him. Tweek however, didn't think his fears were irrational at all. After all, the government was out to get all of them, and Jesus Christ, couldn't anyone else see it?!?
Also, the pressure would frequently get to him, and he'd find himself crouched in the corner of his room desperately trying to find his center before he lost his mind. Sometimes it worked, and he fell into a state of semi-calm, but more frequently he was interrupted by someone barging into his room and yelling something at him that would freak him out even more.
Yes, there were a lot of things that scared and frightened him. The worst on the rather long list of things that worried him, however, were the rumors that had sprung up about his relationship with Craig.
They had gotten into one argument during school last month, just one, and as Tweek had slammed the door to his locker shut, he accidentally ended up slamming it on his left hand. Tweek had screamed and Craig had started forward with genuine concern etched on his face, but Tweek had jumped backwards in surprise and consequently had fallen over right into an inconveniently located trashcan.
Ever since then, everyone at school thought that Tweek was in an abusive relationship. Tweek had spazzed out when Token, Clyde and Jimmy had talked to him about leaving Craig because he wasn't good for Tweek; he had spazzed out when Stan and Kyle had quietly told him that his relationship with Craig wasn't healthy, and he had completely spazzed when Craig told him about how Cartman had congratulated him on dominating his relationships.
It was all very stress-inducing.
And, as usual, he was freaking out about it.
"What's up this time Tweek?" Craig asked from his spot on Tweek's bed.
"Gah!" Tweek said, twitching and looking up at his boyfriend.
Craig was lying down with one arm under his head and the other tossing a tennis ball up in the air periodically. Tweek sat cross-legged on the floor next to Craig's head, fiddling with Craig's ipod.
"Jesus! It's nothing," Tweek lied, looking away from Craig and biting his lip.
Tweek heard his bed squeak behind him, and a hand ruffled his hair affectionately.
"That's bullshit Tweekers," Craid said. "Now seriously dude, what's wrong?"
Tweek sighed. He tilted his head back until he could almost sort of see Craig's mess of black hair looming up above him.
"Mr. Mackey talked to me today Craig!" Tweek said, tugging at his hair with both hands and dropping the black ipod with a clatter. "He said that unless I talked to the police personally there was nothing anyone could do for me and that didn't I want to get help?? Jesus, I feel like I'm going insane from all of this!"
Then, to Tweek's utter surprise, Craig laughed.
"Dude, that's a good thing," he said, and Tweek wondered for a moment if the aliens hiding in his closet had finally managed to hypnotize Craig. Tweek jerked around to make sure that Craig hadn't in fact been secretly replaced by some robot, but then Craig's soft lips were over his own, and Tweek forgot. "I know exactly what you're going to say Tweek, so just listen to me before you freak out again. This means that no more cops are going to come over to my house looking for evidence of your abuse. I'd say that's pretty fucking sweet."
"What?!?!" Tweek asked, jumping up and nearly falling over backwards. Luckily, Craig caught his wrist before he lost balance and pulled him onto the bed beside him. Craig's arms snaked around his waist, and he nuzzled his face into Tweek's hair, making it very difficult for Tweek to concentrate. "Officer B-Barbrady did that??"
"Nah," Craig's voice sort of mumbled into Tweek's neck. Tweek felt himself relaxing. "It was some ginger guy with a mustache. I flipped him off until he got fed up and just sort of left."
"Oh," Tweek said, turning slightly in Craig's arms so that his head was resting comfortably against his chest.
They stayed that way for a long while after that, Tweek trying (and failing) to keep the whole situation from bothering him.
"I hate this Craig," Tweek mumbled suddenly. He started shaking uncontrollably; Craig's arms tightened around him in response. "I hate having to deal with all this f-fucking shit!"
Craig sighed.
"I know," he answered. "I hate it sometimes too. But you know what dude? You're so fucking worth it."
Tweek looked up into Craig's face and saw him smiling that one smile reserved especially for him. It brightened his dark blue eyes and his whole face in general. Tweek blushed. There was not much else he could do when faced with Craig's rare and spontaneous moments of affection.
They had been dating for two years now, ever since their sophomore year of high school, but Craig had only ever told Tweek he loved him maybe a handful of times. Tweek knew that Craig wasn't a normally affectionate person, so it didn't really bother him too much. Besides, Tweek hardly ever said it either because Jesus Christ, that was just way too much pressure! But it was at times like this, with Craig so close to him he could feel their hearts beating in sync, that he ever really got the urge to say something like that.
"Jesus Christ I love you Craig," Tweek said quietly, squeezing his eyes shut as he twitched suddenly.
"I love you too dude," Craig answered, then kissed Tweek tenderly on the lips. "So fucking much."
They stayed like that for a long time, Tweek smiling like a lunatic and not really caring about anything but the feel of his boyfriend by his side.
"Dude," Craid said suddenly, "where'd you leave my ipod?"
"O-on the floor," Tweek said absently, still lost in thought.
"Jesus fucking Christ, what?" Craig asked in a very Tweek-ish manner. Tweek guessed that maybe Craig was starting to pick up some of his mannerisms. But hey, after two years of dating and a lifetime of friendship, it was bound to happen. "You left Little Tweaks on the floor?"
Tweek blinked at him.
"You named your ipod 'Little Tweaks'?" he asked.
Craig blushed.
"No I didn't," he said, flipping Tweek off as he leaned half-off the bed and searched for the fallen ipod.
"Craig wait! Jesus Christ! What if you fall and break your neck and I have to explain to the cops that I didn't kill you on purpose and they don't believe me and I get sent to Texas to get the chair and Jesus Christ that's just way too much pressure! You have to stop!"
"Tweek, I'm not going to die falling off your bed," Craig said, feeling around under Tweek's bed blindly and rolling his eyes. "and if I do, just say it was in self defense."
Craig smirked up at him, raising an eyebrow in a way that Tweek really shouldn't have found ridiculously sexy. Tweek pouted.
"D-don't joke about shit like that!"
Tweek pushed Craig lightly, who had just gotten hold of his ipod. Craig made a face and lost his precarious battle with gravity, falling to the floor with a dull thud and pulling Tweek down with him. Tweek shrieked and Craig laughed, holding the ipod in the air triumphantly.
"Found it," he said.
"Jesus Craig, you could have killed us!"
"No I wouldn't have."
"Yes, you would have!!"
Craig just laughed and ruffled Tweek's hair again.
And Tweek supposed that was why everyone would keep thinking that Craig was a no good scum bag and Tweek was a helpless moron who couldn't even leave his abusive boyfriend. These tender moments between them happened every so often, but never anywhere more public than one of their bedrooms. Tweek guessed that if the world could only look in on a moment like this, then they'd understand.
But then again, Tweek didn't really want them to see. This Craig, who was currently laughing and raining kisses down onto Tweek's face, was a rare sight to behold indeed. Even Tweek could admit that his boyfriend was sometimes rude and spiteful and distant and unpleasant, especially around people he didn't like (which generally meant everyone except Tweek and 'those guys'). It was just another aspect of him that Tweek, for some reason, loved.
And even when they fought over the stupidest things and refused to talk to each other for days on end, Tweek knew Craig loved him. Tweek saw it in the way Craig looked at him; he saw it in the way his breathing hitched when they kissed; he saw it in the way Craig's normally dull expression would light up when he said something sappy and uncharacteristic.
And so, Tweek resigned himself to a life filled with the stress horrible rumors could cause because it seemed that Craig's attitude was starting to rub off on him too. He was becoming a greedy bastard like Craig, who didn't want to share his lover with anyone else in the world, and if that made people think that their relationship was unhealthy, well, then Tweek didn't really know what he'd say to them. But he supposed that Craig would just flip them all off as usual, and Tweek would just scream 'Jesus Fucking Christ!' like always when they confronted him. Then he'd walk home with Craig and agree with him when he said that the whole world could just go fuck themselves.
And Tweek was just fine with that.