Winter was great.

It was much better than the summer, in Craig's opinion. Craig can't stand being hot. When you're cold, you can bundle up and get warm, whereas when it's hot, you can't rip your skin off once you're naked lying on your bed in your room.

Winter was great also because the lakes froze over, meaning Craig could go skating.

He wasn't a figure skater, no, but he was the only guy in town who thought to try ice hockey out in South Park, Colorado. He wasn't sure why no one else wanted to do it. They lived in a prime location for it, seeing it was always below freezing come Halloween. He remembers watching the NHL on TV with his dad when he was younger, captivated by the men racing on the ice.

"Dad, how can I do that?" he used to ask, looking up at his dad with big blue eyes.

"When you're a little bigger, we'll get you some skates so you can try it, alright?" Thomas would respond, a smile on his face.

Thomas Tucker kept his promise to his son, signing him up for lessons for his eighth birthday. By his ninth birthday, Thomas had signed him up for ice hockey, and Craig was living. He felt like he belonged on the ice. He felt so free, gliding from one end of the rink to the other. He instantly became an ice hockey star, becoming captain of the team at thirteen. Now, he was eighteen years old and he had a full ride to the University of Colorado to play for their ice hockey team. It was only December, but he couldn't wait to go to college.

Craig also worked during the months of November through March, and he loved having a seasonal job. He worked as an attendant on the pop up ice skating rink that opens up by Stark Pond. They tried using Stark Pond one year, but the pond wasn't big enough for the amount of people that wanted to try and skate. And he does mean try.

None of his friends could skate.

They always begged Craig to teach them how, but Craig always refused.

"No way, I fucking started at eight you're ten years too late." He would always say with a laugh.

"Come on, dude! You're literally going to school to be a professional skater!" Clyde begged at lunch one day. It was about two weeks before Christmas, so it was a popular time for the kids to go ice skating. School was slowing down since the break was quickly approaching, so kids would take advantage of their free time and go ice skating in the evening. It was a nice alternative to Friday night football in the fall.

"Clyde, for the hundredth time, I'm not teaching you how to skate. It just…comes to you. You'll figure it out. You've done roller blading! It's the same motions! Also, I'm going to school for sports journalism, thank you very much."

"Yeah but we're on ice! It's like roller blading on glass that's super hard and hurts your ass when you fall on it!"

"I'll hold your hand tonight if it makes you feel better." Token chimed, smiling as he took a drink of his water. Craig couldn't help but laugh at the way Clyde's face twisted up.

"If anything, I'll see if Bebe wants to hold my hand!" he shot back, looking past Token to wave Tweek down as he wandered into the lunchroom. Craig adjusted the blue hat on his head as Tweek wandered over, tugging it more over his ears. He hasn't said it to anyone yet, but Craig had done a lot of soul searching this year. It took him a long time and a lot of lying in bed with his mom and talking until midnight with her, but he realized he was bisexual. His mom smiled when he finally admitted it to her in one of their late-night talks.

"It's about time you realized." She teased, tucking a strand of hair behind his ears.

"What do you mean?" he chuckled, rolling on his side to face her.

"You used to want to watch Captain America every day after school. I saw you staring at the DVD box one time."

"Maybe I just really liked his outfit on the box art."

"Quit fooling yourself." She laughed, causing Craig to grin.

Craig had discovered he had a fondness for Tweek. He wasn't sure if it was really a crush or the need for intimacy, but the blonde made him nervous.

And Tweek knows nervous.

And when Craig is nervous, his ears get super red.

"H-hey guys," Tweek smiled as he slid into the seat next to Token, plopping his bag on the ground. "What's up?"

Clyde snapped his head to glare at Craig.

"Oh! Nothing! Just literally begging Craig to teach me how to skate!"

"It's not going to happen! Plus, I won't even be able to really skate for fun with you guys I'm working!" Tweek laughed.

"That's right, we're going skating tonight." He chuckled, picking at the sandwich his mother made him this morning. Tweek's anxiety had improved vastly over the years. He still had a stutter and had slight hand tremors, but his massive anxiety attacks weren't as prevalent as usual. He had a few this year, but that's because he cannot decide for the life of him where and what he wants to do for college. He had some ideas as to what he wanted to do, but no idea where he wanted to go. He applied to fifteen schools and got into all but two, so now he had to choose from thirteen schools, and that was way too much pressure.

"You're still coming, right?" Token nudged Tweek in the side, breaking him out of his daze.

"Yeah, but I'm not gonna skate."

"What?! Why not?" Clyde whined, reaching across and smacking Tweek's hand.

"I just…would rather watch. Plus, I haven't gotten my paycheck yet from my boss so I'm tight on cash." Tweek still worked at his parent's shop from time to time, but his parents encouraged him to get a job in town so he could hopefully expose himself to new career options. He works at a bookstore in town, stocking the shelves, picking out the top books on the Best Sellers list, working the register. It was a small shop with two floors, but he liked it. Plus, Wendy Testaburger worked there as well, and the two became quick friends.

"Craig works there he can probably slide you a pair of skates!" Token said, looking at Craig. "Right, Craig?"

"I mean, I could if you really wanted to skate, Tweek," Craig said with a small smile, but he saw a look of panic cross Tweeks face.

"Quick think of something to add!" he thought, biting his lip."But-but I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do." He saw the look disappear off Tweek's face. Nailed it.

"Thanks for the offer, Craig." Tweek shot a smile to his friend, that simple look sending little butterflies through Craig's veins.


The rink, which was called South Park Skates, was relatively empty until about six o'clock. Craig had been there since right after school at four and he was the only one on the rink monitoring the skaters. It was mainly young parents who wanted to take their little kids out for a little fun Christmas activity, so he was free to skate around and kill time until his friends came at seven. He at least had one friend at work: Kenny McCormick. Kenny couldn't skate for the life of him, but they wanted someone with Craig normally just in case something was to really happen. But Kenny didn't own skates nor did he know how to skate, so he got to stand along the outside and be the guy to drive the Zamboni. Craig skated up to him and leaned along the side with him.

"You look bored." Kenny said, tugging his gloves down farther on his hands.

"I am bored. I love this job but when it's slow, it feels like time stops moving," he groaned, sliding on the ice for dramatic effect. "What time is it anyways?" Kenny pulled his phone out and looked at the screen.

"5:45. We should probably Zamboni the ice before the six o'clock rush." Craig sighed, watching the cloud his breathe made float upwards.

"Alright I'll get everyone off and you get the Zamboni." This was how they did their job every day from November to March. Craig would skate around, ushering people to the exit, closing the gates once the rink was cleared off. He'd open the side of the rink so Kenny could back the Zamboni out onto the ice, then he'd step off while Kenny made the ice fresh for the skaters. The whole thing only took about twenty minutes, Kenny taking up fifteen and Craig going around and skating on the ice for five to push off any excess ice that didn't get pressed down with a shovel. It also marked the ice up a bit for the skaters. Fresh ice is the best if you know how to skate, but extremely slippery if you have no clue what you're doing. Then, once Craig finished his five minutes, he'd close the Zamboni gate, then open the skater's gate. He looked up as he heard voices and saw a bunch of girls from school show up, all laughing and rushing in to get their skates. He skated over to the entrance of the rink, smiling as he saw some of his friends. Craig also liked to be near the entrance when he could, wanting to help people on the ice if they needed it. He knows it's difficult to skate, but knows it's harder to sometimes get on the ice. He waved at Wendy, Heidi, and Bebe as they walked out with their group of friends, chuckling as he saw all of them lifting their legs extra high as they walked due to the awkwardness of walking with skates on.

"Hey ladies." He said with a small smile, reaching his hand out to help Heidi onto the ice, continuing down the line. He glanced to the side, noticing how some girls looked almost excited to be helped onto the ice. He snorted a little at that, smiling to himself.

"Hey Craig! How's work been today?" Heidi said, taking a few careful steps to get used to the now slippery surface below her.

"Pretty slow. Just been a few families since I got here after school." He helped Wendy up next.

"God tell me about slow work. The book shop was dead today. I forgot that I was scheduled until seven, but I needed to get out of there by five. Thankfully Tweek took on my last two hours." Wendy said as she grabbed onto the side of the rink. Craig looked at her, not giving much attention to the girls at this point after he helped Bebe up.

"He's supposed to be here at seven. Clyde, Token, and him were all coming to skate tonight."

"He's still coming he told me, he's just gonna be a little late now." She said as she started skating along the edge where her hand could rest on the siding. He frowned a bit and sighed, skating off onto the rink after helping the last girl on. It was a relatively uneventful hour, only a handful of people showing up. Stan, Kyle and Cartman all showed up around six thirty, giving a polite wave to Craig as they skated over to say hi to Kenny. Craig skated up to them about fifteen minutes later. He smiled at Kenny and Kenny grinned.

"The boni?!" he laughed, practically jumping up and down. Kenny loved his job. It gave him something to do after school and plus he got paid! He also got to drive around a machine that not many people get to.

"Yup. I'll start getting everyone off," he turned to the three boys in front of him. "Time to move on over to the exit boys or Kenny's gonna run you over." He grinned as Cartman mumbled something under his breath as he skated to the little loud speaker system, making a quick announcement before skating around to make sure everyone was off. By the time the entire process was over, he saw Token, Clyde, and even Jimmy over by the rink with everyone else. He opened the gates and stood nearby to help anyone on who needed, or wanted, the help.

"Jimmy what a surprise to see you here!" he said with a smile.

"I-I-I knew I'd surprise you. I j-just got back in town from m-my last college visit." He said with a proud smile.

"How was California?" Token asked as he tied up his skates.

"H-hot and b-beautiful. Just like the w-w-women that were patrolling t-the campus." They all started laughing, Clyde the first to break the laughter.

"Hey wait, where's Tweek?!"

"Wendy said he covered some of her shift. He got off at seven, so he'll be here probably around seven thirty." Craig said, helping some of the girls back on the ice.

"W-well fellas, I'll be s-s-sitting right here cheering you o-o-on!" Jimmy said, taking a seat in the little bleachers that were set up for parents who were dragged to there by their kids. Token and Clyde hopped on the ice with Craig, taken a few laps with him.

"So, Clyde, gonna try and get Bebe to hold your hand?" Craig said as they rounded the first corner, turning so he was skating backwards. Clyde let out a groan.

"Dude what the fuck you can skate backwards and I can barely stand?!" Token snickered at Clyde's over dramatic reaction. "And if you must know, it's my goal by eleven-"

"We close at ten."

"It is my goal by ten to get Bebe to hold my hand while she skates with me." Clyde grinned, catching his balance as he wobbled around the next bend.

"Just know that if you fall while holding her hand, she'll fall too. Maybe she'll hate you." Token grinned, nudging Clyde in the arm. Clyde was clearly not paying attention to what Token was doing and fell flat on his ass, causing both Token and Craig to burst out laughing. Craig helped him up and smiled at how red his friend's cheeks were. The evening immediately picked up, just having his friends there was making work so much better. What job lets you skate, talk with friends and family, and get free hot chocolate? Craig's job. At around seven forty-five, Kenny and Craig pulled everyone off the ice to Zamboni again, but while Craig was waiting for Kenny to finish up, he caught a glimpse of a familiar head of blonde curls sitting next to Jimmy. He smiled a bit to himself, his heart fluttering at the sight of a red cheeked Tweek. The cold did wonders for his freckled face. Craig took the chance to not quite show off, but to Craig it seemed like showing off, when he went out on the ice to clean up the left-over scraps. He could hear the girls giggle and the guys mumble in jealousy, but he only cared about Tweek's opinion.

"Why do I care so much?" He wondered, skating over to open the gates for the skaters after he was done. He helped anyone one (it was the same ten girls who wanted help on), and then skated over to say hi to Tweek.

"So, you finally made it." He teased Tweek with a smile as he leaned along the edge. Tweek laughed a bit.

"W-wendy told you, huh?"

"Yeah. That was sweet of you."

"I need the cash. Ya know, with college coming up and all."

"You warm enough, you seem…rosy." Tweek's ears, cheeks, and nose were bright red from the bitter cold, or maybe he was blushing? Craig couldn't tell anymore.

"Yeah I'm fine, thanks. I-I sat in the car for a while warming up. The heater in the shop is on the fritz so work was freezing." He shot Craig a soft smile, glancing up to the rink and giving him a small nod. Craig nodded back before skating off, his entire body warming up. At least he knew Tweek could help his cold limbs warm up.


Clyde, as he promised, was able to get Bebe Stevens to hold his hand while he ice skated. But only for ten minutes, since he got her to hold it at nine fifty. Everyone who was left, Wendy, Bebe, Heidi, Cartman, Stan, Kyle, Token, Tweek, Jimmy, and Clyde, all wandered off and returned their skates. Everyone chatted for a while in the little lodge area while Craig cleaned up the inside a bit and Kenny Zambonied the ice one last time and shut off all the lights outside. Craig was even able to join in on the conversation at times. It felt weird standing here with these people. These were people he had been friends with since elementary school. Now, they were all seniors in high school about to go completely separate ways.

Stan was going to Arizona State University for film. He said that Phoenix was similar to South Park, but warm.

Kyle was going to University of Denver for biology. He got almost a perfect score on his SAT's, making him a prime candidate for any school.

Cartman was even going to college (which surprised a lot of people). He was going to University of Tennessee for screenwriting. He loved playing pretend so much when he was younger that he decided to write pretend for a living.

Kenny wasn't going to school yet, but he really wanted to within the next two years. He wants to go to University of Colorado (much like Craig) but for music therapy. He didn't have the money for it yet, so he's been searching for jobs to do in the meantime.

Wendy was going to NYU for chemistry. Everyone even knew way back in elementary school that she was destined for great things.

Heidi was going to Arizona State University as well, but for nursing.

Bebe was taking a year off to travel.

Token was going to Yale for psychology, which was the biggest news in town for a good month.

Clyde decided after much deliberation to go to Washington State University to be a physical therapist, and he was so excited.

Jimmy and Tweek had gotten into a bunch of schools, but hadn't reached a final verdict yet. But all of them can agree that the main goal has happened: they were getting out of South Park, Colorado. Even Kenny, who is looking at full-time jobs in a few towns over. It was weird knowing things were going to change so drastically, but Craig, and everyone else, was excited. Once Kenny came in from cleaning up outside, he walked out with everyone as they said their goodbyes. Craig, being a borderline manager and the only other person working, stayed after. He also took this time to do his homework. He hated doing homework at home. He didn't mind his family, he just could never focus. He wanted to play with his Guinea pig all the time or the clock was too loud or he'd get a text message. He discovered that his boss didn't care that he stayed late after they closed to sit there and do homework, so Craig happily kept doing it. As Craig was trying to finish the last problem he had for physics, he leaned back in his chair and sighed, closing his eyes. He snapped his head up as he heard something, a faint sound coming from outside. He blinked and stood up slowly, walking from the little back office to the front where all the skates were. No one had snuck inside the tent, but as he moved forward he realized the sound was music outside. But it was classical music, specifically Waltz of the Flowers. He furrowed his brows and instead of peeking through the plastic of the doors on the tent in fear of being seen, he pulled the white tent open a bit so he could look out. He blinked as he saw someone on the ice. He was about to run out and yell at them that they were closed, but he felt like he couldn't move. The figure was good, amazing actually, and they moved so gracefully that Craig couldn't believe he hadn't seen this person earlier. He watched them jump, twist, leap, glide backwards, spin. It was enchanting.

"Where did you come from?!" He thought to himself, smiling behind the white tent. He couldn't quite make out the persons face, but he was ready to marry whoever it was right then and there. He didn't know there was another skater in South Park. He didn't care that they were a figure skater, he wanted to know who it was. As he was about to move outside to see who it was, the figure stopped with the music, the nearby streetlight lighting up their face. Craig's heart jumped to his throat, his eyes widening.

"Holy fucking shit." He whispered out loud, feeling the air leave his body. There, standing gracefully posed on the ice as the music ended, was Tweek Tweak.