A/N: Hi! Okay—this is a story I wrote for another fandom a few years back. I'm trying my best to adjust it to the SP world, let me know what you guys think?
Twenty-year-old Tweek twitches twice in a row.
He can't help but think of his elementary school self as he drops the fork he is trying to set into the already poured glass of milk. He can't think of a straight memory between the grades 3-6. Back then, Tweek had no grasp on his priorities, hell, he barely had any priorities. Eat, sleep, go to school and button your shirt; that's all he needed to know. Unfortunately coffee became the only priority and he quickly lost 3 of the four on his to-do list. Without Craig, Token, and Clyde, the only remaining priority would have flown out the window as well, but he had to see the guys. School was his only way to make that happen. You can't hold a conversation with coffee.
Finicky Tweek fumbles with setting the rest of the table. He can't remember the last time since elementary school that he felt so out of control with his nerves. If he thought middle school did him wonders, high school gave him miracles. Only twitching when finals came around, or during those pivotal moments in his life that he hopes any young adult might twitch through. Drivers license, first job, first date, all required one night of coffee binge drinking and some pep talks from Token.
At twenty years, Tweek confidently thinks he has mastered his nerves and now wears the pants in the relationship. On the scale of other young adults, Tweek thinks he is comfortably seated on the middle rungs of the success ladder.
He holds a part time job at the coffee shop, full-time student and the University, and keeps close contact with his best friends. It helps that all of his friends are only a short hallways-distance from him. The perks of Token Black. All boys were accepted to the same university, so it made sense to Token to find a house close to campus for all boys to live and study. With the addition of Kevin Stoley, each boy has a private room with shared living quarters. Tweek and Craig share a bathroom, Kevin and Clyde, and Token has exercised his right of landlord to claim a private one. It only makes sense, there twelve short steps between each boy and their respective bathroom.
Tweek Tweak knows this is as a factual statement. The other members of his house have no idea the amount of steps it takes them to get to their bathrooms, nor do they care about how many steps it takes their housemates to get to theirs. Furthermore, they don't care about laundry, dishes, or even their rooms. Why would they care if they have Tweek to clean up after them?
This is how it's been for the boys ever since they moved in two years ago. At a fresh age of 18 the boys moved in, never thinking of the responsibilities that comes with owning a place of their own. Even Token, the most "put together" of the group had no idea how much work and effort it really took for a household to maintain a level of cleanliness that should be acceptable to all. This means clean dishes for the start of the day, tidy bathrooms on a weekly basis, and of course, no piles of laundry higher than ones' hip bone.
All of the boys quickly picked up part-time jobs, some through the school, and others on their own. Tweek had no intention of finding any work. It took all of his life to get used to juggling school along with typical duties expected of him, adding a job on top of his already shaky plate would definitely cause dilapidation.
This is when Tweek picked up the household chores. Everyone has to feel like they have a place in life, right? That's something Craig taught him. Always remember you have a place in life. Tweek has no trouble maintaining his household. He likes to call the house his because he spends so much time in it. Sure, Tweek has moved on to part-time work for spending money, but his job is no where near the caliber of job the other four boys, nor is he jealous of this fact.
The daily chores and weekly schedule he's set for himself helps his twitchy needs. He'll work the coffee shop in the morning Monday through Friday for two hours, some days take his classes, then come home and tidy the house. So why is twenty-year-old Tweek twitching while setting the table on a Sunday, his day of rest?
Tweek twitching means Tweek is nervous. He has some news to break to the boys. Sunday morning is pancake breakfast morning and this morning is laced with an extra bittersweet ingredient. The sweet part is as of Friday at 6pm, Spring Break is finally in session for the University and the boys. That means most of the boys have their hours cut at their jobs and no classes for an entire week.
The bitter part is Tweek's news he is delivering with each pancake specially prepared for each boy. Token likes his with bananas, Clyde with chocolate chips. Kevin likes blueberry, Craig likes his plain. As for Tweek, his choice is banana and blueberries without the pancake.
He is hoping the news is less bitter than he expects for the boys. The previous year for spring break they boys decided to stay at home and enjoy the relaxation of an actual break. For the four other boys, it was like a vacation in their home. Tweek had enough time to plan out every meal with careful thought and preparation that would match most five-star restaurants.
Tweek also calls this week his spring-cleaning week. He will take extra time to clean parts of the house unforgotten or skimmed over in the previous months. Truthfully, this gives Tweek time to slack on his own duties the weeks before. He knows he will have a full week of mindless coffee making for a small amount of time during the day, then the better half to focus on cleaning.
However, the week before, Tweek received upsetting news. He isn't sure how the other housemates will take this news. Tweek doesn't know how he is taking it yet.
Just as Tweek's twitches are at their worst in years, he uses up all of his steady hand strength to send the universal text message to the other four boys.
"Breakfast."
Clyde Donnovan is the first to make it to the table. Taking his place next to Tweek, who is uncharacteristically shaking, Clyde waits for the other boys to dig in to his meal. It's funny to Clyde that the words uncharacteristic, twitch, and Tweek are in the same sentence. He's too tired to ask the boy if he is okay, usually Tweek will blab about anything on his mind in due time. Clyde of all people understands emotions that cannot be contained. Clyde is excited to use his free time from studying about behavior and emotions and focus on the mindless things in life he misses doing. Like smoking an entire 12-pack to the face and drinking a blunt on his own with Craig. Wait… switch that.
Token Black follows next from his room at the end of the hall. As he walks down the hall, he carries the printed version of the University newspaper that is e-mailed to him weekly. No matter the date, Token does not miss a morning paper. Token keeps close watch on current events, but more importantly, the stocks. It's important for Token to keep track of the economy, with or without assignments to tell him what to look for. Token knows the rules Tweek set at day one of his adopted role of house mother, wait until the whole "family" is at the table to eat.
Kevin Stoley is third to greet the table. His hair sticks in unnatural places, mostly from the lack of cleanser and excess natural oils his hair excretes onto his messy stringy hair. Even though his Saturday nights mostly consist of internet gaming, "newbie pwnage" he likes to call it, he knows to never miss a Sunday breakfast. He loves that he can blame his late night gaming on his classes and job. How else can he gain all of the knowledge that customers expect him to have when asking for game recommendations at the game store? Furthermore, he can credit the feeling of his retinas burning to the careful study of design graphics used for the newest and hi-tech PC games.
Craig Tucker, fully dressed and ready for his Sunday morning shift at the campus pet store, steps out of his room and connects eyes with Tweek. Relieved, yet somewhat worried for the break from his Law studies, Craig is excited to finally take some time for himself and do the things he doesn't mind doing. Which is nothing. He walks to his seat across from the blonde, fixes the silverware setting in front of Tweek to match other boys and waits for what he can only assume as bad news to be broken. What else could cause Tweek to give up on his own silverware setting on a Sunday?
The minute Craig's ass meets his chair Clyde cuts into his pancakes. Token smiles as he watches Kevin try to follow suit, matching Clyde's urgency and power against his own pancakes, but failing miserably. Craig waits until he sees Tweek pick up his rightfully placed fork to start eating his, still waiting for it.
Just as Tweek watches Craig's eyes shift to his pancake plate he can no longer keep his nerves in check.
"I'm having a surgery! GAH."
The four boys looks up to see Tweeks twitch twist his face. He is so upset with himself that he has let his nerves take the reigns again on this rocky relationship he has with them. Even more, he is worried that the boys will be upset that Tweek cannot withhold his understood duties to the house.
"What was that?" Token says, looking away from his newspaper.
"I'm getting my w-wisdom teeth o-out and I can't do my Spring-Cleaning week around the house." Once that phrase came out, Tweek's twitch diminished into a manageable shake of the head. The stressful part of the confession is over, now for the reactions.
"So you'll have a week of actual vacation, that never hurt anyone, Tweeky." Clyde says in between bites. "It will probably be good for ya!" Clyde can tell Tweek is flipping out about this. Wisdom teeth are no big deal, right?
Kevin reaches across to pat Tweeks arm. "Yeah! Everyone needs a break! All that cleaning stuff can wait until you are feeling better!" Kevin remembers how long he was out of his gaming circle after he got his wisdom teeth removed. It wasn't fun, but he knows that it has helped his mouth a great deal. At least, that's what he read on the Internet.
"Well," Tweek finishes his fruit bowl and starts on his glass of milk, "I was hoping you guys could kind of help me out a little…" Tweek had a whole speech prepared about how each member of the household had gone so long without any set responsibility in the house, the least they could do is give a helping hand. Not a full hand, just a helping one.
"Say no more! What do you need from us?" Clyde can tell how worried Tweek is about this whole ordeal. He knows the closer to operation day the closer to Tweek losing his nerves like the little Tweek in middle school.
"I've got this idea:" Thanks to Tweek's nerves taking over once more, sleep had been put on the back burner for the last few days.
The Plan: Each boy take one day of Tweek cleaning. Drawn randomly and in front of Tweek so he knows no foul play is involved, Tweek will then divvy out the list of duties he has planned every day for the spring break week. He hopes to be up and moving by day 5, his expected recovery day, so he only made four notes for the four boys at the table. All he needed is approval from one boy to make this plan happen for the rest of them.
After explaining the plan, Tweek gave brief examples of the daily chores, one was cleaning the kitchen, another, laundry day, things all of the boys have done in the past, but definitely did not like doing. Tweek prays that the boys will accept the challenge he's presented, or he has less than a full day to hatch another way to get his cleaning done in the timely manner he anticipated.
His wisdom teeth removal only makes sense for the spring break week. No classes, the more important thing to miss rather than a week of minimum wage pay. It's not that he hopes to pawn of his busy cleaning week off on the other boys, but without this week of heavy cleaning, his whole year's cleaning schedule could come unglued. Leaving twenty-year-old Tweek twitching until his twenty-first birthday.
"How hard can it be?" Clyde says mostly to convince himself of the task at hand. One day of his break to help Tweek out sounds like a good deed to him. Maybe he can even write this off on his Tax Return, just kidding.
There is his approval. Once Clyde agrees, he knows it's hard for any other boy to argue his declination of the plan. He knows Craig is a for sure yes and Token is too nice to say no. Kevin is a go-with-the-flow kind of guy. All he needed was to make sure Clyde is okay with the idea of it all.
"Great!" Tweek points to Craig's hat, which he removes and hands to Tweek. He throws four small folded pieces of paper in the hat for each boy to pull.
"I really appreciate this! Tomorrow is surgery day, my mom is coming in to take me and drop me off, so I'd like to give you as much time to prepare, especially whoever has day 1!" The boys all agree Tweek should draw for each boy, for fairness and all that.
Tweek, feeling his twitch completely resigning once more smiles as he grabs the first piece of paper. "Craig, your hat, you get first pick."
Before he opens the paper and tells each boy his number he can't help himself from quoting a movie, which he hopes is not a foreshadowing line of the next four days about to happen.
"May the odds be ever in your favor."
Really AU here, but as the days go on I hope to get a little closer to character, just older versions of the sort. The beginning chapter will be the worst since I had to lay some groundwork for the story. Thanks for bearing with me!