A/N: It's short, it's short, it's short, I'm sorry... I promise the next one'll be longer!! AND it's a cliffhanger...I'm such a jerk, I know... I haven't written the next chapter yet, but I can tell it's going to be pretty epic, so I hope that makes up for this one!
Reviiiiiiiews are fun. :-)
Tweek was awoken by the sound of music mingled with occasional clanking noises. Sleepily, he opened one eye to see Kyle and Stan concentrating intently on a game of Guitar Hero. Kenny was sitting on the floor in front of Tweek, and Clyde was curled up on the couch beside him. He looked half dead from lack of sleep.
("Is it my turn yet?") Kenny whined from the floor. Kyle opened his mouth to say something and missed about eleven notes in a row.
"Dammit!" He struggled to get back into the rhythm of the song while Kenny giggled. "Shut up, Kenny!"
"Dude," Stan managed to nod at the TV screen and still hit all of the correct notes. "Yell at him when the song's over."
Tweek opened his other eye and blinked a few times. His eyes hurt, and he had a strange pressure in his head. It wasn't quite a headache; it was more like post-headache pain. It still hurt, but at least it was more manageable than the death-headache he'd had the night before.
"Urf." He'd meant to say something else, but apparently he could only speak the language of Sleep at the moment.
"Tweek." Clyde tried to sit up, but only managed to raise his head two inches before returning to the same position he'd started in. He spoke around a yawn. "How are you, man?"
Kenny twisted around, staring up at the other blond boy, his eyes filled with concern. There were a bunch of loud clanging noises until Stan managed to successfully pause Guitar Hero, and then he and Kyle turned to Tweek as well.
"Hrgn." Tweek cleared his throat. "I'm—okay. What time is it?"
Clyde reached for his cell phone, but Kyle was faster. "Ten forty-six," he said, looking at his watch.
"How long have you guys—ngh!—been here?" Tweek jerked slightly to the right. The movement didn't go unnoticed by the other four boys. Stan looked at Kyle, and Kenny glanced at Clyde. All of their expressions said the same thing: "He's getting better. Maybe he'll be okay."
"Since eight," Stan said, gesturing to himself and Kyle.
("I got here at seven,") Kenny said. ("Clyde was dying on your couch.")
"No, I wasn't," Clyde protested.
("You were watching the shopping channel.")
"I was just trying to stay awake." Clyde yawned again.
"Dude, why would you watch the shopping channel to keep yourself awake?" Kyle raised an eyebrow.
Tweek blinked at Clyde. "You haven't—haven't slept?"
"No, I was stay...trying to stay awake..." Clyde stumbled over his words. "In case you woke up and needed...talk..."
"Dude, Clyde, sleep," said Stan, setting his Guitar Hero controller on the floor. Kenny scooted over and picked it up and brought it over to where he'd been sitting. "We're here now." Stan glanced at Tweek. "You want coffee or anything, Tweek?"
Tweek nodded. "Yes—coffee." He twitched again, and gave Stan a grateful half-smile. "Thank—thank you."
"No problem." Stan headed into the kitchen. Tweek looked around his living room at his friends, his eyes coming to rest on Clyde. The brunet boy had finally fallen asleep, as evidenced by his soft snoring. He'd really stayed up all night just in case Tweek needed anything? He cared that much? Tweek wondered if maybe Clyde felt a little guilty—he had been the one to tell Tweek that Craig wanted him, after all. (Unlike people like Cartman, Clyde had a conscience.) Tweek hoped Clyde didn't think this was all his fault.
His gaze moved to Kenny and Kyle. The parka-clad boy had convinced Kyle to have a guitar battle with him, and the two of them were now trying to play a Metallica song. Tweek was kind of amazed that they, and Stan, cared about him too. He'd barely talked to them since... Well, he'd used to hang around with Kyle, Stan, and Cartman back when Kenny had died for that year, but he'd never felt particularly close to any of them. And then Kenny had come back, like he always did, and rejoined their group, and Tweek had gone back to his other friends. He'd thought that they'd just stay separate like that—they were supposed to be rivals, right? Except, Kenny and Clyde—and Craig—had gotten to be pretty good friends, and Token got along all right with Kenny, Stan, and Kyle... That had kind of bridged the gap between them. But still, Tweek had never thought that they would all—except Cartman, of course—be there for him like this. It made him feel a little bit better, knowing he had real friends.
"Where's Token?" he asked, watching the notes on the screen go rushing by. Kenny was beating Kyle by at least five thousand points.
"Clyde said he was sleeping when he called him." Loud clanging accompanied Kyle's response. The poor redhead just couldn't seem to play the game and talk at the same time.
("He'll come by later.") Kenny swung the arm of his guitar controller up into the air to activate the game's Star Power. ("I don't think any of us got much sleep.")
"You—you guys..." Tweek tried to think of a way to thank them all for being there, for caring. It really did mean a lot to him. Before he could say anything else, though, there was a knock at his door. Since Stan was in the kitchen, Kyle and Kenny were in the middle of a game, and Clyde was sleeping—and, well, it was Tweek's house after all—Tweek got to his feet with a yawn and made his way over to the front door of the Tweak's house.
"Probably Token now," said Kyle. Clang.
Tweek nodded, even though Kyle was facing away from him. He unlocked the five locks on the door (his parents had installed them during the child abduction scare and never taken the time to remove them) and swung it open, expecting to see Token on his doorstep.
Instead, he came face to face with Craig.
