hey, you remember the end of last chapter? when i told you what was coming next? yeah, i lied. writing Craig and Tweek is too much fun, and i feel a little bad about what's coming. also, i was going into Stenny withdrawals and needed a fix. so i wrote a cute little filler piece and put it at the end.
IN THIS CHAPTER: Tweek doesn't throw up, Craig goes stupidly fast, Tweek maybe has friends, Token is a bigot, Tweek stands up for himself, and Stenny
enjoy!
a/n
Chapter Eight: Because Now You Are One of Us
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But I'm not crazy / I'm just a little unwell / I know right now you can't tell / but stay a while and maybe then you'll see / a different side of me…
-Matchbox Twenty, 'Unwell'
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Tweek stared at the toilet. If it had eyes, he thought it might have stared back. But he wasn't quite that insane yet, so he put the image of cold, staring porcelain eyes far from his mind.
His stomach was full, the feeling tight, uncomfortable, unfamiliar. Usually that meant a quick trip to the bathroom, but now… he just didn't feel his normal urge. He couldn't feel the disgusting fat growing on his pretty, fragile bones like he usually did. He felt... he felt like a human being. It was weird.
"Hey! Tweek! Get finished, I wanna get to the diner on time!" Craig's voice sounded through the door, startlingly loud.
Tweek turned away from the toilet, appeasing himself with the promise that he would do it later. After he got home. Later. Just… not now.
He opened the door.
And without any kind of warning Craig snagged his arm, tugging him down the stairs at a speed normal, rational humans didn't use. Taking the stairs three at a time was sheer insanity. But he was used to insanity from Craig. The boy was a mass of idiosyncrasies and contradictions, wrapped in a mask of boredom that might or might not have been a mask.
Tweek had resigned himself to a swift and excruciating death by face full of splintery floorboard when Craig stopped suddenly at the bottom. Tweek, carried by momentum and windmilling frantically, slammed into his back.
Craig felt warm.
Tweek let himself stay wrapped around Craig for a few seconds longer than strictly necessary, feigning shock, reveling guiltily in the stolen warmth and closeness. He really shouldn't be this… needy. He wasn't sure what made him crave Craig's contact so badly, but it had to stop before he was caught.
"What was that for?" He asked, bewildered, when he pulled away. Craig shrugged, eyebrows raised in the expression that Tweek had privately dubbed his 'Mad Hatter Face'. He looked dashingly deranged when he wore it. Tweek sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Let's go. Wendy will kill us if we hold up any longer." He said, voice heavy with resignation. It seemed that Craig's mind would always and forever be a rabbit warren of weirdness, a complete and baffling mystery to him.
Craig nodded and tugged him out the door.
The diner was loud and crowded, and Wendy did send them a glare when they sat came in ten minutes late. Craig flipped her off serenely, however, and Tweek gave her an adorably nervous look, and everything was fine.
Kenny was sprawled all over Stan, lazily stealing food from every plate on the table. He carefully didn't notice, and everyone carefully didn't point out, how everyone had ordered extra and left it in his reach. Bebe drew piano keys on her arm and music notes on her palms. Craig hummed them to Tweek and Wendy and they laughed at how Bebe was writing the tune of Bad Romance so elegantly.
When no one was looking Tweek cupped his hands over his chest. There was a warm little glow in there, a happy one, vibrant shades of yellow, red, and purple. Every time he looked at these people, these people who were no longer strangers, who he was hoping he could label friends, it flared brighter.
He caught Craig watching him out of the corner of his eye, a strange cast to his non-expression. Maybe Craig knows what to call this glow. Craig's pretty good with words, especially when it comes to simplifying, or insults. Craig's good at the insults. Really good.
Maybe he won't ask Craig.
Maybe he'll just let this grow and see what happens. Maybe he can let himself hope. Maybe he can trust these people.
"-fucking faggots." Token wasn't paying much attention to his partner. That one kid, Tweek. He still felt a little guilty about shoving him into a puddle, but the kid didn't seem to remember it so neither would he. He hated guilt. "I wish they would just stop, ya know, being that way? And that Craig-,"
In retrospect, his lack of attention might have been why he didn't notice the sudden fierce focus Tweek was sending his way.
"Don't." The word, quiet but harsh, definitely harsher than he thought Tweek was capable of, stopped Token dead.
"What?" He blinked stupidly, surprised by the sudden outburst from a boy he had considered up till now to be nothing more than a meek doormat.
"Don't talk about Craig like that. He's a better person than Clyde." Tweek looked up and his expression was resolute. Scared, but resolute.
Token considered and had to reluctantly admit that Craig probably was, aside from the fact that he was unflinchingly, unstoppably gay, a better person than Clyde. Then again, that wasn't saying much. There were probably people in jail better than Clyde.
Smarter, too.
"Why do you hate gay people, anyway? What have they ever done to you?" Tweek tilted his head curiously.
"I… It's just wrong." Token fumbled. The sudden question had thrown him, and he was uneasy with the questioning of one of his core certainties. He was even more uneasy that he couldn't pull his reasoning to mind like he usually could. There was just something about the kids eyes, how painfully open and honest they were, that made bullshitting an answer unthinkable.
"Really? What's so wrong about it?" The kid looked slightly terrified to be arguing with Token, but he seemed determined to continue on the subject. Token could respect that. But he didn't have to like it.
"I don't know. It's just disgusting." Token clenched his fist uncomfortably. Thinking about people being gay made him nauseous. It was a simple as that. No real reason necessary.
"Just because you dislike it doesn't make it wrong. I hate broccoli, but I have to eat it constantly." The kid shrugged. He made it seem so simple to dismiss. Token banged his head onto the desk and growled his frustration.
"Whatever. Just do your notes." He grumbled. He could feel the kid smiling triumphantly. But he hadn't won. Not by a long shot. Token would refute him. As soon as he could find the proof he needed.
Kenny wondered vaguely if he could ever be normal. He didn't think so.
He stared up at the stained glass window, the cigarette in his hand sending lovely smoke curling up toward the vaulted ceiling. The choir practiced below in the church proper. He sat in his usual place, hidden behind the altar. The priest let him stay there. Something about being inspired by the good Lord.
Kenny didn't think God cared about a fuck-up like him. He wasn't even bad enough to deserve being called a fuck-up, really. He was just a sad, lost little boy.
Kenny snorted and let his head fall back against the altar cloth. He was letting Wendy get to him again. Damn, he needed to get out more. The girl was cool, but she had a messiah complex the size of Cartman, and charisma and persuasiveness to go with it. She thought he was a little lost lamb, in need of saving, just like the priest. At least she didn't quote bible verses at him.
Sometimes her beliefs just got to him.
"Kenny."
Kenny started up, looking around. Stan sat on the edge of the altar, smiling easily. Kenny grinned back, a knot he hadn't noticed loosening in his chest. Stan did that to him. He never thought Kenny needed to be saved. He didn't want Kenny to change. He saw Kenny just like he was, rough edges and all, and still wanted him. That was one of the reasons Kenny loved him.
"Hey." He patted the ground beside him invitingly. Settling next to him, Stan pulled him under his arm.
Someday, he thought, he would work up the courage to tell Stan that he loved him. As it was, things were too perfect to disturb.
a/n
tweeky, you are too cute. fluff, fluff, fluff :)
it's all going to end badly. maybe.
NEXT CHAPTER: see last chapter XD
