Craig stopped for a second to catch his breath, bent, his hands on his knees, and watch from where he was.
South Park was far behind. There was not an inch of it he hadn't inspected carefully, not a person without interrogation, so he went beyond its limits.
...And now he thought he had an idea of where Tweek could be...
In the distance he saw how the heavy rain seemed to avoid a certain forest area...
He let out a long sigh. If he wasn't so worried and exhausted, he would have strangled Tweek on sight for giving him such a bad time...
After a thirty minute walk, he found him. He was just a curled up little thing, hidden among the bushes. The raindrops didn't touch him: they were suspended in the air six feet above his head, creating a sort of dome. Upon hearing some twigs cracking under Craig's feet as he walked, Tweek rose his head. He wasn't wearing his mask and his bun was almost completely undone.
"It's me, Tweek." Craig said with as little emotion as he could, so his husband didn't think he was angry or worried.
"What are you doing here? How did you find me?" Tweek didn't change his posture, but now that he was closer Craig noticed that he had been crying, and surely for a long time, because his voice sounded broken. He was pale and his uniform was scratched, surely from running among all those branches and bushes—or perhaps he had tried to harm himself...That was the possibility that worried Craig the most.
Look at him, all soaked, hungry, tired, yet not showing any signs of discomfort. "Took me long enough."
"Go away, leave me alone in here."
"To die? Come on, don't be silly."
"You didn't see, did you...All the people I hurt..." Tweek's voice trembled as he bent his head again, folding into himself.
"Don't think about it..."
"Don't think about it? Do you think I can just pretend that this didn't happen? I hurt people...I surely killed someone...People I know...Children I was supposed to save..."
"It was an accident."
"Yes. And that's what scares me, don't you understand? Next time, every time I freak out—will I do this? Do you think I can live like this? I was stupid, thinking I could be a hero, thinking I could have a future, a family of my own...I'm not a hero or even someone people should be around...I'm not...I'm no better than Butters..."
"You're not like him. Don't say that." Craig took several steps towards him.
"Go away, Craig..."
"Not without you."
Craig was pig-headed...Tweek was afraid it was true he wouldn't leave that forest unless he was coming with him...But he couldn't leave that place...He belonged in the wilderness, where he could hurt no one...
He removed his wedding ring and stretched his arm to leave it at Craig's feet, away from himself. Then, he closed his eyes firmly and hugged himself tighter. Four blocks of dense ice emerged from the ground, forming a square with him in the middle. The ice merged, shutting him inside in a cold, self-imposed prison. Craig tried to find an opening in vain. He then knocked at its surface; Tweek just shook his head slowly.
Craig then clicked his tongue and decided he had to be drastic and snap Tweek out of his bullshit, help him whether he wanted or not. He took impulse and broke the ice block with a headbutt. Tweek let out an exclamation and stood up with a jump.
"God dammit, Craig!"
"I told you." He shrugged.
Tweek shook his head, hitting it with his fists clenched.
"I got you into this mess! I-I was the one who suggested to get into that ride...It's my fault you can't have a normal life, a normal husband!" His words were accompanied by strong wind, making it difficult for Craig to see Tweek even though they were pretty near one from another.
"We come from South Park. No one there is normal." Was Craig's response.
"I'm serious!"
"Me too. I know you're not the most regular guy in Colorado, but you know what? You weren't the day I asked you if you wanted to get married or something." Craig couldn't see a darned thing, but he crouched down to pick up the wedding ring Tweek had removed from his finger and showed it to him. "You haven't been normal all these years we've dated. I don't think you've been normal a single day in your life. And I sure as hell want to spend the rest of mine by your side because I can live with that. I even like it."
"I summon lightning bolts when I'm anxious, and that is like 90% of the time, Craig!"
"And I leave a shit ton of hairs in the shower, so what?"
"One day I might kill you by accident and if that happened I...I just wouldn't be able to live with myself!" The wind was so strong Craig was starting to have it difficult standing still.
"You're such a drama king, Tweek..." He said nevertheless, as if it was a simple breeze.
"Dammit, Craig, you moronic son of a bitch, I'm trying to protect you from myself because I love you and you won't stop being an asshole!" Tweek exclaimed, and his words were followed by thunder.
He had to let it out. He had to let it all out, so Craig kept talking in that special way of his.
"You act like this is important." He said with that unaffected tone.
"It is important!" Tweek replied. "I can't have a normal life! And so can't you!"
"We can. You just don't wanna."
"I want to! If I could go back in time, I would get us as far, far away from that fucking ride as humanly possible! I would be just Tweek Tweak, one more loser in this planet!"
"But you can't, and you have to live with being a freak. I know your powers aren't easy to deal with..."
"YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT! NO ONE DOES!" Tweek shouted, and Craig tried not to show how startled he was by a booming thunder.
"I know, and I want to help you deal with them, but you won't let me."
"BECAUSE ONE DAY I'LL PROBABLY KILL YOU!" Sparkles were coming out from Tweek's body.
"Maybe it's me who kills you!" Craig replied, making a big effort not to be pushed by the storm and his voice be heard. "Remember last year, when I dislocated your shoulder after I gave you a pat to shoo a fly away?"
"I HEALED; YOU CAN'T!"
"What if I snap your neck hugging you? Or break you in half making love? Or break your spine playing? We are the biggest danger to each other's lives. But even if you killed me, I'd still want to be with you, live in that home we made together, have ten kids if you want them, grow old together and be buried next to you for all eternity!"
Lightnings impacted all around them as he approached, fighting the wind. Tweek drew back, but Craig followed, and there was a moment when his back hit the trunk of a tree and he couldn't go any further. The only way to escape from Craig was attacking him, but he couldn't, he could just...The only thing he could do was let out an anguished scream.
Craig broke the distance between them and grabbed his hand, and when this happened, everything ceased suddenly.
The thundering sky was silenced. Rain stopped. The dark clouds started to dissipate, allowing sun rays in. Temperature increased gradually.
Tweek stared at Craig with lips parted, trembling breath coming out of his open mouth. They didn't say anything in a long while, until he closed his mouth to swallow and muttered:
"...There is...one thing...I am so thankful about..., one thing I don't regret...Those Asian girls from school drawing yaoi of us..."
Craig finally had no reason to keep using that indifferent facade. He drew a smile.
"...I'm sorry..." Tweek muttered, looking away.
"Don't be. Anyone would get crazy in a situation like this." Craig said, and offered him his wedding ring, which Tweek put back in his finger, staring at it lovingly.
"...Did I...kill someone...?"
"I don't know. But don't think about it now."
"...Craig..."
"Yes?"
"I guess I should say it more often, but...I love you..." Tweek smiled for the first time in...he didn't even remember when, and just seeing that made Craig smile, everything he had been through in the last days, looking for him, completely worth it.
"There's no need to. You know I love you too."
They were alone. They could be as sappy as they wanted. They embraced and kissed each other on the lips, on the cheeks, on the forehead, the neck, rubbed their noses together, caressed each other's skin and hair. Since nobody was looking...
"I'm sorry I made you come all the way here to..." Tweek paused to look around, at the forest they were in and that he half destroyed with the force of the elements. "...Whatever this is..."
"Stop saying sorry already. It's fine. Come on, let's go home." Craig gave him a last kiss on the lips before taking his hand. The first time he tried he got a small shock that made him jump. Tweek giggled nervously and had to bite his tongue not to apologize one more time. Fortunately, the next time Craig touched him the electricity seemed gone by then.
"...Yes..." Tweek whispered, no longer loud, no longer tense, no longer wild, walking by his husband's side, his eyes half closed, because he felt so tired, but so calm he could have fallen asleep while walking...
Craig realized at that moment that he didn't have his phone to tell his family and Tweek's that Tweek had been found safe and sound. Anyway, he would find a way to tell them on the way back home, and he would also tell everyone not to make questions or even say a thing to Tweek. They would let him rest as much as he needed, without scoldings or unpleasant news. He would make sure of it.
They left that forest by the hand. The sun shone so bright with the colors of a new day that had just begun.