- Craig -

Who would have guessed I would still be in South Park after graduating high school? Shit, who would have guessed I would have graduated high school? Craig snorted, returning his attention to the game he was playing. In This Moment was playing on Spotify as he played Forza Horizon 2. As he raced, his mind wandered.

He graduated school and searched for a job, eventually settling on a third shift one as a security guard for the Mall. It paid the bills, even if it was largely boring, but that was good. Nice and boring, just the way he liked it. He found himself a two bedroom apartment for himself and Stripe as soon as he could, beyond eager to get away from his parents. More specifically, his father. He was always an asshole, but it had escalated when Craig hit sixteen. His sister could do no wrong, his mom was uninterested in her son, and his father took his general drunken rage out on him. Craig's nose was markedly crooked from more than one broken and poorly set nose.

He made an okay-living by himself. He had enough for rent, bills, and food. Occasionally he would spoil Stripe with new treats or a new toy, a year ago he bought him a larger, dual level cage. He got himself games, but they were almost always secondhand long after release. It sucked that Clyde and Token were gone off to college, Clyde got a football scholarship and Token got a full ride to Harvard - if he kept his GPA, which he would because he was Token. Tweek was still around though, not that he hung out with him as often anymore. Their schedules were usually just too different. And Tweek was..., well Tweek. He had always been paranoid and anxious as a kid and teenager, but he seemed to get worse in some ways as they grew into adulthood. It wasn't that he didn't care about the blond, it was more..., he didn't understand a lot of it.

He knew he wasn't emotionally invested in anything aside from Stripe, which was fine by him. Even in high school, girls would want him because he was "broody" but he turned them all down unless he was high, then he just went with it, without any real enjoyment, more something to do.
Life was boring and predictable. Why should it need to be something else?

His thoughts turned to Tweek. Tweek who always needed reassurance, who looked up at him with large eyes whether he was high or not, who trusted him inexplicably despite him doing nothing overtly nice, who used to cling to his arm in almost all stressful situations.
It had always been kind of nice how Tweek would cling to him, how he would trust his judgement no matter the situation, how he would always be there even if Craig wasn't being attentive to him.
Why?

He forcibly turned his attention back to his game, changing the song to X by Hellyeah. He finished a race then lit his phone up, the time read 3:30am. Tweek would more than likely be awake, he always had trouble sleeping. He returned his attention to the game screen, watching as cars drove around him. He glanced back at his phone before starting to drive in the game again. He made a disappointed noise and put his controller down, picking up his phone and unlocking it. He opened the text messages and located Tweek. After thinking for a minute, he just typed "Hey".

He tossed his phone down the bed and rested his head back against the wall, gazing at the ceiling. With a grunt he sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, grabbing his phone and stuffing it into his shorts pocket before going to the other bedroom to see Stripe.

He talked to Stripe, voicing his thoughts about Tweek to his little buddy. Stripe didn't answer him, which was fine, but Craig fed him pieces of carrot and let him scurry around the room mostly unhindered. Craig watched Stripe absently, wondering just what he could say to Tweek. He wasn't good with people. But Tweek wasn't really..., people. Tweek was..., Tweek.
Tweek was like Stripe, they had a bond of some sort. Not that Craig was likely to outwardly admit such a thing.

It had been a while since Craig had gotten high, but he had the urge to, it would stop the thoughts about Tweek. He dug his phone out of his pocket and looked through his contacts. Who could he score some weed from and smoke with this late? Pete? He worked thirds too..., Kenny? No, Kenny had a day job but he might be more inclined to get high. Dougie? Kid was into some weird shit now, probably a bad idea. Jimmy? Dude was annoying as hell but usually had some great pot..., so if nothing else, after smoking the guy was almost tolerable.

Craig groaned, thumping his head on to the wall by accident, causing Stripe to snuffle at him with concern. Craig smiled and reassured Stripe he was fine before sending the same text to Pete, Kenny, and Jimmy.

As he was putting Stripe back into his cage, Craig felt his phone buzz. It was Tweek and Pete.

"Hi" from Tweek to which Craig responded "How r u?"

And "I can't tonight, tomorrow or the next day is better" from Pete. Craig grinded his teeth for a few seconds before stopping himself and replying to Pete "All right, just let me know".
He could wait a bit. Jimmy was probably asleep as was Kenny. Kenny would reply sooner than Jimmy, as Jimmy had a late night comedy gig at Skeeter's and would probably be sleeping into the afternoon.
Fuck he could hardly wait, he just wanted to get high and not think about Tweek.