Let's go back, back to the beginning
Back to when the earth, the sun, the stars all aligned
'Cause perfect didn't feel so perfect
Trying to fit a square into a circle was no life
The words were out of his mouth from the moment Craig answered the phone.
"Hey, tell me you got the invitation!"
Craig sighed. "…Hey Clyde, dunno what you're talking about. What invitation?"
Clyde's impatience was palpable. "Maybe Tweek has it, then? Are you home can you ask him?"
Craig, who was indeed home, sitting on the couch in an apartment he shared with his long term boyfriend Tweek, looked over at his favorite blonde and mouthed "mail?"
Though he could've replied aloud, Tweek continued the silent communication by shaking his head, and scurried outside with the keys to the mailbox, which he grabbed out of a dish by the door.
"Give us a second," Craig said, practically able to feel Clyde's excitement through the phone.
When Tweek slid back inside a few moments later, squeezing in between the door and the frame, barely giving himself enough room to get through despite not having any impediment, he closed the door behind him and handed Craig an envelope.
"...Yeah, yeah," Craig said, rolling his eyes at something Clyde said, and opening the envelope with Tweek standing uncomfortably off to the side. He pulled out the contents, his eyes going wide. "Uhhh, dude, what the fuck am I looking at?"
"Seriously? Dude, do you really not recognize a wedding invitation when you see one? Especially when it's for me and one Bebe Stevens?" Clyde asked, like he was talking to a child.
But that only made it funnier for Craig. "Wow, have wedding invitations really evolved this much?" Craig asked, holding up a nude shot of Bebe for his boyfriend to see. Tweek's eyes went wide, his hands covering his mouth but he stayed silent, still standing off to the side.
He used to be all over me, Craig thought to himself, staring at Tweek's hands.
"...Dude, you're kind of scaring me. Did you get it or not?" Clyde asked.
"Oh, I got something all right," Craig said, smirking. He was perfectly content with fucking with his friend for a moment longer. No rush, anyways, something was up with Tweek and he really didn't want to pull the pin on that grenade right now.
"Aw man, come on just tell me!" Clyde cried, sounding desperate.
"Are you...sure you wanna know?" Craig asked, trying to stifle his laughter.
"...Do I sound like I want to sit on the phone all day?" Clyde asked, instantly reminding Craig of all the phone calls from Clyde that more often than not turned into hours-long conversations.
"Possibly?" Craig asked, still trying not to laugh.
"Come on man, I designed the invitations myself!" Clyde wailed, now on speakerphone and Craig looked to Tweek, who was still staring down at the ground, though he also seemed like he might laugh.
Just talk to me, Craig pleaded silently. Like we used to.
"Alright, alright," Craig said, turning his attention back to Clyde with a dramatic sigh. "You sent me a nude of your girl, dude."
"I did what?!" Clyde cried, panicking despite the knowledge Craig and Tweek were gay. "Oh god she's gonna kill me."
"Calm down dude, I'm still coming to your wedding," Craig said, hoping he could divert Clyde from freaking out. Across the room, Tweek's eyes narrowed slightly. Most people wouldn't notice, since Tweek's face was always twisting and shifting but Craig wasn't most people.
But why would that kind of diversion piss Tweek off? Craig had done that for him a million times.
"Pr-promise?" Clyde sniffled, and Craig nodded.
"Promise," Craig said. "Now stop crying, you've got a wedding to plan dude."
"Thanks Craig, I can't wait for you to be there," Clyde said, obviously feeling better.
"Me neither," Craig said, honestly, hanging up the phone, a small smile on his face.
As he set his phone down on the couch, Craig could feel Tweek's eyes on him.
"Hey, honey," Craig said, turning to Tweek. "You want to be my date to Clyde's wedding?"
Tweek awkwardly nodded, but said nothing. In fact he barely moved from his spot.
Okay then. "Right, cool, so...you got work later?" Craig asked, already having memorized Tweek's schedule (therefore knowing he had work later). He was just hoping Tweek would say something.
Tweek shook his head, and headed for the kitchen.
Finally Craig decided he couldn't take it anymore. He walked up to Tweek, who was still facing away from him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Dude, what's up with all the silence?" Craig finally asked, which of course made Tweek jump about a foot in the air.
"It's nothing," Tweek replied. "Well, ok, not nothing, but I've got it handled so-
"Babe," Craig interrupted. "Come on, what's up?"
"You're gonna get...mad," Tweek said, fiddling with his fingers.
"Then let's get it over with," Craig said, rubbing circles between his shoulder blades. "And you know- I don't get mad."
"Ok you know I'm not really worried about the right words Craig, it's…the face you make! It's-gah! I got fired again, okay?"
"Again?" Craig asked, trying to turn away so Tweek didn't have to see his face.
But of course the blonde couldn't handle that, scurrying around to get a look at Craig. "See! It's that face!" Tweek cried.
"Well Tweek, I'll be honest it's not great that this is your fifth job loss, and we need to make rent," Craig said, shaking his head. "What in the fuck are we supposed to do?"
Tweek sighed. "I'll find another job-
Craig shook his head. "I know, honey, but that's not what I mean. Why do we keep coming across this issue? Where's the pattern?"
At his words, Tweek groaned. "Why do you always have to be so logical? There is no pattern! I just...didn't like this boss, she scared me. And at the last place it was the hours! Scheduling me during the rare hours I can get to sleep? It's not always the same thing, Craig!"
"Ok, ok! I'm just trying to think of how we can get you set up in something that doesn't scare you away before you can even get settled! And it would help to know what wouldn't scare you," Craig said, which had Tweek rolling his eyes.
"Jeez, if only I'd thought of that," Tweek replied sarcastically.
"How do I help you if I don't know what's wrong?" Craig asked, reaching out to touch Tweek, who pulled away.
He used to be all over me.
"It's not always the same thing!" Tweek cried again. "You can't-can't just go trying to do the same thing that worked last time thinking it'll work every time!"
"Dude, that's literally how problems work!" Craig replied, rolling his eyes. "You figure out the solution and every time the problem comes up, you know the answer!"
"I'm not a math problem Craig!" Tweek cried, running away and up the stairs of the loft, to their bed.
"I know that," Craig grumbled, but he decided not to follow him, for now. He didn't think he could say anything that would actually help, since the stuff he thought would help clearly hadn't.
Besides, he was kind of annoyed. Tweek lost another job, fucking Christ. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Craig could call in a favor to his family for Tweek's part of rent, but that bridge had kind of been burned when Tweek asked Craig to run away with him on Tweek's 18th birthday, and Craig had said yes.
Craig looked around at the apartment they shared, at the sink that barely worked, the shower that more often than not ran cold and the carpet that always seemed messy no matter how much they vacuumed. It was a place they barely held together, but at least it was their place. That's what they'd always told each other, anyway. God, he loved Tweek so fucking much, but why did everything that they dreamed of back in high school have to be so hard to grasp as adults? Everything was overpriced, and competitive for no reason. Growing up had to be the most overrated thing Craig had ever heard of.
About thirty minutes later, Craig heard Tweek call his name, and he headed up to their bed to find Tweek curled in a ball by the pillows.
"What's up honey?" Craig asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Do you think I'm broken?" Tweek asked. "That I'm...a problem?"
"Of course not," Craig replied immediately. "You'll never be a problem to me. Problems are what we face together."
"Then why do you keep trying to fix me?" Tweek asked.
"Because we need to survive, Tweek. And we can't live here without more money," Craig answered. "I just don't know what to do, anymore."
"I knew it, I'm holding us back," Tweek said, shoving his head between his knees.
"Hey, no, none of that," Craig said, sitting down beside him. "You know I can't do this without you."
"You're capable of anything," Tweek said, a line Craig hadn't heard in a long time.
"Yeah, but I'm capable of more with you," Craig replied, which finally got Tweek to raise his head.
"You still mean it?" Tweek asked. "Everything we promised?"
"The night we ran away I promised I'm in this for life, Tweek," Craig said, shaking his head. He took Tweek's hands in his, a gesture that was rarely returned, lately. "And I meant it, still do."
He used to be all over me.
"I love you, Craig," Tweek replied, pulling his hands away. "I always will. I just wish I knew what to do about us."
"I love you too, Tweek. And I want so badly to believe that as long as we love each other nothing can stop us. But lately I just don't know. I don't feel like we're what we used to be."
"I thought we had all these dreams," Tweek mumbled. "I thought we were bigger than all of this."
"We have to live, Tweek. And if we can't survive, we can't live," Craig said, hating the words as he said them.
Tweek nodded, like he was making a decision. "If I'm holding you back, don't you think I should just g-
Craig didn't let him finish the sentence. "Never. Come on Tweek, haven't you been listening? Don't think like that."
Please...don't ever fucking leave me.
"But what am I supposed to think?" Tweek asked, looking exhausted.
"Right now? Let's try and think about anything else, so we don't have our whole night ruined," Craig said, and after a moment Tweek nodded in agreement.
…
Craig was really on his last leg of hope. In the days leading up to leaving for South Park, he and Tweek had continued to fight, their talk of figuring things out seeming more like a dream than a reality. How could it fucking be that their relationship was falling apart? After all they had been through together, to end up this way, it had to be a sick joke from the universe.
But they were going to Clyde's wedding, and Craig was trying to be optimistic.
"It's just a few days, Tweek," Craig said, as they tossed their bags into the car.
"Yeah, but I just started my new job and-
"You already called and explained, babe, it's okay."
Tweek was shaking as Craig started the car. "Don't tell me it's okay, you're...I don't know!"
"I'm just trying to remind you that there's nothing to worry about!" Craig said, exasperated.
"But I am worried! Why won't you let me worry?!" Tweek cried.
"Because you don't need to!" Craig said, like it was obvious.
"There you go again!" Tweek replied, crossing his arms.
The drive wasn't overly long, and they happened to still be arguing when they passed it. It, being the South Park town sign, which didn't mean much to them, they'd only seen it a million times. But...for some reason this wasn't "most times."
As soon as they hit the town line, with the sign off to their right, there was a flash, and a light so blinding it immediately startled the couple, cutting Tweek and Craig off mid-argument.
"What the fuck?" Craig demanded, immediately trying to maneuver the car to the side of the road. "Tweek?" He cried, unable to see the blonde next to him any longer.
Craig heard his name cried out faintly, like Tweek was a mile away, rather than barely two feet.
When Craig could see again, he was in his old bedroom, on the second floor of the Tucker household. He glanced around, trying to figure out how he got there, but there was no sign of Tweek, and no one who answered when he shouted "hello?!"
Just as he was getting off of his bed, Laura Tucker appeared in the doorway, a baseball bat in her hand. When she saw Craig, she sighed and lowered the bat, prompting Craig to raise a middle finger, which he immediately realized he hadn't done in a long time.
"What are you doing here, Craig?" she demanded, crossing her arms, the bat still in one of her hands.
Fuck, he hadn't even told his own mother he'd be in town for the wedding. "Look," Craig began. "I know I should have called-
Her face didn't change. "Oh, you think so? Well for once we agree Craig. How dare you do this on such an important day for you-
"Important day?" Craig asked, confused.
"Do you really think you can fake amnesia with me? Nice try, but you and I both know I didn't get you all those school supplies for you to skip your first day of school. Now let's go, I want to see your ass get in gear," Laura scolded, ignoring the wide eyed look on Craig's face.
"First day of school?" Craig asked, blinking and waiting to wake up from whatever the fuck this was, ignoring his mother's growing impatience.
"Yes, now let's go. You only get to be a high school senior once."
Wait, senior year? But that was-
Craig took a deep breath, and tried not to scream.
"Come on," his mother called from the hallway where she had retreated. "I'm only offering to drive you for the next fifteen minutes!"
