So I sneak out to the garden to see you

We keep quiet, 'cause we're dead if they knew

So close your eyes

Escape this town for a little while

The last thing Tweek wanted when he showed up to play auditions on Friday afternoon was to see Gregory, and yet there the blonde was, front and center pacing around the auditorium with a script in hand.

"Ah, so you decided to show up after all," Gregory called out to Tweek, rolling his eyes. "So much for Mr. Perfect stepping aside this year."

Ugh, Mr. Perfect, Tweek's least favorite nickname, and one Gregory loved to torment him with. He wasn't sure when in high school Gregory started using it, but Tweek had always wondered where it came from. Thankfully he'd been able to leave it behind when he and Craig ran away but, of course, like everything else it was back to haunt him.

Although…since he literally had nothing to lose...why not find out where Gregory got the god awful name from? "Why do you keep saying that?" Tweek snapped, and Gregory turned, tilting his head.

"Why do I keep saying what?" the blonde replied, not even bothering to make eye contact with Tweek..

"Calling me and Craig Mr. and Mr. Perfect," Tweek said, disgusted, hating that nickname inside and out. "I hate that implication."

Gregory rolled his eyes. "Why shouldn't I? You're literally the town's golden couple. Not all of us can be so lucky," Gregory said, nodding at Christophe, who was off to one side of the stage working on the set. "Some of us had to fight for what we have."

Tweek almost laughed, but held it in. "You think I didn't fight for my relationship?" Tweek demanded. You think I'm not fighting now? "You weren't there, man."

"Please, don't act high and mighty," Gregory scoffed, which Tweek thought was really rich coming from him. "People look at you and Craig like the two of you personally hung the stars. Just don't fucking take it for granted."

"We don't have it easy!" Tweek cried, unable to believe what he was hearing. "Craig and I still have to get along, you know? We still have to actually have a relationship!"

"Doesn't seem to be too hard," Gregory said, unknowingly stepping right into dangerous territory, "it's rare to see one of you without the other, and that's when your lips aren't glued together."

"That's only what people see when we're in public!" Tweek cried, internally cringing at the memories of just how public he and Craig had always been with PDA. As much as he loved Craig, their youth had been full of a lot of public moments that through the lens of an adult mind, may have been better kept in private. Nothing he regretted just…damn. "When we're alone it's different!"

"Spare me," Gregory said dismissively, ignoring the look Christophe had started throwing their way. "Luckily for me, I'm not part of your relationship, so the details mean nothing."

"Oh shit, man," Tweek snapped back in a tone that surprised him more than anything, "and here I thought you wanted to know all about it, given how you can't seem to keep our names out of your mouth." He clenched his fists, thinking how good it would feel to give Gregory a black eye.

"Ah, you mistook my observations for interest," Gregory replied calmly, though he had raised an eyebrow at Tweek's biting words, "it's a common mistake."

"Alright boys, girls and non-binary folks," Mr. Mackey called out, interrupting their argument. "We'll begin auditions in ten minutes, mkay?"

"We'll see who's the better performer, dude," Tweek scoffed, walking away before he threw a punch that wouldn't be worth the headache. "That's all that matters in the end."

He ended up taking a seat by himself, since Craig was off helping with costume orders, though the seats next to him didn't stay empty for long.

"I swear, Cartman only catches rides with me so he can torment me," came the whining voice of Kenny McCormick, who was accompanied by Kyle Broflovski. Tweek knew Kyle was never one to miss an opportunity to dump on Eric Cartman, and today was clearly no exception.

"So stop giving him rides, he's not worth it," Kyle said, rolling his eyes. Kenny nodded, thoughtfully, but said nothing. "He doesn't even pay you for gas money."

"Oh shit, should I be charging him that?" Kenny turned and asked, eyes wide.

"It amazes me you haven't thought of it sooner," Kyle said.

"Hey, Tweek," Kenny said. "Did you and Tucker really ditch third again just to hook up in the bathroom?"

Tweek sighed. "Did Christophe tell you? Or is this just a lucky guess?"

"Please, luck has nothing to do with it. I watched Craig get up during class and he never came back. But did you just say Christophe!?" Kenny gasped with excitement. "Tell me more about that! Did you and Craig learn to share or was he just watching?" he asked, smirking.

"Lay off, Kenny," Kyle said, shaking his head. "I doubt Christophe would cheat on Gregory."

"Anyone can be persuaded to cause a little trouble," Kenny said, dismissively.

"Christophe was just smoking, happened to see us come out of the stall," Tweek half-lied. No point in telling them about his and Craig's situation, it was bad enough that Christophe was onto them, and continued to try and bump into them every so often.

"Oh, that's kinda boring," Kyle muttered, disappointed, and Kenny burst into laughter.

"I always knew you were a juicy gossip Ky!" Kenny said, trying to laugh without being too loud. As it was Christophe and Gregory were sending confused (Christophe) and borderline angry (Gregory) looks their way. "You're like an old lady!"

"Take that back," Kyle grumbled, rolling his eyes. "I'm not an old lady."

"It's a metaphor my boy," Kenny said, shaking his head. "Tweek gets it, don't you Tweek?"

"Stop dragging me into your shit, man," Tweek said, arms crossed. He didn't want to keep having to pretend he didn't see Gregory's annoyed face staring over at him.

"See, Tweek agrees I'm not an old lady," Kyle said, nodding appreciatively at Tweek.

"I never said that either," Tweek corrected, shaking his head.

"Next up is Tweek Tweak," Mr. Mackey announced.

"And that would be my cue," Tweek muttered, moving to stand up.

"Hey Tweek," Kyle said. "Just wanted to let you know we're having a college application party at my house in a couple weeks. If you and Craig want to join, you're welcome to come over."

"Oh, wow thanks," Tweek replied. "I'll talk to Craig and let you know."

"Sweet," Kyle replied, as he moved his feet to let Tweek pass him out to the aisle.

"Good luck Tweek!" Kenny called out reassuringly.

Tweek didn't respond, but as he took the stage, noticing Craig standing in the wings, watching him with a reassuring smile. He made it back from helping with costume orders! He turned to face the audience, and saw Kenny and Kyle giving him thumbs up from the back of the auditorium. Tweek smiled to himself before taking a deep breath.

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow-

Tweek couldn't believe he had to wait until Monday for the audition results. He was seated on a tall stool behind the counter at Tweek Bros, a cup of coffee in one hand and a book in the other. Craig said they needed to blend, and act like they had back then, so while hiding the fuck out from his parents 90% of the time was perfectly fine, even Tweek knew skipping work was a no go.

"Stan, why the fuck did you drag me out to Tweek Bros?" Cartman demanded, loudly making his presence known.

Tweek and Stan rolled their eyes together. "Don't read into it too much fatass, Kyle and Kenny are busy," Stan grumbled, leading Cartman up to the counter.

"Right, because nothing makes me feel better than knowing you're not hanging out with me by choice, Stan," Cartman replied, ordering a coffee so loaded with sugar and creamer Tweek knew it wasn't even coffee anymore when he finally handed it over.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but you're not in my MySpace top ten," Stan joked, laughing at the scowl on Cartman's face. "Relax dude, I'm fucking joking."

"Not funny, Stan," Cartman grumbled, walking with Stan over to a booth where they both pulled out homework from the backpacks they had brought with them. "Not funny at all."

Tweek sighed, and continued reading his book. It wasn't super interesting, but neither was sitting around his parents' coffee shop testing coffee flavors all day.

"Where's Craig?" Stan asked, when he came up for a refill.

"Oh, uh I think he's at home right now," Tweek said. "Why?"

Stan shook his head "No reason, I just thought maybe he'd want to hang out if he can't talk to you during work. He and I could practice football, or something."

"Don't you guys hate each other?" Tweek asked, not exactly enjoying the memories of all of Craig's fights with Stan. He'd only really appreciated being the one taking care of Craig after.

"I thought so, but maybe things change? He hasn't been scowling at me so much during class and I think that might be a good sign? You can see I'm a bit low on quality friends here," Stan said, jerking a thumb back at Cartman.

Tweek nodded. "I'll talk to him."

"Thanks, man," Stan said, heading back over to Cartman, who was already yelling before Stan had even sat down.

Tweek sat for a minute and thought about Craig and Stan hanging out together…maybe alone. The thought of being away from Craig always gave him anxiety, he sometimes wished he had Craig's unwavering ability to just exist, and be fine.

"Eef being Gregory's boyfriend meant I 'ad to be just like 'im, we would not last very long," Christophe's words echoed in Tweek's mind. They'd been lingering ever since their chat at Stark's Pond, but Tweek just couldn't figure out what they meant. What was wrong with wanting to be more like the person you were with? Tweek more often than not wished he were anyone but himself. And Craig was the person he admired most of all. How could that be a bad thing?

It's not like being me is a walk in the park. Who'd want to be me anyways?

"French people are so confusing," Tweek muttered, before taking another drink of coffee.

Just as he was putting the thermos back down, Cartman walked up to the counter and slammed down his drink cup, splattering Tweek with whatever liquid hadn't been finished.

"What can I do for you?" Tweek managed, trying not to act as startled as he felt.

"I need a refill," Cartman demanded, and Stan sighed, loudly, from their table.

"What was that, hippie?" Cartman demanded, turning on Stan. Tweek had to admit he hadn't been paying attention to them for a while, lost in wondering whether he and Craig had to stick exactly to the timeline, but he didn't think he'd missed anything big between the two friends, had he?

"Cartman you need to calm down-

"Absolutely not! You seriously thought telling me Heidi and Kyle are hooking up would be calming, hippie?" Cartman shouted, looking ready to throw a punch.

Stan looked tired. "Ok no, but-

"So shut the hell up while I get my damn refill! Hey Spaz!" Cartman shouted, turning back to Tweek, and practically climbing the counter to get in his face. "Are you listening to me?!"

Tweek yelped and then immediately tried to swallow the shame. "Gah! I mean, what! What do you want?!" Tweek shrieked.

"Good job," Stan said, walking back up to the counter. "Sorry about him Tweek."

Tweek didn't answer, and Cartman took the opportunity to speak. "Just give me a damn refill!" the brunette shouted, and Tweek rushed to make it, practically throwing the drink at Cartman when he was done.

"I'm really sorry again, Tweek," Stan tried again, already ushering Cartman to the front of the store.

But Tweek could hardly breathe. "Just get out! Especially Cartman! Don't come back here!" Tweek shouted, running to the back.

"I'll call Craig," Tweek heard Stan say between shaking breaths as he leaned against the wall of the back room.

About ten minutes later, Craig showed up just a half hour before Tweek was due to get off of his shift. By now Tweek had changed into some spare clothes and a clean apron he had stored in the back for times when he ended up wearing coffee, regardless of the reason why.

"Hey honey," he said, stepping up to the counter and hopping over it to land next to Tweek. "I got a weird call from Stan, are you okay? Want to skip the rest of your shift and go for a walk before we head back to my house?"

"Sure, I've been thinking about some things anyways," Tweek said, still shaking from Cartman's outburst. "And no, I'm not okay. I'm actually…I don't know but I feel like I did something wrong!"

"Hey, what happened?" Craig asked, worry in his eyes as he tried to get Tweek to look at him, instead of burying his face in Craig's jacket.

"Cartman is an asshole," Tweek grumbled through a low growl in the back of his throat. "Got all upset in the store."

"Is that why Stan called?" Craig asked, taking Tweek's hands and leading him out to the car. Tweek locked up the store behind them, knowing his parents would be here within the next five minutes anyways. The likelihood of a customer appearing in such a short time before then was minimal.

"I don't want to talk about it," Tweek muttered, but he nodded so Craig would know. "I don't have the words. Can we talk about…anything else? Like I said I've been thinking about stuff today."

"Alright, whatever you want to talk about, just give it your best," Craig said, once they were out for their walk, Tweek Bros and Tweek's shift left far behind them. "What'd you want to say honey?"

Tweek sighed, staring down at the path beneath their feet. "Do you think we should do everything exactly as we did it the first time around? Do we have to stick to the timeline, or do you think we can make...changes?"

"Changes?" Craig looked concerned, and Tweek tried to shove down the anxious thoughts that he was sounding stupid.

"Yeah, like what if you and I are meant to do things differently from the timeline? Maybe if we just let time replay exactly as it did before we'll only end up back here?"

"Are you trying to talk about that night again?" Craig asked. "We don't have to think about it yet, you know."

"Gah!" Tweek cried. It hadn't been on his mind until Craig said something, and now the thoughts of shame and guilt were back. "No! That wasn't what I meant! I meant you and me!"

Craig's face changed instantly to an apologetic look. "Oh god I didn't mean to make you think of it honey, I thought I was helping."

That wasn't what I had meant at all! Why can't I ever get my words right?!

Tweek was shaking, but trying to calm back down. "It's…okay…just, can you listen to me, please?"

"Of course babe, I'm sorry," Craig said, letting Tweek squeeze his hands, and idly play with his fingers, twisting them without much pressure until he had calmed back down.

"I was thinking," Tweek said, as they continued their walk. "What if we did things differently than before?"

"Like what?" Craig asked.

"Like…what if we…work on our relationship," Tweek said.

"There's something wrong with our relationship?" Craig asked, looking worried.

"No! No!" Tweek cried. "I mean, what you and I bring to our relationship!"

"Okay, what does that mean?" Craig asked.

Tweek squeezed Craig's hands. "I think we're in this timeline because we fucked up somehow. And I don't just mean that night. I think it's everything we've done, or more like what we haven't done!" Tweek tried to explain, hoping Craig would follow. "I think it's possible that the reason we've been struggling in our relationship back in our time, six years from now, has to do with something going on now, something or more than one something that we missed!"

"So you don't just think the night we left town matters, you think everything matters?" Craig said.

"Exactly. I think we've got to…do something, now, if we want things to be better…later," Tweek said, hoping he'd found the right words.

"So you think this could be related to all the fights we've been having?" Craig asked, and Tweek knew exactly what he was thinking, why that thought was worrying him, because it was worrying Tweek too. If this was related to their fights, if their falling back in time wasn't just a random event, that would be really fucking scary.

"I'm not sure, but maybe," Tweek said. "Either way, I think it's not a bad idea to think more about it."

"Alright, well I'm not sure where to start with all of that, but I think you might be onto something, honey," Craig said, lightly squeezing Tweek's hands. The sky had turned dark while they'd been walking, but there was no reason to rush back to Craig's house. "In the meantime, do you want to go watch the stars?"

"Yeah," Tweek said, smiling that Craig had listened to him, had really listened. He leaned up and kissed him, before carrying on down the trail. "Let's do it Craig."