Oh my goodness, I'm the worst at posting notes! Anyways, hi! This is my first note accompanying the story and I just want to thank everyone so so so much for reading! You guys are the best, and I hope you're enjoying the story! I'm currently working on my sequel, and I'll be posting that here as well! I'll try to have more notes as I think of things to say with the chapters. Anyways thanks again!
-Gem
They say "just grow up", but they don't know us
We don't give a fuck, and we're never gonna change
Say, won't you say "forever"
Stay, if you stay forever
Hey, we can stay forever young
Craig and Tweek woke up the next morning to knocking on Craig's bedroom door.
"Hey lazy ass," it was Tricia, "your other boyfriend is here!"
"Who the fuck are you calling lazy?" Craig shouted back, as he and Tweek quickly threw on clothes.
"Is there another Craig Tucker living in this house?" Tricia demanded, and Tweek tried hard not to laugh.
"Shut up and go away," Craig demanded, flinging the door open.
"You gonna tell mom and dad Tweek lives here now?" Tricia asked, a smirk on her face as she locked eyes on Tweek.
"You gonna tell mom and dad you sneak in Karen McCormick every night?" Craig replied, leaning against the doorframe. He hadn't known it back when he really was seventeen, but future knowledge sure had its perks.
And the reaction was priceless. "Oh...fuck you," Tricia finally said, turning on her heels. She stopped before heading into her room and shouted down the stairs, "Clyde, Craig will be down in a second!"
"Okay!" Came the nasally reply of the one friend Craig had been avoiding for nearly a week.
"Craig, it's okay," Tweek said, putting a hand on Craig's shoulder. He leaned into it, grateful, because he really had been feeling like a bad friend.
"How do you do that?" Craig asked, turning to look at Tweek, who seemed startled by the question, or maybe anxious. It was hard to tell.
I sometimes wish you had all the words babe, it sure would help me out.
"How do I do what?" Tweek asked.
"Always know what I need to hear?" Craig asked, allowing himself just a small moment of vulnerability.
"I just...do," Tweek said. "I think that's just part of loving you?"
"Have I ever told you I'm lucky to have you loving me?" Craig asked.
"It doesn't hurt to be reminded," Tweek said, and Craig leaned down to kiss him, the blonde tugging lightly on the flaps of Craig's chullo, pulling him closer.
"Go," Tweek said, a bit breathless, closing the door behind Craig as he headed into the hall.
Waiting at the bottom of the stairs, like a specter from the past was Clyde. Sure, it had been weird seeing everyone else at seventeen, exactly how Craig remembered them to be, frozen forever on the night when he and Tweek ran away. But this was Clyde. Clyde, who had been to Craig and Tweek's apartment more times than Craig could count on two hands. Clyde, who had traded calls back and forth with Craig, venting for hours and then listening to Craig vent hours later. This was his best friend, not someone who'd been frozen in time like a picture. It was almost like seeing seventeen year old Tweek almost a week ago now, it didn't fit.
"Hey," Craig said awkwardly, lifting his harm in a half-wave.
"Hey? Come on man," Clyde scoffed. "You can do better than that."
"Sorry, it's- it's just been a while since I've seen you," Craig said. "And I don't really know how to feel about that."
"A while," the understatement of the decade.
"Ok, hey now you don't have to get that emotionally open, just, you know tell me you've been busy sucking face with Tweek or something and all will be well," Clyde said, not knowing how to react to Craig's honesty.
Right, we don't do this kind of openness yet. "Yeah, yeah, that's pretty much been it," Craig said, feeling awkward as he and Clyde headed outside to Clyde's car.
The truth was this whole thing was awkward as fuck. Craig had no problem being honest with Clyde, but that was 23 year old Clyde, not the seventeen year old who only knew emotionally-closed-off -Craig. The Clyde Craig was used to could talk for hours about Bebe, and how she was into yoga, but wouldn't let Craig get that confused with pilates because he had done that once and Bebe hadn't let him hear the end of it. He had been there the first time Craig cried, well, cried to someone other than Tweek and that someone happened to be Clyde. They had been nineteen at the time, and Craig had lost a job, not knowing at all how he was gonna tell Tweek.
But this Clyde? This was the same Clyde who thought if he made Bebe jealous she'd take him back faster, and acted like a jerk for half a month because "Stan Kyle Kenny and Cartman are assholes and everyone likes them," only to realize he'd never felt lonelier, something he only told Craig on a drunken night when they were 20. This was a Clyde Craig wanted to share wisdom with, rather than his best friend that he could emotionally relate to.
How the fuck was he supposed to do this?
When Craig zoned back into the present moment, he felt Clyde's eyes on him. "Alright, dude," Clyde finally said, sensing Craig's inner turmoil. They'd been driving around for a minute now. "I don't know what the fuck is up with you, and I'm not exactly sure what I'll do if it's something major, but as your best friend I do have to demand you tell me what's going on."
"Results may vary?" Craig asked, and Clyde laughed.
"Exactly," the brunette said, smiling. "Now come on, out with it."
Craig looked at him, really looked at him, and sighed. "Alright, here's the truth. I'm not really seventeen, I'm a traveller from another time," Craig said flatly. "Tweek and I are actually twenty three, trapped in the bodies of our seventeen year old selves. We were on our way to your wedding when we got transported back in time to the start of this school year. We have no fucking clue what's going on, we're scared, and the only upside is that we aren't alone. We have each other, and Stripe," Craig said. "And despite Christophe's best efforts, you're officially the only person who knows the truth."
Clyde, instead of responding, pulled the car over, and stared at Craig. "Are you...fucking with me?" Clyde asked, looking genuinely concerned. "I'd outright call you a liar, but you said you're scared, and I know you only get scared when something really serious is going on. But the only reason I can't outright believe you, is because you said I'm marrying Bebe at twenty-three."
Craig was so wound up he wanted to crack and laugh, but managed to hold it in. He wanted
Clyde to believe him. "It's true. You guys fought a lot before we turned twenty, but it was really sweet how on her birthday you went and told her you knew you would never deserve her, but if she'd let you, you would love her for the rest of your lives, and forever after that. I didn't think you had that in you, but it worked" Craig said, shrugging as he forced himself to calm down. "Anyway, believe me or not, it's the truth. I'm freaking the fuck out dude, and Tweek...Tweek is barely hanging in."
"Bebe really agrees to marry me?" Clyde said, still apparently stuck on his future engagement. "She doesn't leave me for Kyle?"
Kyle? Seriously?
"Did she tell you she was leaving you for Kyle?" Craig asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, man, but every dude knows the girls are into Kyle. I think it's his red hair," Clyde grumbled.
"Just...do yourself a favor and be kind to Bebe, alright?" Craig said. "Be yourself."
"Oh god, you must be telling the truth," Clyde said, rolling his eyes. "Only someone who's old would try and give advice like that."
"Fuck off, twenty-three isn't old," Craig crossed his arms. "I haven't even gotten to marry Tweek yet."
"What?! I'm getting married before you?!" Clyde cried, his eyes wide. "That can't be true!"
"Yeah, well, we've been fighting…" Craig began. "It's been rough going for a while now-
"You and Tweek?" Clyde asked, shaking his head. "No way, you two can't get enough of each other. I'm surprised you're here with me alone!"
Craig sighed and shook his head. He couldn't lie to Clyde. "You're wrong. He used to be all over me," Craig said, letting out his thoughts, speaking them aloud for the first time, venting before he could stop himself. "He used to tell me everything. We used to be unstoppable. Now...everything is past tense."
Clyde raised an eyebrow. "Well...you're in the past now, so technically it's...present tense, right?" Clyde asked.
Craig nodded slowly.
"So don't let it go bad again," Clyde said. "Right now he's...all over you, and could tell you everything, and is the other half of your unstoppable duo, so… I don't know... be what you want to be for Tweek."
"For Tweek?"
"Yeah," Clyde said, shrugging. "You know, be the boyfriend you want him to have...for when you guys get back to your time."
Craig felt a bit at a loss for words. "But, he doesn't always have all the words, how do I, how the fuck do I figure out what he needs from me?"
"Well, what used to work?" Clyde asked. "Surely he had problems when you were younger...which is now, I guess," Clyde said awkwardly. "How'd you help him?"
"I don't know, he just accepted whatever I said and thanked me for being there for him! Now he tries to hide shit from me, like when he loses his job-
"He's losing jobs?" Clyde asked. "Why's that?"
Craig frowned. "Well, he can't be a barista anymore so-
Clyde looked surprised. "What the fuck, why not?"
Suddenly it hit him. He'd been so grateful Clyde was listening, he forgot not to spoil the future.
You can recover, just shut the fuck up.
"I, uh can't tell you," Craig said quickly. "I'd be influencing the future."
"Oh, okay," Clyde said. "Well, hey, thanks for all the stuff you were able to tell me. I'm sorry this is all so fucked up for you. And about Tweek...just, I don't know, try and listen, alright? He always seems to want that when you're busy and it's just me and him."
"Okay. Thanks for listening," Craig said. "I really appreciate it."
"Sure thing. Still wanna go see a movie? Since you're from the...future, yeah that doesn't get any less weird to think about, anyway point is I bet you've seen it a million times by now-
Craig stopped him, raising his hand. "Dude, I'd love to lose myself in a movie. But you're buying popcorn," Craig added quickly, almost smiling at the protest on Clyde's face.
"You-you're the one with a job Mr. Adult!" Clyde cried.
"Should have been faster to call not it for popcorn," Craig said with a shrug.
"Damnit," Clyde said, shaking his head. But he smiled, to let Craig know it was all good.
…
"Come on," Tweek said, when he and Craig were finally alone. "I want to show you something."
Craig, having only just gotten back up to his room after being out with Clyde and then enduring family dinner, none of which had ever been fun the first time he was in high school, sighed. "Do we have to go out now, babe? I've been out all day-
"Yes, now!" Tweek replied, shaking his head as he and Craig escaped through Craig's bedroom window.
Craig seemed hesitant, his reluctance only dimming slightly when they headed out of town and into the forest, Tweek silently guiding them along, clearly knowing exactly where they were headed.
Unlike Craig, who really had no fucking clue.
"Okay, here's where I stashed the bag," Tweek said, pulling out a big camping bag from under a pile of leaves and branches, a small neon paint marker the only indication it wasn't a natural occurrence.
"What are we doing out here?" Craig finally asked, only to be met by a small smile on Tweek's face as the blonde turned around.
"We're camping, silly," Tweek said, laughing.
"Camping?" Craig asked. "Like in a tent and stuff?"
"And stuff," Tweek said vaguely, continuing to drag Craig along through the woods until they came upon a small patch of land that was clearly secluded.
"Did you plan this?" Craig asks, wondering where Tweek found the time.
"Yeah... about six years ago," Tweek says, now not meeting Craig's eyes.
"Six years ago?" Craig repeats.
"Yeah, I always wanted to take you on a date...camping," Tweek said, shrugging. "Never got around to it."
"Did you know I like camping?" Craig asked.
"No, but given how much stuff we've done in the woods, escaping the bright lights of town to see the stars...I could harbor a fair guess," Tweek said. "Besides, I figured out you can make coffee on a camping trip!"
Craig smiled, the kind of smile only Tweek ever got to see, at the thought of his boyfriend making coffee on a camping trip. "Of course you would, honey," he said, leaning in and kissing Tweek, who dropped the bags on the ground to wrap his arms around Craig and kiss him back.
"We still have to set up but it shouldn't take long," Tweek said dismissively, pulling away. "And then we can watch the stars."
"Well let's get to it, we're losing daylight," Craig said, still smiling.
They began their work side by side, not stopping until the tent and small campsite was all set for use.
"So, Kyle invited us to his house for a party in a couple weeks," Tweek said casually, as they were lying on a blanket staring up at the stars.
"A party? Won't his mom have like...six heart attacks?" Craig asked, skeptical.
"It's a college application party," Tweek said, shrugging. "I want to go."
"You do?"
"You don't?" Tweek looked over at him.
"I guess...it could be fun. At least our apps would be done...again," Craig said with a laugh that didn't at all indicate he thought anything was funny.
"You know, if we hate it we can just leave," Tweek said. "None of that weird high school shit where we stay because it's all we have going on that day."
"But...won't it be?" Craig asked, slightly confused.
"Yeah, but we can be above letting other people know that," Tweek said, laughing.
"...I told Clyde," Craig said, noticing how the mood changed immediately.
"You did what?" Tweek asked, like he hadn't heard him right.
"I told Clyde," Craig repeated.
"...How'd that go?" Tweek asked, signs of panic setting in on his face.
"Actually, it went okay," Craig said. "I mean it was awkward as fuck at first, cause it felt like talking to a younger brother rather than our friend, but it all worked out. He even gave me relationship advice."
"Relationship advice?" Tweek repeated. "Like…for you and me, relationship advice?"
Craig nodded. "Yeah, I mean it's no mystery we've been struggling and...I want to do my part to fix it."
Tweek narrowed his eyes. "Wait. How'd you tell him about our problems without talking about-
"I almost did, but I stopped before I could fuck up," Craig said quickly, feeling Tweek relax a bit more beside him. "I kept it simple."
"You talked about us? And kept it simple?" Tweek repeated, laughing and turning to look at him. "When have we ever been simple?"
"Always," Craig replied, dead serious.
"How?"
"Because I know how I feel," Craig said, his honesty surprising Tweek, whose eyes went just a bit wide. "I love you. I'll always love you. It seems complicated because we go through a lot sometimes but...it's worth it because you're there, with me. So...yeah, simple."
"I love you too," Tweek said softly, still looking up at the stars.
