A/N: Sorry.
Tweek
Tweek wasn't exactly sure how he'd gotten where he was when he woke up. He could vaguely remember warm arms, muffled voices giving directions, and soft blue eyes, but even those memories felt unreal. Though could you really blame him? He didn't sleep often, his body was hardly used to the sensation.
All he knew was that when he woke up, he wasn't in his own bed.
OH GOD, I'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED! Mind leaping into high gear while his body decided that really, he needed more sleep, Tweek let out a soft, "Ngh-" as he tried to struggle upright. But he couldn't there was a weight across his chest and he couldn't move. I've been kidnapped and they tied me down and now I can't escape! What are they going to do to me? What if they never let me go?
Feeling as though he was suffocating, Tweek wriggled around, needing fresh air. Oh Jesus! I'm going to die! He was panicking, making the whole situation worse, but he couldn't even begin to calm himself down. Not when he didn't know where he was or what he was doing there or who had put him here. I was with Craig at Kupa Keep! What happened?! What if they killed him!
Finally managing to turn over, exposing his face to the cool air around him. He was about to use this opportunity to scream when his blurry vision cleared and he realized what was above him. Stars. Hundreds of little, glowing plastic stick-on stars, enough that they spanned the ceiling, were gleaming above him. Any and all panic sputtering and dying in his throat, Tweek looked to his right and realized what the heavy weight on him was.
Craig's arm.
Because this was Craig's room, and Tweek was on Craig's bed, under Craig's old blue covers, with Craig sleeping next to him.
Tweek's previous panic was replaced with a very different kind of worry. I've never slept over at someone's house before. What if I do something wrong? What if Craig wakes up and is upset with me and makes me walk home in the dark? "Ggh-" Tweek twitched hard as the worries and possibilities started crowding his head. Eyes darting around the almost entirely dark room, Tweek's eyes finally found what he was looking for. The glowing, space-themed clock on Craig's desk.
It was only two in the morning.
JESUS, WHAT IF I WAKE HIM UP!? Struggling not to make any sounds, Tweek forced himself to think about something else. Anything to distract his mind from the monsters that started to creep up the walls in the stillness. It wasn't as bad as it was when he was at home, but at least there he could turn on his lights and scare them away. At least there he had his coffee. At least here, I have Craig.
Focusing on the boy beside him, Tweek's eyes, which were slowly growing accustomed to the dark, were able to pick out his features. He'd changed before getting into bed. All of his Thief paraphernalia had been exchanged for a ratty shirt and soft fuzzy leggings. His hat, Tweek realized, hadn't left his head. Does it ever? Does he wear it when he showers so it can get clean? Does he have more than one?
Shifting his own body, Tweek realized that he too was wearing something different. Considering how big the shirt felt, he could only assume it was another one of Craig's. Just like the shirt he let me wear at Token's house. Tweek would probably never understand why Craig had insisted that Tweek wear his only spare shirt instead of one of Token's many shirts that were available, but he was thankful all the same. It was stupid, but wearing something of Craig's naturally made him feel less panicked, like it soaked up all of that crazy and allowed him to clear his mind.
In the glow the stars cast over the room, Tweek reflected that Craig's face looked calm. Not flat like it usually looked when he was awake, that kind of give-no-shits attitude that showed up quite vividly on his face. No, this was peace. The boy appeared lighter like this, like whatever made him so grounded and firm during the day had been lifted off his shoulders, making him into the ten-year-old boy that he really was instead of the stoic and immovable force he usually was.
This close, Tweek's eyes could trace each feature of Craig's face. His long nose, the dark raven hair escaping from under his hat, the still fading scars where the glass from the shop class window had cut him, the blond could see it all. Turning his head, Tweek's eyes followed Craig's arm. It was funny, he spent so much time with long sleeves on, Tweek almost felt like he was looking at something foreign. Maybe it was just the shadows, but Tweek could have sworn he saw scars trailing up the skin.
Letting his eyes travel back up to the ceiling, Tweek found that for once, he wasn't really twitching. Maybe his body was too tired to let him, but Tweek realized that for this moment in time, he was entirely still. In that quiet, Tweek could hear Craig breathing. He could feel the rise and fall of the boy beside him. It was so utterly calming, he couldn't imagine anything better.
The stars above him made him smile slightly as he stared at them. He'd helped Craig put up the really tiny ones just a week ago. It had been wonderful, seeing Craig get so excited about something like that. He'd shown Tweek his books of stars and arranged the various ones he had on the floor so that when he stood on the ladder he'd be able to see where he was supposed to put the new dots.
Then they'd both laid out on the floor with the lights off and Craig had pointed out all the new constellations.
Turning back to the side, Tweek suddenly let out a yelp when he found impossibly blue eyes staring at him. Snapping his mouth shut, Tweek watched as Craig blinked several times before mumbling something and rolling back slightly, shifting the arm that had been resting over Tweek to the side. Without that warm weight resting over him, Tweek found a chill running through him. His teeth knocked together as he gave a convulsive shiver.
"Cold?" Craig's voice sounded scratchy with sleep, but just as deep as Tweek knew it to be. Wait, he asked me a question! Oh god, what am I supposed to say? Is there a right answer? This is his room after all! IT'S TOO MUCH PRES- Craig rolled back over, and suddenly Tweek found his thoughts completely smothered by the other boy's presence.
Still feeling the need to say something, Tweek mumbled, "Only a little," into Craig's shirt before burrowing closer to Craig. The other boy felt like a furnace after all. Tweek didn't have to feel bad about stealing some of that warmth. Letting out a soft breath, Craig's arm went back around Tweek's shoulders and he was pulled that much closer. Tweek couldn't complain, though he wondered if Craig knew that he was treating him like a teddy bear.
After a moment more of silence, during which Tweek half-wondered if Craig had fallen asleep again, the Noirette finally chose to speak again. "You slept," he commented, as if it was a miracle. "I didn't think you did that." Considering how deep the dark circles under Tweek's eyes were, the blond couldn't blame the taller boy. Sometimes, he wondered if he slept at all too.
"I did," Tweek acknowledged, wonder in his own voice. "I –ngh- d-don't do that much." Ugh, I'm pointing out the obvious. I'm being annoying. Craig's too tired to deal with me being annoying. I should just stop talking. But the longer he stayed quiet, the more stuff built up in his head. At last, he just burst out, "What happened with Token and Clyde?" He made sure to stay at a whisper, not wanting to disturb Craig's family. Ruby, according to Craig, slept in the next room over after all.
"They planned stuff out for a while. They came out alive," Craig muttered, his sentences clipped short, no doubt from exhaustion. Tweek wondered if he was keeping the boy up and almost felt bad, but Craig's arm curled around his shoulders didn't allow him to panic as much as he would have otherwise. When Craig spoke again, Tweek let some of the worry drain away. "We're attacking the Elves tomorrow."
"We are?" Tweek asked, picturing another battle like the one he'd already been in and feeling excitement stir up at the thought. Right now, Tweek couldn't think of anything better.
But Craig made a soft sound, letting worry creep into Tweek's mind once more. "Actually, I'm the only one who's going." His flat voice sounded almost guilty, and Tweek was suddenly struck with the desire to be able to see Craig's face. Struggling upwards, despite Craig's hold on him, Tweek squirmed about until he was facing Craig, their heads both sharing the same pillow. Just as he'd imagined, Craig's eyes held regret.
"Why?" he squeaked softly, struggling not to let his disappointment show on his face. He didn't want to make Craig feel any worse about it than he already did. Tweek hated making Craig upset, not just because he was worried that Craig would hate him if he made him too upset, but because the Noirette didn't deserve weight like that on his shoulders. When Craig just stared at him, Tweek let his eyes fall to the blue covers over them and asked, "D-did I do something wrong?"
"No," Craig said at once, his voice unexpectedly firm. "You didn't do something wrong." He said it with such conviction, Tweek couldn't help but believe him. But if I didn't do something wrong, then why don't I get to go? Don't Craig and I work better as a team? Like he could sense Tweek's thoughts, Craig finally sighed and said, "Someone has to stick around to protect the castle, right?"
Realizing that Craig did indeed have a point, Tweek felt marginally better. But there are other people to protect the castle, why can't I go with Craig!? Realizing that Craig wouldn't be able to do anything about it, Tweek decided not to say that out loud. Instead, he just pressed his head more firmly into Craig's pillow and muttered, "I guess I just like –ghn- fighting with you b-better."
"I like fighting with you too," Craig agreed solemnly, his eyes growing distant, even as they remained fixated on Tweek's. Another moment of silence stretched forward, but then Craig finally spoke again. "It's much better than fighting against you. I didn't like that as much."
Nodding, rumbling the pillowcase under his wild hair, Tweek twitched and agreed, "Yeah, I prefer this too." Remembering back to just a month ago when he still thought Craig wanted to kill him, Tweek found himself giggling helplessly. He wasn't even sure why the noise escaped him, the fight with Craig hadn't been funny in the slightest, but remembering how ungrounded his fears had been definitely was.
At the soft, burbling sound, Craig's lips twitched into a smile and his gaze cleared. Tweek liked that, liked that he could make Craig smile without having to make a fool of himself to do so. He wondered if Craig knew how happy it made him to see the Noirette happy, but he couldn't put the question into words, so he just grinned at Craig and counted the little flecks of light that reflected in the boy's eyes.
"How did I get here?" Tweek asked once the moment had passed. At his question, Craig's brows hiked up and he turned his head so he could stare at his ceiling. Tweek had a vague memory of staring at the sky outside with Craig, but he couldn't tell if it was a dream or not. Part of him wanted to ask, but the rest of him accepted that the question would sound needlessly stupid and he hated sounding stupid in front of Craig.
"You fell asleep waiting for Clyde and Token to get done, so when they got out, I didn't bother waking you up," Craig explained, his words fading into the dark around them. Tweek wondered if just the boy being awake scared away the monsters, or if the shadows on the wall had been his imagination. Sometimes, he couldn't tell.
Turning back to Tweek, Craig softly continued, "You woke up several times, but you went back to sleep pretty quickly."
Furrowing his brows, Tweek asked, "Did I w-walk here?" He felt like he would have remembered something like that, but all he could remember was Craig's warm, brown cloak wrapped around him. It was a comforting memory, if it hadn't been his imagination.
"No, I carried you," Craig said, entirely blasé about it, as if carrying Tweek a whole block hadn't fazed him. Tweek squeaked at that, feeling guilty. He weighed almost as much as the Noirette, carrying him couldn't have been easy. Also, he didn't like to think that Craig saw him as a baby, needing to be carried from place to place, but he had a feeling that Craig would never see him like that.
So in the end, all he said was a soft, "Oh," before going back to being silent. Reaching his fingers forward, Tweek found the edge of Craig's shirt and tangled his small fingers in the fabric, pulling himself closer to the boy once more. Craig didn't stop him, he just tightened his arm slightly and let Tweek do what he wanted.
"I'm glad you slept," Craig commented, his voice sounding more rumbly this close to his lungs. Tweek didn't respond, so Craig continued talking. "I think you need more sleep."
"There are too many monsters," Tweek admitted in hushed tones, shivering at the thoughts of the creatures hiding in his room, just beyond where the light could touch, close enough to grab him if he got too close. "They're everywhere, if I go to sleep for too long, they'll –ngh- come and eat me."
The hand that had been tucked under Craig's head pulled out so he could place it in Tweek's hair. At the sensation, Tweek could feel the trembling that had been threatening to manifest itself calm down. Drawing a shuddering breath, Tweek looked up at Craig, seeking reassurance.
Softly, the boy said, "Don't worry, I'm here. The monsters won't come h-" Whatever Craig had been about to say was cut off by a horrendous slamming sound. Letting out a yelp, Tweek started, twitching violently in fear. Before he could ask Craig what that had been, the Noirette suddenly pressed his hands against Tweek's ears, keeping them there even as Tweek tried to move them.
Craig's eyes were wide. Tweek had never seen fear in the boy's eyes and would never have accused him of being afraid of anything but at that moment, there was something approaching terror in those deep blue eyes. Even with Craig's hands covering his ears, Tweek could hear the slamming of another door and shouting coming from beneath them.
His shaking returning in full, Tweek felt fear rush through him as a smashing sound cut through the night. A cry of panic kept trying to work its way out of Tweek's throat so he covered his mouth with a hand, struggling to hold back the sounds. Oh god. Oh god! What's going on!? Why is Craig afraid?! WHAT IS HE AFRAID OF!? WHAT'S DOWN THERE? I THOUGHT HE SAID THE MONSTERS WOULDN'T HURT ME! There was another bout of shouting, then a scream of pain and anger. Sounds escaping the hand clapped over his mouth, Tweek shook harder and stared into Craig's eyes, unable to look away.
Whatever Craig was trying to keep him from hearing was making the boy's face contort into a look of fear. His lips were parted and with every crash and shout, he flinched, the motion traveling through his arms and into Tweek, getting lost to the blonde's trembling. If it scares Craig, it must be something horrible! Don't Craig's parents hear it? Aren't they going to do something about the monsters in their house?! There were what sounded like screamed words echoing throughout the house, but with Craig's hands over his ears, Tweek couldn't understand them.
As the fear choked him, Tweek struggled to breathe but found he couldn't quite manage. He could feel Craig's heartbeat hammering, just through the boy's palms alone. Or maybe he was hearing it. Maybe Craig's heart was trying to drown out the sounds of the monsters underneath them. Images of fearsome beasts filled Tweek's mind, but he didn't dare ask Craig what they were, too scared of being heard by the creatures below them.
Whimpers escaped his nose, Tweek couldn't stop them. The sounds drew Craig's eyes away from the darkness and towards him. Desperately, he shook his head, his eyes begging Tweek to keep quiet. Like this, huddling and terrified, Craig didn't look like a giant, he looked unbearably small. It terrified Tweek, because he couldn't even hear what was going on, he just knew that it was bad. He just knew that if he made a sound, the monsters would find them.
Forcing himself to keep quiet, Tweek found tears leaking from his eyes, dripping down his face and dampening the hand Craig had over the ear Tweek had been pressing to the pillow. They felt damp and hot, horribly scratchy and disgusting, but Tweek couldn't stop them. He was too afraid to do any such thing.
He thought he could feel the floor shaking.
Suddenly, Craig's eyes got, if possible, even wider. Pulling Tweek as close as possible, Craig pressed the blonde's damp face against his shirt. For a moment, one of Craig's hands pulled off of Tweek's ears and the boy could hear thudding footsteps coming up the stairs. Yanking the covers over Tweek's head, Craig whispered, "Shhh," in Tweek's ear before covering it again with his hand. Held close like he was, Tweek could feel Craig trembling.
All at once, there was a flare of light that came through the small gaps in the covers. Tweek could only stare at them as Craig pressed the hands over Tweek's ears more firmly together, like he was trying to crack Tweek's head in half. There were muffled roars, and Tweek hid the sob that worked its way from him in Craig's shirt.
Then the door slammed closed, plunging the room back into darkness. There was a moment's more thumping and crashing, but finally, the whole house fell silent. Tweek didn't dare budge, he just cried silently into Craig's shirt and twitched and shook until he managed to get his breathing under control.
After a while of lying there in fearful silence, Tweek realized that Craig had simply frozen. Though he was still terrified that the monsters would come back, Tweek squirmed upwards and stared at Craig. The boy's eyes were fixed at a point above Tweek's head and his mouth was hanging open, a horrified expression on his face. Panicking, Tweek wondered if the monsters had frozen Craig, turning him into a statue.
Whimpering softly, Tweek let go of Craig's shirt so he could wrap his arms the boy in a hug. Please be okay, please don't look like that. Because Craig had protected Tweek from the monsters instead of protecting himself and Tweek couldn't handle the idea that the boy would never speak again.
As if brought back to life, Craig suddenly twitched under him and wrapped his own arms around Tweek, finally allowing the blond to calm down.
"Wh-what was that?" Tweek whimpered softly, trying to stop crying, trying to be brave when Craig so clearly needed him to be. It was hard, he wasn't used to being brave, not when he had so many of his own monsters to fend off. Something like this, something that could scare even Craig, was too scary for someone like him to handle. But he needed to be strong, just in case the monsters came back. For now, though, he just wanted to know what he was facing.
"Nothing, nothing at all," Craig lied, his voice cracking as he spoke. Tweek wished he could see Craig's face, but at the same time, he was glad he couldn't. He didn't want to know, in the end, he just wanted Craig to be okay. He never wanted to see the Noirette that afraid again.
"It was a monster!" Tweek insisted, shivering and clinging to Craig tighter.
Very softly, in a trembling voice, Craig whispered, "It's okay; the monsters won't hurt you while I'm here." Tweek wished he hadn't realized the difference between what Craig had just said and what he'd said before. He said they won't hurt me, Tweek thought, shivering as he struggled to keep his breathing even. But he never said they won't come.
That would mark the first time that Tweek ever came close to seeing Craig's demons.
But even at that moment, lying in the dark, Tweek knew it wouldn't be the last.
A/N: Look, I apologized.
