Tweek
"Ngh-" Tweek's fingers twitched and fumbled with the Legos as he tried to put them together. The model of Stripe was still sitting on his counter, next to the larger one he was trying to build. Considering that he hadn't known what he was doing in the first place, Tweek wasn't sure what he was doing now, but he supposed that it sort of looked alright. Why he was putting together little versions of Stripe, Tweek wouldn't have been able to say, he just knew that he felt at least a little better doing this than he did just sitting in the middle of his floor doing nothing.
Flinging his head around, looking for antennae to use as whiskers, Tweek gave a cry of frustration and tumbled out of his chair, instantly searching his floor for the pieces he knew would be there. He wasn't even sure what time it was, late, probably. Maybe this should have been concerning, but it wasn't like he slept anyway. He couldn't count the number of nights he'd spent, awake and staring at the clock until the sun came up.
Finding an antenna, Tweek managed to snap it into place on Stripe before losing his hold on the creation and watching as it tumbled across the floor, breaking off both of his front feet. Letting out a moan of distress, Tweek pulled on his hair for a moment before crawling after it, not wanting the monsters under his bed to see it and steal it from him. Snatching the Guinea Pig off of the floor, Tweek snapped it's little paws back into place before staring at it, his brain conjuring up an image of the real animal instead of just the Lego rendition.
Wishing he could recreate the soft fur and twitchy nose, Tweek messed with the tiny, hinged ears and bit his lip hard. I wonder if Craig would like it? He wondered absently, thinking of the way the boy would sometimes watch him play with his Legos, just watching Tweek for hours in silent contemplation. I bet he would. Though he'll always like Stripe the best.
Grabbing another antenna, Tweek added another whisker. He'd show Craig tomorrow, that is, he'd show the boy if he could convince him to come over. Oh god, we're going to have detention tomorrow. Jesus, that's so much pressure! They're probably going to give detention to everyone else who helped him. It's going to be all my fault that they get in trouble! Shaking his head in an attempt to get rid of the bad thoughts in his mind, Tweek stared down at his creation and carefully ran his fingers over the bumpy Legos as if it were the real animal.
It'll be okay, Craig will be there. Huddling up inside the taller boy's shirt, Tweek took several breathes that at least attempted to be deep before feeling around for another antenna. He'd never had detention before, not even when he broke through the window of the school. The idea of sitting in the cafeteria while Mr. Mackey watched him was frankly terrifying. How Craig could stomach it was beyond him. Then again, the boy was able to handle a lot more than he was, just by the benefit of not caring one bit.
Holding up Stripe, Tweek muttered, "Squeak squeak, I know Craig really w-well and I know that he's super badass and that Mr. M-Mackey doesn't scare him at all." Hugging one arm around himself, Tweek muttered, "You're r-right Stripe. He –ghn- doesn't care at all."
"Tweek?"
"OH JESUS AUGHGHGH!" Leaping back for the second time that night, Tweek shielded Model Stripe from being crushed as he rolled over the floor, away from the voice. OH GOD, WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME!? Twitching, letting out a groan as he did so, Tweek pealed his eyes open and pulled up till he could see who was there, even though he sort of already knew the answer to his own question. Ugh, he's too good at sneaking up on me.
Craig sat perched on the window ledge, his cloak ripping behind him as it streamed out of the window ledge. He had his backpack on his shoulders and his eyes were downcast, making Tweek sit up and twitch in fear, unsure why the boy looked so upset. Noticing the fresh bruise on the side of Craig's face, Tweek let out a soft whimper and shivered. "C-Craig?" he asked, biting his lip as the boy didn't move, just sat there silently as if he was broken.
Without looking up, Craig abruptly said, "I got bored, I figured you'd still be awake." As if this was ample explanation even though it only made Tweek feel more worried, Craig slipped the rest of the way through the window, sweeping his cloak out of the way of the window so he could close it behind it behind him. Still crouching on the ground, unsure what he was supposed to say to this, Tweek shivered and stared at Craig, wanting to ask a million questions but not knowing what those questions were.
"Jesus man! Y-you should be sleeping!" Tweek squeaked, his fingers tightening around his little Model Stripe before he forced himself to relax them. Craig was already removing his cloak, rolling it up haphazardly and tossing it into a corner after doing so. Digging fingers into his hair, Tweek let out a plaintive squeak before asking, "W-why were you still awake?!"
Still not turning to look at him, Craig told the wall in a rough approximation of his usual, flat voice, "Couldn't sleep." Tweek wanted to just take the boy at his word but why wasn't Craig willing to look at him? They were fine, right? Sure, things had been pretty horrible but they'd gotten over it, they weren't fighting anymore! So why then was Craig acting so strange? Why did it sound like he had something stuck in his throat?
Watching as the boy unhooked his weapons belt and his shoulder strap, both of which he still had on, Tweek blurted out, "I never sleep!" When Craig didn't respond, he looked down at the toy Stripe and fiddled with its ears as he continued, "I m-mean, I sleep sometimes, but –ngh- I don't sleep often. My head is too loud for me to sleep, I close my eyes and the noise gets louder, s-so I stay awake."
As Craig set his weapons down, he paused for a moment and asked, "Do the monsters talk to you?" He sounded so defeated, pained, Tweek shivered. The bruise on the boy's head was glaringly obvious and he wanted to know, but at the same time, he didn't. Thinking about Craig being hurt by something terrified Tweek, and he couldn't make himself calm down.
Twitching, staring at his bare knees in silence, Tweek muttered, "Yeah, th-they do. But I know when it's the monsters and when it's not, cause they sound different!" Shivering, wondering how he'd managed to get talking about himself when all he wanted to do was ask Craig why he looked so horrible, Tweek threw his head up and asked, "Craig, what are you-"
"You'd never think I'm a monster, right?" Craig questioned, interrupting him. Taken aback, Tweek twitched and bit his lip harder. The boy was struggling to get out of his tunic, though it looked like it was causing him pain. It's because he fought Stan, right? That's why he's hurt. Maybe he came here because he didn't want his parents to see his bruises and worry. But he says they don't care, so why would he come here? I don't get it!
"You're not a monster," Tweek told Craig, trying to sound as certain as possible. He believed it, he really did, but he was having a hard time sounding certain of anything when so much of his brain was being consumed by worry. "I mean, you can be scary, b-but you aren't like the voices under my bed, so you're not a monster at all." No, he scares them away. Because Craig could be scary when he wanted to be, and he was always scary when he was protecting Tweek.
"Then what am I?" Craig pressed, finally managing to pull his shirt off. At the sight of those ugly, blue, purple and black bruises, at the yellowing skin and swelling flesh, Tweek let out a scream that he muffled behind his hands. The Lego Stripe tumbled to the floor, it's paws breaking off once more. Turning sharply towards him, Craig met his eyes for the first time since he'd arrived.
Tweek's heart started thudding as his mind scrambled in panic. Craig's eyes were red and swollen, like he'd been hit several times. There were streaks of red skin down his cheeks, making his usually dark face look blotchy and horrifying. But it was the pain in that vivid blue that made Tweek's heart sputter to a stop. Sure, Tweek had seen Craig upset. He'd seen the boy angry and he'd seen him scared but he'd never seen so much agony condensed into such a pure form. Maybe he was just losing his mind, but Tweek thought that the Noirette looked like he would cry for help, if only he knew the words.
"Craig…" Tweek whispered past his fingers, unsure whether he should scream or run towards the boy. Staring at him for a few more moments, Craig's mouth tightened into a line and he looked away. As he went for a shirt that he'd brought with him, a black one that had a cat on it with galaxy glasses, Tweek let out a whimper and said more loudly, "Craig, are you-"
"I'm fine, forget I asked anything," the boy muttered, his flat voice sounding almost bitter. There was still that horrible choked sound to it and it made Tweek's insides do terrible things. Shivering as those bruises vanished from view as Craig pulled his shirt on, the blond pulled his hands away from his face so he could breathe more easily. It didn't help, he still couldn't stop shaking violently, still couldn't keep himself from taking his air in shallow gulps.
"B-but those –rrr- bruises!" Tweek squeaked, his teeth clacking together as fear clouded his mind. Were they there the whole time? His voice got even more high-pitched as he pushed out, "C-Craig?"
"They're just from Stan and Chris," Craig said quickly, his fists clenching visibly around the hem of his shirt before he moved to pull off his gray trousers. Shutting his eyes tightly, Tweek twitched and tried to wipe the image of those painful purple and yellow marks. Those kinds of things weren't made by swords, they weren't the right shape. Tweek knew what those bruises were supposed to look like and this was something else entirely. He's lying to me, isn't he? Why would he be lying to me!? Why wouldn't Craig just tell me what's wrong? Doesn't he trust me!? Oh, Jesus, this is too much! I can't handle this!
When he opened his eyes again, Tweek found Craig pulling on his pajama bottoms before whipping at his eyes, as if brushing something away. Letting out a shriek that whistled through his teeth, Tweek exclaimed, "Th-those aren't from swords!" The moment he'd said it, he clamped his mouth shut, feeling like a fool. Craig turned to look at him once more, but this time, his eyes looked too bright, like there was something in them.
"Of course they're from swords," Craig muttered, his tone sounding stuffy. "What else would they be from?" Shrugging off the matter, as if it wasn't anything to worry about, the boy pulled down his chullo before kicking off his shoes and looking over at Tweek's bed. Glancing questioningly at the blond for a moment, the tall boy hunched his shoulders and crawled into Tweek's bed. Unlike when Kenny did it, Tweek didn't freak out. Then again, he had other things that were making him panic.
Fighting to pull himself out of it, unsure how he was supposed to face Craig when the boy was clearly upset and not telling him why, Tweek twitched to one side and found himself saying, "K-Kenny came by earlier." When Craig looked over at him, his dark, upset eyes narrowing somewhat at the revelation, Tweek quickly said, "He just w-wanted to know if we made up and stuff. Ngh- Nothing bad!" Why am I bringing up Kenny? Everyone knows that Craig doesn't like him. I'm only going to stress him out more! Why am I doing this?
But Craig's face just smoothed out as he wiggled against Tweek's pillows, slowly sinking down into the blonde's bed. "Fucking figures," he muttered, his voice sounding slightly better than before, as if he'd calmed down. Tweek wasn't sure if that was a good thing, but it definitely wasn't bad. "He likes getting into other people's shit."
Remembering what Kenny had said about people watching the two of them, Tweek shivered and muttered, "A lot of p-people are interested in our sh-shit." Needing to distract himself, the blond scrambled across the floor for another antenna piece, affixing it to Stripe the moment he got his hands on it. He could feel Craig's eyes on the back of his neck and it made chills run down his spine. Wishing he had more coffee but unwilling to leave Craig alone, Tweek squeaked, "Kenny said w-we had bad eyes on us."
"He says a lot of shit," Craig told Tweek, his calm voice full of exhaustion. "Ignore him." Tweek wished he could ignore a lot of things, like the hiss of pain Craig let out as he settled in the blonde's bed or the angry bruise on the side of the boy's head, but he couldn't. They kept crowding out the rest of his thoughts, making him vibrate uncontrollably. Huddling over his Legos, Tweek dragged himself to his feet and padded back over to his table where he went back to work on Stripe.
"H-he's not usually wrong," Tweek admitted, his fingers shaking too badly to put the pieces together correctly. As the clacked together uselessly, reminding him of how fucked up he was, the boy let out a growl and let Stripe clatter to the table with his other heaping Legos. The paws broke off once again, making him moan in frustration.
Craig didn't answer for a long moment, long enough that Tweek turned around to look at the boy. He was staring at the drawings on Tweek's wall, a frown on his face. Tweek wondered briefly if the boy was trying to distract himself from something, before realizing that if that was the case, it opened up far too many possibilities for what he was trying to distance himself from. At long last, the boy took a labored sigh and said, "Yeah, you're right." Glancing over at Tweek with those tired eyes, the boy asked, "Do you really care that people are watching us?"
"I just wanna know w-why, man," Tweek squeaked, burying a hand in his hair while the other wrapped itself around the back of his chair. "Jesus, w-what if they hate us!? I can't handle the whole school hating me, i-it's too much pressure!"
"Fuck them," Craig said, too easily. Tweek hated seeing that darkness in the boy's eyes, but he didn't know how to make it go away. There was so much he didn't understand and he had no idea how to fix that. It was the redness around Craig's eyes, the bruises all over his body, the pain in his gaze, all of it made Tweek feel powerless. And yet Craig could act like none of it mattered so easily that the blond was worried that if it happened again, he might never notice.
Letting out a whimper, Tweek whipped back around to his Legos and stared at them till the colors started to blur together. His brain felt like it was full of static, and yet he needed to do something. Craig was clearly upset and that killed him. It wasn't fair that the Noirette got to be so secretive while Tweek ended up spilling his guts more often than not. He just wanted to know what was wrong, but apparently, that was asking too much.
Clutching at the edges of his table, resisting banging his head against it only because if he did he'd crush Stripe, Tweek squeezed his eyes shut tight and tried to block out the racket in his brain. The silence felt deafening, something he wasn't used to when he was with Craig. Fearful of what it meant, Tweek shivered and tried to get the words that spun in his head out of it. Do you think I'm a monster? No, he didn't! Then what am I?
What was the boy? Tweek didn't know what he was supposed to answer to that, but it kept driving him insane. He was fearless, but he could still get scared. Tweek had seen it with his own two eyes. Sometimes he was scary but that didn't make him a monster, not even slightly. There were times Tweek thought he acted emotionless, like a statue, but here he was, showing emotion. Jesus! How does he expect me to answer a question like that?! I don't get it! WHAT DID HE MEAN?!
"You're like a broken machine!" Tweek suddenly yelped, his words coming out weirdly because he clapped his hand over his mouth halfway through. Face going hot with shame, Tweek whimpered as Craig turned to look at him. Oh god, why did I say that? That sounded so bad! He's already upset I'm just gonna make it worse! Fumbling over his words, Tweek pushed out, "I m-mean, you're made of gears inside, right? S-so some of your gears are loose."
When Craig still didn't say a word, Tweek found that he couldn't stop his mouth from moving. "Y-you're usually not scary –ghn- b-but sometimes you are. And then sometimes you're never scared, but you can get scared and th-that's because you're gears are all out of line!" I sound crazy, why am I still talking?! "But th-that's okay, since if you were a robot you'd be like everyone else in this town. S-so you're a broken clockwork angel, because you're perfect most of the time until you break down and aren't."
"A clockwork angel," Craig repeated softly, his voice cracking as he said it. Turning, Tweek found the boy rubbing at his eyes again, not looking at him. Shivering, the blond looked around in panic, no idea how to help Craig. All he could do was stare as the boy hid his face and muttered, "Just a few broken gears."
Unsure what made him say it, Tweek stammered out, "Craig, are you here because of the monsters?" Biting his bottom lip almost hard enough to draw blood, Tweek shivered when Craig froze before slumping against the pillows, like someone had deflated him. Knowing that he'd gotten it right and instantly wishing he hadn't, Tweek murmured, "You are, aren't y-you?"
"Yeah," Craig muttered, his voice sounding thick and tremulous. That was all he said, but it was enough to make Tweek feel like he was going to cry. Shivering, Tweek watched helplessly as the boy pulled his hands away from his face, revealing the tears that had no doubt left the red splotches the blond had seen before. Oh god, Craig is crying. Shaking harder, the blond shook his head, wanting it to stop but having no way of making it. All he could do was huddle up in his chair as he watched Craig fall apart before his eyes. Make it stop. Make it stop. I can't handle this make it stop!
But he found himself asking another question, even though he knew it was hurting the Noirette. "They were the ones who left those bruises, w-weren't they?" When Craig let out a soft choking sound, Tweek's heart broke. He wasn't even sure what he was supposed to say or do. There was too much in this horrible moment for him to pick out any one thing and focus on it. Instead, all he managed to push himself to do was whisper, "I'm sorry."
Drawing in a sharp shuddering breath, Craig said, "It wasn't you. It's not your fault. It's my fault." He said it with so much conviction, Tweek wanted to shake him until he took it back. It's not your fault! How is this your fault? Why would you say something like that when it's not true?! As Craig stared up at Tweek's ceiling, he muttered, "It's always my fault. I fuck up everything."
"No, you don't," Tweek said softly, wishing he could do something to make Craig stop crying. Slowly slipping from his chair, the boy got as close to the bed as he dared, considering the monsters that lurked underneath. Standing like that, shivering and shaking, the blond watched the Noirette, hands trembling. Please, just stop crying, I can't handle this… "Y-you just make mistakes sometimes."
Glancing Tweek's way, Craig took a deep breath before tugging his chullo down and looking away. "I hope so," he muttered brokenly, the pain shining through the cracks in his voice. "I hope I'm just a broken angel because otherwise, I'm a monster, just like them."
JESUS THAT'S NOT TRUE! Gritting his teeth, Tweek took a flying leap for his bed and landed on it, rolling over until he was in the middle of it. With an involuntary growl, he looked down at Craig and said, "You'll never be a monster! Never!" When Craig just stared up at him with those pain filled eyes, Tweek shivered and said, "I won't let you be a monster."
Opening his mouth, Craig looked up at Tweek with those impossibly blue eyes. Even as the blond watched, the tears stopped flowing from the Noirette's eyes. Pulling in a shuddering breath, Craig suddenly rubbed at his eyes viciously and said, "Okay." Even though it was one word, Tweek felt unbelievably better hearing it. Because he knew that Craig meant it. Tweek didn't know if he'd solved anything, in fact, he was pretty sure he hadn't, but he could tell that Craig had relaxed, and that was the best he could hope for.
As Craig's eyes started to close and his breathing deepened, the blond realized that he'd finally managed to put the boy at ease. Nibbling on his lip, Tweek crawled over to his bedside lamp, the one light he still had on, and clicked it off, plunging the room into darkness. Diving under his blankets before the monsters could get him, Tweek curled up as close to Craig as possible and let the boy wrap his arms around him. Because that makes him feel better, right?
And even though he at first doubted he'd go to sleep, Tweek could feel his body grow heavy as Craig's slowing heartrate drew him down into the darkness. Uncharacteristically, he let it, because, with Craig, Tweek felt safe.
Even though you're broken, you're still an angel.
Without another thought, he slipped into unconsciousness.
