Craig

Craig hadn't even realized how much he'd needed to see Tweek until the moment that he was standing in front of him.

It wasn't like he was clingy, Craig hated the idea of being anything of the sort, but it was one thing to peacefully say goodnight to the boy after an afternoon spent playing together, and it was another to be brutally ripped from him by two girls whose goal was to shove him blindfolded into a car. This was something that he was not used to and he didn't like it at all. So even though he'd done his best to barter with the girls, the only reason he'd tried at all was that the sooner he got out of there, the sooner he'd be able to get back to Tweek. Or find him. Or pull him out of the corner of his room if he had to.

Whatever the method of getting there, the goal had been Tweek. Whether he'd been aware of it at the time or not. And maybe he'd deny that he needed the boy quite that much, maybe he would do his best to forget about this moment and others to come that were like it so he wouldn't have to face reality. But no matter what he said to the contrary, it was always Tweek.

So the moment Kenny spoke and the tension at least broke somewhat, it was all Craig could do not to run to the blond, who struggled past Clyde so he could get to him. Despite the fact that they were technically in a tense situation, Craig could honestly care less about what Cartman and Wendy were talking about. All that mattered was the way Tweek whimpered out his name as Craig grabbed the shorter boy in a hug. Distantly, Craig wondered if it was his heart beating that fast or Tweek's. In the end, he was pretty sure it didn't make a difference.

"Jesus man," Tweek squeaked out, his whole body trembling visibly as Craig clung to the boy like he'd vanish if he didn't keep ahold of him. "I thought –ghn- th-they'd killed you!" Hearing that just made Craig hang on tighter, because if he hadn't already felt like shit for leaving Tweek then this made everything ten times worse. I'm surprised he's still in one piece.

"I thought the girls might've really hurt you," Craig admitted quietly, the words mumbled into Tweek's fluffy blond hair. "They said they'd dealt with you but I didn't know what that meant." Tweek twitched hard at those words, which made Craig almost snort softly. Pulling back slightly, he reached up a gloved hand and carefully combed through Tweek's hair until he stopped shaking quite so badly. It took a while, and Craig didn't want to think what that meant for the boy's mental state, but he elected to ignore it.

Disentangling himself from Craig's tunic, Tweek stared up at him with wide green eyes and squeaked, "I'm just g-glad you're in one piece." Craig was glad too, but he sensed that it meant a whole lot more to Tweek, who had probably spent the last hour or so thinking Craig was dead.

"You know I wouldn't let them do that dude," Craig reassured the boy, stepping back just enough so that Tweek could grab the cover of his cloak and pull it around his slim shoulders so he could huddle up against the Noirette. "I was gonna come back eventually." As he walked over to Clyde, who seemed to be entirely transfixed by something, Craig continued, "They're just girls."

"They're vicious!" Tweek insisted, shuddering again. Wrapping his arm around the boy, Craig let out a hum of agreement, even though he wasn't about to say anything out loud. "Th-they just dragged you off and I thought –ngh- that I'd never see you again! It was really scary." Craig could hear the stress that Tweek put on the words and it made him feel that much worse. After all, it wasn't fair to Tweek to put him through something like that and it had been cruel of the girls to expect him to handle it.

He was just about to say as much, when a voice from behind him tentatively said, "Tweek?" Turning his head, feeling Tweek jolt against him, Craig found Bebe standing there, a concerned look on her face. "Tweek, please?" At that apparently magic word, Tweek nervously peaked his head out and looked at Bebe, who tucked her hair behind her ear so she could give him a truly apologetic look.

"Rrr- What?" Tweek asked, twitching against Craig. Keeping his arm around the boy, the Noirette turned more so they were facing Bebe. From the corner of his eye, Craig noticed the awe-struck look on Clyde's face but dismissed it in favor of paying attention to Tweek, and by some extension Bebe.

Looking relieved that Tweek was talking to her, Bebe gave Tweek that same calming smile she'd given Craig earlier and said, "Look, I just wanted to say I'm really really sorry for Craig getting dragged away like that. I don't think the other girls understand that you two are…" She spent a moment searching for an appropriate word before settling on, "They don't get how close you two are. They just think all boys are the same."

Blinking slowly, like a new doe first exposed to light, Tweek smiled uncertainly and shivered before mumbling, "It's f-fine." Craig didn't agree with this statement because the whole thing had most definitely not been fine, but if Tweek was okay with it then he was going to follow suit. Twitching hard, Tweek gnawed on his lip for a moment before blurting out, "God! Just –ghn- d-don't do it again!" Seemingly satisfied he'd said his part, Tweek tugged Craig's cloak around his shoulders more firmly and went back to staring at the ground.

As if Tweek's acceptance of her apology actually made her feel better, Bebe fixed the two of them with a sweet smile and said happily, "Trust me, if any of the other Humans are anything like Craig, we won't be fighting you guy for long. He totally won over most of the other girls, it's pretty much just Wendy who isn't convinced." From behind her, Craig watched as Cartman said something to Wendy, causing the girl to pretty much throw the fatass to the ground so she could yell something back.

"Good luck," he muttered, his free hand somehow finding Tweek's hair again, even though the boy wasn't actively freaking out. It was enough to cause him momentary confusion, but Craig didn't much like being confused, so he decided to just go with it.

"Yes, well…" Sighing, Bebe turned, no doubt looking for Wendy, only to stop and her eyes to widen as she caught sight of Clyde. He's pretty much been standing there dumbly for the past few minutes with the stupidest look on his face that Craig had ever seen, but the moment Bebe looked at him, he animated once more and snapped his mouth closed and even managed a natural looking smile. Trying to make sense of what he was looking at, Craig could only watch as Bebe blinked once before exclaiming, "Clyde!"

"Hey," the brunette answered, though his voice sounded a little fainter than usual. His eyes were all but shining as he stared at Bebe, leaving Craig to wonder if something was wrong with him. If Tweek's muffled yelp was anything to go by, Craig wasn't the only one thinking that something was amiss.

"Listen-" Pulling the hair that she'd tucked behind her ear back out so she could tug on it absently, Bebe awkwardly said, "Um… How's your head?" Like with Tweek, the girl sounded genuinely concerned, leading Craig to believe that she honestly meant it when she acted worried.

"Oh! Yeah, that," Clyde said, rubbing the back of his head as if trying to remember what had happened. It took Craig a moment to remember himself, but then Tweek tugged on his tunic and he remembered what it was. Oh yeah, some girl shot him in the head with an arrow, didn't they? A second after Craig recalled it, Clyde seemed to remember it as well. "Oh, you know, it was just one arrow."

In a rush, Bebe said, "I'm really sorry about that. That was my arrow! I swear I wasn't aiming for your head or anything but you just happened to move and I couldn't do anything!" Tugging on her hair harder, rather like Tweek did when he was nervous, the girl said, "Honestly, I don't usually go on missions like that but this time I did and I guess I'm not as good at archery as the other girls tell me. It makes it harder when the target is moving, you know?" Suddenly, Craig got the weird sensation that Bebe was babbling. I didn't know she could do that… It was especially weird, considering her and the other girls still looked like the most powerful people in the yard.

"No, it's fine!" Clyde quickly insisted, actually managing to laugh. His hand fell from his hair as he said, "I'd say that makes you a really good shot, wouldn't you? Heck, most of the Humans can't shoot like that and I bet we've had more practice than you." At those words, Bebe tucked her hair back behind her ear and stood up straighter so she could laugh.

"Come on! I always thought the Humans were cooler than the Elves," she insisted, her face brightening into a dazzling smile, one which made Craig feel like he needed to look away or risk being blinded. Jesus, girls are so weird… "I mean we all know Wendy likes the Elves better, and a lot of the girls don't like you guys because you're fighting with Cartman, but I still think that it doesn't really matter. He's just your leader, I'm sure you had a bunch of other reasons for going with him other than siding with Cartman for the sake of siding with him."

"Yeah!" Clyde was quick to agree, grinning from ear to ear. "Not all of us Humans are like Cartman, he's kind of a dick, to be honest." Bebe giggled at that, her posture relaxing as she did. From under Craig's cloak, Tweek let out one of his high-pitched giggles as well, which drew Craig's eyes. Looking down at the boy, the Noirette raised an eyebrow, only to get a twitch and a grin from Tweek, who seemed to be doing much better than before.

"I know!" Bebe exclaimed, her eyes wide. "That's what I keep trying to tell the girls but they-"

Before she could finish, Wendy's sharp voice cut through their conversation like a knife. "Bebe! Get over here! What are you doing, talking with the boys?" She said boys like it was a dirty word. After spending time with the girl, Craig knew for a fact that Wendy really did see it as something filthy. It was almost amusing because she seemed rather attached to Stan Marsh.

Turning her head sharply, Bebe called, "Of course Wendy! Sunshine sparkle!" Turning back to Clyde, Bebe sighed and said, "Sorry, I'm not really supposed to be chatting with you guys." Giving them all one last beaming smile, the girl quickly hurried over to Wendy's side, who had already gathered the other girls to her. Currently, Wendy was talking to Kenny, who was twirling a piece of his hair between thumb and forefinger while he chatted with them.

"Wow…" Clyde said softly, staring after Bebe with badly concealed wonder. "Can you believe it, Craig?" Not really sure what he was supposed to be unable to believe, Craig rolled his eyes and ignored his friend, who wasn't making much sense at that moment. He was tempted to ask Clyde if he was having a stroke, but that would probably only freak Tweek out, and he didn't really want to risk the blonde's sanity.

So instead he bluntly stated, "Dude, she's a girl."

"I know," Clyde agreed as if this somehow held all the secrets to the universe.

Deciding that he'd had enough of Clyde's weirdness, Craig wandered closer to where the girls and Kenny were talking, mostly so he'd have something to do. Of course part of him kind of still wanted to take Tweek back to his house so the boy would warm up and calm down just that much more and maybe while they were at it they could play with Stripe. But the rest of him knew this was highly illogical so he should really stop thinking like that.

"Okay, but your leader is still a sexist pig and I'm not listening to him if this is all I'm going to get!" Wendy was exclaiming, waving around her hand in irritation as Kenny cooed at her sympathetically, much like Annie had cooed over the phone. "He's horrible, and the whole reason I didn't want an alliance with you people in the first place!"

"I know, I know he's horrible," Kenny agreed in his perfect falsetto, entirely ignoring Cartman's cry of indignation. "We're not all like that Wendy, it's just the Grand Wizard. Honestly, I think this alliance will be very beneficial for both of our sides!" Giggling, the boy added, "And may I just say your armor looks positively stunning on you!"

"Oh, well~" Looking a little off-put by this, as if unsure whether to be flattered because Kenny was a girl in-game, or angry because he was still technically, to the best of anyone's knowledge, a boy in real life. "I know that not everyone is like him. Craig was very polite, actually."

Looking surprised, which made Craig furrow his brows and give Kenny an irritated look, the Princess trilled, "Feldspar was well-behaved? Oh my, well isn't that just wonderful! It's good to see that him and Tweek spending time together has paid off!"

Letting out a shrill shriek, Tweek twitched hard and demanded, "Gha! W-what's that supposed to mean?!" Nodding in agreement, Craig glared more pointedly at Kenny and flipped the boy off, which only made him hide a giggle behind one dainty hand as he waved them both off. Giving up on flipping Kenny off in favor of fluffing Tweek's hair till the boy calmed down, Craig kept glaring at Kenny until Wendy interrupted.

"Well, Craig- Ah, I mean, Feldspar said that you'd be able to give us what we wanted." Having recovered quickly, Wendy tipped her chin up and looked down at Kenny, though her glare wasn't nearly as ferocious when she was facing the Princess as it was when she was dealing with anyone else. "Because if you don't, we might as well side with the Elves and wipe you out. At least their leader knows manners!"

"Hey! Kyle is nothing but a dirty rotten Jew and you know it!" Cartman snapped, clearly furious about being compared to the redhead. Predictably, both Kenny and Wendy ignored the boy. Rolling his eyes, Craig decided that there was really nothing of use here either. He would have walked away, but Kenny looked at him with a mischievous smile and he realized that he wasn't getting out of this so easily.

"Of course we can give you what you want~" Kenny all but sang, fluttering his fingers. "We are mere humans but we are not without agency you know!" When Wendy nodded grudgingly, Kenny grinned happily, as though this was the best possible answer. "I would say we should discuss terms right now, but I fear it is getting late and we will need more time to talk this through." Several of the other girls nodded at this, seemingly convinced that it was too late to be doing anything more.

"But we have to solve this soon," Wendy said sternly, crossing her arms and sniffing. "Feldspar might have convinced us to stop the attacks on the Humans for now, but my patience will wear thin very quickly if a more permanent agreement is not come up with forthwith." Nodding in agreement, Kenny put on a properly serious face, as if anyone believed for a second that he really cared about what was happening.

"I completely understand," he assured the girl, looking at all the other girls as well, who were all quite a bit more uncertain about him than Wendy. "You really are too kind to withdraw the attacks, we hardly deserve your good grace. You are such a very wise leader, unlike a certain Wizard I could name." All of the girls gathered giggled at that as if gossip were the one thing that put them at ease. Even Wendy managed to crack a smile at that.

"Well, if all of the Humans were like you Princess, then maybe we would be fighting together instead of against each other," Wendy said, at last, her voice still sounding a little stiff but a whole lot less hostile. "If we could schedule a date for the peace talks, that would be wonderful."

"Considering Christmas is coming up, I would suggest a day after the holiday," Kenny said brightly, smiling in Craig's direction. "In fact, I'm sure that Tucker and I could both attend unless of course, you'd like to deal with someone else instead. Whoever would be the least offensive to you, of course, would be the best, yes?"

Nodding absently, Wendy agreed, "Well, I guess Feldspar has already seen our base, so it can't do much more damage. And you're a girl, so you're allowed in, technically." Several of the girls let out sounds of protest, to which Wendy whirled around and said, "Lady McCormick says that she's a girl so you will treat her like a girl! We have to be understanding to all girls, alright?"

As all the girls made various sounds of defeat and acquiescence, Kenny turned to Craig and Tweek and softly said, "Well Fucker, looks like you've got your marching orders. I'll send you a carrier Raven with the exact time once Wendy and I have agreed on something." When Tweek let out a squeak from under Craig's cloak, Kenny looked at the boy and commented, "Aww, look at you Tweekers, happy you have your Thief back?"

"JESUS, W-WHY ARE YOU ASKING SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!" Tweek screeched, shaking against Craig. As Kenny laughed and Craig glared at the boy, Tweek simply drew Craig's cloak around his shoulders and hid his face in Craig's side, making sounds of mental pain in the process.

Tired of things stressing Tweek out, Craig flipped Kenny off once more and said, "I'm leaving." He didn't leave it open for someone to stop him, he wasn't going to put up with any more of Kenny's shit. His shit, or anyone else's for that matter. Deciding the subject was closed, Craig turned around and pulled Tweek with him, headed for the gap in Cartman's gate, too lazy to walk through the boy's house again. As soon as they were out of the yard, Tweek let go of Craig's cloak and put some distance between them so he could simply keep a hand clenched around the hem as he trailed behind the Noirette.

Craig wasn't about to say that he missed Tweek's familiar twitching presence pressed against his side because he most certainly didn't. That would be mildly weird and Craig wasn't that clingy.

As they walked the long way around the houses, trudging through the snow as they so often seemed to do these days, Tweek let out a soft sound and finally asked, "S-so how did you get them to let you go?"

Tilting his head, Craig furrowed his brows because to be honest he still wasn't sure how he'd pulled it off. One moment, he'd been facing the prospect of being butchered by pink for not saying the right thing, the next all the girls had been giggling and whispering about how awesome the Humans were. "I don't know," he admitted, stuffing his hands back into his pockets, thankful that they'd given his knives back eventually before letting him go.

"But you said something to them, right man?!" Tweek asked, sounding worried, almost like the idea of Craig talking to the girls was stressing him out. "Jesus, y-you can't just flip people off and expect things to happen!" Snorting, because of course, Tweek would guess right that Craig had flipped the girls off several times, Craig turned around so he could look at the blond.

The boy's eyes were wide and worried, though that was something that Craig could look past at this point. Right now, it was the way those orbs looked like they were glittering that caught Craig's attention. Far more than even the sun on the snow, which glowed pretty fucking brightly in his opinion, Tweek's green eyes looked like lamps. Just like always. Just like always… Shaking himself out of the trance he'd managed to put himself in, Craig finally said, "I didn't just flip them off."

Hurrying to catch up so he was walking next to Craig, Tweek shivered and grabbed for his small thermos as he asked, "Ngh- Th-then what!?" He tipped it back and drank probably the rest of it in one go, though Craig didn't blame him in the slightest. They had been through a lot. Coffee was the least of the things that Tweek desperately needed at that moment.

Shrugging, Craig admitted, "I told them that Cartman was a dick and that I didn't give a fuck what they did to him. I also told them that we'd be able to get them anything, and if we didn't they could just destroy us because Cartman deserved it anyway." And I said that all I cared about was getting back to you… But Craig was actively trying to forget that he'd said that part out loud, so he didn't repeat it. Fuck it, I meant it didn't I? There's nothing wrong with it.

Tweek giggled, which made Craig smile even though he felt like he had a lot on his mind. "I don't know how that convinced them, b-but I'm glad they didn't kill you, man." Sensing the remaining nervous energy behind those words, Craig reached out a hand and ruffled Tweek's hair, enjoying the way the boy let out a soft, contented sigh when he did.

"I'm glad they didn't too," Craig agreed. Letting his hand slip from Tweek's hair, he contented himself with walking beside the blond boy, happy to be quiet. Besides, the peace was his favorite sound of all. Well, quiet, mixed with Tweek's little sounds that made the twitchy boy the spaz he was. It kept that smile on Craig's face, even though he had no reason to be so stupidly happy.

As they reached the street and Craig walked over to the crosswalk, not wanting to freak Tweek out by trying to cross at a random spot, the Noirette realized Tweek was fidgeting an unnecessary amount with the lid of his thermos. Furrowing his brows, Craig stared at the boy, trying to think of what could have made the boy nervous this time. When nothing came to mind, Craig nudged the boy's shoulder, which made Tweek let out a soft yelp.

"What's up dude?" Craig asked easily, looking both ways before catching Tweek's hand in his own so he could walk the boy across the street. Left without a hand to mess with his thermos, Tweek let out a soft whine. The moment they reached the other side, Craig looked down at the boy and waited patiently for Tweek to say something.

Abandoning his thermos in favor of tugging lightly at his hair, Tweek twitched hard before suddenly blurting out, "Yes!"

Tilting his head, unwilling to admit that he had no fucking clue what the shivering blond was talking about, Craig tried to remember if he'd asked a question recently that Tweek might be answering, other than the one he'd just asked. Tugging at his chullo with his free hand, Craig was about to ask what Tweek was talking about when the blond suddenly yelped, "OH JESUS, I MEAN WHAT YOU ASKED ABOUT CHRISTMAS!"

Suddenly remembering, Craig's eyes widened. With all the drama that had been happening, he'd almost entirely forgotten about the matter of Tweek being all alone for Christmas. Shivering, the boy muttered, "I m-mean, I don't know why you'd want me around, but –ngh- I'll come."

Feeling that something that had been bothering him all day settle into place, Craig gave a firm nod. "Good."

And it was, and he suddenly felt a whole lot better.