Tweek

Tweek really should have brought a coat.

Currently, he was shivering uncontrollably as he stood in front of Craig's door, his hand still raised in the effort to knock, even though he still hadn't worked up the courage to do anything. For someone who usually ran around in a Manbearpig pelt and jeans in this weather without showing the effects, Tweek certainly wasn't doing well right now. Of course usually, he was moving a lot more. He'd been standing outside of Craig's house for ten minutes now, not having moved an inch in that entire length of time, apart from the twitching.

It wasn't that he was nervous about Craig's house, goodness knew he spent enough time over here that it didn't matter anymore, but it still made him scared. It was hardly even noon, he couldn't imagine why Craig would actually want to see him on Christmas. He'd skipped the original time Craig had asked him to come because there was no way he was going to be here at eight to open presents with his family. That was a family time, he couldn't just invade it. It made him feel horrible to even contemplate it.

But he'd finally convinced himself to go, figuring that if he didn't, Craig would think something was wrong. Jesus, I don't want that! Giving another convulsive shiver, Tweek stared at the coffee colored house and let out a whimper. His arm was honestly starting to hurt. Maybe he should just go home. Craig would understand, right? It was Christmas, which meant it was a family time. Craig didn't really want him around; the boy was just being nice. Tweek had only agreed out of some naïve hope that he wouldn't have another sad, lonely Christmas. That was all.

Clenching his teeth together hard enough that the creaked, Tweek couldn't help but let out a frustrated scream as he pulled his hand away from the door so he could tug at his hair. He hadn't even brought his coffee! Why hadn't he done that?! Now he had nothing but frozen fingers and a broken promise to Craig. God, what if he hates me?! What if I get frostbite and he laughs because he thinks I deserve it?! What if I get thrown out of the game because no one wants a barbarian with no fingers or toes and Craig never talks to me again? JESUS, I DON'T THINK I COULD HANDLE THAT!

Shaking his head, wishing he could scream again, Tweek was about to turn around and run away from the door when there was the sound of footsteps from behind it. Letting out a shriek, Tweek could do nothing but tumble over backward as the door was flung open by none other than Ruby Tucker. As his head connected with the pavement and his head spun, Tweek whimpered softly, unable to see straight. From somewhere above him, he heard Ruby yell, "HEY CRAIG! TWEEK'S HERE!"

Unable to quite make the girl come into focus, Tweek let out an involuntary sound as his head throbbed with pain and his body shook and trembled, courtesy of snow that was heaped around the walkway. "You didn't need to fall over," the girl commented, sounding irritated. "I just opened the door." When Tweek did nothing but moan in pain, Ruby said, "That's what happens when you hit your head on icy concrete. Maybe you should remember that for next time."

"Ruby, kindly fuck off." At the sound of that familiar flat voice, Tweek opened his eyes once more to find Craig looming over him. The boy's brows were furrowed, and immediately, Tweek opened his mouth to attempt to excuse the fact that he hadn't come over earlier, but Craig cut him off by saying, "Your hands are blue." Looking at them, Tweek let out a screech because oh god, that meant they were going to fall off!

Letting out a short breath, the tall boy stooped down and physically scooped Tweek up like he didn't weigh a thing. Ignoring Ruby, who stared at her brother and Tweek like they were from another planet, Craig carried the boy inside. Shivering in Craig's warm arms, Tweek twitched hard and decidedly curled up against the boy's chest instead of fighting to free himself. Honestly, he was too cold for something like that.

As they walked through Craig's house, Tweek noticed Craig's mom, looking at them like she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do, and Red, who glanced over only to roll her eyes and look back down at her phone. Oh god, what are they thinking? I bet they think I'm pathetic and disgusting! Just because I am doesn't mean they have to think it! Squawking, Tweek suddenly yelped out, "JESUS! I CAN –GHN- WALK ON MY OWN!"

"No you can't," Craig informed him evenly, his expression just as deadpan as ever. Twitching hard, unsure how he was supposed to respond to something like that, Tweek let out a whimper, staring at Craig with wide green eyes. Raising an eyebrow, Craig kept walking towards the stairs, entirely ignoring the rest of his family. Unable to keep himself from wiggling nervously in Craig's arms, Tweek almost managed to get himself dropped down the stairs before Craig got a more secure hold on him. Oh god, I look so stupid…

"How was your Christmas?" Craig asked conversationally, making Tweek shiver and look at him in terror once more. He wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, especially because he knew that he'd promised Craig he'd be there earlier and then he hadn't been there. Jesus, I hope he's not mad at me! He's mad, isn't he? I've made him really mad and now he's going to take me to his room and throw me out the window or something!

"OH JESUS, DON'T THROW ME OUT THE WINDOW!" Tweek screeched, grabbing onto Craig's shirt and holding on tightly, squeezing his eyes shut. Even though his eyes were closed, Tweek could still feel the boy's eyes on him and it terrified him. I should have just come earlier, why didn't I do that!? As the sound of Craig's door being kicked open registered, Tweek started shaking harder, sure that he was about to be killed gruesomely for being such a horrible friend and not coming over when he said he would.

But a moment later, Tweek felt Craig's soft, space-themed comforter under his fingers and he opened his eyes tentatively to find Craig systematically untucking the corners of his sheets from his bed. Before Tweek could ask what the boy was doing, Craig was suddenly wrapping him up in his covers haphazardly, winding them around the boy until he looked more like a blob of soft than a person. Putting his hand on Tweek's head and ruffling the boy's hair, Craig calmly said, "I'm not going to throw you out the window, dude."

Shivering, Tweek looked up at Craig in fear and stammered, "S-so you're not mad at me?" Unable to believe it was true, the boy started twitching harder, shaking his head quickly as he tried to fight off the thoughts cramming themselves into his brain. "B-because I missed when I was supposed to come and –ngh- I said I'd be here and I wasn't and oh god, I f-feel horrible!"

Hand ceasing in his systematic hair ruffling, Craig stared down at Tweek with furrowed brows, causing the boy to whimper in fear. Oh god, I can't see what's going on in his head! Why is he looking at me like that!? I don't get it! I don't- Without any real warning, Craig plopped down next to Tweek on his bed and pulled the blanketed lump that was the blond against his chest, probably smothering himself. "It's fine Tweek, I'm not upset," the boy said calmly, his deep voice as soothing as ever.

Still shaking, Tweek looked up at Craig, only to find the boy was already looking at him. The calm acceptance in those eyes was enough to take the fear right out of Tweek's spine. Sagging against Craig suddenly, Tweek didn't much care when he fell into Craig's lap. Curling up there, feeling the weave of Craig's jeans press against his cheek, Tweek mumbled, "Okay, if you s-say so."

"So did you have a good Christmas?" Craig repeated, his fingers finding their place in Tweek's hair once again. Shivering, because there was something about Craig's warm hands coming through his cold hair that made Tweek feel weird in a weird way, the blond took a moment to answer. He wished he could say he'd had a good Christmas, but in reality, he'd spent most of the morning freaking out because the underpants gnomes had stolen half of his underwear in one night.

"Rrr- I g-guess," he mumbled, hiding his face in Craig's NASA tee-shirt. He didn't want to ruin Craig's Christmas by telling him about how miserable he'd been, freaking out about not going to the Noirette's house sooner, not daring to go downstairs for fear his parents would rope him into something else horribly insane. It hadn't been fun, not at all, but at least he was here now. This was way better than anything else he could have done all day, no matter how bad it had been before. Because at least Craig wasn't insane. At least the boy cared.

Hand pausing for a moment, buried deep in Tweek's messy, wild blond mane, Craig spent a moment just sitting there entirely still before continuing to comb his way through Tweek's snarls. "Mine was boring," the boy told Tweek, his flat tone leading Tweek to believe that Craig, unlike him, was telling the truth. "We sat around the tree. Ruby was an asshole. Red was a bitch. It would have been more fun if you'd been there."

Stomach rebelling, Tweek let out a groan and shivered against Craig. Even as the feeling returned to the rest of his body, Tweek still felt cold traveling down his spine. "That's your time t-to spend with your family!" the boy insisted, fisting his hands in the covers wrapped around him and pulling them closer to his face till they muffled his voice. "I couldn't –grr- just interrupt you like that!"

Again, Craig didn't answer for a long moment. Tweek nibbled his lip as the silence stretched on, but didn't freak out because he was still wrapped in Craig's blankets and Craig's hand was still in his hair so how bad could whatever Craig was thinking about be? Letting out a soft, involuntary sound as Craig tugged at his hair lightly, trying to remove a particularly irritating tangle, Tweek closed his eyes for the first time since the day before yesterday and almost started to relax. That's what Craig did to him, allowed him to slow down and just rest for a moment while the rest of his body caught up with his mind.

Quietly, Craig asked, "Did you know that Clyde's mom died when he was really young?" When Tweek only let out a Rrr of shock because why is he talking to me about something like this? Craig continued, "Yeah, he was six, I think." Tweek felt a knot build in his stomach at the thought. Clyde always acted so happy, you wouldn't have known his mom was dead if you looked at him. Deep down, Tweek had always wished he could be happy like that, but somehow he felt he hadn't earned that kind of carefree joy.

Clyde wasn't disgusting inside. Clyde didn't break promises with friends. Clyde had been through so much, so he deserved to be happy. Tweek didn't.

After a moment more of silence, Craig continued, "You know, that first Christmas his dad wasn't even home." As he spoke, Tweek's eyes opened so he could stare up at the Noirette. The boy was looking absently at Stripe's cage, a thing he often did when he wasn't sure what he was going to say next. Drawing in a deep breath, Craig muttered, "People said a lot of shit about him. It pissed me off."

Remembering what Clyde had told him about how Craig had stood up for him once when they were younger, Tweek felt something inside of him cry out because he would have bet anything that this had to do with that story. He wasn't sure why Craig was telling him this story. It was Christmas, not the time to be reliving sad memories, but he didn't dare interrupt. He just twitched in Craig's lap and waited for more.

"But that Christmas, and several others after that, he spent Christmas over here." Falling silent again, Craig muttered, "This is the first year he hasn't been over here since it happened. It's weird, not having him here." Shivering, Tweek wished he could just listen to the story and not feel like a piece of shit for making Craig sit through Christmas without him, even though he'd promised he'd be there. That was horrible of him, he was a monster for it. Jesus, why am I such a fuck up?

"Ngh- Jesus man," Tweek mumbled, turning his eyes back to the bed so he wouldn't have to look at Craig's face. "I'm sorry." He wasn't even sure what he was apologizing for, all he knew was that he felt oddly guilty after hearing about what had happened. Like maybe he was trying to fill Clyde's shoes and doing a horrible job of it. He'd always known that Craig and Clyde were like brothers and this just sort of proved it.

"No, I'm glad," Craig commented unexpectedly, making Tweek jerk his head around so he could look up at Craig. "His dad is home, and he's having a good time." Looking down at Tweek, the boy frowned unexpectedly, before shifting Tweek off of his lap and getting to his feet. Oh god, I did something wrong, didn't I? As the boy walked over to the other side of the room, Tweek struggled to sit upright as he tried to figure out what he'd done wrong. There was no other explanation for why Craig would have just gotten up, right?

"Craig?" Tweek squeaked, looking after him worriedly as if waiting for the boy to explode at him or something. Instead, Craig just rifled through his drawer before pulling out something that the boy couldn't see. Walking back over to Tweek, Craig tugged on his chullo before shoving the thing at Tweek. Rolling backward with a shriek, the blond leaned away from the unknown object before opening his eyes and seeing what it really was.

Wrapped messily, with too much tape and probably not enough paper, was a present. There was no bow, no card, nothing that reminded Tweek of the numerous and uncomfortably perfect presents his parents had wrapped up under their tree. But because of that, Tweek found that it looked even more personal. Glancing from it to Craig and back again, Tweek let out a whimper and yelped, "B-but I- Why are you giving me something?!"

"Because I wanted to," Craig answered, instead of saying something that Tweek might have expected like 'it's Christmas' or 'because you're my friend'. Shivering, Tweek looked between the present and Craig once more, still unconvinced that this was really his.

"But –ghn- I never got you anything!" he insisted, shaking his head jerkily as he attempted to back up over the bed and only got his feet tangled in the covers wrapped around him. "Oh god, I'm so sorry!" Just like that, Craig lowered the present in favor of ruffling Tweek's hair. Now that it had been combed out, the sensation felt almost more soothing, enough so that he made a soft sound.

"It's okay dude," Craig told Tweek calmly, holding the present out again. "I just wanted to, you don't have to get me something back." Wiggling until he'd managed to free his hands from the blankets, Tweek awkwardly caught the present in one hand and struggled to undo the paper, mostly because it was more tape than paper at this point.

Finally managing to get it open, Tweek's eyes widened as the soft material of a shirt met his fingers. Even though it was definitely too big for him, Tweek unraveled it, curious as to what was on it. Once he'd finally turned it around and looked at the front, however, he let out a yelp and dropped it, scrambling away from it. "JESUS MAN WHY DID YOU GET SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!"

Looking confused and almost hurt, Craig picked up the shirt and looked at it. "Why not? I thought you'd like it." Shivering, Tweek shook his head hard enough that it pounded. Because why on earth would he ever want a shirt with aliens on the front of it! If they see it, they'll kill me for sure! Why would he get something like that?! Probably because aliens don't hurt him, so he doesn't know how dangerous it is. I thought I've told him though!

"BECAUSE –GRRR- IT HAS ALIENS ON THE F-FRONT!" Tweek exclaimed, reaching up his now free hands so he could tug on his hair hard and twitch harder. "Jesus, don't you kn-now they're gonna come for you if you have that! They d-don't want anyone to know they –ngh- exist!" Shaking harder, Tweek grabbed the comforter and yanked it up over his head, hiding him from the rest of the room.

Letting out a sigh, Craig walked forward and pulled back the blankets that were over Tweek's head, not so much prying them from the blonde's fingers as coaxing him to let go of them. Looking down at him with even, impossibly blue eyes, Craig calmly said, "Don't worry dude, it doesn't work like that." When Tweek twitched hard and tilted his head to the side in confusion, Craig explained, "It's like a shield, you know? They'll think you're their friend and they won't bother you if you have it on."

He… What? Does it really scare off aliens? Blinking, still scared but already feeling that fear give way to wonder, Tweek stared up at Craig as the boy pulled down the brim of his chullo before adding, "But if you don't like it, you don't have to wear it…" Suddenly letting out a yelp, Tweek almost tumbled off the edge of Craig's bed as he rocked forward and hugged Craig's middle, as much to keep himself from falling as to make the boy stop looking quite so… upset.

"No!" he said fiercely, feeling Craig's hand awkwardly patting his back as the blond refused to let go. He got something like that for me! He knew that the aliens were after me so he got me something to protect me! Feeling his chest swell with emotion that he couldn't name, Tweek hurriedly continued, "Rrr!- I r-really like it! I'm sorry I didn't get you anything, I w-wish I could have gotten you something so amazing!"

Unexpectedly, Craig muttered, "Well, you're here, aren't you?" When Tweek drew back and looked up at the boy in confusion, Craig coughed and looked away. Oh Jesus is he okay!? Worried that Craig might be getting sick, Tweek attempted to leap up out of Craig's bed so that he could help. In the end, all he managed to do was pitch himself forward off the edge of Craig's bed. Before he could fall headfirst though, Craig's arm came around and caught him.

Setting him back upright, Craig cleared his throat and looked down at Tweek, who twitched and only then realized what the boy had said. Eyes widening, Tweek felt heat flood his cheeks for some confusing and entirely unknown reason. As Craig stared at him and his face only grew warmer, Tweek twitched hard and covered his face with his hands. Oh god, what if I have a fever! What if I'm sick and I pass it on to Craig!

As he lay there on the bed, making pitiful noises as his chest kept getting tighter like his heart was going to burst and his face only grew hotter, Tweek was unsurprised to find Craig's hand in his hair. A moment later, the bed sunk a little as the boy sat down next to him and went back to playing with Tweek's hair, the new tee-shirt left on the other end of the bed forgotten. As his heart started to slow down and his face thankfully went back to a less alarming temperature, Tweek peaked from between his fingers so he could look up at Craig.

The boy honestly looked peaceful, like nothing in the world was wrong. Tweek wished he could feel like that, calm and collected. When he was around Craig, he got as close to the feeling as he thought he ever would, but he knew he'd never be truly calm. Even so, he chased that feeling, leaning into Craig's hand and attempting to soak up as much of the calm that permeated the boy's room as possible. He liked this, with the comfortable silence and the warmth, when Craig was calm and he was as close to calm as he could ever get. Honestly, he wished every day could be like this.

It was impossible, but it was times like this where he figured it didn't really matter. As long as Craig existed, then peace was out there and maybe one day, he'd finally manage to reach it.

In the quiet, Craig gently said, "Hey Tweek?"

Looking up at him, blinking admittedly heavy eyes, Tweek softly mumbled, "What?"

For a moment, it looked like Craig wanted to say a lot of things. It wasn't often that Tweek saw that particular gleam in his eyes, Craig didn't tend to enjoy talking. But at that moment, it looked like he was trying to formulate one hundred sentences at once and failing to speak a single one. At long last though, the boy glanced over at his guinea pig and muttered, "How was your Christmas?"

Hearing those words again, after everything, made Tweek deflate slightly. Looking down at the covers heaped over him, Tweek awkwardly twitched and said, "Ngh- Not good…" Knowledge that Craig was staring at him beating down on him, Tweek fussed with the blankets and continued, "I just –ghn- d-didn't want to interrupt you, so I just sat up in my room and the underpants gnomes stole my underwear again and I felt horrible because I promised I'd be here but then I wasn't and I just-" Words dying in his throat, Tweek could do nothing but stare up at the oddly sad look in Craig's eyes.

"You shouldn't be alone on Christmas," the Noirette said abruptly, something off about his classically deadpan tone. "No one should be alone. Not me, not Clyde." Glancing down at Tweek, Craig gently muttered, "Especially not you."

Even though part of him sort of wanted to cry, Tweek managed a smile, a slow, soft one that spread across his face in a bittersweet way. "I'm happy now that I'm here," he told Craig sincerely, his words quiet yet sure. At his words, Craig's breaths did a funny thing, like they cut out for a second before they shuddered back into being.

Tugging the edge of his hat down, Craig said, "Good."

And maybe not everything was good, but Craig's fingers were in Tweek's hair, and the room was quiet, and Craig's breathing was evening back out. To Tweek, that was plenty.