A/N: Hello darlings, Q here~ So in case you didn't know, I've started a little project with my readers for Semantically Challenged that I'm looking for help on! Because the story is doing so well, I've decided to turn the story into an audiobook style format to spread it and also to give those who've enjoyed it something to listen to.
If everything goes to plan, I'm going to have every character have a different voice, but that means I'm going to need a lot of people helping out! If you have a microphone and the desire to help turn this story into a dramatic audio recording, please get in contact with me. There will be auditions, but seeing as I have a lot of characters who need to be voiced, chances are good you will get a part.
I'll be putting out further instructions and updates as I figure them out. Until then, thank you for reading this~!
Enjoy.
Tweek
As the end of the episode of Red Racer finished, Tweek twitched and glanced over at the clock next to the hospital bed. The moment he saw the numbers there he felt himself start to worry. "JESUS MAN! IT'S, LIKE, SO LATE!" Reaching for his hair, even though it pulled at his stitches painfully, the boy shivered and all but yelled, "RRR- TH-THEY'RE GONNA COME AFTER US!"
"Dude, there aren't any rats in the vents." Leaning back against his own pillow, the bruised Noirette sighed slightly as his own stitches protested him. Though Tweek wanted to tell him how very wrong he was about that, there was something about the boy's calm presence that was working miracles on the blonde's psyche. They'd only been trapped in this horrible hospital for three days now, but already Tweek was discovering just how cool Craig really was. Once you got past the scary outer shell, he wasn't that bad.
One of the things he did best, however, was convincing Tweek that things were alright. It seemed like a stupid thing to be good at but Craig understood Tweek, could see inside the boy's head like no one else could. Maybe it was because he was already crazy, but the other boy's ability to see which pick-your-weird-topic was bothering Tweek was uncanny. He wasn't quite sure he liked it yet, but he definitely didn't hate it. Especially when with a few words Craig could make most anything seem trivial.
It was certainly the case now, because a moment later Tweek let go of his hair and stared at the other boy for a moment, still twitching but at least a little bit calmer. There'd never been anyone in his life before who hadn't made fun of him when he freaked out or ignored him, Craig was the first. He knew better than to get used to it, Tweek highly doubted that Craig would still want to talk to them once they were out of the hospital and able to do as they pleased. But for now, Tweek got to pretend.
Even though he would have usually kept his mouth shut, Tweek found himself fervently saying, "Ngh- Jesus man, you don't know w-what are in the vents! There's all s-sorts of things! And this is a hospital! Oh god, wh-what if someone else in here has a deadly disease and we end up catching it!" At the idea of both him and Craig dying, Tweek clutched at the sheets and shook hard enough to make the bed tremble. Okay, sure, it made sense that he'd die but Craig couldn't die too, that would be just crossing a line!
"Then we'll die," Craig acknowledged, shrugging like he didn't really care. The action made him wince, and Tweek shivered at the sight. His own body was aching, but he was used to pain, so this was sort of just there. Anyway, it had been three days, he would be fine.
Suddenly realizing what Craig had said, Tweek slammed a hand over his mouth so he could scream without making too much noise. "Jesus man, I don't w-want to die!" Tweek pushed out through the gaps in his fingers. That was the opposite of helpful! Now all he could think about were the different airborne diseases that were probably targeting him and Craig right now. There were far too many in Tweek's head and as he contemplated each one he got a little more scared.
"It's probably not that bad," Craig told him flatly, his eyes trained on the wall. Shivering, Tweek watched him, unable to think of how dying might be preferable to living. Of course, when he thought of his own life anything seemed to be better than continuing as he was. So maybe Craig had a point when he said dying wasn't horrible, but Tweek still didn't want to risk dying because what if he came back and he had to live this horrible life all over again?! That sounded like torture.
"Do you –ghn- know what happens to us?" Tweek asked in a hushed voice, twitching and trembling. He wasn't sure why he thought Craig knew any more than he did, but the boy's brows were furrowed minutely like he was puzzling over the question, so Tweek kept silent. In that silence, the vents made another horrific series of groans and clicks that made the blond jump in fright. The movement aggravated his injuries and he was forced to sit still so that the pain could fade.
Coming out of his reverie so he could give Tweek one of those even, calm looks, Craig finally said, "I don't know." Shivering, Tweek's head jerked towards the vents and he bit his bottom lip as he wondered why Craig would say it wouldn't be that bad if he didn't even know what was going to happen to him. Though he knew better than to ask, having already discovered that Craig didn't like to talk about personal things, Tweek's mind inevitably tried to imagine what could be so bad that it made death look preferable.
Sometimes Craig said things like that, things that made Tweek wonder if the boy was just talking, or actually trying to say something. Of course, he was always trying to say something; Craig was so silent most of the time that his words always carried more weight to Tweek. He chose them carefully, you could tell in the way he waited for several beats after a question had been asked before slowly answering. The blond wondered if he did that intentionally, knowing he'd be listened to if he did, or if he did it because he had a reason to watch what he said.
Stupidly perhaps, Tweek sort of thought it was the second one. Other kids didn't bother to watch what they said and he highly doubted that most people would bother to make a show of deliberating over what they wanted to say. So he probably had a different reason for it. The same could probably be said for the blond and his habit of blurting out the first thing that came to mind. Maybe if he'd grown up with people who were willing to listen then the mightn't've acted like he did then, but even that sounded a little bit crazy.
But that was alright because most of the things he said sounded insane. Which is why Tweek didn't try and figure out what Craig could possibly be hiding because it was probably nothing and he was just overreacting.
Fisting his hands in his blankets, Tweek squeaked, "Ngh- w-why wouldn't you think dying is scary if you –rrr- don't know what happens?!" He hadn't meant to ask that, but at the same time, the question had been burning a hole in his chest. If he didn't speak, the thing might eat its way out of him and kill him while still being said. He didn't want a hole in his chest, that would be way too much pressure! So he just spoke because Craig so far had never judged him for speaking, hadn't ignored even his most wild of questions.
It was a new experience, being listened to, another thing Tweek wasn't too sure about, but was willing to give a try.
"I dunno," Craig said, his deep blue eyes roaming over the dark room, glowing in the light of the TV, which was now playing commercials that Tweek couldn't be bothered to listen to. "I mean, everyone does it, so it can't be that bad. And besides, people suck, so at least I wouldn't have to deal with them once I was dead." Giving a slight shrug, not enough to upset his injuries but just enough to get his point across, Craig added, "I don't think I want to die just yet, but I'm not scared of it either."
Watching the boy with wide, wondering eyes, Tweek twitched slightly before mumbling, "I g-guess I'm –ngh- notasbraveasyou!" Attention shifting in an attempt to find something other than Craig to look at, Tweek stared out the dark window of their room and reached a hand up to his hair so he could pull it. "I mean, w-what if I end up in hell man!? I can't handle that! Or w-what if we come back and have to live all over again? What if I end up as a bug or something!? What if there's nothing at all and it's just dark! JESUS THAT'S TERRIFYING!"
"I never thought about it like that," Craig admitted, leaning back against his pillows before huffing under his breath and sitting up once more. "I mean, I guess there's heaven or something, and there's hell too. I mean Jesus lives in South Park so there has to be something." After a moment more of thought, he twisted his head to look at Tweek critically before telling him, "Whatever it is, I think you're brave enough to handle it."
As even as his words were, Tweek felt like he'd just had a glimpse of something bigger. Though he couldn't put his finger on it, whatever it was calmed him down slightly, made him let go of his hair and stop shaking quite so much. Staring into Craig's eyes, watching as the color's changed in the light of the changing commercials, Tweek found himself saying, "I don't know man, death is so –rrr- final, right? S-so once we die, everything is over! All of the stuff we have or- or all the people we know, it's all gone after we die!"
Fussing with his clothing, Tweek quickly added, "Jesus man, I mean –ghn- after you die, people f-forget about you. Even if we died, everything w-would keep moving and stuff, isn't that even a little bit scary?"
"I wouldn't mind being forgotten. I don't think there's any reason to remember me," Craig admitted. The way he said the words like they were second nature to him, made Tweek shiver. He knew what being forgotten was like, it wasn't fun at all. Craig was crazy if he thought that it would be okay if no one remembered him. And how could he say something like that, as if he wanted to die right now? Almost tearing open the stitches on his hands as he jumped to yank on his hair, Tweek let out an involuntary sound of terror.
"WHY W-WOULD YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!" he screeched before the vent let out a moan and the blond tumbled back into his pillows with a shriek. OH god, they're coming to kill us now for sure, this is all my fault! I just got both Craig and me killed!
But Craig didn't react to it, he just sucked in his cheeks and said, "Because I haven't done anything worthy of being remembered yet. And anyway, who would I even want to be remembered by?" Like he needed to do something with his hands, Craig reached over for the remote to the TV and switched it off, plunging the room into darkness. For a moment, Tweek was going to panic, but then he realized that there was enough light streaming in through the window that it wasn't even that dark.
Struggling to pull his mind back on track, Tweek watched Craig shift till he was sitting on top of his covers. It was almost funny, usually, Tweek would have thought that Craig looked like a giant but sitting in a hospital bed that was way too big for him, he looked small. He only seemed to get smaller when he crossed his legs and kept one hand in his lap while the other reached up and tugged his chullo down over his forehead. Part of him wondered if it meant something, the rest of him insisted that it didn't.
Thinking over Craig's words once more, Tweek blinked jerkily before asking, "W-what do you want to be remembered for?" For a moment, Craig just frowned and Tweek felt his mind start to race with panic. I shouldn't have asked that, why did I ask something so stupid!? He probably think's I'm stupid now and he's going to go back to never talking to me and it's going to be terrible! Jesus, I don't want things to get worse again!
Then Craig's face smoothed out and he glanced out of the window behind Tweek's head. "I want to be an astronaut and fly into space." If Tweek had been expecting something, this definitely wasn't it. He'd never thought of Craig as someone who had crazy goals, but at the same time, it wasn't like he'd have known. Picturing Craig in a Space Suit, floating off through an inky void lit only by a nebula of stars, Tweek squeaked and tugged on his hair.
Tugging on his hat again, Craig continued, "I've always wanted to go to space, I think it would be really cool up there." Almost like he couldn't stop himself once he'd started, Craig said, "There's so much of it to be explored, some people think it goes on forever. And our solar system isn't even that big, our sun is really small compared to other stars, so who knows what we'll find out there."
"L-like Aliens?" Tweek asked fearfully, almost able to feel the eyes on the back of his neck that accompanied his question. Shaking harder, Tweek exclaimed, "What if they caught you!? What if they tried to kill you!? Isn't that scary? Jesus man, you might die!"
"If I die, then I die," Craig told Tweek evenly, echoing his earlier sentiments. "And if the Aliens caught me, then I'd fight them off." Well, Tweek had to admit, if anyone was going to be able to fight extra-terrestrial life off, it would be Craig. The aliens would have to be pretty stupid to mess with him. Tweek was pretty sure that they were super intelligent, as well as wanting to control the brains of all humans on earth, so they probably wouldn't mess with someone who could kick their asses.
"I hope you don't die," Tweek said softly, drawing his own knees up to his chest. It sounded stupid to say after everything else they'd just talked about, but he felt like he had to say it. Because after everything, Tweek couldn't help but wonder if Craig thought that no one would care if he actually died. Why he would think that, Tweek didn't know. Craig obviously had friends, he had a sister and parents who probably would be upset if he died. He wasn't alone like Tweek, he had people.
Tweek knew for a fact that if he died, no one would remember. But then again, he wasn't sure if he minded that. It was weird, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he could understand what Craig was feeling. It wasn't that he knew why the boy thought like he did, but he was pretty sure he felt the same, even if it was for different reasons. Digging his fingers into his legs only to whimper as he pressed on a bruise, Tweek stared at his feet and waited for Craig to say something.
"If I were out in Outer Space, I think it would be worth it," Craig said. Glancing up, Tweek found a distant expression in the boy's eyes. It wasn't really a change from his usual deadpan, but at the same time, because of how little emotion he showed it seemed like a drastic difference. Not many people would have been able to see it, but Tweek could tell at once, the dream-like haze that fell over Craig's eyes. "I mean have you ever seen the stars Tweek? There are so many of them. They go on forever and we only can get glimpses of them."
"I never look at the stars," Tweek admitted in a rush, nibbling on his lip. He wanted to listen to Craig talk about them more, this new version of the boy was something Tweek didn't want to vanish. For a moment, he thought that his words might bring Craig back down, but instead, the boy wiggled forward and stuck his legs out so he could drop off of the hospital bed. Squeaking in alarm, Tweek jerked violently and fell over onto his covers. "JESUS MAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"
"Come on, I want to show you something." Craig was already moving around the room, grabbing for the chair that they kept for people visiting them and pulling it around Tweek's bed. Watching him, his mouth hanging open slightly, Tweek flung his head around so he could keep Craig in his line of sight. Struggling a bit with the chair, no doubt trying to avoid hitting any of the injuries that Tweek had given him, Craig finally set the chair up beneath the window before lifting himself into it and carefully standing on the seat.
Beckoning for him, Craig said, "I can't show you if you just sit in bed." He sounded so calm about it, but Tweek was having a hard time calming down. Get out of bed? In the middle of the night when there were monsters under the bed and ghosts in the walls and rats in the vents? He couldn't possibly do something like that!
Shaking his head hard enough that the lump on the back of it started to pound, Tweek pushed out, "N-no! I'll get -rrr- eaten! I don't want to get eaten! Jesus man, that's way too much pressure!" Sitting on the edge of his bed, Tweek looked down before swallowing hard and shaking his head some more, twitching as he did so. The light from the window didn't touch the floor and that made it worse because he couldn't see what was down there. Even so, he could feel the eyes staring at him from below, all of the things ready to hurt him if he happened to get off the bed waiting patiently for him to cave.
"I won't let them catch you," Craig told Tweek calmly, his words bringing Tweek's head up. Staring at the boy, illuminated by the window, Tweek opened his mouth to argue, but all he could do was struggle to form words as Craig watched him. He looked otherworldly, Tweek thought vaguely, the thought flitting through his mind before vanishing. Maybe he'd already been to Space because he didn't look like he belonged on this world at all.
Tweek wondered if Craig was made of Outer Space, with his inky black hair and dark blue eyes and shining face that looked like the surface of a star in this light. If someone had told him that Craig was really just condensed stardust, he would have believed them.
Eyes flicking down to the ground, Tweek imagined that Craig's stardust was spread over the ground, scaring away the monsters. Like his thoughts had made it so, the glow from the window crept over the floor, revealing there to be nothing but a lightly gleaming floor. As little glittering flakes started to cover the ground, Tweek looked up again to find that Craig really was glowing now, his skin speckled with glowing points of light. His eyes especially shone, so blue and deep Tweek wondered if he could drown in them.
When Craig once again moved his hand, insisting Tweek get out of bed, the blond bit his bottom lip and dangled his feet off the side of the bed before slipping to the floor. Letting out a soft whimper as his legs protested the action, Tweek stumbled over to the chair and scrambled to stand up on the small chair. There wasn't much room on there for both of them, but Craig didn't seem to mind that they ended up pressed together. No, his eyes were already on the sky outside of the hospital.
Leaning on the windowsill, Craig lifted his hand and pressed his finger against the window, before pulling a face and quickly unlocking the thing. Accidentally letting out a squeak, Tweek almost fell off the chair as Craig unexpectedly yanked the window up so that he could more easily access the night air. Glancing down at him, as though making sure he was alright, Craig quickly turned back to the window and pointed, his hand reaching as far as it could out of the window.
"Look up. Do you see them?" Shivering, his fear of falling out of the window almost stopping him from listening, Tweek finally steeled himself and thrust his head out of the window so he could look at what Craig was pointing at. Instantly, his mouth fell open and his twitching stopped almost completely.
Above them, obscured slightly by their perspective but still awe-inspiring, were countless points of light, stars, stretching out across the heavens. Eyes roaming over them, Tweek could almost hear the way that Craig relaxed as he stared out the window with the blond. Turning to look at him, Tweek found that the boy's face had softened. He wasn't quite smiling, but he looked like he might just drift off if he could.
Moving his hand over the stars, Craig said, "I know a few of the constellations, but not all of them." Furrowing his brows slightly in concentration, the boy softly said, "Like that one is Ursa Major, and that one is Sagittarius, and that one is Aries…" Trailing off, he said, "We'd be able to see them better if we were outside."
"It's still s-so cool," Tweek breathed, shivering as the night air chilled the room. Looking at the night like this, with the moon glowing in the sky and the stars surrounding it, Tweek thought he might just fall into it. He could understand why Craig liked it, there was something awe-inspiring about those celestial bodies above them. He'd never stared at the sky at night before, he was usually too busy watching the ground, but he wished he had spent more time watching the night because this was better than looking for the monsters that were after him.
Leaning on his arms, his eyes drifting towards the horizon, Craig said, "I think that going to Outer Space would be a lot like dying." When Tweek made a surprised sound, he shuffled his feet on the chair and said, "I mean, I'd be up there all alone, with just endless blackness surrounding me. I could get lost up there, and no one would ever be able to come after me. It would be peaceful, much better than being on earth."
"I don't think there are stars w-when you die," Tweek said softly, his eyes on Craig.
"No, but Token once told me that the whole universe is made of the same stuff, because of some fancy Science laws." Craig's flat voice sounded drifty like he was fading in and out of reality. "So if you think about it like that, we're all made of the same stuff as stars, which means that no matter where we go there will always be some stars around." Craning his neck so he could look at the sky once more, Craig said, "I hope I can go to space before I die. Because then, I think I'd really know what death would feel like."
Chest swelling for reasons Tweek thought he'd never understand, the blond boy whispered, "You will go to space someday, -ngh- I know you will."
For a moment, Craig just stared at him, his face flat yet his eyes struggling, as if he were trying to figure something out. Tweek's hands started to go to his hair, because clearly he'd screwed something out, but he stopped when Craig's face slowly stretched into a faint smile. "No one's ever told me that," he said softly, the starlight from the window mixing with the stars that seemed to be just under his skin.
"Oh," Tweek breathed.
Smile vanishing, only to be replaced by a determined glint in the boy's eyes, Craig said, "One day, I'll go to space, and then I'll tell you what it's like so you'll know what being dead feels like. Then you won't have to be scared anymore."
Even though it seemed stupid, Tweek believed him.
