Tweek

It was a certain kind of person who found pacing to be actually helpful instead of just more stressful. Most people pace because of stress, not in an attempt to relieve it. And those who try to relieve it often don't actually manage to fix a thing. But there are a select few people who can pace, and by pacing calm down.

Tweek knew that Token and Bebe were the types of people who actually got something out of pacing. He'd seen it happen, Token would get something on his mind, he'd walk back and forth for a few minutes, and then he'd sit down and be calm again as if that little bit of movement had helped him work through whatever was going on in his head. Bebe was much the same. When she was really stressed and upset, like she'd been after talking to Clyde, she'd paced for a while, almost like by tiring herself out, she was able to find the wherewithal to calm down.

Unfortunately, Tweek was not one of those people. To him, pacing just made things worse.

Which is why he really shouldn't have been pacing back and forth frantically at one thirty in the morning, gulping down his fifth thermos of coffee while softly screaming under his breath. He'd been in this state for a while now, caught somewhere between anger, terror, and pain. There was way too much going around in his head for this, far too many things that were making him want to just slam his head into the wall. He couldn't handle it! He couldn't take this!

"AUGH!" he screeched, sloshing some of his coffee over his hands yet finding himself unable to care. "JesusIT'STOOMUCH!" Clacking his teeth together violently, Tweek shook his head and stumbled over the same legos and blocks as he had the last twenty times he'd walked across his room. His chest hurt, he couldn't breathe right. Was that normal? Was he going to die? Who cared?! Definitely not him, no, death actually sounded preferable.

No! GOD I DON'T WANT TO DIE! Shaking that particularly insidious voice out of his head, only to find another thirteen crowding in behind it, Tweek twitchily gulped down another forth of his thermos and shivered. Oh god, the last two pots he'd drunk had been from his parents coffee, it was making him feel weird, like he couldn't feel his face. Jesus, he hated this stuff! But it was better than being alone with his thoughts, which kept threatening to tear him apart.

Craig.

Oh god, no, no he didn't want to think about the boy, he couldn't handle this anymore! Getting to the end of his room once more, Tweek let out a screech and banged his head against the wall several times. JESUS GET OUT OF MY HEAD I CAN'T TAKE THIS!

Oh god why won't my head stop screaming at me?! Stuffing a hand in his mouth, wishing that he'd just calm down already, Tweek bit down hard enough that he felt the pain and whimpered softly, hating himself and the situation and just everyone in general. No, no I don't hate everyone. I'm just upset. I can't do this anymore, I can't take this.

Craig.

Staring up at his wall, at the messy scribbles of the clockwork angel he'd hung up above his desk, Tweek felt his chest get tighter. He was so tired of this, of all of the stupid emotions he had in his chest. Craig didn't care about him, but Tweek cared so much that it hurt. All he'd wanted to do was just be with Craig, by his side, fighting or not it hadn't mattered anymore. As long as he'd had Craig there, then he'd have been fine, but Craig hadn't wanted him. He'd thrown Tweek away like he was a nuisance.

I am a nuisance.

NO HE WASN'T! HE WAS CRAIG'S FRIEND!

No you're not, you're worthless.

Tweek gulped down the rest of his coffee before whimpering and letting it fall from his hands. Staring at the splattered coffee stains that were quickly becoming part of all the other ones all over the floor, Tweek clenched his fists and trembled. After everything, after finally finally figuring everything out with Craig, the Noirette had just throw it aside. Why? Why had he done that?

BECAUSE HE DOESN'T WANT ME BECAUSE I'M DISGUSTING!

You know that's not true. Flinging his head up, Tweek stared at the image of Craig standing in front of him, crossed arms, eyes cool, chin tilted up, and he felt his own frustration grow.

"RRR- WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" he demanded, glaring at the image of Craig. "JESUS JUST M-MAKE UP YOUR MIND! IF YOU D-DON'T WANT ME THEN GO!" He didn't have enough brain power to deal with this, he wanted to scream, no, he already had screamed, but it wasn't enough! He couldn't get away from the thoughts and the voices, they were closing in around him, making him feel like he was losing his mind. I've already lost my mind. This is just making it worse. Breathing heavily, he stared up at the image of Craig before turning around and returning to pacing.

Look, I screwed up, Craig's image said flatly, just like the real one would, not that Tweek was at all sure of the difference anymore. But maybe I was trying to protect you from this shit. God, even his mental image of Craig wasn't helping. Tweek wished he could make the mirage go away but it wouldn't. He just needed his mind to calm down for a moment, he just needed to think, he needed his thoughts to be something other than disjointed rambling.

"Ghn- b-but you weren't!" Tweek accused, pointing a shaking finger at Craig's image. "Y-You just threw me out! Like I didn't even matter to you! I know I don't matter Craig, I -ngh- know I'm fucked up and s-stupid and annoying, b-but I can't take this! It hurts Craig, it really- It really hurts." Hugging his arms, digging his nails in like he could ground himself if he tried hard enough, he shook his head and mumbled, "N-nevermind."

I don't care that you're fucked up, Craig's image insisted obstinately, as if that was what he needed to hear, but Tweek just shrieked under his breath and clenched his arms until his nails bit into his skin.

"STOP SAYING THINGS LIKE THAT!" Tweek yelled, spinning on his heels and stumbling over to the other side of his room so he could slam his head into the wall again. "GHA! I HATE THIS I HATE YOU I HATE MYSELF!" Trying to make his brain just stop screaming at him for one moment, Tweek pushed out, "YOU'RE NOT REAL! Y-YOU'RE NOT HELPING, YOU'RE JUST- Just repeating w-what he says." Leaning his head against the wall, Tweek whimpered, "Why couldn't you have said something like that w-when it mattered?"

I'm scared that the game is going to hurt you.

Whipping around so he could stare at the apparition of Craig, Tweek twitched hard and squeaked, "But I already got hurt Craig! I already -grrr- got bruised, and b-beaten up, and- and I already got kidnapped by Aliens. And I h-had to watch you date Bebe for a month, which -rrr- was horrible! But I did it! I'm fine, I d-don't need you to be worried about me."

But Craig kept shaking his head, and Tweek felt his insides die just that much more. Biting his lip hard enough to draw blood, he weakly said, "Look at you, y-you're not even dressed in your game costume." It was true, Tweek's image of Craig looked like the boy used to. With that ratty blue hoodie, and his jeans and old sneakers. He looked so tired, and Tweek wished that he'd just go away, because the real Craig didn't want him, and he was so tired of making excuses for the Noirette.

I'm playing because of Clyde, Craig's image said, like that made it alright. I'm playing because he asked me to. I just don't want you caught in the crossfire. And the worst part was that part of Tweek believed it entirely, believed that Craig just was trying to help him, but even if he was, it felt the same. Craig didn't care enough to know that he couldn't handle this constant game of not telling him anything. Of putting his feelings aside in favor of protecting him.

Jesus, how can anyone say they care when this is how they act?

"Craig I would have played if y-you had just let me," Tweek whispered, but it was pointless, because he was arguing against a hallucination, not Craig. There would be no fingers in his hair after it was over, there would be no warm arm around his shoulder. There would be no calm blue eyes and deep voice that settled the screaming in his brain. There was just more pain and anger, an intense bitter resentment for how things had gone that he couldn't get rid of.

You know how I am.

"N-no I don't Craig! Otherwise th-this would make sense." Defeatedly, Tweek slumped to the floor and curled up so he could stare at his open thermos and let that suffocating prickling hurt crawl up his throat and choke him.

After they'd left Clyde's house, Tweek had gone back to Bebe's house, where she'd attempted to calm him down while struggling not to cry herself. She'd been terrified for Clyde, and upset that she hadn't been able to get through to him, but more than anything she'd been furious with herself for not seeing it sooner or doing something the moment she'd found out what happened. Tweek hadn't been able to make Bebe calm down, because he'd been too busy being miserable himself. And she'd tried to help, but in the end, both of them had been too much of a mess to actually get anywhere.

So after a miserable farewell, Tweek had ended up back here, hiding in his room, where he couldn't stop running Craig's words over and over again in his mind while his emotions wreaked havoc on his mind. It wasn't like the time he'd broken down at Starks' Pond, no, this was a different type of anger, because he was just so sick of thinking it was getting better only to watch it get worse. That's what it kept doing, getting worse, and he couldn't take it anymore.

"Time to go to work, work all night~ Search for underpants, hey~"

"AUGH NOT YOU!" At the sound of that particular and horribly familiar song, Tweek stumbled to his feet and stared at the procession of Underpants Gnomes as they walked into his room, all happily going about the business of making him miserable. Jerking violently to the left, Tweek shrieked, "Ngh- H-haven't I gone through enough tonight!? Oh god, w-why won't you just leave me alone?!"

The dreaded Underpants Gnomes, his two in the morning torturers that never left him alone. He just wanted them to go away, but they never did, and he couldn't handle them right now. Especially after dealing with Craig, no, he wasn't going to put up with this! They always showed up and stole his underpants and he had enough stress without dealing with them!

"We won't stop until we have underpants~" they continued to sing in their horrible little voices. "Yum tum yummy tum day!" No, I can't handle this!

"JESUS JUST STOP!" Darting over to the clothing snatchers, Tweek stood in the way of them, causing the little gnomes to look up at him in frustration. They all came up to his shins, but that didn't stop them from being terrifying. "C-can't you see I've h-had enough!?" Tweek demanded, his overwhelming mental confusion in other areas of his brain somewhat blocking the fear that he usually felt when he faced these creatures.

"Hey, we're walkin' here!" one of them yelled, waving him out of the way. "Get out of the way!"

"Yeah kid, this hat's going straight up your ass if you don't move!" another yelled, balling up its fists and waving them menacingly.

Frustrated and unable to quite think straight enough to be scared, Tweek snatched up his frying pan, which was on top of his dresser, and waved it at the Underpants Gnomes like a mad man, which he was. "NO I'VE H-HAD ENOUGH!" Tweek yelped, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "I'M MAN AT HIS MOST MAN FEAR ME!" With a shriek, Tweek lunged forward and almost flattened one of the little creatures.

"Oh Christ, not another one, this is the second asshole tonight!" one of the gnomes complained, quickly dodging out of Tweek's way as he swung at them again. He'd never fought back against them before, but he was so sick of everything that he no longer cared. "Why won't they just let us get on with business?"

"B-because you're stealing my clothing!" Tweek screeched, swinging madly at the little creatures, who scattered every time he got too close. By a stroke of luck, Tweek managed to hit one of them and send it flying into the wall. "I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

"Oh really?" Abruptly, a gnome decked out in little rat skulls and talons stepped forward and reached into one of his bags. "I'm gonna give you one chance to put down the weapon and let us go. You've always been a pussy, Tweek, go back to being one!"

"NO!" Tweek yelled right back. In response, the gnome shrugged.

"Well, your call!"

Suddenly, Tweek's vision went hazy as the gnome threw glittering dust in his face and the world started spinning. Fearfully twitching and whimpering as he desperately tried to figure out what was going on, Tweek stumbled forward and fell flat on his face. There was a collective snickering before one of the gnomes announced, "Well, that's a wrap! It'll take him a while to figure it out, we should get out of here." Then they went back to singing that infernal song.

Picking his head up off the carpet, Tweek watched as several very large gnomes vanished. It took him a second longer to realize why that was so terrifying. Wait, OH GOD WHEN DID THEY GET SO BIG?! Scrambling to his feet, stumbling around disorientedly, Tweek screeched and stared up at his dresser, which now looked like a towering behemoth. Oh god, what happened to me? Looking down at his body, Tweek felt rather than heard the whimper that escaped him.

Glancing over at him, one of the gnomes called, "You're our size now, so don't try any funny business, otherwise we'll have to stop you."

Then they were gone, vanishing behind Tweek's dresser.

THEY SHRUNK ME! Tweek's hands buried in his hair and he let out a scream as he tried to pull what could only be a hallucination from his mind. When he opened his eyes and found that everything was the same, he felt his heart speed up painfully. This couldn't be happening to him, he couldn't handle this, not tonight! No, I have to do something! I have to get out of here, I have to fix this! Otherwise I'll be stuck as a gnome for the rest of my life! That thought was enough to drive the whole matter of Craig from his mind entirely.

Steadying himself, Tweek attempted to drag in slow, calming breaths. Clenching his hands in the hem of his shirt, which had also been shrunk, Tweek stared down at the hoodie of Craig's he was still wearing, and found some small measure of comfort growing in his stomach. Even though he wasn't sure what was going on with the boy, even though he was upset, it was still Craig, and the thought of the boy was enough to put some starch into his spine.

I need to figure out how to fix this. Twitching, Tweek jerked his head around towards his dresser, knowing what he had to do but still not wanting to do it. Jesus, if I follow them, they might kill me! But… Did he really have a choice? Shivering, the blond glanced at the fallen thermos, which really looked huge now, and took a deep breath. He didn't have a weapon, and he didn't have coffee, but he'd be fine. If Craig were here, he wouldn't even bat an eye. He didn't when it was aliens. So I shouldn't either.

Glancing around as if worried that someone was going to follow him, Tweek hurried for the dresser, almost tripping over the legos that were scattered throughout his room. Ducking behind the large wooden structure, Tweek caught sight of the hole that was perfectly sized for the gnomes that haunted him, and he let out a shriek. This was terrifying, he didn't want to follow them! What if his parents looked for him!? What if they pushed his dresser closer to the wall and he never escaped? What if it was all a trap!?

But I don't have a choice. So he ducked forward and wiggled his way into the hole so he could look around. The inside of his walls was dark and musty, but for the lights that had been hung up like little mining lights. In the distance, he could hear singing, which sent a shiver of fear through him that he forced himself to ignore. No, he couldn't be scared of the little creatures that tormented him. He had to face this, otherwise, he might never get out alive.

You can do it. Turning, Tweek caught sight of Craig leaning against the footboards of the walls, his blue eyes calm. Even though he'd been screaming at the image not five minutes before, Tweek found himself shakily nodding.

"Ngh- I h-haven't forgiven you!" he felt the need to say, clenching his fists at his sides and shivering as he spoke. "But thank you."

Craig's image snorted, then he vanished, leaving Tweek alone once more. Gingerly, worried that he might set off something if he wasn't careful, Tweek crept forward. It was instantly apparent that the gnomes had set up quite a lot around there to get around, little staircases and lights and everything, showing Tweek a clear path forward. Pretty soon, he was at the ground level of his house, and still traveling downward. He could feel the fear still pulsing just beneath the surface of his skin, but he forced himself to ignore it.

Later would be the time to freak out, now, he needed to think as clearly as possible.

As he traveled underground, the tunnels started to get more sophisticated, coming equipped with railings for carts and other diverging pathways that Tweek could only guessed led to other houses. I knew it! They're doing this to everyone! Pressing on, praying that he was going the right way, Tweek kept listening to the sounds of singing that were coming from deeper down. Why do I keep coming in contact with things like this that have always haunted me. First the aliens now the gnomes!

It was almost like he was cursed. The walls that felt like they were closing in around him seemed to agree, their burnished metal gleaming threateningly at him. If I don't get out of this alive, no one's going to ever find me.

He wondered if anyone would even look.

I'd notice if you vanished.

Tweek felt something inside him crumble, and he wrapped his arms around his chest tightly, twitching as he did so.

"No, that's bullshit!" The voice dragged Tweek out of his own misery. Realizing that he recognized it, the blond hurried forward towards the light that was growing at the end of the tunnel. They said that I was the second, does that mean- "I don't care about your profit! Let me out of here!"

Skidding to a stop as he made it out into bright, fluorescent light, Tweek almost fell off of the edge of the small cliff as he yelped, as loudly as possible, "KYLE?!"

"Tweek? What the fuck?" The redheaded boy looked like he'd dragged himself out of bed. His pajamas were askew, and his hair, which was usually hidden by his hat, was everywhere, but more importantly, he too was the size of the gnomes and Tweek wanted to shout with relief that he'd found another human. Sure, he usually was terrified of Kyle and didn't much care to be around him in general, but right now, he had other things to worry about.

Looking around for a way down, noticing as he did so the mountain of underwear in the middle of the room, Tweek scrambled down a ramp all while yelling, "JESUS MAN! Th-they came and when I fought them they shrunk me! Do you think that we can change back? What if we can't? W-what if we're stuck like this forever I CAN'T HANDLE THAT IT'S TOO MUCH PRESSURE!" Almost careening into Kyle, Tweek stumbled and fell face first at the boy's feet.

Kyle blinked down at him, as if in confusion. "Um… Hi?" he asked, as if this was indeed what he should be focusing on despite the fact that they were trapped in the underground lair of the Underpants Gnomes. "I thought you were terrified of the Gnomes dude, why are you down here?" He sounded genuinely puzzled, which more than anything brought Tweek's head up.

Twitching, the blond attempted to wobble to his feet while pushing out, "Rrr- usually I am, but I got upset with them instead and THEY DIDN'T LIKE THAT!" Yanking on his hair, Tweek whimpered and said, "I can't b-believe they did this! What if we never get out?"

Pushing his mass of red curls out of his eyes, looking down at Tweek like he was still mildly suspicious of the fact that he was there, Kyle muttered, "Well, I guess we're both here for the same reason then. And to answer your question, I end up here about once every month, so yeah, there's a way out. They know me around here." He glared at one especially short gnome who was scribbling away on a clipboard. "Don't think I don't remember that bullshit you pulled last time Colman."

"Despite not being included in your constitution, I plead the fifth," the gnome said, not bothering to look up.

Huffing, Kyle crossed his arms and glanced down at Tweek. "I'm surprised you managed to find your way down here. The first time I got shrunk, I was wandering around for ages." Shivering, as if it was a bad memory, Kyle seemed to quickly discard it before continuing with, "Then again, you're Tweek, so I guess that makes sense."

"Jesus what's that supposed to mean?!" Tweek squeaked, his eyes wide and horrified.

Kyle gave him a cool look before saying, "Nothing." Straightening his shirt, as if there was any point, Kyle muttered, "Well, standing around isn't going to do us any good. We need to find one of those warlocks, get some of the dust, then-" he stopped and shook his head. "You know what, nevermind, come with me if you want to get out of here." Then he started walking, obviously expecting Tweek to follow.

Recognizing the boy's usual attitude instantly, Tweek hurried after Kyle, glad that the boy wasn't actively telling him to go away. The boy acted different when he wasn't around Stan, a little more quiet, a little more irritable, but generally, he was still Kyle, and under any other circumstances Tweek wouldn't have followed him anywhere. This was an exception, Tweek decided, flattening himself to the wall of the cave as a cart of underpants trundled past them, definitely it wasn't something he wanted to do again at any rate.

"So, are you on Clyde's side?" Kyle asked suddenly, his voice terse and unwelcoming, as if he was actively discouraging an answer. That being said, Tweek felt compelled to give one.

Jerking to the side and letting out an involuntary, "Ggh-" Tweek mumbled, "No, I'm not." They kicked me out, he almost said, before realizing that to be kicked out, he would have had to have been accepted in the first place. Craig didn't want me would have been more accurate. Craig sent me away.

"Good, that whole thing is bullshit," Kyle said instantly, the issue obviously irritating him. "I mean sure, Cartman's a dick, and he shouldn't have banned him, but that's Cartman's call, and Clyde shouldn't be a sore loser. I'm so done with this, I'm ready for this bullshit to be over. Clyde's a bastard for dragging this out." After taking a moment to contemplate his words, he tossed a look over his shoulder at Tweek and added, "Sorry, he's your friend."

"N-no, it's fine, I don't think he should be doing it either," Tweek said in a small voice. "But that's not why I'm not -rrr- part of them!" Kyle nodded, almost like he'd expected it. Unsure why he was telling the redhead this, him out of all people, Tweek continued, "Craig wouldn't let me join."

Kyle snorted. "Don't join him then dude, join our side and kick their asses. They're asking for it, starting a army of darkness." Shaking his head, the boy darkly spat, "And stripping us of our powers, like who the fuck does that? That's totally cheating."

At the idea of fighting Craig, Tweek felt his stomach turn and he glanced down at his shuffling feet. "I- I don't know." Thinking of Clyde's manic smile, and Craig's emotionless cruelty, Tweek bit at his lip, wishing that things weren't so complicated.

"Well, if Craig's going to be an asshole, then you should be an asshole right back," Kyle told Tweek, as if that was a solution to anything. Unexpectedly though, Tweek found himself giggling at Kyle's words. The boy glanced over at him, his face a mask of confusion as if he couldn't tell what Tweek was doing, but then he seemed to get over it and simply shrugged. "I don't know Tweek, don't let me tell you what to do, but don't let Craig push you around."

"Ngh- b-but you've pushed me around before!" The moment it escaped his mouth, Tweek slapped a hand over his mouth and stared at Kyle with wide fearful eyes. As the two of them stuttered to a stop, Tweek attempted to actively backpedal, only to have Kyle glare at him with those viciously emerald eyes.

"Yeah, I did. What did you do about it?" Shivering Tweek stared at the boy, unable to move. Nothing, was the answer that immediately jumped to his lips, but then he remembered the game, remembered fighting Kyle, whether indirectly or directly, and he remembered how with Craig's help, he'd become a stronger person. Oh…

"I pushed b-back," Tweek said softly, clenching his fists in an attempt to still some of the twitching.

Kyle's expression didn't change much, but he dipped his head in a nod. "Yeah, you did. Dude, there's a reason Stan and I thought you were stronger than Craig. Don't be a fucking doormat for him."

"I'm not!" Tweek insisted, clenching his fists at Kyle's words. "That's not w-what's going on!" Struggling to put the matter into words, Tweek found himself just dumping out all of the thoughts scrambling about in his head in one, long, messy string. "It's just -ghn- h-he never tells me what's going on, and he just lets me find out on my own, and th-that makes me so upset! But I know h-he's at least trying to do it for me, but I think that he might hate me, b-because why would he treat me like this if he didn't? And all I -rrr- ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS F-FIGHT WITH HIM! But he kicked me out, he said he didn't want me, and it really really hurts, and I don't know if he hates me or if he's just trying to protect me b-but…-" Tweek trailed off as he realized that Kyle had already returned to walking down the tunnel.

"That's not protecting you, that's being an asshole," Kyle told Tweek frankly, as if he couldn't be bothered to make it sound nice. "Which is bullshit, and you shouldn't put up with that shit."

Pulling on his hair, hurrying to catch up, Tweek squeaked, "I know that!" Feeling the messy emotions he was feeling rise up once more, the blond mumbled, "B-but- Oh god, I just want to be friends with him, and he keeps doing things like this and w-what if he doesn't want to be friends now? I don't think I can deal with that!"

"Guess what Tweek, Stan broke up with Wendy again tonight," Kyle said, out of the blue. "Guess what, that pissed me off. Do you know why? Because he comes crying to me about it, and he doesn't listen when I tell him that she's a pisspoor excuse for a girlfriend. That's what I'm going to have to deal with tomorrow, while also dealing with Clyde. I didn't ask for this bullshit, but bullshit seems to just land in my lap."

"I'm s-sorry?" Tweek asked, unsure what else he was supposed to do. Whatever Kyle had meant to do, the story managed to momentarily distract him from his own problems.

"No, don't be," Kyle told him shortly, his tone clipped. Turning down one of the side tunnels they passed, Kyle told Tweek, "Stan can be a shortsighted, idiotic, thick-headed asshole who pretends to be a realist so he can get away with being a mopy shit every time Wendy dumps his ass. And you know what, that pisses me off, but we're still friends, even though he's definitely not going to stop what he's doing and I'm not going to suddenly start enjoying it."

Tweek watched Kyle as he opened the door of the tunnel, and led them both into a round cave that had six different pathways. "In fact, I promise you that I will probably call him an asshole within the next twenty-four hours at least three times. The first time it happened though, I was an emotional wreck because my best friend was crying and I couldn't help him, and I was a piece of shit when he got back together with her, because I thought it was unhealthy." Stopping in front of the fourth path, Kyle added, "I still think it's unhealthy. But I got over it. It's not an emotional response anymore."

Shrugging his shoulders and heading through the archway, Kyle muttered, "Now, that might change, but until it does, I'm just going to get pissed at Stan when it happens, inform him that I don't like it, then get the fuck over it and be friends with him again."

"Oh," Tweek said softly, unsure what he was supposed to do but listen.

"Look, Tweek, what I'm trying to say is that I have no idea what's going on between you and Craig, other than what you've told me," Kyle said bluntly. "But it doesn't always have to be something that you take to mean Craig doesn't give a shit about you. He's just an asshole sometimes. You're allowed to be angry with him, and when he apologizes, then it's over. Maybe being overprotective is something he's always going to be, maybe you're always going to have to prove yourself to him. And maybe you can get him to stop. Trust me though, it's a lot easier to just get upset sometimes and then accept the apology. It can fucking suck, but in the end, he can't tell you what to do, and you can't let him be in control of your moods."

Running a hand through his hair once more, Kyle muttered, "Whatever, let's just get this over with."

Numbly following after Kyle, Tweek struggled to process what the boy had told him. One one hand, he wanted to freak out because when was the last time that Kyle had actually talked to him? But what he'd said made sense. It was true, Craig had always had a habit of being protective of Tweek, whether he needed it or not. And usually that was comforting, but sometimes it wasn't. When he thought back to it, the whole mess at the lake had been bigger, and had needed change, and not just another apology, but this?

I don't think it really matters as much as either of us are making it out to matter. It's just a game. I can still play if I want, and I can not play if I want too. Deep down, he knew that Craig didn't hate him, no matter how much it seemed like he might, and Kyle was right. He was allowed to just be upset with Craig over this, and not everything else. He's still my friend. We're just both really stupid sometimes.

"There it fucking is, I swear, they always subtly change the location just to fuck with me." Brought back to the present by Kyle's voice, Tweek backtracked to where the redhead had frozen next to yet another door. After a moment's fussing with the lock, Kyle muttered, "And this is why I have keys." The door swung open.

Before Tweek had any time to ask what was going on, he and Kyle were greeted by a circle of gnomes in rat's skulls, all playing what looked like poker. Glancing up at them, one of the gnomes groaned and said, "Oh come on, who shrunk him again. Jesus, you'd think that you asswipes would learn."

Another gnome glared over at his companion. "Jerry, I swear to all that is profitable-"

"Look, he tried to hit me with a book again, Frank!" Jerry the gnome protested, holding up his hands. "What did you expect me to do? Whisper him a lullaby and tuck him in?!"

"Well not do this, obviously," the first gnome groaned. Looking around, he grabbed for his staff and waved it at the two boys. Tweek let out a squeak, and Kyle just stood there, looking bored. "Oh go away, we're off duty, go bother someone else."

"Joseph-" Kyle started, his voice just on the edge of threatening.

"Oh Christ, fine!" Heaving himself to his feet, the gnome warlock looked over Tweek and Kyle skeptically and said, "We only care about one thing around here, business. Profit. Profitable business. And staying alive. Don't hit us, we're nasty bastards, and we'll shrink you until we can hit you back. So don't do this again."

"Ngh- W-we won't!" Tweek yelped, yanking on his hair. Kyle just stared at Joseph impassively before reaching out a hand expectantly.

The Underpants Gnome grumbled. "Yeah yeah, whatever, up yours asshole." Unstrapping one of his bags from around his shoulders, Joseph tossed it at Kyle. "Keep the extra, just get out of here."

"Finally," Kyle muttered, before turning around and marching out of the room, leaving Tweek with nothing to do but follow.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Tweek burst out, "JESUS MAN THAT W-WAS TERRIFYING!"

"Eh, you get used to it," Kyle muttered, sourly if Tweek was any judge. "Let's just get out of here, I'm tired." Following him, Tweek was almost surprised when the tunnel started to slope upwards, and soon thereafter opened up into the mouth of a small cave, from which moonlight streamed. Walking out of it, Kyle waited for Tweek to follow before opening the bag. Mumbling under his breath, "I hate those bastards," the boy reached in and grabbed a handful of what looked like garish glitter. Without warning Tweek first, Kyle threw the fistful of dust at him.

It was like the biggest sneeze he'd ever taken, but backwards.

Once he'd finally stopped spinning, Tweek looked up hazily at the sky and twitched until Kyle loomed into his vision. "The ground isn't comfortable," Kyle informed Tweek, his expression unchanging.

Catching the boy's meaning, Tweek stumbled to his feet and brushed off the worst of the debris he'd picked up while Kyle watched, ever impassive. Realizing that he should probably say something because this was Kyle and what if he pissed him off by not saying anything, Tweek pushed out, "Oh Jesus Th- Thankyou!"

Kyle just kept staring at him with those unnervingly emerald eyes. After a moment however, he commented, "We're at the bus stop, you should be able to get home that way." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, but otherwise didn't put much effort into the instructions.

Nervously, twitching slightly, Tweek took a step back before scurrying off down the road, worried that Kyle might get upset if he didn't. Just because he knew he could probably fight back didn't mean he wanted a conflict with the redhead. Before he could get too far however, Kyle called out, "Hey Tweek, want to fight with us tomorrow? The remaining humans and elves are joining together to fight Clyde."

Rotating on the balls of his feet, Tweek remembered what the boy had said about just getting upset for one specific thing, instead of allowing the petty mistakes to destroy his friendship, and he found himself saying, "Yeah, I will."

Kyle tipped his head back. "Good." Then he turned around and walked off, leaving Tweek to hurry home alone, new found resolve churning in his gut.