Craig
Token's house, as anyone who knew the black boy could tell you, was full of pretty much whatever you could imagine. The boy had his own office, the place was so big. Token's room alone took up about half of the third floor, and that wasn't even counting the play room-turned-computer room or the secret fort that you could only get to through the boy's closet. To be honest, it was almost obscene how much room he really had.
Naturally, this fact became most apparent whenever the boy had others over for sleepovers. Craig had discovered early on that if he didn't want to deal with Clyde snoring, there was almost unlimited space to colonize as an alternative. And because Token didn't care, he didn't even have to pretend to feel bad about it. In Craig's opinion, this was quite possibly a best case scenario because it meant that he just didn't have to deal with people when he didn't want to.
His usual choice of sleeping quarters was the old pillow fort that Token still hadn't dismantled. The entire room was just one big mound of pillows and blankets, which made for some pretty epic forts, or, conversely, a really great place to pass out. Currently, he was enjoying the latter immensely because sleep was seriously underrated and he'd had a rough night.
Not particularly caring what time it was, Craig curled up further under the down pillows and fuzzy blankets, seeking out the source of warmth that he'd been quite comfortably holding up until a moment ago. Fluffy, soft hair tickled his chin and the Noirette blindly reached out, snagging the bundle of warmth and dragging it closer to his chest, wrapping himself around it. What day is it even? Who gives a fuck…
The warm light he was curled up with squirmed slightly and in retaliation Craig hooked a leg around the legs of the boy in his arms and pulled him that much closer. It was a silent I'm not letting you go if there ever was one. Honestly, with the world in his arms, Craig didn't give a fuck, he was content. He hadn't been happy in a long time.
"You're smothering m-me," complained the blond, wiggling against his chest even though he made no move to actually escape. Sinking them both deeper into the pillows, Craig found a smile tugging at his tired lips.
"Yu p," Craig agreed blandly. Perhaps as he should have expected, Tweek twitched slightly and twisted in the Noirette's hold till he could pop his head above the blankets. At the irritating intrusion into his eyes of the low light coming in from Token's room, Craig mumbled out a complaint before dragging Tweek back down, producing a squeak from the blond. "It's too early to get up," Craig told the boy, burying his face in soft, messy blond hair.
"Ngh- b-but the clock says it's three pm!" Tweek protested, however ineffectually. Giving in to Craig's desire to just stay there forever, warm and happy without any care for responsibilities, Tweek settled back down but for the occasional twitch.
Three huh? So I guess we slept through most of the day. Well, considering the fact they hadn't gotten back from Clyde's house until four in the morning, that made sense. After all, it took a little cleaning up to get rid of an entire castle full of zombies. Snorting at the memories, which somehow seemed fuzzy just a day afterward, Craig hugged Tweek a little tighter and marveled at how wonderful having the boy back really was.
"So?" Craig asked, his voice muffled by Tweek's hair. "The clock can shut up."
Tweek giggled, one of those squeaky, adorable sounds that made Craig's insides feel weird. Heh, adorable, just like him. Yeah, he was clearly overtired. After seeing Tweek fight the night before, it was weird that he was thinking of the blond as adorable, but who said that something badass couldn't also be cute? That was totally possible.
"The clock never even s-said anything," Tweek pointed out, wiggling a little more but still finding one of Craig's hands and lacing their fingers together. God, there were so many things that he'd missed doing that were altogether pointless, but definitely felt like a good use of his time. He'd missed Tweek, and those brief respites during the game where they'd actually been getting along hadn't really been enough. But now it's over, the game is done and things can go back to normal. Whatever normal was…
"Exactly," Craig agreed flatly, breathing deeply and catching the residual smell of alien goo and the smoke of the fires that had been everywhere the night before. Under it though, there was that familiar scent of coffee and conspiracies that brought a slight smile to his face. "So if the clock didn't say anything, why are you?"
"Rrr- I think I can hear Clyde and T-Token downstairs," Tweek pointed out, his fingers tracing weird patterns in their conjoined hands. "Shouldn't we go downstairs with them?" He made a good point Craig supposed, but honestly, he didn't particularly care. As long as he didn't move, he'd be able to keep Tweek here and he wouldn't have to let the blond get away from him again. Don't be an ass Craig Tucker, he's not going anywhere this time, everything is alright.
Alright. It had been a long time since he'd been able to say that.
"Maybe later," he muttered, letting out a long breath as he marveled at how warm Tweek was and how happy those thoughts made him. Finally, after months, he had Tweek here and the blond wasn't going to run off or get upset with him and he didn't have to deal with a girlfriend he didn't want or Kenny and Cartman making his life hard. He could just stay here in this little bubble of contentment and not move. It was wonderful.
"You're acting weird," Tweek informed him, shivering slightly in Craig's arms. Suddenly letting go of his hand, the blond twisted around in his hold once more and Craig found himself opening his eyes so he could stare down at Tweek. Just like always, he found himself captivated, and he didn't even care, because if it was Tweek then being entranced wasn't that bad really. Unsure how to even begin to say that, Craig just drew the boy into his shoulder and ruffled his hair, enjoying the way the usually tense boy simply relaxed against him.
"It's been a weird week," Craig countered, rolling over and pulling Tweek on top of him. As the boy sprawled out over his chest and Craig stared up at the poster covered ceiling of Token's secret fort, the Noirette reflected on everything that had happened and found himself snorting. "Actually, it's been a weird couple months."
"M-make that five months," Tweek countered, his high voice muffled by Craig's shoulder. Picking his head up and resting his chin on Craig's collar bone, Tweek asked, "What do you think is -ghn- gonna happen next?" Pondering the question, still dragging a lazy hand through Tweek's hair, Craig at last just shrugged and gave up thinking about it.
"Dunno, hopefully nothing," he answered frankly. "I'm tired of weird shit." There was another giggle from Tweek, whose face scrunched up in momentary mirth, revealing a rare wide and easy smile. Catching his own mouth twitching up into a smile, Craig found himself staring into Tweek's bright, vividly green eyes. As the silence stretched, Tweek's grin faded into a gentle smile that was only slightly marred by the occasional twitch. Marred? No, just enhanced really.
Because he didn't mind Tweek's twitches, everything about the boy was pretty fucking perfect.
"Yeah, that game went on a long time," Tweek agreed, letting his head fall back to Craig's chest as his own body heaved in a sigh. "Jesus, h-how did they even manage to stretch it out that far?" Thinking of the other people involved; of Kenny and his devilish grin and Cartman's sly smirk; of Clyde's easy exuberance and Chris's bright interest; of Kyle's neverending belief of injustice and Stan's blatant determination; it actually made sense that the game had gone as long as it had.
So he said as much. "I don't think that everyone else would have let it go any other way," Craig admitted, blase. Letting the hand that was still in Tweek's hair slip down the boy's back where it rested between his shoulder blades, the Noirette muttered, "The whole school was involved, it was probably fun for most of them." Not us, obviously, Craig thought, unexpectedly calm about the whole thing now that it was over. But other people, definitely.
"Up until th-the end," Tweek agreed, shuddering under Craig's fingers before fisting Craig's tee shirt in his hand. Counting the scars on those ivory digits, the taller boy wondered, for perhaps the thousandth time since he'd met Tweek, how he'd managed to fall into something so completely unlike anything else he'd ever experienced without even trying. It was almost miraculous, but he wasn't about to complain. Not when Tweek's eyes glowed like the sun, and his little twitches went a long way to calming down the uncertainty that had been plaguing Craig's mind for weeks.
"Yeah, well zombies are kind of shitty no matter how you cut it," Craig pointed out, earning himself a smile from Tweek that he could feel against his chest. Letting his mind play over the battle once again, Craig muttered, "You did good last night, those nazi fuckers never saw it coming."
Wiggling, pulling his legs till he was curled up like a cat on top of Craig, Tweek softly said, "Thank you for letting me fight w-with you." The words made Craig's chest twinge, and he didn't hesitate in wrapping his arms around the blond once more in a tight embrace.
"Cut that shit, you're always allowed to fight with me," Craig said, as fiercely as his emotionless voice would allow. "I'm sorry that it took me so long to see it, I'm sorry that I spent so long trying to protect you from everything like an idiot." He still didn't know why he'd done it, but at least he knew that he was doing it so he could stop. Though it worried Craig to have something unnamed inside of him that made him act like an idiotic piece of shit, he decided that as long as Tweek didn't leave, he'd be fine. Anything else they could figure out together or something.
"You're not an idiot," Tweek protested stubbornly, shivering violently. "If you're an idiot, th-then I'm twice the idiot!" Wispy hair brushing across the exposed skin of Craig's neck, Tweek said, "Ngh- you just- You just care about me." Those last few words were spoken softly, almost like Tweek was trying to muffle them before he'd even let them out. Sensing the insecurity contained in them, Craig pushed down the latent pain that rose up at the idea that Tweek was unsure what the Noirette thought of him, and instead simply confirmed the boy's words stoutly.
"Yeah, I do care about you." Catching the way Tweek got very still at those words, Craig continued, "I- I don't care about much, but I really really care about you. Always." Shivering back to life, Tweek buried his head into Craig's tee shirt and let out a strangled sound that was accompanied by his face and neck turning bright red. Fucking adorable, Craig thought firmly before curling around Tweek and rolling over with him until they hit the wall of the fort.
"Ow," Tweek squeaked, hand shooting up so he could rub the back of his head, which had smacked against the wall. Feeling mildly guilty, Craig's hand replaced the blond's as he sat up, pulling the boy with him. As the world blurred then settled into focus, Craig wordlessly pulled Tweek into his lap and stared up at the clock, which now proudly proclaimed that it was four in the afternoon. Huh, that late. Maybe we should go downstairs and-
"TEACUP! CRAIG! YOU GUYS ARE AWAKE!" Suddenly finding the entire pillow fort launched into chaos, Craig shielded Tweek from getting tackled by Clyde as the delighted brunet dove into the room and attacked them both in a hug. "You guys have been asleep for forever," Clyde complained, apparently unhampered by the bruise on his cheek that Bebe had left behind the night before. "I wanted to wake you up, but Toke said I should let you guys sleep cause you were tired."
"Yeah, and I'm sure you can't think of a single reason why they might be," Token deadpanned, clambering into the fort at a much more sedate pace. Looking them over with a typically calm eye, Token asked, "How are you two?"
Glancing at Tweek, who squirmed in his lap, Craig said, "We're fine." Allowing Clyde to excitedly drag the blond away from him, Craig lifted an eyebrow and asked, "What about you?"
"I'm enjoying the idea of not having school for a week," Token commented calmly, watching as Clyde whispered something in Tweek's ear excitedly only to have the blond let out a screech of excitement and practically tackle him with a cry of OH MY GOD THAT'S AMAZING! "They shut it down so they could repair the damage. You might have just escaped a week of detention by the skin of your teeth."
"Better than not escaping at all," Craig pointed out, glancing over at Tweek and Clyde skeptically as the former shivered in excitement and the latter bounced up and down on the cushions. "Besides, we did kind of cause a shitload of problems."
Token snorted. "At the risk of sounding clichéd, you could say that again." Glancing over at Tweek and Clyde, the black boy sighed and said, "Clyde, you're going to hurt yourself if you don't calm down, she's not even coming over for another hour."
"Who?" Craig asked curiously, though he already had a pretty good idea.
"Bebe!" both Clyde and Tweek chorused excitedly. The sight of Tweek getting so excited about the girl coming, even though before he would have been no doubt dreading her arrival, Craig smiled slightly too. He's just genuinely happy for Clyde, isn't he? Fuck, I wish that everyone could be that wonderful. But Tweek was Tweek, and Craig didn't think the world could handle another one of him.
Besides, he didn't particularly mind having a one-of-a-kind edition.
Snorting at his own thoughts, Craig rolled his eyes and said, "You had better ask her out Donovan, I will not hesitate to kick your ass if you don't." His words made Tweek giggle, and even Token let out a laugh. Clyde on the other hand gave him a deadly serious expression, as if Craig's threat was real.
"Oh trust me, I'm going to," the boy said firmly, nodding his head fervently. "I'm not going to let something else get in my way!" At his words, Tweek let out a squeaky cheer, and Token smile proudly, obviously pleased. "Besides, she did kiss me yesterday." Looking very pleased with himself, Clyde said, "That means she totally likes me."
"Generally girls don't kiss you unless they do," Token agreed wisely. Looking between Tweek and Craig, the boy jerked his thumb towards the exit and asked, "So, are either of you interested in eating something? I'm pretty sure there's coffee somewhere." At the word coffee Tweek's head jerked up and Craig figured that for the blond's sake, they should probably head downstairs. Catching their expressions, Token smiled. "I suppose it's decided then."
Climbing out of the small fort and into Token's room after Tweek and Clyde, Craig stretched his arms above his head and caught Tweek as he stumbled over the edges of his sweatpants. We really need to start keeping clothes here that fit him. Not that Craig minded letting the blond wear his stuff. Nope, definitely didn't have a problem with it. Setting Tweek back onto his feet easily, Craig wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulders and sleepily followed the other kids downstairs, unconcerned with the rest of the world in general.
"So apparently, the Taco Bell was actually a UFO," Token was informing them, though his tone suggested that he knew they were already aware of this fact. "They sent the government into contain the problem, but it went horribly wrong when their leader thought that the Stick of Truth could actually control the universe and started trying to get others to defect to his side so he could take it from Clyde."
Nodding, as if this made even a bit of sense, Craig curiously asked, "So what happened to Kenny? I'm pretty sure Tweek and I fought him at some point." At the words, Tweek let out a horrible strangled sound and suddenly buried his face in Craig's side, prompting the Noriette to stop and look down at him in concern. "Tweek?" he asked flatly, his brows furrowing as the blond's shaking only got worse.
"Oh god, d-don't you remember?!" Tweek asked, his voice coming out horribly contorted like he was on the verge of tears. Instantly tuning out both Token's and Clyde's confused questions, Craig turned to Tweek and pulled the blond against his chest so he could run a soothing hand through his hair in an attempt to calm him down.
"Remember what, Teacup?" Clyde asked, his own expression falling as worry overtook him. "What's wrong? What happened?"
"Don't any of you -rrr- remember?" Tweek shrieked suddenly, his hands going to his hair and yanking on it hard enough to start pulling it out. "Jesus! Ghn- KENNY DIED!"Wait, what? No he didn't.
Pulling away from the blond so he could look him in the eyes, Craig felt his stomach twist at the tears already dribbling down Tweek's face. "Shit," he mumbled, grabbing the corner of his shirt and wiping them away as Clyde reached forward uncertainly like he wanted to hug Tweek but wasn't sure if he should. "Tweek- Kenny didn't die, he's fine. We fought him, but he got up and walked away, remember? He's alright."
"B-but he got turned into a zombie, r-remember?" Tweek asked, his voice going faint as he stared up at Craig in distressed confusion. Cursing himself and the blond's tendency towards delusion, the Noirette pulled Tweek back into a hug and ran his hands through the boy's hair until his shaking subsided somewhat.
"He never got turned into a zombie," Craig said firmly, trying to remember exactly what happened and finding his memories frustratingly fuzzy. Despite this, he continued to reassure the blond with, "He was just being an idiot, but he was alright. Everything is fine." Glancing up at his friends for confirmation, Clyde just gave him a clueless look. Token, however, stepped up to the plate.
"He's right Tweek, Kenny survived just like the rest of us." At the sound of Token's calming voice, Tweek peaked up at the black boy and bit his lip jerkily, but still released his hair tentatively. "It was confusing last night, but to my knowledge not many people actually died," Token reiterated, his words of reason soothing Tweek where Craig couldn't. Thankful for the other boy's presence, Craig nodded firmly.
"We'll see Kenny at school," Craig told the blond, pulling away slightly so he could catch Tweek's hand and pull him towards the stairs once more. "It would take more than a storm to kill that little shit."
"I g-guess," Tweek agreed uncertainly, but he followed after Craig regardless. I wish I was better at fighting his delusions. But maybe now that they were no longer fighting each other, he'd learn how to help Tweek instead of making things worse. Goodness knew that the blond helped him, even if it wasn't intentional or conscious.
As both Token and Clyde pulled ahead of them into the kitchen, back to talking about the damage that their escapades had caused, Tweek tugged on Craig's hand, causing him to stop and turn around to look at the blond. Waiting for Tweek to explain, knowing that he would if given time, Craig was entirely unsurprised when the boy admitted, "W-we never saw Kenny dying yesterday, but he was dying Craig, I -grrr- I know what I saw!"
Staring down at the boy calmly, Craig said, "He might have looked bad, but he didn't die Tweek. We would have found the body." Instantly Tweek's eyes fell to the ground, and Craig felt a stab of pity for the boy. If he'd had to watch Kenny die, he wouldn't be happy either, no matter how irritated the sandy-blond could make him. Mysteriously perhaps, he was pretty sure that he'd care if Kenny died.
"I g-guess I imagined it," Tweek mumbled, shivering. Patting the boy's head, watching as the blond's eyes fluttered closed and he leaned into the touch, Craig tried to draw all of the stress out of that small, wiry body with just this single point of contact. He knew it was impossible, but he could still try, right?
"What did you see?" Craig asked gently, his monotone voice as calm as he could make it.
Twitching, Tweek said, "Ngh- I saw him attack us because they'd turned him into a zombie, a-and then we fought back against him." Bottom lip trembling, Tweek pawed at his eyes as he exclaimed, "Jesus, h-he kept saying such horrible stuff about us, b-but it was almost like he wanted us to hurt him!" Shaking his head, Tweek mumbled, "B-but then he was human again, and I -ghn- I hit him too hard and I think I w-was the reason he was dying."
Brushing the forming tears from the boy's eyes, Craig softly said, "You're not the reason, I promise."
Looking up at him, Tweek said in a broken voice, "He was dying Craig, b-but then he got up and he pretended to be okay and oh christ! We just let him walk away! Why did we do that?!" Because it didn't happen, Craig couldn't bring himself to say. So instead he just drew the boy closer once more and hugged him, waiting for his trembling to still.
"It's okay, next time we see him, he'll be alive again," Craig reassured the blond, saying the first things that came to mind. "And then you can say sorry. I bet that'd make McCormick feel happy to know you cared." Brushing his fingers through Tweek's hair, Craig added, "If no one went after him, he probably felt forgotten and shit."
"Y-yeah," Tweek mumbled into Craig's shirt. "Jesus, I know I imagined it, b-but it felt so real this time Craig. It felt like it was actually happening." Maybe, Craig reflected. In a certain way the fact that Tweek remembered it meant that it had happened. In another world, Kenny had died, Tweek was just able to see the truth more clearly than others.
"Next time, we'll keep him from dying," Craig told Tweek firmly.
"Okay," Tweek agreed in a very small voice.
"Hey Teacup! Are you gonna get coffee or not?" Clyde called brightly, letting out a laugh. Releasing the blond and watching as he hurried towards the kitchen to get his coffee, Craig found himself smiling sadly. They'd survived, and even though he knew there was a lot of stuff that they probably still needed to deal with, he knew that things were going to get better.
How could they not? He had Tweek after all.
Satisfied, Craig walked into the kitchen, set on finding something to eat.
