Tweek

"B-but then I shot the zombie hobo with my gun because I thought it was an alien, and it sort of just exploded! So w-we were okay, but JESUS I'm telling you man! It was so scary!"

Jimmy let out a laugh that was filled in with Clyde's helpless giggling and Token's hmm of curiosity. "W-w-wow Tweek, that's some pretty imp-p-p-pressive stuff right there," Jimmy conceded, still grinning from ear to ear. "Who knew that Aliens were s-s-s-secretly w-white supremacists." That made even Token laugh, and Jimmy smiled, obviously pleased at the reaction.

"I still can't believe we managed to get abducted," Craig snorted, shaking his head and tossing another piece of popcorn at the upside down Clyde, who attempted to catch it in his mouth. "I mean, of all the things that could have happened to us, that's the last I would have expected." The popcorn bounced off of Clyde's nose, and he whined as it landed on the floor beside his head with the other ones.

Eyes widening, Tweek shook his head and tugged at his hair with one hand while he insisted emphatically, "N-no, it makes total sense! They abduct people who know about them! Ghn- JESUS IT'S ALL A HUGE CONSPIRACY!"

"Good thing you guys survived then, right?" Clyde asked cheerfully, once more attempting to catch the popcorn that Craig threw at him. Looking over at them in mild disapprovement, Token huffed when yet another kernel ended up stuck in his carpet.

"Just barely," Craig said, his impossibly blue eyes watching Tweek calmly. Grinning at the Noirette, Tweek was rewarded with a slight smile from the taller boy. "Maybe next time if someone didn't shoot the pilot-"

"They were k-keeping all of South Park under surveillance!" Tweek protested instantly, leaping off of the coffee table and doing a quick tuck and roll as he landed next to Craig on the love seat.

"-Then maybe we wouldn't have crashed," Craig finished, as if oblivious to Tweek's words. He betrayed himself by glancing down at the blond with a raised eyebrow before leaning over and placing his head on Tweek's stomach. The boy let out a squeak, but didn't attempt to dislodge Craig's head.

"I think that T-T-Tweek's actions were admirable," Jimmy commented, smiling. "In fact, I would describe the ent-t-t- The whole experience as out of this world." Clyde almost choked on his own laughter and Tweek found himself giggling helplessly as well, unable to stop himself. Jimmy's only reaction was to grin and said, "W-wow, what a great audience!"

Token snorted. "Nerds."

Throwing a piece of popcorn in the general direction of the black boy's head and hitting Tweek instead, Craig called, "Says you." Unconcerned with being called a nerd, Tweek grabbed the piece of popcorn and threw it at Clyde, whose head jerked a little to the side in order to catch it. As his mouth snapped around the kernel, Clyde's fists shot into the air.

"OH YES! SUCCESS!" Wiggling happily, still upside down, Clyde whooped and said, "Looks like your aim just sucks ass Craig, because Teacup here just got it in with one throw. You just suck."

"At l-l-least he doesn't swallow," Jimmy quipped, making Tweek's nose scrunch in confusion as he tried to figure out what they were talking about.

Craig on the other hand just looked Jimmy dead in the eye and said in an even voice, "You wanna bet on that?" His words almost inevitably produced a round of laughter from the other boys, which just left Tweek tugging on Craig's chullo. Oh god, what are they talking about? I don't get it? Did I miss something? Should I have gotten the joke!? They're gonna think I'm so stupid!

"Oh GOD I DON'T G-GET IT!" Tweek shrieked, hands flying for his hair because his coffee was still on the table and Craig's head was in his lap.

"Well Tweek," Clyde instantly started, a helpful note to his voice. "When someone really likes a guy or quite possibly a girl-"

"Don't you dare explain it to him," Token instantly said, a rare mischievous smile crawling over his face.

Sitting up with a grunt, Craig wrapped the arm that was holding the popcorn around Tweek's shoulders awkwardly so he could ruffle his hair comfortingly. "Don't worry about it, 's not important. Promise. It's just one of those things." Nervously, Tweek looked up at Craig with skeptically furrowed brows before giving up. If Craig says I don't need to know, then I probably don't. He wouldn't make fun of me.

"That is quite amazing r-r-r-really," Jimmy admitted, watching Tweek with a certain level of curiosity. "These levels of innocence should be imp-p-p-p- Impp- Are practically unheard of." Innocence? Oh Jesus, they are making fun of me aren't they!? Panic aside though, he was having fun, and really as long as Craig didn't care then he was going to try not to stress about it.

To be honest, he was just glad to be able to hang out with his friends again. Now that the horrible game was over, everyone was getting along again and it was relieving to say the least. They'd even invited Jimmy over, now that he was no longer an Elven mercenary. Overnight, the entire game had just vanished, and Tweek was sincerely glad that it had. He was tired of dealing with it, and this calm was frankly wonderful. Besides, he had Craig at his side, and that made everything so much better.

Bebe was even coming over later! Though he wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen, he was pretty sure that Clyde was going to ask her out, which made him really excited. He knew that they both liked each other, so it only made sense that they'd start dating now that the game was over and Craig and Bebe had broken up. It was nice, not having that ball of jealousy rise up every time he thought about the pretty blond girl. He enjoyed Bebe, and he was glad that his own fucked up emotions weren't getting in the way of that anymore.

And Craig's happier now too, so it's not that selfish, is it?

Leaning against the Noirette, Tweek let his eyes flutter closed, even though usually the action would have made him paranoid and twitchy. The night before had been insane, and more than a little stressful. He could still picture Kenny's bleeding form as he stumbled away, but… Maybe it really was just his imagination. Despite not being sure, he was still going to apologize to Kenny. No matter what had happened, he felt horrible about it.

Of course the rest of the night had been slightly better. After they'd defeated or really just saved Clyde, they'd managed to get around to fixing all of the things that his meddling had torn apart. With the girls, the goths, and even some of the ginger hall monitors that had gotten roped into the whole thing, they'd managed to put things back together. At some point they'd had to give up because the storm had gotten too bad, but they'd mostly cleared out the zombies from the town and helped the Government cover up the whole incident completely. They'd even airlifted the UFO wreckage in chunks.

Which in Tweek's mind was a good thing. He never wanted to see that thing again. No matter how adept Craig and he had been at escaping, Tweek was tired of Aliens.

Pushing the thoughts from his mind, Tweek buried his head into Craig's side and just went limp, happy to be cared for, content to be warm and comfortable. It had been too long since he'd felt this good, and he wasn't going to lie and say he didn't like it. Waking up with Craig that morning had been one of the best things he'd ever felt, and he hardly cared if that made him sound weak, because it was true.

"So, did you hear about P-P-Principal Victoria?" Jimmy asked curiously, opening a second can of soda. The pop and fizzing sound that followed made Tweek wish that he had his coffee. Quickly ducking out from under Craig's arms and almost falling off of the couch in his haste to get to his own drink, Tweek's stomach warmed the moment he had his hands on it.

"Yes actually, my parents get the school emails. I saw something was going on," Token commented, watching Tweek impassively as he rapidly sucked down more than half of the coffee in the mug in one go. As the caffeine, or more accurately, the idea of caffeine hit his system, Tweek felt some of his uncontrollable shivering calm down.

"You're just going to leave the rest of us hanging?" Clyde complained, finally squirming off of the couch and almost literally worming his way under the coffee table. Observing the happy brunet as he popped out on the other side, Tweek scurried back towards Craig, who was examining a piece of popcorn boredly. "Come on Jimmy, spill it!"

"So apparently," Jimmy began once more, drawing out his voice now that he had a captive audience. "After everything that h-happened, the school board asked Principal Victoria t-t-t- They asked her t-t- Her immediate resignation was requested." Tweek let out a startled sound at the thought of their school's Owl just leaving them. Not that he particularly had any love for the woman, but just on principal he couldn't imagine her being replaced by someone else.

"Does that mean we're going to get a new principle?" Clyde asked excitedly, pausing in his turning on of Token's gaming systems so he could stare at Jimmy intently. "That would be so cool! Or actually, it could be really bad if we don't like who it is, but there's no way they could be worse than her, right? She was a terrible principle."

Helping Tweek back onto the love seat so that he didn't spill his coffee, Craig boredly said, "Things can always get worse." No, don't say things like that! Letting out a screech, Tweek almost spilled hot liquid all over Craig, who instantly set the popcorn bowl down on the table so he could steady the blond's hands. "But I'm sure that they won't," Craig hurried to say, his eyes calmly fixing on Tweek's face. "Whoever it is, they're going to be fine."

"If it m-makes you feel any better, they're going to wait to r-r-r-replace her until next school year," Jimmy informed Tweek, a bright smile on his face.

Keeping his eyes trained on Craig, who just watched him steadily, Tweek at last nodded shakily and mumbled, "Ngh- As long as th-the new principle isn't an Alien or something, then I guess it'll be f-fine." Feeling a little stupid for his outburst, Tweek briefly lifted his coffee up to his lips and drained the rest before rocking forward and falling into Craig's lap with a sigh.

Allowing him to stay there, Craig's fingers dragged through Tweek's hair calmly, soothing the tremors that were still working their way down his spine. After a moment of silence, Token asked, "So do you have any idea who it's going to be?"

"N-no idea~" Jimmy answered sublimely. "Though I've b-b-b-been thinking that this school could use a good m-m-makeover in terms of m-managem-m-ment." Tweek wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but then, he didn't know as much about this kind of thing as Token or Jimmy did. Thankfully, Clyde was just as clueless as he was, and much more willing to express his confusion.

"Okay, I'm stupid, what's that supposed to mean?" Clyde asked, rolling backwards so he could stare at Token and Jimmy upside down. It was amusing enough that Tweek managed a slight giggle. Above him, Craig tugged on his hair playfully, prompting the blond to look up at the Noirette with a small, twitching smile. Reaching up, Tweek retaliated by pulling on one of the strings of Craig's chullo before giggling at the boy's flat expression and hiding his face in the taller boy's knee once more.

"It means that the times have moved on and Principle Victoria wasn't," Token explained, flipping through the book that he'd left all but forgotten in his lap. "South Park is a little… Slow compared to the rest of the country, which isn't necessarily a terrible thing, but it's definitely inconvenient for certain groups of people. I personally think this is an excellent step, if we do indeed get someone better."

"Oh Jesus! They wouldn't -rrr- give us someone worse would they?" Tweek squeaked, his voice muffled by Craig's jeans. Why would they do that? Making things worse wouldn't make any sense, it would be terrible! "I don't think I could handle that, it would be way too much pressure!"

Craig's hand ran down the side of Tweek's exposed neck, and the sensation distracted him from his panic. "It's okay," Craig told him, his voice rumbling and comforting this close to the boy. "They wouldn't do something that stupid."

"They might," Clyde said dubiously, before his bright laugh broke through his own worry. "But that's alright Teacup, you'll have us with you! And Craig. Together, it won't matter who our new principal is, promise." Smiling slightly at Clyde's positive words, Tweek settled down slightly under Craig's hand.

"Y-yeah, I guess," Tweek agreed, however grudgingly.

"I'm going to be c-c-c- Talking about it in the next issue of the school newspaper," Jimmy commented excitedly. "It should made some very good r-reading." Token nodded in agreement, but Tweek's attention had already wandered back to Craig, who was staring at him intently as he brushed his fingers through Tweek's hair. He's been doing that since he met me, hasn't he? Amazing that Craig, someone who half a year ago had never talked to him, had learned how to help him so easily. It was… Well, Tweek wasn't sure how to describe that feeling inside of him, he'd never felt it before in his life.

Though he would have focused on this for longer no doubt, Tweek was distracted by the sound of the doorbell ringing somewhere above him. Popping up, almost smacking Craig in the nose in his haste to get up, Tweek looked at Clyde and shrieked, "BEBE!" in excitement. Eyes widening as well, Clyde suddenly bounced to his feet, almost falling over again in his haste to get up. Escaping Craig, Tweek slipped and slid up the stairs as he rushed to get to the door.

Smacking his shoulder into the door in his exuberance and eagerness, but not particularly caring, Tweek fumbled with the door and danced backwards as Clyde pulled the door open to reveal Bebe, who was smiling brightly and looking fully rested as opposed to exhausted as she'd appeared last time he'd seen her. Grinning from ear to ear, Tweek let Bebe crush him in a happy hug, returning it with almost as much enthusiasm.

"Tweek!" she exclaimed, holding him at arm's length so she could smile at him perfectly. "I'm so glad to see you, you look so much better!" Glancing over his shoulder, the girl's face went bright pink and she tucked her hair behind her ear. "Clyde!" she exclaimed, her voice doing something weird when she said his name. "Hi."

"Hey Bebe," Clyde said, in the same breathless voice. Looking between the two red-faced children, Tweek let out a squeak before quickly wiggling away from Bebe so he wouldn't have to be between that weird energy they'd suddenly developed. Besides, I don't want to catch their fever. Thankfully, he backed up into a wall of human that he just automatically associated with Craig. Looking up at the boy, Tweek let out a soft, involuntary sound that was met with a raised eyebrow as if to ask him What do you think about them?

Wiggling against Craig, Tweek bit his lip and pulled a face as if to say, they're weird, but that's okay, because I'm pretty sure it's normal for them. Leaning down slightly so he could rest his chin on the top of Tweek's head, Craig looked at the two of them and the blond could almost feel the Noirette's raised eyebrows.

"Hey Craig~" Bebe greeted, a more normal smile touching her face as she turned to face the boy. "You're looking happy."

"Ye p," Craig answered matter o'factly. Still hardly able to contain his general excitement, Tweek squirmed about a little more before settling down when Craig wrapped his arms around him.

"I guess we're all just gathering up here now," Token muttered, walking out of the basement with Jimmy in toe. "Bebe, it's good to see you. I'm glad that the zombie scratch didn't infect you."

Holding up her arm, which had several band-aids that Tweek had dug up stretched over it, Bebe smiled and glanced over at Clyde before looking back at Tokoen. "Yeah, so am I. It would have been unfortunate if I got turned into a Zombie, to be honest. I wouldn't have much enjoyed that." Tweek couldn't imagine that anyone would want to get turned into a Zombie, but there were some weird people in South Park. At least one person would probably like it.

"I'm just surprised that everyone imp-p-p- Important survived," Jimmy commented absently. "After all of that drama, I would have expected more death." Which just made Tweek think about Kenny, but to be fair, the idea of the sandy-blond and death were entirely connected in the twitchy boy's mind, so that made a certain amount of sense. I just hope he's alright.

"So!" Clyde announced suddenly, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Wanna head downstairs?" Looking over at the boy, Tweek sensed his nervousness and remembered what he'd said earlier about asking Bebe out. I'm so happy for them, I know they'll be perfect together. Of course, it was now a matter of seeing of Clyde could follow through with it, but he was a whole lot braver than Tweek was, so he'd probably be fine.

Bobbing her head, Bebe turned her warm mocha eyes towards Clyde and sweetly said, "That sounds wonderful~ I mean, if that's what everyone else wants to do." As she glanced at everyone else, Tweek felt Craig shrug and move off of his head.

"Why not," the Noirette commented, before catching Tweek's hand in his own and pulling him downstairs ahead of everyone else. Softly, far enough ahead that the others couldn't hear him, Craig murmured, "How long do you think it's going to take Clyde to actually ask her out."

Twitching, Tweek rumerated over the question for a moment before answering back, "N-not long! Clyde's really really excited about this, s-so he's going to ask her out soon!" Keeping his voice as soft as he could, Tweek squeaked, "Grr- I hope she says yes."

Straightening, Craig looked straight ahead with a simple kind of assurance that Tweek hadn't seen on the boy's face in a long time. "She will, she likes him," Craig reassured Tweek, even though he already knew it to be true. Hiding the involuntary sound that escaped him behind a hand, Tweek grinned through his fingers and looked up at Craig excitedly. The Noirette just sucked in his cheeks and smiled slightly back, squeezing Tweek's fingers gently.

The moment everyone had gotten back down into the basement, Jimmy was turning on the gaming system and Clyde was trying to teach Bebe how to play as Craig and Tweek called over encouragement from the bar. It was actually a pretty relaxing feeling, almost like it was a normal Saturday evening. Actually, it is normal, isn't it? Weird, normal now felt strange, but Tweek liked it all the same. He'd missed this.

Before long, they were all talking about the game again, reliving the best moments from the final battle. Tweek was lying flat on the floor at Craig's feet giggling helplessly while Jimmy theatrically retold the story of how Chris Donnelly had fallen on his head after a particularly good bardic song, and Bebe was throwing in her own bits of the story because she'd been there as well. Though the event probably wouldn't have been funny when it happened, after the fact, it all seemed hilarious. And Tweek needed to laugh, they all did.

Attempting to catch his breath, Tweek let out a slow breath before asking, "So are all the girls okay?"

"Red keeps complaining that she broke a nail," Bebe said offhandedly, waving the matter away like it wasn't important at all. "It's okay though, Henrietta is taking her to the mall and they're going to get them redone apparently. Honestly, I didn't even know the Goths could go to the mall, I thought they'd have a heart attack from all the mainstream-ness."

Rolling his eyes, Craig mimed holding a cigarette and said, in a flat but admittedly good impression of Michael, "Ugh, you guys are all such wannabe conformists." Falling into giggles once more, Tweek rolled when Craig nudged him playfully with a foot. Continuing with his impresion, Craig put his chin in the air and said, "My black makeup hides how dead I am inside, these lights are too cheerful, they're really just symbols of the ways society is degrading around us."

Laughing as well, Clyde dragged his hair over his face in his best impression of Pete before groaning and saying, "Oh my god, you're going to the mall where all the Posers are? No waaaayy~" Everyone was laughing now, even Token was chuckling at this point, though he was attempting to hide it behind his book.

Clearing her throat, Bebe picked up a pencil and delicately pursed her lips around the tip before saying, "Come on you guys, I'm only going there because, like, I want to remind myself how dead everyone is inside, and how everything is just an illusion because everything is sadness and death." Clutching his sides as the laughter started to make his stomach hurt, Tweek scrambled to pull himself to his feet so he could grin at his friends, who were all smiling too. Even Craig had managed a slight smile.

"Imagine if you did go Goth though," Clyde said to Bebe, struggling to get his vocal chords back under control.

"And dyed my hair black and read poetry all day," Bebe joked back, giggling. "Oh yes, I'm sure that would be a great look on me."

"I think you'd look great no matter what you did," Clyde said instantly, before his eyes widened and Bebe's cheeks went pink.

"Oh my," Jimmy said, grinning. "It appears that s-s-s-someone has something to say." He looked pointedly at Clyde, who went as red as Bebe.

"Go on," Token prompted, glancing up from his book so he could watch the two of them in mild amusement. "Don't make it awkward."

Clearing his throat, Clyde turned to Bebe, opened his mouth, and let out a strangled sound. "Guys," he complained, covering his face ineffectively with a hand. "You're making it weird now. Come on, that's so uncool. I look like an idiot."

Schooling her own expression, Bebe turned to face Clyde completely and folded her hands in front of her. "They're just being weird. What was it you wanted to ask me."

"If you don't do it, I'm going to punch you," Craig warned flatly.

"Guyyyyssss," Clyde whined, dragging out the word. But when no one else said anything, he squirmed and turned to Bebe, whose cheeks were dusted pink and whose eyes were lit brightly. Taking a deep breath once more, Clyde said, "Um… Bebe…" He paused again, and Tweek twitched and shivered as the tension in the room grew. Suddenly letting out a woosh of air, Clyde said in a rush, "Okay so the thing is I have had a huge crush on you for a really long time and I know you just broke up with Craig but I was wondering-"

"Yes," Bebe said, cutting Clyde's tirade off. "Yes yes yes." When Clyde's eyes widened in surprise, Bebe laughed musically and lunged forward, hugging the boy tightly. "Of course I want to be your girlfriend Clyde Donovan you wonderful idiot, yes."

"Okay," Clyde said in a small voice, before hugging Bebe back tightly.

"How ad-d-d-d- How addd- How wonderful and sweet," Jimmy said brightly.

Glancing back at Craig, whose eyebrows were raised, Tweek giggled happily as the tension in the room turned to joy and everyone else started laughing and talking once more. Bouncing over to the Noirette, Tweek asked, "Are you happy for them?"

"Of course," Craig answered, ruffling Tweek's hair. Eyes suddenly widening slightly, Craig turned towards the clock and flatly said, "Hey Toke?"

"Yeah?" the black boy answered back.

Looking back at Tweek with an unreadable expression in his eyes, Craig said, "Tweek and I are going to be upstairs, okay?" Without waiting for Token's answer, Craig slipped off of his stool and pulled Tweek after him as they headed towards the stairs. Unable and really unwilling to do more than stumble after him, Tweek hurried to keep up as the boy pulled him towards the other flight of stairs that would take them higher in the house.

"Where are we g-going?" Tweek asked as the second floor became a distant memory and the third floor landing approached them. He wasn't worried really, it was Craig, but he was curious. It wasn't often that the boy suddenly pulled him away to unknown locations.

"You'll see," Craig answered as they finally reached the fourth and final floor. Pulling the boy towards Token's dad's office, Craig grabbed for the neatly folded blanket that lay over one of the chairs in the room and ignored Tweek's squeak of fear as he realized where they were. "Don't worry," he said instantly, obviously aware of what had stressed Tweek out. "He's not even home. He's away with Token's mom, they won't be back till later tomorrow, remember?"

Drawing Tweek towards the large bay window at the back of the room, Craig said, "Besides." The latch popped open. "You'll want to see this."

Helping Tweek onto the roof, which was admittedly flat at this part of the house, Craig laid the blanket out and pulled the boy down easily. Tumbling into Craig's lap, the blond looked at the Noirette in confusion till he realised that the boy was already looking up at the night sky. Only spending a second wondering what was going on, Tweek realized what this was, and quickly turned his eyes upwards.

Stars. Instantly feeling his body relaxing as Craig's pure joy seemed to seep into his usually twitchy form, Tweek's eyes shifted over the beautiful scene as the Noirette leaned back, letting them stare at them a bit better. Letting Craig wrap them both up in the blanket, Tweek nestled his head beside Craig's and listened as the boy started to talk.

"I know it's been a while," Craig began, his voice already distant as his mind drifted off into Outer Space. "But I missed staring at the stars with you. And it's been so stormy and cold recently, it hasn't been any fun, but Token's house has always had a really great view, and I wanted to show you." He wanted to show me, not anyone else, just me. Letting himself be happy about that, Tweek tangled his fingers in Craig's shirt and nodded.

"I m-missed it too," Tweek admitted, wiggling so he was properly wedged in beside Craig, stealing the Noirette's warmth.

"I really missed you Tweek," Craig said, his voice soft. "I missed… everything, really. Shit, I sound like an idiot."

"No, not really," Tweek assured the boy, letting his eyes trail over the beautiful galaxy above them. "I mean, if you're an idiot -ngh- then I'm an even bigger idiot! So w-we can just be idiots together."

"Okay," Craig agreed simply in his perfectly even and wonderful voice.

"So are you going to tell me the constellations?" Tweek prompted at last, once the silence had stretched on long enough. Feeling the way Craig's smile pulled at his neck, the blond was satisfied that he'd made the other boy happy. In the end, that's all he really wanted to do.

Lifting a hand, Craig pointed at the sky and said, "If you look over there, you can see the Twins now. They're called Castor and Pollux, and Token says they're from Greek mythology. Look, they're holding hands." Moving his finger, Craig said, "And if you look over there, you can see a lesser known constellation called Hades. It's that V of stars, see? Oh, and that bright star over there is Sirius. It's so bright, that they name it in most constellation books. And over there-"

Craig kept talking, but Tweek's mind just drifted, because finally, he felt like everything really had gone back to normal. And that feeling was wonderful.

Because if Craig stood with him, how could anyone stand against him?