Chapter Eight: He seem'd to find his way without his eyes

Tweek lifted his recently topped-off mug off the counter and took a dangerously large sip of the hot liquid. He looked at the mug,rubbing his thumbs across the slightly faded skyline of New York City that was printed across the porcelain surface.

Tweek sighed and turned the corner, facing into the living room, where Wendy sat on the couch, elbows on her knees and sobbing quietly into her hands. Mascara streaked tissues were scattered across the coffee table, and her shoulders shook briefly with the sobs. Since Wendy had shown up out of the blue and plunked herself down on Tweek's couch, he had just stared at her nervously from the kitchen. He knew it probably wasn't the best solution, but dealing with crying girls was definitely not one of Tweek's strong points. But, this was his best friend's step-sister,and he had promised to look after her, so he had to do something.

"D-do you want something to drink, Wendy?" Tweek asked, fingers slightly stroking the raised ink on the mug. Wendy looked up and nodded, biting her bottom lip. Tweek mimicked her shy nodding and turned back to the kitchen, grabbing another mug from the cupboard, this time from Washington, and filling it with more coffee from the pot. He carried the two mugs into the living room, nervously fidgeting his shoulders to avoid spilling the mugs.

Tweek sat next to her on the couch and silently handed the mug over to Wendy. She quietly took the mug from him, muttering a small thank you.

"Tweek, something's wrong." She shuddered and then took a drink of the coffee. "I'm sorry for barging in, but I didn't know where else to go."

"Uh, you can tell me, it's okay."

Wendy breathed deeply. "Stan."

"Again?" Tweek ran his fingers through his matted blond tangles. "What happened?"

"I was at the bookstore, you know, just trying to find something to read. I could see him around the bookshelves, just watching me." She sighed. "He was following me, and then just ran up to me and grabbed me and stared at me with... with this look. It was overbearing." Wendy dropped her gaze, curling her purple fingernails against the porcelain coffee mug.

"And..." Tweek coaxed, left eye twitching.

"He just grabbed me and sort of studied me. He looked awful, like he'd been beat-up and hadn't slept in weeks."

"And he didn't say a-anything?"

"No, nothing. He kept squeezing my arms, and he looked angry, but sad. And, he looked a little conflicted. Like he wanted to say something but couldn't. And then he shoveded me against the bookshelf and stormed out." She lifted her arm and rubbed the back of her shoulder, obviously where the unwanted contact with the bookshelf had occured.

"Huh." Tweek stared out the window, chin resting in the palm of his hand. It was a pathetic attempt to try to stay calm and collected, two concepts that Tweek would never be good at, but he tried nonetheless. "You don't think he's upset that you're not responding to his texts about getting back together?"

"I told him, Tweek. I made myself clear."

"Maybe he's upset you won't d-date him again?"

Wendy shrugged. "He looked so... disturbed."

"You sure its not because you won't date him?"

"Tweek."

"No, really." Tweek turned on the couch so he was facing Wendy. "You're ignoring his calls, you don't speak to him, you avoid him as much as-"

"You're saying I should get back with him?"

"N-no! He treats you like shit!" Tweek's reply slipped out a little loudly than initially intended. Wendy moved her shoulders back and gave him an incredulous look. "I don't know much about relationships, but this on again off again stuff can't be good." Tweek had read enough psychology textbooks in a vain effort of self-diagnosis to know the emotional toll relationship patterns could cause. He gave a rather violent twitch and took a few seconds to regain composure. "But, maybe he's upset you're not playing his little game anymore."

Wendy looked away from Tweek's face to stare blankly into her coffee cup. "So, what should I do?"

Tweek shrugged. "Talk to his friends about it. I'm sure they're worried about him too."

Wendy nodded. "Are you going to tell Craig about this?"

"Well, I just said that Stan's been acting weird lately, because well, he has, and every one's noticed. I've told him-"

"Can we just leave this little episode out of it? I don't want him to worry." Wendy smiled weakly. "What he doesn't know can't hurt him, right?"

Tweek knew better, things you didn't know always came back to hurt you. Ignorance wasn't bliss, ignorance was what convinced you that the shadows across your window were only tree branches, and not something more. Ignorance kept you paranoid. Something in the back of Tweek's mind pulled at him, warning him that Craig should definitely know about what was happening between Wendy and Stan, and that a 'no, they aren't dating again' wasn't enough. Craig should know.

"Yeah, I won't tell him anything. Promise."

Author's Notes

Sorry for taking a forever and a half to updating this thing. This chapter was a lot of fun to write, I even got to slip a little bit of my own headcanon for Tweek in there. (Tweek has an ecclectic collection of mugs from all over the place. Some are from places he's visited, most are gifts from other people's travels. Of all the stories I've written with him [most are unfinished], this is the only time the mugs have come up.) Unfortunately though I have no idea how to go about starting the next chapter. This will update when it updates.

Review if you wish and thanks for reading!