Chapter 2: Beware of the Nice Ones
The chill of the morning was nearly desensitizing, but all Tweek felt was warmth. The heat from the coffee was seeping through the flask he was holding, but that wasn't the source of his feelings. Tweek replayed yesterday's events in his mind with a happy smile. It was the first time in a long while he had slept so well, as the paranoia easily gave way to thoughts of a certain raven hair friend. As he drifted towards his locker the bell rang indicating that class would start soon, but Tweek wasn't worried for once as everything was perfect in the world.
Slamming shut his locker door, Tweek noticed the sudden appearance of something bright green and orange in his peripheral vision. Letting out a little yelp, he calmed down once he noticed it was just Kyle, staring at him with curious green eyes. Ok, maybe everything isn't perfect, if only everyone just stopped trying to jump scare him!
"Tweek, you look… different. Is everything ok?" asked Kyle, his head slightly tilted as if to get a better look at the unusually placid blond. His lime green fur cap slipped off a bit, revealing strands of curly red hair. The cap matched his mittens, but clashed with his bright orange jacket. Kyle was a person of many strong colours and contrasts.
"Yes, I'm ok," the other boy replied slowly in confusion. "Oh god! Nngh! Do I have something on my face?!" Tweek quickly wiped his face on the back of the sleeves of his navy green shirt.
"No," laughed Kyle. "Uh, I… I just meant you look great today…" he trailed off, before looking away as if uncertain about the direction of the conversation. Tweek's brows furrowed in confusion, his mind not registering what the redhead was saying. "You know, I'm really hooked on Tweek Bro's new Sunset blend…"
"Kyle, what do you want?" Tweek interrupted, almost channelling his not-so-fake boyfriend's demeanour. "We-we're going to be late to our math class!" He suddenly remembered, today they were going to receive back their scores for the mid-term test. The blond felt his anxiety spike and the happy bubble burst, he is so dead!
Kyle paused for a second, before sighing. "… yeah you're right. Let's go."
"… dude I can't believe you failed that math test!" said a brown-haired boy to the visibly shaking blond mess, who was seated on the other side of the cafeteria bench. Clyde's voice was quite nasally, the fact that he had a mouthful of food at the same time didn't really help. He was the chubbiest of the four boys, but that was easily hidden by his thick red jacket.
"I can't believe Clyde didn't get the lowest mark in that class for once." stated another black-haired boy in matter of fact tone. Token was wearing his signature purple shirt, with a yellow letter T in the middle. Ignoring Clyde's mock hurt retorts, he turned towards the source of the trembling. "Tweek, what happened? This isn't typical."
"I -I don't know! Ahh!" Tweek pulled his hair slightly in distress, the food on his tray remained untouched in front of him. "I don't wanna do a catch-up exam! Waaa! Why me!?" He groaned as he faceplanted onto his food. Craig sat beside him, his hand gently tracing out the contours of the other's back in comfort.
"I thought you always study with Craig at his house." Token asked in confusion. "I mean he does really well at mathematics."
"Hey that's right!" Clyde pipped in, bringing his hand up to his chin. "Something doesn't… add up." Token supressed the urge to roll his eyes.
This line of questioning made Tweek lift his head and pause in reflection. It's true, he often went over to Craig's house under the guise of studying together. Tweek's eyes widened at a sudden realisation. Most of the time, Craig said or did something to distract him from his work, which then ended up with them fooling around and playing video games! Tweek turned towards the boy in blue and uttered a single word, "Cr-Craig?!"
Token pre-emptively covered Clyde's mouth with his hand, so that the brown-haired boy's immediate follow up question came out all muffled. There was an awkward pause as everyone else waited for Craig's reply. "… sorry." Craig shrugged. "I can't help but tease you sometimes." Tweek's face turned a shade of red in embarrassment.
"Oh-ho, come on you guys. Get a room." Tweek jumped at the new voice beside him, before noticing that the source was none other than Eric Cartman. This grinning boy had on his trademarked blue and yellow hat, matching mittens and a red jacket which did not do much to cover his overweight figure. Somehow, Kyle and those guys joined them on the same bench without Tweek even noticing.
"Shut up fat ass! They aren't like that!" Kyle yelled in a tone more viscous than usual.
Cartman looked at his part-time enemy in confusion, before his face melted into a knowing smirk. "So that was it." He stated under his breath so quietly only Tweek managed to hear him. The blond's face scrunched up in confusion at the cryptic statement.
Kyle sighed before turning to give Tweek a soft smile. "I overheard that you are having some problems with maths. I am pretty good at it, so I can help tutor you if you want?" He ignored the predictable mocking from Cartman about fulfilling stereotypes.
"Y-you would do that for me Kyle?" Tweek asked, breaking into a bright smile. "You're such a good guy!"
Kyle felt a slight blush rise to his pale face. "Of course, we are good friends. I mean you helped me look for my little brother when he got lost that one time." He broke eye contact with Tweek, before asking almost hopefully, "… the catch-up exam is soon, so we can start right now if you want. Let's go to the library where we can't be disturbed."
"Ok sure!" Tweek got up from his seat happily. Craig almost immediately followed suit, intending on shadowing them. "N-no Craig. You're too distracting, you have to stay here." Tweek noticed the slight uptick in his partner's normally neutral facial expressions, which he always does when he is conflicted about something. After a few seconds, Craig nodded before sitting down. "I'll see you after school." Tweek said with an apologetic smile before leaving the table with Kyle.
"Jesus Christ, Craig! You're totally whipped." Cartman stated between mouthfuls of food. "I already warned you that if you don't have some balls and take control of your side of the relationship, you'll get walked all over!"
"Just shut it Cartman," Clyde retorted in defence of his friends.
"Yeah, you really aren't the best person to give relationship advice." Token stated in agreement.
Craig ignored them, instead focused on tracking those messy blond locks he knew so well, until they disappeared from his line of sight. Supressing a sigh, he instead opted to flip Cartman off.
Author's Note:
Thanks so much for the reviews. As Craig might say, I'm soooo happy. Next chapter will be uploaded in 7 days time.