NOTE: Hey all! Thank you so much for the kind words about my grandfather! They meant a lot to me, and as a treat, I was able to get a chapter out! I will be relatively active still on social media if I drop off the face of the planet for a bit, so give my tumblr a follow! My username is crowded-skies
It's been about three weeks since Tweek and Craig returned from Philadelphia, and there were only a few more days before the first batch of their friends left. Stan, Heidi, Wendy, and Token were all leaving to move in at the end of the week, and tonight was the last night they all could get together since everyone was busy with their own packing. They were getting together at Token's (his house had a pool) and they weren't even going to drink or do anything they would typically do. They just wanted to hang out, stay sober, and enjoy their last night together before everything officially changed. Craig was the last to show up (he was coming right from work), smiling sadly as he saw everyone's cars outside of Token's. Well…better enjoy the sight of all these cars one last time…He grabbed his bag that had his bathing suit and towel in it, walking around back to where he heard everyone. Clyde was the first to see him, grinning as he hopped up from the side of the pool.
"Craig! You made it!" Craig grunted as Clyde crushed him in a hug, smiling into his hair.
"I told you I would. I had work until ten." He chuckled, giving a wave to everyone else as he headed inside to change into his swimsuit. He came back downstairs, plopping down next to Tweek at the edge of the pool. Tweek smiled, leaning into his side.
"How was work?"
"Pretty good. Made some good tip money." Tweek hummed, kissing his shoulder.
"Proud of you." Craig smiled, blinking as Clyde walked onto the diving board.
"Clyde, you better think tw-"
"CANNON BALL!"
"Clyde, NO!" Craig turned away as Clyde made sure to land right by the two boys, Craig letting out a cough to clear the water from his mouth. He turned around, glaring at Clyde. "You know, I know you're my best friend, but I swear I say the words "I hate you" more than anything." Clyde grinned, floating on his back.
"You love me." Craig smiled a bit.
"I know." Tweek wiped the water off his face, sliding into the pool next to Clyde.
"You're lucky I was just about to get in the pool, Donovan, otherwise I wouldn't be as forgiving as my boyfriend here," Clyde laughed, sinking down under the water. Tweek rested his arms on Craig's legs, smiling up at him. "Come on. Join me." Craig chuckled, pushing off into the warm water (Token had a heated pool). They swam over to meet up with everyone in the shallow end, Wendy clinging onto Stan for dear life. Craig's heart twisted, realizing that in just five more days, he'd be doing this to Tweek. He wasn't ready for everyone to go. He wasn't ready for Tweek to go. As excited as he was for Tweek now that he's seen Philadelphia, it doesn't hurt any less. He couldn't imagine what Wendy and Stan were thinking. This was their last night together, and even though they were smiling now, Craig could see the sadness in their eyes every time they looked at each other. Same with Kyle and Heidi. Even though Kyle wasn't leaving for another two weeks, his face faltered every time he looked at his girlfriend. Kenny even looked a little sad as he held onto Butters. Butters was taking a year off, but Kenny was starting a full-time job soon in the next town over, and their time together would be limited to evenings.
"Hey, uh…I know we probably don't want to be so sappy and sentimental tonight…but I think we all need to be…just for a bit." Kenny said, blushing a bit.
"What do you mean, dude?" Token asked.
"Well…I mean, I've known Stan pretty much all of my life. I consider him and Kyle the brothers I never had…my older brother wasn't there for me. But you guys were. And I just…wanted to look back at some fun stories, ya know? Reminisce if you will." They all smiled a bit, Token chuckling.
"Well…if we're going to reminisce…we need to make sure one more person is here." They furrowed their brows, but Tweek knew who he was talking about.
"Give 'em a call, Token." Kyle blinked, smiling a bit as he realized who it was.
"I don't really want to say it…but damn, call Cartman."
Cartman was not expecting a call from Token Black that was inviting him over to his house to swim with all his old friends. Hell, he would have never expected that call. Nonetheless, he still made his way over to the Black residence, a pit of anxiety in his stomach as he pulled up to the house. He could hear people laughing, his fingers dancing against his thighs as he rounded the corner and saw everyone in the pool. He blinked, blushing as Token saw him.
"Hey dude! Glad you made it!" Everyone turned around, and for once, they didn't look mad at him. They looked excited to see him. They all waved to him, Eric's face as red as his sweatshirt.
"Um…hey-hey guys." He choked out, walking over slowly to the pool. He was already wearing swim trunks, Token informing him they were all swimming when they called.
"Take that sweatshirt off and come on!" Kenny shouted, Eric chewing on his bottom lip. Tweek noticed the look of panic that crossed his face. He hummed, untangling himself from Craig's arms before swimming over to the edge by Cartman.
"You okay?" He whispered, Eric kneeling down by him.
"I-I just…don't like to, uh-"
"Be shirtless?" Eric blushed, nodding slowly.
"Like…everyone is…well…f-for a lack of better words, ripped, and…I-I'm not…" Tweek smiled softly, giving his hand a squeeze.
"I'm lanky as shit! No one is going to make fun of you, Eric." He said, Eric feeling warm from the physical contact. He nodded slowly, biting his lip before unzipping his sweatshirt and setting it aside. Tweek waited for him, swimming over to everyone else with him. Craig smiled a bit at them, draping an arm around each of them. Cartman blinked, not expecting Craig to be so touchy-feely so quickly. Just…chill, bro. They…seem to…like…you?
"The main reason we called you over is because we were gonna share stories from when we were younger…since…Stan, Heidi, Wendy, and Token leave tomorrow." Kenny explained. Cartman blinked.
"I-I leave tomorrow, too."
"Dude, seriously?! Shit, I wish we would've known!" Clyde said, running a hand through his hair.
"W-w-we w-would've c-called sooner!" Jimmy stammered, frowning.
"Hey-Hey it's cool, guys! I-I, uh, know we aren't that…close." Eric rushed out, smiling sadly.
"Yeah but…we were for a long time, ya know?" Stan said, smiling at him.
"Up until seventh grade, really." Kyle said.
"And it didn't feel right telling all these stories about our childhood without you here since you were a big part of it." Kenny finished, Cartman's eyes wide. He relaxed as he felt Craig's hand between his shoulders, his thumb rubbing small circles there to ease his anxiety. He let out a shaky breath before smiling.
"Thank you...seriously, this, um, means a lot. I-I was just finishing up my packing when you called."
"Not doing anything special with your mom?" Bebe asked, Cartman flinching a bit at the question.
"S-She, uh, hasn't really talked to me all summer…" They all blinked, frowning.
"What do you mean?" Butters asked.
"Sh-She said she had it with my shit…and she's been spending more time with my dad again…I-I'm afraid they'll get back together, ya know? I-I mean I want her happy…but just…not with him. Not to the guy that constantly…degrades me." His words were venomous, a flash of anger crossing his face. Craig frowned, continuing to rub small circles between his shoulders in an effort to calm him.
"Wait…your dad's back? For…good?" Stan asked, a frown on his face.
"Yeah…I think so…" Cartman mumbled, his eyes closing. Kenny chewed on his bottom lip.
"I, uh, know it isn't much, but if you want to stay at my place when you come home on breaks you can." Eric blinked, looking up.
"Kenny, you'd…let me…do that?"
"Any of us would, dude." Kyle added, everyone nodding.
"Even though you've probably tried to kill us all at one point in time, we don't want to see you hurt." Clyde said, Wendy letting out a soft laugh.
"Everyone should feel safe at home, Eric. That doesn't change for you." Eric felt overwhelmed by the kindness surrounding him, a grin crawling across his face.
"I-I didn't mean to come here and just…vent…I-I'm sorry. And-and thank you all for b-being so kind." His voice broke, and Craig chuckled a bit.
"It seems like you've needed someone to talk to all summer, kid." Eric laughed softly, nodding.
"That reminds me of the time when I-I put Butters in a bunker for-for a week."
"Oh, hamburgers that was horrible!" Kenny laughed, tugging Butters closer to him.
"How the fuck did you even come up with that?!" Kenny asked. Eric laughed softly, shrugging.
"A lot of this shit just…came as I went along."
"Remember that time we made a bullying PSA? Ironically, you were the one doing the bullying half the time?" Kyle said, everyone letting out a laugh.
"Eric had Craig and I go on a wild goose chase to find Slash one time! Turns out, he isn't real?! I still think that's bullshit!" Clyde laughed, Craig snickering at the memory.
"Tweek gave me too much coffee one time when we were in a group project and I vomited for hours." Cartman laughed.
"I crashed so hard after that!" Stan grinned. Tweek laughed.
"That was my mom! My mom can be too hospitable sometimes!"
"What about the time the girls made a list of all our dicks sizes?!" Token asked, the girls letting out a laugh.
"Man, if only we could do that now!" Bebe laughed, leaning into Clyde's side.
"We went to Canada to get Kyle's brother back." Kenny said with a grin, Kyle groaning.
"God that was a nightmare and a half. Now I'm walking in on my brother fucking Craig's sister!" Craig's eyes widened.
"You walked in on them?!" He yelled, his cheeks a bright red. Kyle's were just as red.
"It's not like I meant to! I didn't even know she was over!" He yelled back, both boys clearly disturbed by the notion of their siblings fucking.
"Jesus Christ, Kyle!"
"I'm the one that had to see my brother on top of-"
"STOP!" Craig sunk under the water with a grimace on his face, the faint laughter of his friends still audible from below the water. He sat there for a moment, a smile on his face. This was it. The last time they were all together before going off to college. Nothing would really be the same now, because after tonight, they would all go off and make new friends at college. Maybe they'd see each other over breaks, but Craig felt happy and sad. Sad because he would miss them all terribly. Happy because he couldn't wait to see all the wonderful things his friends would do.
It's been four days since Heidi, Stan, Wendy, Cartman, and Token left, and Craig had a pit in his stomach because Tweek was next. Craig didn't even move in for two more weeks and god he was going to be so bored these next two weeks (Clyde leaves in a week so maybe he'll spend a lot of time with him). Craig knew he had to do something special for their last day together and he knew just what to do. He was going with the Tweak's to the airport, Mary and Richard flying out with Tweek to make sure he was all settled in and that all his things shipped to Philadelphia. However, Craig still wanted to have one last magical day of adventures with his boyfriend. He texted Tweek at around ten am.
I hope you're awake. We need to have one last day of adventures before you leave tomorrow. He got a text ten minutes later.
Babe, I'm already at your door. Craig blinked, going downstairs. He opened the door, grinning when he saw Tweek there.
"Well…guess I didn't really need to text you then." He chuckled, kissing Tweek's forehead as he walked past. Tweek chuckled.
"I can read your mind. I knew you were gonna text me." He started taking his jacket off.
"Nope! Jacket back on. We've got places to be." Tweek whined.
"But I just wanted to cuddle and," He looked around for a moment, stepping closer to Craig. "Have sex." He whispered, Craig laughing softly. They had sex for the first time about a week after they got back from Philly, and it was just like the first time, except not as clumsy.
"I promise we'll do that tonight, but for now, we have an adventure to go on." Craig grabbed his keys and chullo, tugging it over his ears. Despite it still being the first week of August, it was already starting to get colder in the mountains. Tweek smiled, rolling his eyes.
"Fine." He followed Craig to his car, humming along to the radio as he drove. After they drove for about a half an hour, Craig slammed his hand over Tweek's eyes, causing the blonde to jump.
"Okay, so it's a surprise! You can't look!" Tweek laughed.
"Craig, why are you like this?"
"What, fun? You don't like fun, Tweek?"
"Nono I do! You're just being annoying!"
"I take offense to that."
"That's a lie."
"…Okay, it is. But don't look! Pull my chullo over your eyes!" Craig handed the chullo quickly to him, Tweek giggling as he tugged the hat over his eyes. About five minutes later, they were parked, Craig rushing around to the passenger side to guide Tweek. "Okay…almost there."
"Are you going to kill me? Am I going to die here today?" Craig kissed the back of his neck.
"You wish," Tweek let out a soft laugh, Craig smiling at that musical sound that is Tweek's laughter. He hummed. "Okay, you can look." Tweek grinned, tugging the hat up and blinking. Craig brought him to an ice skating rink that was in the next town over, the cool air of the enclosed arena refreshing to Tweek.
"Craig…you…"
"I knew I was fucking yours when I watched you perform on that ice skating rink back home," Tweek blinked, looking up at Craig. "I-I just…I know you miss skating and I miss skating…I thought this would be a fun way to spend our last day together…" Tweek felt tears prick at his eyes as he tossed his arms around Craig's chest, burying his face into his neck.
"Craig…thank y-you." He breathed out, no words coming to mind. He was over the moon. Tweek had been dying to get back on the ice lately, especially with the weather in Philly being in the eighties. He missed the feeling of skating, and he was so glad Craig was here to skate with him. Craig held up a finger as he rushed back outside, coming back in with both their ice skates.
"I, uh, stole your skates last night before I left." Tweek snorted.
"So, you're stealing things now?"
"Well, I stole your heart, didn't I?" Tweek narrowed his gaze.
"You're on thin ice with these dad jokes, Tucker." Craig's eyes lit up.
"You said thin ice. We've about to go ice skating."
"I'm literally going to stab you with my ice skate!" Tweek groaned, grabbing his skates from Craig. He tried so hard to hide his smile, but Craig saw it as he turned. Once they had their skates on, they wandered out to the relatively empty ice. There was one family there, and they were not in their way what so ever. They started out just by skating a few laps, getting used to being back on the ice.
"Teach me figure skating shit." Tweek snorted.
"That's an eloquent way of saying it."
"Well?" Tweek chuckled, skating ahead of Craig.
"Try balancing on one leg. If you can't balance then you're screwed," Tweek demonstrated for him, lifting his right leg behind him. "See, it's all in your core. You have to find your balance." Tweek watched as Craig attempted to balance himself, a grin on his face as a look of pure concentration was cemented to Craig's face. Finally, after about five minutes, Craig was able to lift his leg up enough (he wasn't very flexible) to balance on one leg for a period of time. He threw a fist in the air as he dropped his leg back down, grinning at Tweek.
"Fuck yeah!" He slammed his hand over his mouth as the mother of the two small children glared at him. "Sorry!" He called out, Tweek letting out a laugh as he skated over to him and tossed his arms around him.
"You gotta watch that mouth, dude."
"Dude?! Jesus Christ, am I dating Clyde?!" Tweek punched his arm.
"Shut up! Now try jumping."
"Tweek, it took all my strength to lift my leg that high. I am not flexible. I am not graceful. I am not jumping on ice." He laughed, his cheeks a little red from the cool air. Tweek hummed.
"Mind if I do some things then?"
"Go on ahead." Tweek kissed his cheek, skating off to do a couple of maneuvers. Craig stopped skating, watching in awe as Tweek jumped, glided, twisted, and turned his way across the ice. His mind flashed back to Decemeber, images of Tweek laughing those first few nights they started skating on the rink after close filling his mind. He smiled sadly as memories from the past eight months continued to flow into his brain. All the laughs, the tears, the moans and groans, the adventures, the questions and concerns, and, most importantly, the love. Craig didn't even realize there were tears on his cheeks until Tweek skated up to him, a sad smile on his face as he wiped the tears off his face.
"You okay?" He whispered, Craig looking down. As soon as those green eyes met his, Craig couldn't stop the wave of emotions that consumed him. He tugged Tweek into a tight hug, tears silently falling down his cheeks as he buried his face into his boyfriend's shoulder. He gripped at Tweek's jacket, squeezing his eyes shut.
"I-I'm so proud of you." He breathed out, Tweek's eyes filling with tears at those words. He let out a shaky breath, gripping at Craig's back. He kissed his neck gently, smiling small against the skin.
"I-I know you are. I feel the pride every time we're together." He whispered, rubbing Craig's back. They stood there, relishing in the moment. Things were different. Things were changing. But Tweek knew that the love they had would be concrete. Craig knew it too, but Craig knew their love was eternal.
The alarm in the morning sounded like a death toll. Craig knew this alarm meant one thing and one thing only: Tweek was leaving. He swallowed hard as he rolled over after turning his alarm off, sitting up slowly as he got dressed and ready for the day. The flight wasn't too early, but early enough that Craig still felt like he didn't sleep a wink. He had a constant lump in his throat as he got ready, begging for no one to wake up in his house. Craig was afraid that if he spoke he'd break down crying. He grabbed a gift he made for Tweek as he left his room, heading downstairs and out the door. As he got in his car, he closed his eyes, trying to collect himself. He needed to be strong. Just one last time in front of Tweek. He knew his boyfriend was anxious about this flight and leaving his parents, so he had to be a rock just once more for him. As he pulled up to the airport, a pit of sadness filled his stomach. It spread through his body with each step. He saw those blonde curls as he rounded a corner, his breath leaving his body as he could only focus on him. He smiled as Tweek turned around, his eyes already red from crying. Craig walked over, letting out a gasp as Tweek engulfed him in a hug. He held onto him the best he could with the gift in his hand, kissing his hair over and over again.
"I love you. I-I love you so much." He kept repeating to Tweek, his eyes squeezing shut after saying it for the tenth time. It hurt to say, because he knew the next time he said those words, it would be over Skype or a phone call. Tweek pulled away enough for Craig to hold the gift out to him.
"W-What-"
"I-It isn't much…but…I'm telling you it's electronic…ish. Only because of the TSA." Tweek blushed, nodding as he smiled sadly.
"T-Thank you…I, um, didn't get to give you your gift s-so I brought it." Tweek grabbed a big wrapped rectangle from his dad (Craig thinks it's a frame of some sorts), handing it to Craig. Mary smiled sadly.
"Tweek, honey, we should get going soon." She said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. Tweek nodded slowly, looking up at Craig. He grabbed the gift back from Craig and set it aside, tossing his arms around his neck and letting out a sob. Craig squeezed his eyes shut, a small sob escaping his lips as he gripped at Tweek's back. Stay strong, Tucker. Stay strong. Stay strong. Stay…fuck it. He let his emotions consume him, sobbing into Tweek's shoulder as he felt the blonde's legs wrap around his waist. They stood there like that, Tweek hanging from Craig while Craig supported him. They cried for a few minutes, but they fell silent after a while, pulling back to kiss each other. It felt bittersweet. It was a warm, loving, delicate kiss, full of love and passion. But…it was the last one until possibly November. And Craig was going to die without Tweek's kisses for four months. Tweek pulled away slowly, dropping his legs down one at a time to the floor. He swallowed hard, brushing his thumb over Craig's jaw.
"I-I'll call you once we land…I love you, NASA." Craig pressed a light kiss to a hickey he left last night on Tweek's shoulders, smiling against the skin.
"I'll just h-have to fly out every weekend to make sure you're always marked up," He gave him a quick peck on the lips as he pulled away, handing Tweek his gift back. "Take care, honey." Tweek's heart fluttered at that pet name, tears filling his eyes as he turned his back. Craig took in a shaky breath, watching him walk until he could no longer see him. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he walked back to his car, sitting in the driver's seat for five minutes before he let himself cry. He cried sad tears, but there were some happy tears too. Sad because Tweek was finally going away. The time had come for them to test their relationship. Happy because Tweek had finally made it out of South Park, Colorado and was bound to do great things. He sniffled, reaching over to unwrap the gift Tweek gave him. He froze as he saw it, a small smile forming over his face as he chuckled. It was a map of the night sky, beautiful stars and constellations shown on the poster. However, it was the specific night sky of the first night Tweek skated with Craig at the rink. Craig smiled more as he noticed a little note written under the date.
The first night of many.
Once Tweek had made it onto the plane, he took the time to open Craig's gift (which made it through TSA, to his surprise). He blinked when he opened it, seeing an old Walkman tape player on top with a pair of headphones and about one hundred tapes sitting below it. He took the Walkman out, putting the headphones over his ears and taking out the tape labeled "1". He swallowed hard as he pressed play, Craig's voice hitting his ears.
"I'm assuming you're playing this on the plane. Well…I promise this one isn't too sappy, but…then again, you're always more emotional than me. The date I'm recording this is…," There was paper ruffling in the background, Tweek smiling as he can only imagine Craig flipping through his calendar to get to the correct date. "August third! So, technically, yesterday. We've been together for…I think a little over seven months now? Almost eight? I'm sorry, you're much better with keeping track of this shit than I am. When you just came home from the hospital after all the bullshit on New Year's, I realized after almost losing you…I have so many things I need to say to you! And-and after your beautiful and winning performance, I knew I needed to make something super cool for you to express how much I really love you. I started this the day after your competition, and now it's the day before you leave. This is the last tape I'm recording, and I'm sad to see this little project go, but excited to hear what you think. I need to say eight years worth of pent up feelings to you so I recorded a bunch of tapes. Now, not all of these tapes will be me talking. Some of them are actually mixtapes I made you. I can hear you thinking and you might be asking yourself: why the fuck and where the fuck I got a Walkman from. I found two online on like…eBay and this guy was selling two for the price of one. So! That's how all this came to be. But this first tape is gonna explain some shit. So, tapes one through twenty are me talking to you. I'm planning on filling all of these tapes so be ready, honey. Tapes twenty-one through fifty are music! Some are songs we've listened to before, songs we've fucked to, songs you've never heard before that I thought you'd like. I went all out for you, babe. Tapes fifty-one through eighty are me talking again because I'm fucking obsessed with you and realized half way through this project that I absolutely had more things to say," Tweek laughed softly, covering his grin with his hand as happy tears filled his eyes. "The last twenty tapes, and there are one hundred and one total tapes, are empty. This is for you to either record your own tapes and send them to me, hint hint. OR make mixtapes and send them to me, hint hint. If you didn't get my hint, send me shit, Tweek. You have sixty tapes that have my voice on them at all times, I deserve at least ten!" Tweek sniffled, leaning his head back as the plane lifted off. "I just…love you, Tweek Tweak. And I meant what I said about marrying you. One day I hope your name is Tweek Tucker. Cause that's pretty cool…don'tcha think? I love that idea. Well…I'm getting a little warning that the tape is running out of room. Just know I love you, I think you're the coolest person I've ever met, I mean, you actually like me! NO! You love me! That's pretty cool of you," There was a pause, Tweek swearing he heard a sniffle. "I-I love you, Tweek. Never forget that. And with these tapes…I don't think there's any way you could. Safe travels, drink lots of coffee, and here's to the beginning of something new."
NOTE:THE TIME HAS COME! Off to new adventures! I had no intentions of writing this tonight, but as I sat down to write a chapter, I realized I had no more filler ideas and decided to rip the bandaid off! Hope you enjoyed this super sappy and emotional chapter after the last chapter of fluff, and, as always, any and all feedback is appreciated!