A/N; Again, I lost my notes on what I should blather on about here, so we'll just get on with this.
It was light once Craig awoke again. Or at least, his room was filled with a warm light that hadn't been there before. It didn't come from the curtains or the single bulb that hung from his ceiling. He sat up from the tangle of sheets he was lying in and leant forward to rest his head in his hands, with his elbows resting on his knees. He rubbed at his temples and eyes, trying to remember as many of the little details from his hectic night as he could.
He'd never needed- or bothered- to consider the opinions of the other people in his life, especially not to this degree. It had just never been an issue.
As he started to consider what could happen next, his phone alarm began to chime- though he definitely had not had time to set it- and he glanced at it, only to see that once more it was midnight.
He let the alarm ring, waiting for the ghost to arrive, still wondering who it might be. Once the tune ran out he waited a second before he looked around in vague confusion.
It took him a few more seconds of slightly worried waiting, considering that he might've been dreaming and wondering what he would do if nothing happened next before he detangled himself from the sheets and left the room to attempt to hunt out the next spirit.
It didn't take too long. The room he walked into from his bedroom was filled with the same amiable light that had spilt into his room, and he was glad to only be wearing the short black t-shirt from the day before (or whenever the heck it had been) as it was now too warm for a hoodie or jumper.
He was surrounded by table and chairs all covered completely with holly and poinsettia and various other Christmas plants and decorations. But more than that, there was food.
Everywhere he looked, there were plates and dishes, full and over spilling with a mixture of bright colours and neutral tones. He could smell it all too as we walked by with his mouth hung slightly agape, rich and sweet all at the same time. He wasn't hungry, but he could feel his mouth drool slightly s he gazed at the delicacies around him.
Standing towards the back of the room was a familiar figure dressed up in a green hooded jacket, lined with the cleanest white fur Craig had ever seen wrapped around his neck and wrists. The figure waved enthusiastically and spoke with an almost trademark cheesy grin.
"'You have never seen the likes of me before,'" he sounded so genuinely thrilled with that quote that Craig was close to being nice to him.
"Dude," Craig replied with his nasally tone, "Kenny. What the fuck."
Kenny just kept his grin going a little more. "Have you seen all the food? It's insane! I didn't even know you could eat half of these things, let alone dress them up for Christmas!" he pulled a few grapes out from a silver fruit bowl and threw one in the air, catching it expertly in his mouth. Craig felt a slight lurch of pity as he remembered Kenny entertaining people with that party trick so he could eat lunch as a child. "Apple? Roast potato? Strange duck thing that I'm not sure should be on a table?" Kenny offered with his mouth full.
Apparently the food was all his until morning. Craig interrupted his plot to get his family here for feeding; ignoring the urge to tell the other that it was a pheasant he was now poking at.
"How are you the spirit of Christmas present? I- have you even read this book?"
"Yeah, course I have, Kyle made us. Don't look at me like that, I enjoyed it. I signed up for this shit."
Craig rolled his eyes around. "This 'shit' being the whole saving my evil, condemned soul stuff then."
Kenny ignored the comment, perhaps paying enough attention to add a few more teeth to his grin. "'sides, I'm the closest thing to Christmas spirit this town has. Well." He reconsidered "They did want Santa to do it, but I argued that I was better coz I know you. And I'm poor, so that's an added bonus as you do love us poor so."
Craig hated the idea of his possible future being discussed with a group of festive icons, and Kenny. "Right, I see."
"Anyhow," He clapped his hands together "Let's get this thing going before I get fatter than Cartman."
Craig asked when he could go home, to which Kenny replied "when you find Cartman-fat jokes funny.". He offered Craig a little more food, who shook his head at the offer again, and was amused to see that Kenny had to pull his sleeve right up for his next move as the jacket was far to large for him. He presented Craig with his fist, which was impressively still quite tanned, index finger pointed out.
"What." Craig glare at Kenny, who maintained a somber expression.
"You have to pull my finger."
"No."
"Look, we can't go till you do, just pull my finger. What' the deal?"
"Kenny," Craig was impressed by how level his tone was "I have just flown through my past, learnt that I am a total jackass, seen my grandmother die again, and have been attacked by a hamster with the magical ability to screw up kitchen appliances. I am not," he paused here for extra emphasis "gonna pull your fucking finger."
"You're no fun. Fine, grab my hood."
Craig's eyes narrowed as he reached gingerly for the smallest clump of the soft fur he could find, saying "I swear, if we shoot off with rainbows flying out of our asses, I will ki-" when the scene change jerked him off of his feet and the words were torn from his lips.
They landed in a fresh snow, which Craig was unimpressed to find out could now affect him. He'd been thrown violently onto his front, ad lifted himself up onto his hands and knees, spitting out melting snow and shivering in now wet clothes. Kenny, a few feet away, had fared better by managing to land on his feet and took the opportunity to burst into laughter. He shrugged defensively when Craig glowered at him. "What? You let go."
"Of course I let go, I was freaking tipped upside down. Learn how to goddamn turn," he threw a badly held together clump of snow at Kenny, which went wide by far, and the effort of the swing caused him to land on his face again. Kenny chocked on his laughter.
"It's not my fault, I've not done this before," he pulled Craig onto his feet "Here," he swung his arms about like some kind of magician, and Craig would've told him how stupid he looked if it wasn't for the gust of hot air that hit into him, almost knocking him over again. He looked down at the now dry clothes he was wearing. "And anyway, we've got a bit to walk now."
"Could I at least have some shoes?" Craig pointed at his socks, as his shoes had been the only clothes he hadn't slept in. Kenny blinked.
"Um, hold on a sec," he thought to himself for few moments before clicking his fingers. A new pair of denim all stars appeared on Craig's feet. Kenny saw Craig's frown and rolled his eyes.
"Don't worry, they're free. Courtesy of Christmas spirit and the fact that you haven't bought shoes in three years," Craig was fairly affronted and opened his mouth to splutter out an argument but closed it again when Kenny shot him a look that told him the last time he'd bought a new pair of shoes.
They'd started walking once Craig had his shoes and had reached the high street soon enough. They were walking though crowds of people, but Craig found he didn't mind these crowds so much with the knowledge that he was totally invisible to these people.
He actually found himself admitting that the groups of children and teens stood carol singing on the corner added a nice atmosphere to the darkening light that was slowly being taken over from by the lights of Christmas decorations hung in and around shop windows.
Kenny let Craig stop at several shop windows to have a closer look at how they'd dressed them up for the season. He'd never really noticed or paid attention to these things before, but he found he was now totally fascinated, along with a group of small children who were crowded around by a toy shop window filled with tens of small mechanical winter scenes. There tiny children skating around a small frozen lake, small houses showed families hanging stockings and putting up trees, and people wandered between shops and other buildings, seemingly singing along to the ambient music. A train circled the little automated village, looking not unlike a cross between South Park and the Christmas village in 'A nightmare before Christmas' with it's white cotton wool and fake snow. Father Christmas beamed down from his red sleigh with his reindeer, sat at the top of the display. It must have been the lights and the cheerful noises surrounding him and pulling Craig into something he'd once believed to be festive cheer. He found the display, which usually would be faulted for being jerky in movement and low detailed in expression, charmingly fascinating. He moved away from the shiny colours and lights then, only to have his attention caught by the next shop and the following display, and the tree at the end of the road. He didn't know where to look, he was totally hooked on how stunning the colours were and the way the light contrasted against the dark being lit up by yellows, blues, greens and red.
He settled for trying to look at everything before his full attention was caught by a particular shop, where the centre of the window showed him a bright red phone. It seemed familiar to him, and thinking about it made him remember how Ruby had been dropping hints and leaving ads open about this phone for months. He'd picked up with slight irritation that this was the current object of her desires.
The thing only cost a little over a hundred but Craig knew that their mother had bought all of their presents and the phone was worth a little bit more than she could afford.
It wasn't like he had any money he could spare, but he noted the name and location of the shop in the back of his mind.
Kenny called him over soon enough, and, with one last reproachful if not regretful look over his shoulder, he turned and joined the blonde who lead him away from the activity and noise of the main street.
The roads they arrived to were still lit with that glowing warmth given out by Christmas decorations and were just as busy, though the activity was a little hidden behind closed. The ornaments were also less cheesy and somewhat more personal. As they walked along this road, Craig looked into the windows of homes and could see the details of each person's life. He could see children allowed to stay up late, playing video games and watching films, family dinners and board games, and lots of fire places. Most people in South park owned a fireplace, but they rarely used them until December, when suddenly everyone felt the desire to burn wood for warmth. In every window all Craig could see was joy and happiness, and he found a defensive, ugly feeling of jealousy crawl up into his chest and sit there. He thought f all the Christmases hed spent either alone or surrounded by too much effort and false love because his parents didn't care to stay together.
Kenny was shooting Craig, hunched over with his arms crossed around himself, a look from the corner of his eye. When Craig turned his head to glower at the blonde, Kenny pointed to a window showing a boy sat at a table licking cake mix from a spoon while his mother fiddled with the switches on an oven holding an unbaked cake.
Craig was hit with the memory of bickering playfully with Ruby over a bowl of cookie dough while mother watched fondly from the sink. He had the knowledge of his dad building a fire out of wood that they'd chopped earlier together. Well, his dad had been chopping. He'd ran around with blocks of wood feeling helpful and like a lumberjack.
He gulped as the memory faded, thinking resentfully about how the drinking, fighting and divorcing had gotten in the way of scenes like that.
They were walking quite slowly now.
"You know…. My dad drinks, too," Kenny said with quiet and realistic empathy. Craig felt a twisted comfort to that comment and nodded. "It's kinda weird how hard it can hit you, even though you're not doing anything wrong," the comment was thoughtful in tone and Craig agreed, though he hadn't though about it in that way before. "But…. You're dad's paying for it too."
"You want me to pity him."
Kenny sighed. "Okay, check this. It's badass." He clapped his hands together firmly once, and, following the cracks and snapping sounds made, the two houses nearest to the boys swung around and opened up the sides of their walls so one face was open for the world to see, like giant dolls houses showing two sets f very familiar rooms.
In one house he could see his father's apartment with the rooms rearranged to fit into the shape of the house. His mother's home had taken over the other house next to it. The scenes shown were mirroring each other, and he could see his mother- unknowingly with her back to her ex husband- watching TV on their sofa and relaxing with a glass of wine in hand. He father had his back to hers, too, and was slumped over the table, beer bottle in both hands. There were open photo albums by the two of them. The walls of each building separated them, and they looked incredibly lonely, if not vulnerable.
Ruby walked into the living room, and moved to sit next to her mother. She pulled the photo album from the lap of the other and Craig could see and just about hear the muffled tones from the TV and the two of them as they discussed the album.
As they laughed together Craig could see that the two of them looked genuinely happy. It was almost unfamiliar.
Kenny clicked his fingers and the scene rolled by on some kind of fast-forward, his father gradually slumping closer to the table in the next room before eventually falling asleep. The speed slowed down back to normal as the two girls stepped off of the sofa and turned the TV off, leaving the room with their arms around each other.
As the door of the living room shut, the door to his father's apartment opened, allowing Ruby access into the room. Craig frowned; once he'd refused to visit his father on alternate Christmases, Ruby had soon followed suit.
"She tends to spend lunch with him. Did you not notice your mum leaving to drive her there the last few years?" Kenny explained and asked earnestly. A little too earnestly.
Craig didn't reply.
As Ruby entered the room, their father lifted himself up from the table and enveloped her into an emotional hug. He didn't sway drunkenly, but Craig spotted tears in his eyes. He felt a protective surge towards his sister, and thought of all the effort he'd made to keep her safe from him. He turned back to Kenny.
"So what? It's his own damn fault if he's lonely or whatever. What d'you want me to do about it?"
Kenny rolled his eyes "Yeah, he's doing it, doesn't mean he's not helpless. He's begging her right now," Kenny pointed up to the house where Ruby was almost supporting her dad.
"Well I'm sure she can work magic just fine on him. They clearly don't need me."
"You don't get it, do you?" Kenny clocked his fingers and began to walk away. Craig stumbled after him, trying to keep up with his hands in his pockets. Kenny called out over his shoulder. "Y'know, my dad shot me six times in the chest before he got some help. Put some fucking effort in."
Craig stopped walking.
He hadn't ever thought that Kenny had real problems, other than being the poor kid, but that was…. Awful, even if it wouldn't ever kill him. He was saved from coming up with an apology that wouldn't sound forced or awkward by Kenny announcing the next stop on their journey. "Hurry up, we're here," his voice was cheerful again "Or at least, I am."
Craig sped his pace up moodily "Hang on, this is Stan's place, isn't it?" Kenny nodded "Why are we at Stan's?"
Kenny shrugged. "Let's find out," and lead through the door.
The first thing that Craig noticed was the amount of people Stan had managed to fit into his living room. The second was the lack of Clyde and Token in the area this time around, and he almost felt proud of them until he remembered the party Clyde had mentioned to him when he was trying to get home. The third thing he noticed was Tweek smiling bashfully into his cup of coffee.
At the back of his mind he was fairly impressed that the group had somehow convinced the paranoid blonde to leave his room, but most of his thoughts were currently preoccupied with trying to keep his pulse level. It was quite strange to see Tweek now (though the weirdest thing was easily seeing Kenny high five himself when no one was looking) and he almost didn't want to follow Kenny over to Tweek's corner. They ducked around Kyle arguing with the black haired boy who had been part of the carol singers Craig had walked into on the way home from school. He could now recognise him as Kyle's adopted brother, Ike.
The rest of the group were playing a Terrance and Phillip themed version of pin the tail on the donkey, but Craig didn't pay attention to that, and neither did Tweek.
Ip joined Tweek at around the same time that they did, and sat down with a wide smile "Hello Tweek!"
Tweek smiled back, but the look in his eyes showed his alarm at the size of Pip's beam, and Craig amused himself by trying to think of all of the possible conspiracies Tweek could be uprooting in his head at that moment while they discussed Christmas and the holidays.
Craig was surprised to hear that Tweek was now a vegetarian and wouldn't be eating any poultry, which also shocked Pip a little. The British blonde began recounting the traditions of eating turkey from his childhood, and Tweek, seemingly interested in the topic, asked what England was like.
"Are you okay, Tweek?" Pip asked a little way into their conversation. "You seem a tad distracted."
Tweek bit his lip and nodded shyly after a brief pause "Mmm. I- I just feel li-like…. Someone's missing…."
"Craig," Tweek jerked slightly, chocking on the coffee he was sipping at.
"Wha- no! I- How- how can you t-tell….?"
Pip smiled gently "You seem rather lonely since he stopped talking to you," Craig decided to be a nice person and not yell out that it wasn't his fault.
Tweek nodded shakily. Craig, who'd sat on the armrest of the sofa, realised he was leaning into the conversation and sat back, embarrassed.
Kenny raised his eyebrows in Craig's general direction, but was distracted by Kyle trying to convince Ike that the younger boy was tired and wanted to go to sleep now.
"I miss him…."
Both Craig and Pip nearly missed Tweek's mutter, but Craig did hear it, and blushed, feeling almost relieved.
Pip coughed to himself, but nodded for Tweek to continue.
"It's just…. It's just everybody tells me to shut up about him, and they just call him an asshole. But he-he isn't an asshole! I mean- he's totally an asshole, but he's n-nice to me. Or…. He used to be…."
Pip nodded "Oh, I know what you mean, he's horrible, but you know that that's just how he responds to people?"
Tweek nodded now, gripping the coffee mug tightly as he got stuck into the conversation. "Yeah, like h-how Craig was always fighting- gah - people, but it was always t-to stick up for someone. Or how he hates Christmas b-but he always buy us pr-" Tweek stopped talking then, obviously struck by bad memories. Craig felt a strange hunger to make some kind of contact with him. But that wouldn't happen, he was pretty sure he was invisible right now.
"You two remind me of Damien and I a few years ago," Pip smiled at Tweek as he looked up with a pitiful look in his eyes.
"Things worked out okay for you guys, right?"
Pip looked over to Damien, looking moody in a corner, while Stan and Kenny's past- or maybe it was the future version now?- self were attempting to explain why a tree was decorated and stood looking pretty next to them. Pip nodded and laughed as he mentioned how Damien would cheer up a little once they began setting Christmas puddings, log fires, and various other things, n fire.
"How?" It was another mutter that almost went unheard.
Pip looked thoughtful for a second, before he began to explain that it just had, when he was hit with a coughing fit. He struggled to catch a breath and Tweek anxiously patted his back. A black could appeared in the corners of their eyes, and then Damien was next to them, seemingly without having moved from the other side of the room.
Kenny Pulled Craig up onto his feet "Come on."
"But what about-?" he looked back at the group now crowding around Tweek. Kenny looked at him sadly and shook his head.
Craig looked back again just as they left. Pip's coughing seemed to have died down, and Damien sat around him protectively while Tweek fussed over him, insisting that he couldn't cough to hard in case his intestines fell out. Crag smiled fondly towards Tweek. He really didn't want to go away again.
There was a cry of "It's Mr Hanky!" as they walked outside, and Kenny laughed, saying he was glad he'd be able to be there this year.
They walked along the streets in silence, passing by the cemetery near Craig's own home. He wondered if they'd be visiting his house at all, but supposed that he knew what would happen there anyway. He really wanted to see Tweek again, already, but seeing the cemetery gates gave him an idea
"You know, I don't think I'm too bad. At least I'm not like those Goth kids, they hate Christmas more than I do."
Kenny blew his fringe out of his eyes. "Well, for starters it's not just Christmas. You're a jerk all year. Don't look at me like that, you know I'm telling you the truth. Secondly, you've read the book, you should know that this whole thing's about going out for your fellow man and all that. Those 'Goth kids' are all for sticking out the pains of conformity together. And they're actually kinda cool. Once you get past the stabbing you for the sake of their non-conformist God and everything."
"…. You have a terrible life."
"Geez, it's about time someone other than Kyle picked up on that. We're here, by the way." He caught Craig by the elbow to stop him from walking further along the street.
"Red's?" He frowned. The two of them had been friendly as children, somewhat, but hadn't spoken much since then. He couldn't think what her opinion on his life could offer him.
"Yep, apparently she's Clyde's latest idol," Kenny stepped into the house "He was very pleased with his invitation, I believe he even invited you too."
Craig was surprised to see Cartman here with Butters looking anxious beside him. Craig predicted that Butters would arrive home to a session of being grounded later that night. Cartman, looking half decent in his shirt and jeans, had the look of someone on an important mission. With Cartman that meant anything from an earnest apology to an awkward mixture of the school, fire and woodland creatures.
"Looks like he's finally gonna man up and say somethin' to Wendy."
"What."
"Oh? Did you not know? After all of your bitching at the two of them I figured you'd at least worked out their hidden feelings of love and other cheesy things for each other."
"Well, yeah, but…. I didn't realise it was true or anything," Craig felt a bit guilty now, and pity was a horrible thing to feel for Eric Cartman and Wendy Testaburger. He thought of how annoying they were and felt a little better.
"Oh yeah, Cartman's had a thing for her since we were kids. You ever notice how bad things tended to happen if she was dating Stan? It was like his own version of a period. This way."
Craig could remember enough of Red's home to know he was being led around and through groups of people to the kitchen. "Okay. That makes sense at least. But Wendy? I don't see it."
Kenny shrugged. "Well, she had a thing for him when we were younger. I guess she figured it would go away if she ignored it. Didn't really work out like that though."
Craig dodged a girl running out from the kitchen, clearly running to the closest place that was appropriate to throw up in, and frowned at her in distaste. "How the hell d'you even know all of that?"
"Guess I have a lot of free time," Kenny grinned "and Bebe likes to gossip. She can read Wendy like a book. Well, probably better than a book, I don't think she actually reads."
Inside the kitchen a group of people were stood and sat in a vague circle. Craig recognised Red, leaning on the kitchen table like she owned the place, which she did, with Bebe and Annie either side. Leaning against the work surface on front of the girls were Clyde and Token, the latter looking a little bored with the situation he was in. there were a few others making up the rest of the circle, but Craig didn't really know who they were. In the middle of the group was a bottle pointing at Clyde, who was the only one not giggling over this.
"Okay,"
Red spoke, pushing her almost burgundy hair out of her eyes with a jangley flick, due to the various beads she kept over each wrist. Craig picked out the various bracelets designed with colours from flags of countries that Token had visited recently. "You're dare is to make me laugh."
Clyde pouted to himself as he thought. Red was fairly well known in their school for her ability t stay as moody as Craig when she wanted to. Token seemed a little interested at this point.
After Clyde had been quiet for about a full minute Red asked if he'd give in. He shook his head and bit his lip.
"I have, like, this one joke. I dunno if it'll make you laugh, but se people find it kind of funny." Craig frowned, knowing the joke pretty well. No matter how many times he'd said it when they were kids, Clyde had never failed to laugh.
He trailed off, nervous now that everyone was paying attention to him. Red lifted her eyebrows, as though telling him to continue.
"Okay, so at the exact same time, there are these two guys on opposite sides of the earth. One of them's, like, tight ropping it across two skyscrapers. The other's getting oral, but like, from this old, ninety-something year old whore. And they're both thinking the exact same thing. What are they thinking?"
Red splayed her hands, asking for the punch line sarcastically.
"Don't look down," Clyde kept his nervous expression for the second it took for around half of the group to laugh, while the others winced with distaste. Craig rolled his eyes. He'd already picked out the people who would laugh as Clyde had started talking. That was his joke, damnit!
Red's face remained stony for what Clyde would later probably insist was the tensest moment of his life. She cracked after a second and began to snicker behind the back of her hand.
"Yeah, okay that was alright."
Clyde's grin grew "Thanks, but it's actually Craig's joke."
The laughter in the room faded out awkwardly and Craig's stomach dropped a little and he felt guilty for ruining the atmosphere.
"I bet he did, in fact, I don't doubt he'd go for a 90 year old," Said Annie. Red scolded her and she replied defensively, looking thrilled at the snickers her next comment gained "What? It's not like he'd ever pay for any more than that."
"He's not too bad!" Craig wasn't the only one to look at Clyde with mild surprise "He's just…. Moody." Craig almost felt happy of the thought that there were people in the world like Clyde, who were ignorant enough to believe that people who told their best friends to fuck off on a daily basis were a little moody, still in the world.
"I'll say!" bebe crossed her arms as she spoke "d'you know what he said to me?"
Red interrupted Annie's cry of "what'd he say?" with a "can we not talk not talk about that tight bastard? It's Christmas, I don't wanna hear about a guy who doesn't even smile on his birthday."
"Red's right," Spoke Token "He's might be 'moody' as hell, but he has the right to live his life the way he wants."
Craig turned to Kenny. "Is that everything? Coz I've seen enough."
Kenny sighed, but let him walk away. "You know that they were sticking up for you, right? In their own ways."
"Mmm hmm," Craig replied "sure." He supposed he should be grateful that Clyde still tried to be nice to him. With Tweek and Kenny that made three people. It was a start.
It made him a little sad to think about Tweek after hearing so many negative things about himself. He wondered if Tweek ever thought about him like that.
In the living room Cartman was blatantly cheating at blind man's bluff to chase Wendy around the house.
"Put it this way," They reached the door. "They like- well, respect, more- you enough to not want to bitch about you."
He figured that was a little more comforting.
They left the crowds of Red's house behind as they continued on along the road. It was getting very cold now, and Kenny looked worn out. They turned a corner and along the road Craig could see two small children waiting on the curb.
He was prepared to ignore them, but as they passed the children stood and walked in pace with the pair.
"Who are they?" Craig muttered.
"Usually they would be my brother and sister, but while they are here, she is want, and he is ignorance," they were pale and weak, with bitter, staring eyes that darted around in blank glances and mean, thin lips. Craig had seen both of Kenny's siblings before, albeit a long time ago, and it seemed as though he was being presented with twisted and hollow forms of their former selves. "You should be weary of both of them."
"What do they do?" Kenny was walking away now, a hand on each child's shoulder, and he called back over his shoulder with a grin, still walking away.
"Who knows? They sure do have a lot of free time though, and 'time is money', as we all know…."
Craig closed his eyes as Kenny faded away. The cold was growing along with a mist that surrounded him. When he reopened his eyes it was dark, and he was alone, save for the dark, hooded figure that was approaching him from a distance.
If you haven't read the book/ seen any of the films then the ending will be a little odd, but oh well.