Now that I've gotten past "Smoke", I have a much better idea of where to go from here, so expect a little more frequent updates!

Also this one switches perspectives about halfway through... It's pretty obvious, but it's also the first time I've done that so yeah!

Enjoy 3

The date of Clyde's party was fast-approaching. Craig had been looking forward to it from the start, and Tweek seemed to be gaining some form of excitement from it by this point. After their usual 'farewell' kiss between first and second period, the raven-headed boy made his way to his Chemistry class. As Craig took his seat, he immediately noticed he was, once again, being watched; this time, however, the offender was none other than Stan Marsh. What could he want? Craig rolled his eyes a little. He didn't hate Stan, per se- he was a hell of a lot more pleasant to be around than Cartman- but most any interaction from their group lately has been annoying. He decided to try and ignore the noirette, but unfortunately for him, Stan wasn't really the quiet type.

"... Tucker." Craig groaned to himself for a moment before rolling his head to the side, facing the slightly younger boy. He let his guard down slightly when he was handed a sloppily folded note. It was a sort of unspoken rule that you always help people out when they need to get a note to someone.

The raven whispered a small 'who?' to Stan, but he only received a small head nod in response. It was for him? Carefully unwrapping the paper, he scanned over the note. It lacked any sort of punctuation, but he expected no less from the quarterback. "Im going to ask to leave the room please offer to take me to the nurses office I need to talk to you". Craig let out a small groan and turned to Stan, noting his oddly hopeful expression. It must be something important, at least. Reluctantly he nodded- he loathed schemes like this. Once their plan succeeded and they were freed from the classroom, Stan turned to his hostage and was met with a much-expected middle finger.

"Dude, we gotta talk."

"Yeah, I sorta figured that out, Marsh." Craig idly followed Stan until they reached a secluded area of lockers, noting the apprehension that the normally confident jock was showing.

"It's... about you and Tweek." The raven rolled his eyes. Of course it was.

"What about us?" It was almost entertaining to see Stan behaving so nervously. He ran his fingers through his pitch black locks before continuing.

"... Is anyone giving you a hard time? Is the attention irritating?" Craig immediately felt his irritation start to bubble up as he flipped Stan off.

"If you're asking if you're annoying me right now? Yes." The noirette furrowed his brows a little.

"What I mean is... Is it worth it to be able to be so open with Tweek? Or do you wish you'd kept it between you guys?" Craig raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you ask?" He watched quietly, more inquisitive about Stan's reasoning than he chose to let on. The noirette had a clear look of panic in his eyes before closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"... You cannot tell anyone about this." The raven rolled his eyes again.

"Don't be so dramatic, I probably won't care enough to even remember what you wanna tell me." Stan sighed before looking back up to Craig, an uneasy look on his face,

"... Kyle and I are dating." Craig couldn't tell what kind of face he was making at that moment, but he assumed by looking at Stan's face that it wasn't a good one. Before he could say anything, the jock continued. "Kyle wants to be more open about it, but like... I don't know! I've seen the attention you and Tweek got from being gay, I don't know if I-" The older boy quickly held his hand up to silence him. This was very quickly getting out of hand.

"... Dude, shut up. Don't say anything else." He honestly didn't mean to sound so harsh, but he didn't need that kind of baggage on top of what he was dealing with. Two homosexuality-related secrets were just too much. It soon became apparent, however, that Craig wasn't going to get away with passing off Stan's problems that easily. The latter looked completely dejected, not to mention now Craig knew a secret about someone he's barely close to and he is certainly not the person to be giving out advice. "... Okay, listen. Do not fucking tell anyone about this, okay?" The muscular boy gave him an odd look, but Craig continued in the quietest voice he could muster. "... Tweek and I aren't really dating. We're pretending because everyone seemed so upset when we 'broke up'." The look of shock was somewhat unsettling to Craig. In the same hushed voice the raven used, Stan finally managed to form a sentence.

"Dude, how the fuck do you pretend to date someone for so long?" The raven's cheeks heated up again.

"I-I dunno man, but don't fucking tell anyone! Tweek'd kill me!" The noirette still looked stumped, but he slowly nodded.

"Y-yeah, man... You don't tell about me and Kyle, I won't tell about you and Tweek. They both paused before exchanging an awkward handshake. As Craig started to walk back to class, he heard the light text chime from his phone. Upon inspection, it was from his mom... He went pale

"Oh, god."

Tweek sat on the bus home anxiously. We always rode home with Craig nowadays, but he'd received a text in third period that Craig had gone home early... What happened? What was wrong with him? Was he abducted by gnomes? Did his parents sell him into slavery? Oh god! The frizzy-headed blond just had to shake the thought off. He had to visit the raven, that would sort things out. He could feel the muscles in his face tensing up in another spasm. Being around Craig always fixed that... Well, not so much fixed as he helped him calm down enough to put them off. He took another sip of the cafeteria coffee he had in his thermos. It didn't take the edge off like what they had at the shop, but it tasted good and helped his nerves ever-so-slightly.

Stepping off the bus, Tweek dashed off to Craig's house as quickly as his short legs could carry him. He rang the doorbell several times in quick succession before Thomas Tucker answered the door.

"... Oh, Tweek." As usual his expression was very neutral, but he seemed almost happy to see the blond. Tweek struggled to work up the nerve to talk to him- he hadn't even seen him since he and Craig got 'together', besides being told to "quit him" after they had their fake breakup.

"H-hello, sir- gah! Is- erk- Craig home?" Thomas didn't seem particularly phased by Tweek's spasms, though to be fair he didn't seem all that phased by anything. He simply stepped aside to let the jittery blond inside.

"Yeah, he's in his room. You can see if he'll let you in, but I should warn you... Stripe died again, so he's sorta down." It took Tweek a moment to decipher what he meant only to remember that Craig's kept guinea pigs since he was a kid, always naming them "Stripe". That must mean Stripe the 6th died...

"J-Jesus Christ, he loved Stripe!" With another spasm, the blond dashed up the stairs to Craig's room, leaving Thomas in a state of confusion. Craig's family, though close at times, were generally lacking in emotion around each other. Tweek had seen the gentle smile on his boyfriend's face when he would pick Stripe up, though. There was no way he was just "a little down". With a quiet knock on the door, he waited.

"... I told you, I don't wanna talk right now." Craig's voice seemed even more nasal than usual. Maybe his dad was trying to get through to him after all. Tweek let out a small shriek.

"Nggh, Craig it's me." There was a small pause before Craig finally spoke up again.

"... Okay, you can come in." The blond was somewhat relieved. The raven-haired boy always solved his problems; it was Tweek's turn to step up and help him fix what was hurting him. He quietly entered the room and closed the door behind him before turning to locate Craig. He was laying on his bed on top of the covers, his face buried in a pillow. Tweek quickly made his way to the bed, sitting down as lightly as possible on the edge so we wouldn't startle him. They sat like this in a dead silence before Craig finally turned his head to look at Tweek.

"... Sorry you had to take the bus home. Did you sit with the other guys at lunch?" That's what he was worried about right now? Tweek made a small sound of surprise.

"I did, but- er- that's not why I'm here!" He just then noticed the red, puffy rings around the raven's eyes, as well as his wet cheeks. Craig had been crying. Reason temporarily fled Tweek's mind in exchange for some sort of panic alarm. In the almost decade that he knew Craig, he'd never seen the guy shed a single tear... Yet again, he'd never been this close to the generally stoic boy before. This likely wasn't a side of himself that others got to see often.

It took him a moment to think of how to make his boyfriend feel better. For him, it wasn't a matter of solving the problem, it was a matter of letting out his emotions- but Craig was different. He always had to apply logic to everything, find a solution to every problem, or push aside his emotions. The idea suddenly struck Tweek like a bolt of lightning.

"... Craig, how long did you wait between Stripe the 5th dying and buying Stripe the 6th?" Craig's eyes widened somewhat and the blond knew he hit the nail on the head. The raven wasn't one to grieve, he was one to fix things- He would skip to the 'acceptance' stage of grief so he didn't have to deal with the rest. This may not be the healthiest way to do things, but Tweek knew this was Craig's way. He gently snaked his hand down into the Raven's, interlocking their fingers. "... C'mon, wanna go to the pet store?" Tweek could feel his heart grow a little lighter when a smile slowly made its way to Craig's face. He watched as the raven slowly pulled himself off of the bed, wiping his eyes and leading the blond back down the stairs.

Once they made it to the pet store, Craig was quick to make a beeline to the guinea pigs. For the first time, the blond was able to be beside him as he gazed through the tank at the squealing rodents. He was grinning from ear to ear as he reached into the tanks and stroked the different candidates for the title of Stripe the 7th, occasionally turning to Tweek to ask his opinion on the furry creatures. All of this put the blond's mind at an odd state of zen which ended as they left the pet store with the new fur ball. Craig held the furry mass close to his chest, stroking its small head.

"... I love him." The raven was smiling still as he offered the rodent to Tweek. The blond had insisted on paying for the small creature. Anything to make Craig happy again... The smaller boy was grinning back at the raven as he held onto Stripe on the car ride home, but his smile faltered when he felt another small peck on his lips. It wasn't that he disliked kissing Craig, that part had started feeling perfectly natural. The problem was that the raven considered it an affectionate gesture between friends. Tweek knew very well that Craig wasn't gay, but he didn't dare tell his fake boyfriend that he was still discovering himself in that sense. The older boy would just assume that Tweek had tricked him, which was the last thing he wanted. He needed to tell Craig the truth... but after the party. He deserved to have fun after all this.