Sunlight greets Craig's eyes when waking in the morning. He squints, trying to block it out, before noticing that there's something lying next to him. He only notices a pair of eyes looking back into his own, before he screams and falls out of bed from trying to get away.
A loud thud is made when he hits the floor. A groan escapes him as he props up onto his forearms and rubs the back of his head, soothing it. A few seconds later, a blond mess of hair pops over the side of his bed, the blank expression of the occupant it belongs to looking down at him. It takes him a moment to register just what shade of blond it is.
"Tweek?" Craig asks, as he stands up, "Why were you lying next to me?"
"The playlist you provided for me last night ran out," Tweek replies as he sits up, "so I joined you in bed."
There's a brief pause at that, as Craig tries to sort out what he means.
"So you just lied next to me all night watching me sleep then?"
"Yes."
"Well, can you not do that again? You nearly gave me a fucking heart attack," Craig tells him, taking a seat on the bed.
"It was not my intention to scare you."
"I know, but just, don't do it again, alright?"
"Understood. But then what should I do?"
That was a good question. Tweek must've been bored from being in his room all day and night, and not doing anything. Although, he wondered if he could even experience such a thing as boredom to begin with. However, when checking his phone for the time, that thought is quickly tossed aside.
"I have to get ready for school before I miss the bus," he says, then looks up at him, "we'll figure this stuff out later, when I get back, okay?"
Tweek nods and Craig goes about hurriedly getting ready for school. He's out the door a few minutes later and makes his way to the bus stop. Arriving just as he spots it coming down the street.
"Wow, it's a miracle you actually made it before the bus got here," his sister says as he reaches the stop, "I thought you may have injured, or knocked yourself out or something, with how loud that thud was from your room before I left."
"I just dropped something is all," Craig replies.
His sister goes about ignoring him again, just as the school bus pulls up and they get on. Craig goes to take his usual seat next to Clyde, but not before sparing a glance at the back of the bus, where a familiar individual in orange and black sat. A memory from the previous day comes to mind, and he spends most of the morning mulling it over, until the class before lunch arrives.
He pauses in the classroom doorway, watching Kenny take a seat and open his notebook. With a deep breath, he finally moves and makes his way over towards him. Slowly. His heart races with each step, and stops for a split second when Kenny notices him. He freezes in place as their eyes meet, then tells himself that it's too late to back out now without looking like an idiot. Nervously, he offers a smile, which Kenny returns.
"Hey," Craig greets, as he reaches him.
"Hey," Kenny greets back.
"Is it okay if I…" Craig gestures to the seat next to him.
"Of course," Kenny tells him and motions for him to sit.
Craig sits down and places his binders onto the table. His gaze catches a glimpse of Clyde looking back at him from his seat, a smug smirk on his face. Craig frowns briefly, knowing exactly what he's thinking, before he ignores him by opening his binder. He needed something to distract himself with, that wasn't his racing heartbeat.
His gaze glances over to Kenny's hand moving around swiftly in his notebook, making him curious. Unable to stop himself, he looks at the page. And just like last time, he spots an array of various drawings covering it. His eyes shifting from one sketch to the next in awe.
"They're so good…" Craig murmurs to himself.
"Thanks," Kenny says, drawing his attention.
Heat floods Craig's face, he hadn't meant to say that out loud, nor be caught looking at what he had been doing either.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to…" Craig quickly says.
"It's fine, I don't mind," Kenny chuckles, "glad that you like them."
Craig opens his mouth to say more, but the teacher tells everyone to quiet down as class starts. There isn't another chance to really talk with Kenny until the end of it arrives. But Craig is fine with that, it just meant that it was less of a chance for him to make a fool of himself in front of him.
"Will you be gracing me with your presence next time as well?" Kenny asks, with a small smile.
"Huh?" Craig says, not quite sure what he means.
"For class tomorrow," Kenny laughs.
"Oh! Sure," Craig replies.
"Good," Kenny smiles, "I'll hold you to that."
With that, he takes his leave. Craig isn't exactly sure what to make of that, but it seemed like he'd be sitting with Kenny more often now. Which both thrilled and terrified him. As he didn't know for how long he could go on without making a fool of himself in front of him.
He meets up with Clyde as he exits the room and holds a hand up to stop him just as he goes to speak.
"Don't," he tells him, already knowing exactly what he's going to say.
Clyde only snickers in response at that, as the two head off for lunch.
When the end of the day arrives, he makes sure to get home before his sister does. Making a beeline for his room. Where there waiting patiently, thankfully, was Tweek. Sitting on the end of his bed once more. Relief fills him, despite knowing that Tweek had said he'd stay, Craig couldn't help but feel a hint of doubt about it, but was relieved to be wrong.
"Hello," he greets.
"Hi," Craig greets back with a smile.
He walks over to his dresser and drops his bag down next to it. He looks back over at Tweek in thought for a moment, before turning to his dresser once more and pulling out a pair of socks. Next, he walks over to his closet and digs through it until pulling out an old pair of white sneakers, then walks back over to Tweek and sets them down next to him.
"Put these on," he tells him.
Tweek looks at them curiously, then back up at him with a slight head tilt.
"Why?"
"Because we're going out for a bit."
"Out?"
"Yes, so put them on."
Tweek manages to put the socks on no problem, but ends up needing some assistance when it comes to the shoes. Once Craig finishes helping him with that, he exits his room and checks to see if the coast is clear of his sister. Luckily, today, she seemed to want to spend her time in her room. Craig goes back to his room and gets some cash he has stored away in his dresser, then turns to Tweek and grabs him by the hand, guiding him along.
Once they make it outside, he lets out a sigh, relieved that they hadn't been caught. As for returning home later… Well, he'd worry about that when the time came.
"Follow me and stay close, alright?" Craig says and Tweek nods.
Curiosity and wonder fill Tweek's eyes as they make their way down the street, and Craig can't help the mild amusement that crosses his face because of it.
They walk for quite a while, until coming across a store with the bold words, 'THRIFT STORE' displayed across its top.
"Thrift Store?" Tweek reads aloud.
"Yup."
"Why are we here?"
"To get you some new clothes, well, clothes of your own," Craig replies as he pushes the front door open.
They enter the store and Craig's met with the distinct smell of musty, mixed with something old. His nose crinkles at it slightly as they make their way through the store. An assortment of many things scattered about greeted their gazes. Shelves of old books, toys, decorations and other miscellaneous things, filled Craig with a sense of nostalgia. He guides Tweek over to the rows of clothing racks section, until reaching the shirts area. Craig then gets to work sorting through them, holding up ones he thinks will fit Tweek, to measure their size. He does this repeatedly, until he thinks he has enough, then moves on to pants.
At some point, when Craig turns to hold up another pair, he finds Tweek isn't there. He glances around, and quickly finds him by some sweaters.
"Tweek?" Craig asks approaching him, then pauses when spotting him holding the sleeve of a sweater in his hand, "Do you like this?" he picks the sweater up and looks it over, surprised by its good condition. He holds it up in front of Tweek to measure it, "Do you want it?"
"It's green…" Tweek says, lifting a hand to touch it, "it reminds me of…"
"Of what?" Craig asks. Tweek looks directly at him then, he doesn't reply, but his gaze seems to focus slightly on Craig's confused one, "Tweek?"
Tweek takes the sweater from him, folds it over one of his arms and holds it close to his chest, as if carefully cradling it in some way.
"Yes. I want it," he replies.
"Okay…" Craig says, not really sure what to make of the action.
They explore around a bit more, until Craig figures they have enough clothes and heads to the cash register. He pays with the money he took out of his dresser; saved up from allowances and gifts, then heads back on his journey home with Tweek.
While on the walk back, they pass by a small park. Craig's gaze falls onto a few people playing basketball in the court area and he stops moving when spotting an all too familiar blond amongst them.
"What are you looking at?" Tweek asks, pulling his attention back.
"Nothing, it's nothing," Craig shakes his head and starts walking again.
A few seconds later, something round and orange enters his peripheral. He goes to ignore it, but a sudden voice stops him.
"Craig!"
His heart rate skyrockets the moment he recognizes the voice. A slow burn creeps across his skin when looking at who picks the rogue ball up. Kenny. He gives a small wave at Craig, then swiftly turns and passes the ball back to his friends. If that had been all there was to it, then Craig would've been fine, however it wasn't, and Kenny turns to face him once more, making his way over to him.
"Hey, I wasn't expecting to see you here," Kenny says when reaching him.
For a split second, Craig's gaze watches as a bead of sweat trails down Kenny's jawline and over his Adam's apple, before quickly averting it elsewhere.
"Yeah, I was just uh, out shopping for a few things," Craig replies and motions with the bag in his hand.
"Cool," Kenny smiles, his gaze drifting over to Tweek then, "and who's this?"
"This is…" Craig trails off, never actually having thought of what to say or tell anyone in a situation like this before, "a friend of mine—Tweek! He's visiting from out of town for a while."
"Oh I see, nice to meet you then Tweek. I'm Kenny," Kenny holds out a hand and Tweek looks at it. He glances at Craig, as if unsure of what to do. Craig only motions slightly with his head for him to accept the handshake, not wanting things to get awkward. Tweek looks back at his hand, pausing briefly, before finally reaching out a hand to shake it.
"He's a little bit shy," Craig says.
"No worries," Kenny smiles, "it's okay to be a bit hesitant when meeting new people," he adds, then gestures to Tweek's shirt, "like the shirt by the way."
A small smile can't help but tug at Craig's lips for the inadvertent compliment Kenny just gave him for his clothing sense.
Tweek glances down at the shirt and stretches it out a bit.
"This is actually—"
"Hey—we don't want to keep you preoccupied from your game all day," Craig quickly interrupts, knowing what Tweek is most likely about to say, "and we should probably get going too, we have a few other things we need to take care of."
"Oh, alright," Kenny says, "then I won't keep you guys waiting anymore," and he starts to head off, "see you in class tomorrow Craig!"
He waves off, which Craig shyly returns, watching as he regroups with his friends.
"Do you wish to mate with that male?" Tweek asks, tilting his head slightly.
Craig's heart just about stops.
" Wh-what?! " Craig exclaims, his eyes wide.
"It's just that your hormonal levels seem to have risen quite a bit when he came over here to talk," Tweek explains, and Craig's face reddens, "oh, it seems your heart rate irregularity has gone up."
"No—It's not like that! I don't want to…" Craig's words lose themselves in the heat of his face, his gaze trailing over to the basketball court once more and sparing a small glimpse at Kenny, before he looks back and starts heading off, "let's just go, alright?"
The thought of Tweek being able to read his body levels certainly wasn't a comforting thought, nor one that he really wanted to think about.
Tweek silently watches him for a few seconds, then glances at Kenny briefly, before heading off with Craig.
By the time they make it back, Craig's parents are home. Carefully, Craig guides Tweek around the outside of the house to the backyard, and stops in front of a shed.
"You'll need to stay here till nightfall," Craig tells him, "I'll come and get you once my parents are asleep."
Once he makes sure that Tweek understands the situation, he heads inside the house and tosses the clothes he bought into the wash. All he could do for now was pray that his father didn't need anything from the shed today and wait it out.
He keeps an eye on the shed as best he can, between going to his room, getting the laundry, dinner and getting ready for bed. When the coast is finally cleared, and his parents are finally asleep, he heads downstairs and tries his best to slide the back door open as quietly as he can. He makes his way through the yard until reaching the shed and opens it to find Tweek looking out of the small window in it. Thankfully, it's higher than Tweek's height and facing away from the side the house is on.
"It's safe to come inside now," Craig tells him and Tweek looks at him.
"Okay."
Tweek steps out from the shed and Craig closes it behind him. Craig grabs his hand and they make their way back over to the house and through the back door. After Craig shuts it as well, he guides Tweek upstairs and to his room. Any apprehension that had built up in him while sneaking around the house, disappears the moment the door to his room shuts.
Craig then makes his way over to a small pile of folded clothes in his closet and takes some out.
"I washed the clothes for you," he tells Tweek, "you can finally have your own clothes to wear now," he smiles and sets them down on the bed, "go ahead and change into them, lets see how they fit you." While Tweek changes, Craig takes care of a few things until he's done. "Well, at least they mostly fit you…" Craig says in thought, examining the clothing hanging a bit loosely from his frame. Tweek looks down at himself, examining the clothes as well, then looks up and glances around the room, seeming to search for something. "What is it?" Craig asks.
"Where is…." Tweek trails off, continuing to scan the room.
Craig sits in thought for a few moments, before getting up and making his way over to the closet. He pulls out the green sweater from before and Tweek's attention is drawn to it.
"This what you're looking for?" Craig asks, handing it to him. Tweek takes it and holds it close to his chest, hugging it. "Why don't you put it on?" Craig suggests.
Tweek looks up at him, then back at the sweater, holding it out to look at. Slowly he raises it over his head and puts it on. It's bigger than Craig first thought it would be, but oddly seems quite fitting for his appearance in a way. Tweek grabs the loose fabric in his hands and lifts it up to his face, burying the lower half of his face in it. His eyes close and Craig spots a soft smile spread across his lips, which in turn makes him smile as well, glad that he likes it.
"Alright, I'm going to head to bed now," Craig informs, "I set up a playlist for you to watch, that should last all through the night so you don't have to watch me sleep anymore."
Craig sets up the playlist on his computer, then once Tweek is seated and everything is set, he heads to bed.
When Science class the next day arrives, the subtle wave of nervousness sets in. He had told Kenny that he would sit with him again, but knowing that ahead of time didn't make him any more prepared for it.
Since Kenny wasn't here yet, he takes a seat closing his eyes and takes in a few calm breaths, praying that he won't make a fool of himself at any point in front of him today as well.
"Hey Craig."
Craig's eyes shoot open in an instant at that and he looks up to find Kenny now standing in front of him.
"Hey," Craig quietly replies.
"It's good to see you," Kenny smiles.
He takes a seat next to Craig and flips open to a half-filled page in his notebook. Craig can't help but glance at the sketches, taking in their artistic charm once more.
"Have you ever thought of making stickers, or doing tattoos, or something with your art?" Craig asks, fully immersed in them.
"No actually," Kenny replies, "but that's a good idea," it takes Craig a moment to notice Kenny's looking at him when his hand stops moving, but once he does, heat rises in his face and he quickly averts his gaze back at the artwork. "Would you want one if I made some?"
"If it's a sticker, yeah. A tattoo… I'd have to think about that," Craig replies and Kenny gives a small chuckle as he goes back to drawing.
The class starts a short while later, and everyone quiets down.
Over the course of the following two weeks, Craig's small talks with Kenny would continue, as he'd find his new seat in class quickly becoming the one next to Kenny. While his heart would still race around him, he did find that he was slowly getting better at talking to him with each small interaction they had. And while that was great for his day at school, when after school came along and he headed home, he needed to continuously figure out ways in which to hide Tweek in his room from his parents, which was getting more tricky to do as the days progressed. At one point, his dad had almost caught him, and Craig just barely had enough time to shove Tweek into his closet, before his dad swung the door open, telling him to hurry up and get downstairs for dinner because his mother was starting to get upset that it was getting cold. The incident almost gave him a heart attack, but he couldn't help but feel relief that he narrowly missed having to get into a very long, very uncomfortable conversation with his father.
He knew he needed to think of somewhere else he could hide Tweek, somewhere relatively soon, because it was only a matter of time…
"So Craig," Clyde says, interrupting his thoughts, "you and Kenny seem to be getting awfully cozy during Science lately," there's a small smirk that plays across his lips.
"We're not getting cozy," Craig murmurs, ignoring the faint heat spreading across his face.
"Not getting cozy my ass! I see the way you two talk to each other in class, all hush-hush, whisper-whisper, tee hee."
"We don't talk like that," Craig deadpans.
"Maybe it doesn't seem like it to you, but on the outside it's a whole other vibe man."
Craig pauses, did it really seem like they talked that way? Or was Clyde just being his dumbass self? Craig ponders on that for a brief moment, before deciding that it must be the latter.
"It really isn't anything like that," Craig tells him, shaking his head.
Clyde lets out an audible groan of annoyance at that and leans further down in his seat.
It was the weekend now, which is why Craig currently found himself sitting in a small fast food place. Clyde and Token had wanted to hangout, so Craig came along, but worry swelled in the back of his mind. Despite his parents going out for the day, as well as his sister, he couldn't help but worry that one of them may come home early and discover Tweek somehow. Despite telling Tweek not to leave his room like usual, that worry still lingered.
He supposed that he could've just brought Tweek along, but that would've led to so many questions that he knew he'd be unable to answer. Still though, part of him was beginning to feel bad at leaving Tweek trapped in his room all the time.
He's pulled from his thoughts again when spotting Token coming over to their table with food. And thankfully, it's enough for Clyde to drop the topic of him and Kenny and move on to something else.
When Craig arrives home, luckily before his parents and sister do, he heads upstairs to find Tweek waiting in his room like usual. Except this time, he finds him waiting by the window, overlooking the scenery outside of it.
"Tweek?" Craig asks, approaching him.
There's no response until Craig lightly touches his shoulder and draws his attention.
"Oh, hello," he greets.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, I was just…" Tweek trails off as his gaze scans the scenery again.
Concern crosses Craig's features, he'd notice Tweek act this way every once and a while, and couldn't help but feel like it was because Tweek may have wanted to go out more, but couldn't.
"Don't worry, you won't have to stay hidden in my room for too much longer," Craig tells him with a small smile, "I'll come up with something."
"I don't mind staying in your room," Tweek looks at him, "I enjoy being around you."
"You do?" Craig asks. Tweek never really showed as much reaction to things once he understood language for some reason, so hearing him say this surprised him.
"Yes. Why? Is that surprising?" Tweek asks.
"Kinda, yeah."
"Oh, I see," is all Tweek replies with.
Craig isn't really sure what to make of that, so he just shakes his head and makes his way over to the computer, wanting to browse it for a few things. Some time later, Tweek joins him, curious as to what he's browsing. Craig had been making sure to keep whatever he looked up to more light stuff ever since Tweek had been there. Partly because he didn't want him to see something he shouldn't, and partly due to paranoia. While he was mostly certain that Tweek wouldn't get any bad ideas from what he saw, it was still better safe than sorry in his mind. He had seen enough horror science fiction movies with robots, to know that it wasn't a path he was willing to entertain.
A notification for a social media site he has open pops up and he switches tabs to it. It's a message from Clyde, that he responds to briefly, before lazily looking over his home feed. He comes to a stop when the image of a very familiar blond pops up on his feed, in the suggestions section of who else he may know.
"It's that boy who made your hormonal levels spike from before, Kenny," Tweek says, with his astute observation. Craig's face immediately reddens when thinking back on that interaction. Tweek looks at him, "Why do you react that way when you see him?"
"It's complicated," Craig replies, finding no reason in denying it, since Tweek could just tell anyways.
"Do you find him attractive?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Craig replies quietly, his face reddening more.
"So do you only react this way, because you find him attractive then?"
Craig's gaze slowly scans over the picture of the blond on the screen in front him.
"No," he replies, "it's more than that."
"How so?"
"Kenny is… kind and funny and nice to be around. It's like he always genuinely listens to whatever you may have to say to him, and cares about what you have to say as well. And his smile is always so warm and welcoming, it makes it feel like he wants you around. He gives off this vibe, like you belong somehow."
"Belong?"
"Yeah."
A slow smile spreads across Craig's lips while looking over the picture thoughtfully. He's about to continue on scrolling, when the sound of another notification pops up on his screen again. He half expects it to be a reply from Clyde, but it's not. This time it's a friend request to follow, one that nearly makes his heart stop.
"Oh, it seems that Kenny has sent you a request," Tweek says, being very astute yet again.
"I can see that," Craig replies flatly.
His thoughts race, wondering why and how come he got the request now of all times. Had Kenny by some cosmic crazy chance known that he was talking about him with Tweek? Had he heard him in some way shape or form? He needed to calm down, his thoughts were racing too much. Logically, he guessed it made sense that he got a request since he had been talking with him in class quite a bit lately. But still, the timing of this, as if he had somehow known he was talking about him in this exact moment, couldn't help but make his heartbeat skyrocket and blood pulse fast.
"What will you do?" Tweek asks.
Craig stares at the request for a long moment, his cursor hovering over it, while his palms grow sweaty. Then, slowly, he finally clicks his mouse and accepts the request.