Warning: From here, the delusions can say some pretty terrible things, just fyi.
After fighting to quell the constant berating voices all night, Tweek had to be dragged out of the house kicking, and screaming the next day. Not sleeping didn't help his mental stability.
He was damn near an adult, but he didn't need to face his problems, right? Who needed to do that?
Whatever, he had made his decision about how to handle this anyway. After hours of thinking about it, Tweek was going to act like nothing happened. He didn't see another option. He had to survive senior year, so he could get the hell out of South Park.
Since he hadn't bothered to turn on his phone after leaving school the day before, Tweek didn't know how bad the aftermath of Cartman and Heidi's exposure would be.
Walking into the school, he discovered how his peers were going to treat him, as all eyes fell on him. Even though the pictures were removed, he felt like they were stapled on his forehead.
He twitched with uncertainty as he hugged his books to his chest. Tweek needed to find a way to survive, and at least he had his friends.. Didn't he?
That comfort was challenged when he approached Tolkien and Clyde hesitantly, only for them to walk away like he wasn't there. They didn't even spare him a glance. The pain hit his chest like a bag of bricks. He stood there frozen while the crowds moved around him without acknowledgment.
Loneliness set in. Tweek was terrified.
What the fuck?! What the FUCK am I supposed to do?! Tweek pulled at his hair as the continuous thoughts pounded in his temple, desperate for him to scratch his eyes out to hide from reality again. He kept it together as best as he could, with gallons of coffee fueling his anxiety.
There was no coming down from this horror. His life was ruined.
The glimmer of hope that returned when he saw Stan and Wendy coming towards him, was quickly squandered when Stan turned in the opposite direction. Wendy seemed a bit horrified at this too, and sent Tweek an apologetic smile before she ran after him anyway.
He should've figured that even the 'Power Couple' would be influenced by social opinions; everyone else seemed to be, why not them, too? It would've made things too simple if they were on his side.
The last three people he wanted to see were now filling his line of sight, too. Cartman and Heidi were openly talking shit about him - even though Cartman's fat face was swollen, and bruised from the beating he took - while Craig glared at him from his locker. His eyes narrowed further as Tweek twitched with panic, and he raised a middle finger before he turned towards his first hour.
Great. That was all freakin' fantastic! Tweek was totally enthralled to be alive.
He wondered how long he could avoid going to class. Tweek's question was unfortunately answered by the bell resounding through the halls. "AHH!" It made him drop his books, but he quickly recovered them before anyone could make a snide comment.
Everyone disappeared from the hallway faster than he expected, like they were in turbo mode to get away from him. Luckily, he wasn't the only one getting to class late; down the hall from him, Tweek noticed Kenny and Butters caught up in a kissing session. He didn't mean to stare exactly, yet he couldn't recall when they started dating.
They pulled away from each other as they felt a pair of eyes on them. Tweek quickly dropped his gaze to act like he was looking through his papers instead. He half-expected them to treat him the same way everyone else seemed to - they surprised him as they proceeded to be the first people to acknowledge Tweek as a real person.
"Hey, Tweek!" Kenny smiled with a wave of his paint-stained hand. His dark blue eyes squinted happily at the twitching boy like nothing had changed.
Butters sent him a shy smile too, clinging to Kenny's arm as if he was an anchor. "Hiya, Tweek!"
Relieved that at least two people were talking to him, Tweek chuckled nervously: "Uh, hey, guys."
They weren't oblivious to what happened yesterday. Kenny and Butters knew what it was like to be shunned - no one understood their relationship. It didn't help that Cartman liked to pour fuel on an already out of control fire, and spread rumors about them. According to the fatass, happiness was not allowed.
Kenny stuck a toothpick in his mouth as Tweek twitched at them, uncomfortably rubbing his arm like it would stop the feeling of bugs burrowing into his skin. It sucked to see the effects of someone being outed against their will, especially when that someone already had enough to deal with. He held back a frown. "You good, dude?"
"AGH! No, man!" Tweek started pulling at his hair as his anxiety tried to cripple him, again. He couldn't let it win. We'll always win, you fucking loser! This was getting harder to ignore.
Butters glanced at Kenny nervously. With his own anxiety already peaked from an earlier issue, Butters didn't know how to help someone worse off than him. Kenny nodded at him to go to class, leaving the poor, pansexual kid, and the paranoid, gay kid alone. He'd help the twitchy guy, 'cause why the hell not? They had more in common than Tweek knew.
"Tweekers," He casually started as if they talked everyday. "Sit next to me in class. Ignore the assholes!" Kenny's unnatural confidence didn't make him feel any better, even though he offered up a crooked smile.
He shook his head with uncertainty, but still walked with Kenny to their shared first hour. Sure, they were about to walk in about two minutes late, Tweek just didn't give a shit right now. Kenny seemed to have his back, for whatever reason, and that kid was scrappy if he needed to be.
All eyes were on them when they walked in. They also earned a glare from the teacher, yet she didn't say a word, and only continued with their lesson while the boys took their seats towards the back of the room.
Craig sat about two rows over from him. It was a safe distance, Tweek assumed - except, he could feel the glaring eyes burning into his face. He did his best to ignore it. Craig wasn't the only one staring at him unapologetically. Basically, the entire class whispered to each other about the twitchy blonde kid who was outed against his will.
Tweek already had enough voices in his head fighting against him, he didn't need the people in his life acting like them. They never gave a shit about him, did they? They couldn't have cared, if they were treating him this way now, after one stupid screenshot.
He faced all of their judgmental glares. These assholes were easier to face than the demons in his head, or shadows, whatever they were; either way, Tweek glared back the hardest at Craig. He wanted to be a dick? Tweek could be a dick, too.
And they still stared! He couldn't fucking believe it.
"Stop staring at me!!" Tweek broke the tension with the high-pitched demand. The teacher stared in shock at the usually well behaved boy. Before she could even say a word, he was gathering up his stuff frantically. "I-I know! I'll go to the Principal's!!" Pausing at the door, Tweek turned to the class again: "Fuck all you assholes! Except Kenny!"
Kenny saluted him proudly as he ripped open the classroom door, and stomped off down the hallway. This year was already screwed, why not lean into ruining it completely? Tweek didn't want to hold his shit together anymore, this was it, his walls were down, and he couldn't rebuild them. They all fucking destroyed him.
The whispering was getting loud again, too. The hallways were empty, but to Tweek, they were flooded with foul voices. It progressed from harsh whispering, to disembodied screaming, drowning out his racing thoughts. He couldn't walk straight. It pushed him side to side.
They tore him apart from the inside. It was everyday, it was like this every damn day! So desperate to explode from his mind, they screamed until his ears felt like they were bleeding. They hated being contained in their constricting cage.
Shit! Get a hold of yourself, man! Tweek slammed his fist against the painted cement wall next to him, the pain helping him to grasp back some control of reality. Not that he had a lot to begin with.
It was only getting worse.
By the time he managed to get to the Principal's, he was exhausted. Tweek survived yet another brutal battle that no one else could comprehend. He couldn't explain it.
Luckily, he didn't have to do much talking, since the teacher had called ahead of him getting there, the Principal had been prepared to lecture him. The school knew what happened the day before, and although Cartman was at the school still, they were "considering" suspending him. Tweek appreciated Principal Victoria's attempt at pretending to care - he knew better though. Cartman always got away with shit.
So, when he received detention for two weeks for his one outburst, Tweek wasn't surprised. He was pissed off. He needed more damn coffee to get through the last several hours. The lecture he had to sit through lasted until the end of his first class, he knew it was going to be a torturous day.
Tweek nearly ran into Kenny when he left the office. He hadn't expected him to be there, it wasn't like they were close friends, or anything. In fact, that morning was the first time he had talked to Kenny without anyone else around.
But, Kenny seemed to be accepting, and Tweek really needed that right now.
"Oh sorry, Kenny." He steadied himself after stumbling. Tweek twitched when he noticed he spilled some of his coffee. "Damn it!"
Slapping his forehead when he noticed the accidental spill, Kenny snorted at his clumsiness. "Ah, nah, I'm sorry! Let me buy ya another one!"
There was really only one place to buy coffee in South Park - his parent's coffee shop. He fought the urge to roll his eyes. At least someone wanted to hang out with him, though he was suspicious as to why. He couldn't help but wonder if someone put him up to this.
"I-It's fine! Why do you want to hang out with me anyway, man?! Everyone else is being freakin' weird!" Tweek whisper-shouted to him as they continued down the hall.
Kenny shrugged, and placed a fresh toothpick in his mouth. He had an odd fixation with them, Tweek hadn't noticed before. "Dunno why we haven't hung out before. And dude, they're just stupid."
It seemed like nothing could bother him. God, Tweek wished he had that ability. Nope, he only had the ability to completely lose his mind at any point in the day.
Like now, there seemed to be a heavy, evil presence stalking behind them, waiting for one of them to turn to face their doom. The sound of the gnashing teeth, cutting through their thick saliva with ravenous starvation made his stomach churn. Tweek took a chance to peek over his shoulder - he started breathing again when there was nothing.
There was always nothing, except that fucking feeling.
The paranoia was impossible to miss when he walked right next to him. Kenny hadn't realized how badly it progressed since he last talked to him before summer. He knew what it was like to see demons; the only difference was that Kenny saw them in actual Hell. Not that he'd say anything to the kid, but he damn well knew how to help him deal with it.
Tweek was able to shut out the voices for the rest of the day. It helped that people were less obvious about their gossiping. The staring had been the most impactful problem for Tweek. He hated prying eyes, they reminded him of the shadows that kept him from sleeping.
Kenny was a funny guy, though. That was the one good thing about his day.
Butters and Kenny knew how to make him feel comfortable as he waited outside of the classroom where detention would be held. They didn't have to hang out there, but they did. Butters made a joke about Kenny not being in detention for once, and it made Tweek feel at ease.
Everyone liked a judgment free zone.
That didn't last long as Craig came walking up towards the door, his hands stubbornly shoved in his jean pockets. He scowled at the ground with more emotion than Tweek had seen in years. It almost made him laugh - he kind of hoped he pissed Craig off that much.
With Kenny standing next to Tweek, Craig moved through them, and made a point to only bump into the tallest of the three. Their old grudge still held strong. It didn't phase the dirty-blonde, it actually made him grin.
Tweek found himself grinning, too. Why is Kenny McCormick actually cool? Maybe, he could learn something from the guy.
Mr. Garrison approached from the teacher's lounge next door, and motioned for Tweek to come into detention. When Kenny and Butters didn't move, he waved them away sassily: "Get outta here, boys! If you don't want detention too, go suck each other's dicks somewhere else!"
He guessed that they left after that, Tweek didn't know. He had to face the only other people in detention on the second day of school: Craig and Damien. Great, literal Hell on Earth. He elected to take a seat in the back, far away from both of them.
While Mr. Garrison started droning on about the rules of detention, Tweek laid his head on the desk. After a few intense twitches through his neck, he finally relaxed enough to fall into something that resembled sleep.
Tweek didn't sleep like normal people.
When he fell asleep, he fell into a dark abyss where he did nothing, but helplessly watch himself be tortured by the shadows. It was like he was chained to a wall, forced to watch his demise on a skin-colored movie screen. Coffee kept him awake, away from that Hell.
So, when he trashed out of his seat to escape from his nightmares, Tweek wasn't surprised. The twenty minutes before he was thrown into the abyss had been the most sleep he got in over a week. No wonder his paranoia was getting worse.
Now, Craig stared at him with that stupid, unreadable expression again. Tweek did his best to glare as he pulled himself back into his seat. No one else seemed to notice his fall.
If the next two weeks in detention were going to be like this, Tweek needed to do something.
The pressure was getting to be too fucking much.