The wooden bench that overlooked Stark's Pond was where Craig was sitting the next morning. The time on his phone confirmed that school was already starting and the many texts he was getting from Clyde asking where he was kept pouring in, but he ignored them. He hadn't skipped a full day of school in awhile, but he was thankful for it. Any excuse to get away from his classmates was appreciated.
Tweek was a little late, but he didn't mind that much. Being alone was peaceful, despite the vastly chilled air that wrapped itself around him. He liked Stark's Pond, for it was a nice place to clear his mind. The only downside was that Stan and Wendy usually met up there and needless to say, neither of them were happy to see him, especially Wendy.
Craig picked up one of the rocks he had collected when he first got there and chucked it into the pond. Ice was frozen over the majority of the surface, but the rock skidded into one of the holes in the ice and splashed into the water with a plunk!
"H-Having f-fun?"
Craig jumped, dropping the next rock that he planned to throw into the snow beneath him. He whirled around and what he saw sent a grin to form on his face. Tweek was behind him and in his hand was a rope that was wrapped around his wrist, the other end loosely tied around Stripe's neck, who was trotting alongside of him.
"Stripe!" Craig exclaimed, lunging off the bench and wrapping his arms around the dog, who happily wagged his tail in response. Craig, who was crouching in the snow and embracing his pet, looked up at Tweek. "What made you bring him?"
Tweek plopped down on the bench, next to where Craig had been sitting. He tied the rope to the bench's leg and smiled at the two of them. "I th-thought you - you'd like to see h-him."
Craig continued to grin and he planted a kiss on Stripe's head, before joining Tweek on the bench. Stripe flopped down into the snow in front of the two, fondly looking up at them. Craig patted him on the head and said to Tweek, "Thank you."
"N-No problem," Tweek replied, face turning a light shade of red. "S-Sorry that I was - ngh - late. Stripe wouldn't c-come n-near me at first, b-but after I g-gave him some food, he w-was fine. I j-just hope he - he's warmed up to me."
Just then, Stripe leapt up onto Tweek's lap and licked his face. In shock, Tweek fell backwards off of the bench with Stripe tumbling off with him. The boy screeched, "GAH! HE'S ATTACKING ME!"
"Tweek, he just wants to lick you," Craig asseverated.
"O-Oh," Tweek murmured, sheepishly gawping at the dog that was clambering off of him in bewilderment.
Craig doubled over in amusement, arms holding his stomach as he hysterically laughed. This seemed to reassure Stripe that everything was fine because the dog started wagging his tail again. He scuttled over to Craig, who was gasping for air.
"Shush," faltered Tweek, turning a darker shade of red. "I-It's not that funny."
Craig stood up and offered the embarrassed blonde a hand. Tweek appreciatively grasped it and let Craig hoist him up. Once to his feet, he sat back down on the bench and Craig sat next to him, brushing snow off of the other boy's back.
"I've never met anyone that's always so on edge like you are," Craig acknowledged.
"Y-Yeah, mo-most people aren't. I w-wish I wasn't l-like this," Tweek admitted, looking down at his gloved hands that were shakily clasped together in his lap. "It sucks."
"Shouldn't your parents do something about it?" he asked. "Like maybe, I don't know, take you to a doctor or something."
"N-Nah," Tweek declined, shaking his head. "I d-don't think that would h-help any-anything. And anyway, I-I d-don't want to make things m-more difficult than necessary."
"I'm not sure if that's kind or stupid," imparted Craig, picking up one of the rocks from before.
"Wh-What do you mean?"
"Well," he began, watching as the rock sailed through the air and crashed into the icy pond, "if there's something you need help with, you shouldn't just discard it because you think you'll be some type of burden on other people. That's just dumb."
"Don't you d-do that?"
Craig froze, thinking it over. "No. Why would you think that?"
"Look," Tweek avered, "I kn-know I came on k-kind of strong yes-yesterday, but you cl-clearly need some h-help."
"Gee, thanks," he grumbled, examining one of the ashy-grey rocks in his hand.
"You know I don't - er - mean i-it in a b-bad way," Tweek said. "I just... I d-don't know. I d-don't think peo-people are assholes un-unless something either m-made them that way, o-or s-something's wrong with them."
"That's not me," Craig smirked. "I was born an asshole, so I'll die an asshole."
"Y-Yeah, right," he challenged. "I'm s-sure you're not f-fully an asshole."
Craig rolled his eyes, the smirk still displayed on his face, as he chucked the rock into the lake. As it crashed into the water, Tweek jumped a little and a squeak left his mouth. Stripe looked up at him and nudged his knee.
"Th-This dog is so s-sweet," Tweek gushed, patting his head.
"Yeah, when he's not 'attacking' you."
"Hush."
Craig laughed and gazed down at Stripe, who was licking Tweek's hand. He had always wanted a pet, but his parents would never allow him to have one. He remembered being in fourth grade and begging his parents for a guinea pig, but they never gave in to his wish.
"Y-You know what's w-weird?" Tweek asked.
"Hmm?"
"The on-only time I've seen you g-genuinely happy is when y-you're with Str-Stripe," he noted.
"Yeah, but we've barely been around each other. You wouldn't really know what I'm like when I'm not around you," Craig pointed out.
"W-Well," he started, uneasily fidgeting with the buttons on his shirt. "I kn-know this sounds k-kind of weird, but I n-notice things about people. I d-don't know why, b-but I like to observe people, I guess. I like to - er - study th-them. I kn-know I probably s-sound like a cr-creep, but I l-like to know wh-what people are feeling. Like for example, i-if I'm surrounded by people in school, I'll look ar-around at everyone and I can t-tell things about them."
That didn't come as too much of a shock to Craig, considering he had noticed Clyde acting strange and his bruised body. He wondered if he did this with everyone. Maybe Clyde wasn't the only person Tweek had talked to the counselor about...
"Alright, so what do you notice about me?" challenged Craig, a mix of doubt and curiosity in his voice.
Tweek paused for a moment. "W-Well... you're one of t-the harder ones to fig-figure out."
He halfway smiled at this, glad to hear that he was as unpredictable and expressionless as he aimed to be.
"But - " Craig's attention perked up as Tweek finished, "I c-can tell that you're not h-happy all the t-time. Th-There's this thing that sh-shows in y-your eyes, when no one's p-paying attention to you. It's like... I d-don't know. Loneliness, maybe."
"You think I'm lonely?" he asked sharply.
He wasn't lonely... right? No, not at all, no way. He didn't need anyone. Why would he be lonely?
"I-I d-didn't - GAH - m-mean it l-l-like that!" Tweek spluttered, his hands trembling together with his nails digging painfully into his skin. "I'm - I'm sorry, Craig. I-I didn't m-mean to - "
"Hey, calm down," Craig told him gently, putting a hand on his.
Tweek flinched at the sudden touch and then froze for a moment, eyes fixed on where Craig's hand was resting on top of his. His hands relaxed and unclenched from each other, causing Craig to retract his hand. Small dents from where Tweek's nails had pierced the skin of his hands were visible to the both of them, though Craig averted his eyes.
"I'm sorry," Tweek said after a few moments of silence, his voice coming out in a whisper.
"Don't be," Craig assured him.
"S-Sometimes I, w-well you know, sp-spazz out," he mumbled, clearly embarrassed.
"Tweek," he said, turning to face him, "you don't need to apologize for things that you can't really control."
Tweek's hands went back to fidgeting in his lap with his fixed eyes twitching and barely coherent, subconscious noises escaping his lips every now and then. Craig wondered why he was always like this, but it probably wouldn't be a good idea to ask.
"You know," began Craig, "we're not so different surprisingly."
"H-How so?" Tweek asked, without looking up.
"Considering you knew about Clyde and the fact that you said you observe other people, I think we both try to figure out what's going on with people, even if they're not willing to share," Craig explained.
"Yeah," he agreed, his hands remaining still. "I g-guess you're right."
"Except, you seem to do it for empathetic reasons and that's not at all why I do it," noted Craig with a bitter laugh.
"Bl-Blackmail," mumbled Tweek.
"Yeah." He didn't know why, but a feeling of shame started to wash over him. That was very unlike Craig; he was usually proud of what he did, but at this moment, he felt almost regretful. Perhaps it was from comparing himself - a narcissistic, uncaring, selfish douchebag - to someone like Tweek, who was sympathetic and seemed to genuinely want to help people.
Right then, he almost wanted to take everything back. Maybe taking back every threat, any pain, or any ounce of worry he had ever caused anyone would stop the shame. But that didn't make sense. Craig never regretted anything, especially not learning something about someone that he could use to his advantage.
What the hell was happening to him? What was Tweek doing to him?
Up until this moment, he had seen everyone in this town as fake, gluttonous, deserving of whatever was coming their way. But not Tweek. He was different, but why was he different? Was it because he seemed to unconditionally care about everyone else? And what did that even feel like to have so much empathy over everyone?
"Tweek."
The blonde looked up at him. "Y-Yeah?"
"I, uh..." He could feel his heart pounding quickly in his chest and it seemed as though all the cold air around him was now boiling. His face felt hot and tugged off his signature hat, balling it up in his grip. His other hand ran through his jet-black hair and though he didn't usually admit defeat, something in his mind told him that this time, he had to. "I think you might be right. You know, about me needing to change."
"Really?" Tweek squeaked, eyes wide and eyebrows raised.
"Um, yeah," Craig replied awkwardly, staring down Stripe, who was nestled in between the two boys' feet. "I mean, I don't know if I can change... but I think maybe I can try."
"Th-That's great!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah. So, will you help me?" he asked.
"Of c-course, Craig."
Craig heaved a small sigh and looked up at the icy pond in front of them. This was definitely going to be hard.
***
Hey, guys. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. This story's almost at 100 votes, which is absolutely crazy to me. So, thank you to everyone that has voted (and commented) so far. Though it sounds cliche, it means a lot. As always, any criticism or opinions of this so far are much appreciated.
Thanks for reading!