"GAH!" screamed Tweek for the sixth time that afternoon, his entire body jolting out of surprise and the PS4 controller flying out of his hands. Still wearing Craig's hat, he pulled it over his eyes and hugged his knees to his chest, while shrieking, "THIS IS WAY TOO MUCH PRESSURE!"
"Tweek, it's really not that hard," Craig told him, eyes glued to his TV screen. "You just have to not get shot."
"BUT I C-CAN'T ST-STOP GETTING SHOT!"
Craig snickered and paused the game, setting the controller down in front of him. He glanced over at Tweek and shook his head in amusement as he noticed the blue hat covering his eyes. He reached out and pushed the hat back into place, while mumbling, "God, you're such a spaz."
"I th-thought video g-games were supposed to be f-fun," Tweek sighed, leaning his back against Craig's bed. "I did-didn't think th-they'd be s-so stressful."
"They're only stressful because you suck at them," he joked.
"F-Fair enough."
Craig smirked and then reached into his pocket, only to find that his phone wasn't there. He scanned the floor that he was sitting on, but his phone was nowhere in sight. Confused, he asked, "Dude, do you see my phone anywhere?"
Tweek stood up and in seconds, he picked it up off the bed. "Y-Yeah, i-it's right h-here."
"Can you check the time on it?" he requested, wondering how long they'd have before his parents got off work.
Tweek switched on Craig's phone and his eyes widened in surprise. "Uh, Cr-Craig, you h-have a l-lot of missed c-c-calls."
"From who?" he asked with disinterest.
"Um, a f-few from Cl-Clyde and then..." he paused, eyebrows knitting together. "Who's Slut?"
Craig sighed exasperatedly. "Goddamnit."
"Wh-Who i-is it?" Tweek repeated, tilting his head slightly and handing him the phone.
Craig ignored his question, not really wanting to bring up Kenny and especially not wanting to talk about why Kenny was obsessively trying to get ahold of him. He scrolled through his notifications and realized that he had gotten texts from Clyde on pretty much every form of social media and a couple missed calls from Kenny. He also noted that it was about twenty minutes after school ended, meaning that they had successfully skipped an entire day of school.
"Cr-Craig?" Tweek's shaky voice snapped Craig back to reality and he looked up at him.
"Yeah?" he muttered.
"Is ev-everything okay?" The concern in his voice didn't go unnoticed, but Craig tried to ignore it because it brought back the twinge of that unidentifiable feeling in his chest.
"Uh, yeah." Liar. "It's nothing. I just don't really want to talk to them right now."
"Oh, ok-kay." He didn't sound convinced, but Craig appreciated him not pushing any farther.
Craig cleared his throat. "Anyways, do you want to keep playing?"
"N-No w-way, man," Tweek replied, sounding out of breath while shaking his head slowly. "Th-That game is way t-too much pressure."
Craig rolled his eyes, smirking as he did so. "Don't be such a pussy."
"I'm n-not a pussy!" Tweek protested, crossing his arms.
His smirk grew wider and his eyebrows raised with the taunt, "Prove it."
Tweek was quiet for a moment, before letting out a groan. "Ugh, f-fine. H-Hand me the controller."
Craig stood up and walked over towards the second PS4 controller that Tweek had thrown across the room out of getting jump scared by the game. He picked it up, which was a couple feet away from where Tweek sat on his floor, and he tossed it to him.
Caught off guard, Tweek flailed his arms in an attempt to catch it, but it collided with his stomach and fell into his lap. He squeaked out in agony.
"Dude, I didn't throw it that hard," Craig said with a chuckle.
Tweek hugged his stomach. "N-No, but I'm st-still br-bruised from C-Cartman."
Craig froze and the smile on his face disappeared. Anger bubbled up in his throat, but he swallowed down the line of curses he wanted to call Cartman and instead, he kneeled down in front of him.
"Sorry, I didn't realize," he apologized.
Tweek shook his head. "I-It's f-fine. Do-Don't worry about i-it."
"Can I, um, see it?" he asked and then quickly added, "I mean, if you're uncomfortable with it, then you don't have to, but - "
He was cut off by Tweek hesitantly lifting up his shirt to reveal dark purple bruises that ran from the top of his left hip and up to the bottom of his sternum. Almost the entire left side of his torso was darkened by the bruising.
This time, Craig couldn't hold back the anger inside of him and he snarled, "That fucking asshole - I'm going to kill him."
"I-It's fine," Tweek insisted, pulling down his shirt. "Really. I'm k-kind of u-used to people b-beating me up..."
"And you just let it happen?" Craig exclaimed, voice raising with each word. "Are you fucking serious?"
"L-Look, it's - it's n-not a b-big deal," he stammered, getting visibly distressed.
"Of course it's a big deal!" argued Craig, rising to his feet and staring down at the shaking boy below him. "You need to stand up for yourself! You can't just let people fuck with you, Tweek!"
"I'm - I'm s-sorry," he whispered, trembling hands clutching onto the hat he was still wearing, the blue flaps firmly in his grip. He stared down into his lap and barely visible tears began to sting his unblinking eyes.
Craig's anger fizzled out, as he saw how affected Tweek was by his yelling. He hadn't meant to hurt him; he just wanted him to know that he shouldn't let people do shit like that to him. He crouched down in front of Tweek, who seemed to be doing everything in his power not to look up at him.
"Hey," he said gently. "Look at me."
Tweek's head hung lower.
"Tweek," he began, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go off on you."
The blonde wiped his eyes hurriedly, before looking up at Craig and giving him the smallest of smiles. "I-It's o-okay. I - ngh - j-just don't l-like people yell-elling at me. It, uh, br-brings back mem-memories."
Though Craig wanted to know more about what he meant, all he said was, "Sorry, I didn't know."
Tweek inhaled a shaky breath and his hands let go of the blue flaps that covered the sides of his face. He gave Craig a reassuring grin and said, "Al-Alright, I th-think I'm ready to fin-finally kick your ass a-at that g-game."
Craig chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, we'll see about - "
A sudden bark from downstairs interrupted Craig and the both of them immediately stood up, whirling around to face the closed bedroom door.
"W-Was th-that Stripe?" Tweek asked.
Craig was just as surprised as Tweek was, considering neither of them had heard Stripe bark before. "Yeah, but what the hell is he barking at?"
Footsteps coming up the stairs answered the question and he grumbled, "Shit, my parents must be home already."
He stepped up to the door, but before he could lock it, it swung open.
"Dude, what the fuck?" Craig hissed. "You scared the shit out of me."
"Sorry," Clyde snickered, leaning against the doorframe with his school bag hanging casually off his shoulder. "I let myself in. Figured you'd be here."
"Could've let me know beforehand," muttered Craig, plopping down onto his bed.
"Hey, it's not my fault you wouldn't answer your phone!" he chided. Then his eyes rested on Tweek, who anxiously took a seat next to Craig on the bed. "Wait, what's he doing here?"
Tweek let out a squeak from being acknowledged and his hands clasped together, intertwining to form a trembling, tangled mess in his lap. His eyes were focused entirely on the floor, as if Clyde wasn't there.
"And why is he wearing your hat?" Clyde asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
Tweek's face turned a dark shade of red, as he fumbled with the blue hat to get it off. Once he slid it off of himself, his untamable hair stood out in all directions in a staticky mess and he handed the hat to Craig.
"Er - I sh-should pr-probably - ngh - g-get going," Tweek stuttered, rising to his feet.
"No, it's alright," Craig tried to assure him, angry with Clyde's interrogating questions. "You can stay."
"N-No, I sh-should probably g-get going," he repeated, eyes twitching furiously. "M-My parents pr-probably want me at th-the sh-shop by now."
Clyde stepped into the bedroom, giving the anxious blonde enough space to stride through the doorway and into the hall. He glanced over his shoulder and said, "I'll t-take Str-Stripe b-back with me. S-See you to-tomorrow!"
And with that, he left.
Clyde shut the door behind him and flung off his bag, letting it land on the floor with a thud. "Why was he here?"
"Why does it matter to you?" Craig asked coldly, plucking up his hat and pulling it over his head.
"Chill out, I'm just wondering," he replied. He collapsed onto the bed next to Craig, lying on his back with his arms folded behind his head.
"Well, thanks a lot for making him uncomfortable enough to leave," Craig mumbled.
"It's not my fault he always gets uncomfortable around me," said Clyde defensively. "Why is that, anyway?"
"Maybe because you make it painfully obvious that you don't like him and you don't like me hanging out with him," Craig pointed out. Or because he's the one that's been sending you to the counselor and he doesn't want you to find out.
"Look, it's nothing personal," he explained, staring up at the ceiling. "I've told you this before; if you hang out with Tweek, that means he'll eventually hang out with me and Token. That means that Cartman - since he's pissed off at you for preventing him from beating up Tweek - will come after me."
"So, what should I have done? Not helped Tweek and let him get his ass kicked?" Craig fumed.
"I don't know," he sighed. "I just... think you shouldn't have gotten involved. It wasn't your problem to handle and that psycho will probably come after you now."
"Sorry, I guess I won't do anything nice for anyone again," grumbled Craig.
"Dude, I don't want to argue," Clyde admitted, sitting up. "I came here because I need your help."
"With what?"
"I, uh, wanted to know if I could spend the night," he wondered, looking down at the floor and not at Craig.
"Why can't you just spend the night at Token's?" Craig asked, leaning against his bed frame.
"His parents are asking too many questions," he disclosed, "about why I keep staying there and if my home life is okay. You know, just a bunch of stuff that I don't want to answer."
"You might as well just tell them," asserted Craig.
"Fuck that," Clyde said bitterly. "I don't want people finding out."
Well, you've done a good job keeping it to yourself, he thought sarcastically. Considering I know and Tweek practically figured it out all on his own.
"Just please," he pleaded. "Can I spend the night?"
"Yeah, fine," Craig gave in. "I'm sure my parents won't care."
A smile formed on Clyde's face. "Thanks, dude."
Craig wondered how long Clyde was going to be hopping around from house to house, in order to escape his fucked up parents. Token's parents weren't idiots; they definitely had to have some kind of idea of what was going on. Meanwhile, Craig's parents barely seemed to care about their own son, so they probably wouldn't mind if they had another boy sleeping under their roof.
"For real though," Clyde started, "what was Tweek doing here?"
"I skipped school with him," he replied nonchalantly.
This caused Clyde to raise his eyebrows in surprise. "I wouldn't have guessed he'd be the skipping type."
"He's not really," Craig stated, "but I invited him. We just needed to talk about some stuff."
Clyde looked up at Craig for once, his eyes reading of curiosity as they scanned over his face. "Is there... something going on between you two?"
"What do you mean?" he asked blankly.
Clyde snorted. "Come on, Craig. We both know you're gay as fuck."
Craig rolled his eyes with a scoff, "Dude, no. I barely know the guy. I'm not into him like that."
At least, I'm pretty sure, I'm not. Sure, Tweek was really nice and caring and they seemed to get along well together, but Craig didn't like him that way. Of course, he didn't. Why would he?
"Just like you 'totally weren't' into Kenny like that?" he challenged, with a smirk.
Craig could feel his face blush with anger. "We don't talk about him, remember?"
"I know," responded Clyde. "I'm just saying that you tend to get platonic feelings confused with romantic feelings."
"Do not," argued Craig.
"Do too."
He tried to ignore his face becoming hotter with embarrassment and irritability. Kenny had been... different to him. He was pretty sure he didn't feel that way about Kenny, but then again, the two had hooked up more than once. That couldn't have been feelings for him though, that was just Craig craving his attention after the two had stopped being best friends.
"Tweek is just my..." The word he hadn't used in years to describe someone was on the tip of his tongue and though he hated that word to its core, he finally seemed to mean it this time. "Friend."
Friend. The six-letter word that he had always avoided using since Kenny had left him. The six-letter word that he refused to call anyone, but the same six-letter word that he felt couldn't more accurately describe Tweek - that wild-haired, coffee-addicted spaz.
Finally, he had a friend again.