Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tweek stares back at Kenny, as the instrumental picks up and Clyde goes ham on the electronic piano, he rocks his head back and forth while doing so. But the moment the chorus kicks in, Kenny looks away from Tweek and begins his singing.

He didn’t even know that Kenny was a singer, he had only been told about the fact he can play electric guitar and acoustic. So, when he sang, he felt his heart skip beats and made him feel weird inside.

Craig is bopping his head to the song, his eyes on everyone on the stage. But Tweek’s are solely focused on Kenny, who is singing with such fluidity that Tweek almost wants to say it’s better than the original. The way his hands so easily slide across his guitar makes him feel like a newbie, and he watches as Kenny’s glare slowly trails back to his own. 

With a smirk, he continues, “And I…” Eyes on him, Tweek feels sweat tickle his forehead, “ Will reap what you sown.”

Tweek’s hands twitch and he feels awkward suddenly, as Kenny continues, he can’t help but want to just run away. He wasn’t anxious, not that much, this time, but his heart was racing so much that he just needed to get out. Maybe he could just run and get a drink real fast, to avoid any more intense eye contact. 

He turns to Craig, “I’m gonna get a drink real fast. I’ll be quick.” Tweek motions to the door and Craig looks down at him, nodding. 

Ack! 

Why was everyone so intimidating all of a sudden? He rushes to the patio doors and squeezes inside, brushing past a group of people who were listening to the band. When Tweek gets to the counter, he takes a deep breath and places his palms against the coolness of the laminate. He really just needed to chill out, everything was making him overwhelmed and he felt the emptiness of his brain pounding against his skull.

Tweek practically floats to the fridge and opens it, seeing one of the drinks he had earlier and grabbing it without really looking at it, it was open, but Tweek couldn’t care less at this point. He needed something in his system, whatever the hell it was.

He takes a sip of the mystery Smirnoff and almost chokes at the bitterness, it had to have straight vodka added to it, probably its own vodka. Tweek shakes off the initial disgust and takes larger sips to get it all in one go, because he knew that he’d be discouraged to finish it if he remembered the taste.

So he does, he finishes it in less than a minute and tosses the empty bottle into the blue bin next to the garbage. When he looks back up, his focus goes blurry and he can already feel the side effects. Jesus fucking Christ. He takes his jacket off and sets it on the table, as it’s suddenly a little too hot in the house.

Out of the corner of his eye, he notices two boys snickering to each other. He turns and looks at them, and he sees that one of them is the boy who tried to make him take a shot earlier.

They’re making a humping motion towards him and irritation rings through his veins, his world has become slightly more wobbly but he can still walk closer to the drunken idiots.

“What’s your problem?” Tweek bites, “Leave me alone.”

One of the guys nudges the other, tilting his head up in a way some people greet a friend, “You just drank the cosmopolitan.” He laughs and claps his hands, “I knew someone would fall for it, but I didn’t know it would be the virgin.”

Tweek narrows his eyes, “Are yo-you guys like sixth graders or something? Who gives a shit.” 

“Nah, but it’s kinda pathetic you haven’t lost your virginity yet,” the brunette steps forwards, his eyes still directly on Tweek’s, “Like maybe you need to get laid. Or maybe get Kenny McCormick’s dick up your ass.”

Tweek doesn’t really know when it happened, but he swung his fist directly into the tubby brunette's face and kicked him in the chin, making him recoil forwards. He wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol that was now coursing through his veins, or if it was decades old anger getting sick and tired of people picking on him.

These guys didn’t really know who they got into a fight with, and one of the reasons that Tweek’s brain wants to forget is the fact he always got into fights at school. His anger and mood swings were far more unpredictable back then, but Tweek really did think he got in control of himself after he got his medication for it.

He thought wrong, because he is now shoving some dude off of him, the brunette guy's friend, and regaining his composure after somehow ending up on the floor. Tweek feels his legs turn into jello, but he manages to dodge getting hit and punches one of them again.

But his drunken self had forgotten that he was, well, uncoordinated, so he missed a punch and the brunette’s friend grabbed his arms, motioning for another guy to take the other. 

Then the tubby guy got in his punches, practically knocking him unconscious, but he swears the alcohol keeps him awake. Tweek is processing what’s going on, looking at the crowd of people that were in the kitchen looking at them and rooting for the other boys. 

One of the tall guys that was called over says something to the brunette’s friend and he nods, or at least Tweek thinks, and he’s being taken to a side door, and then being lifted by his arms and no matter how much he kicks, the grips get tighter.

Oh shit. They’re carrying him to a pool, since when did this house have a pool?! Tweek tries to kick himself away, or even yell, but it’s no use, the band is playing too loud and he doesn’t even know if anyone who’s watching the band saw them fight. 

They’re playing one of their own songs now, a song that Kenny had showed him a sample of. It was called something along the lines of Yellow Eyes— or something that Tweek can’t remember because his brain is catching up with the fact he’s about to be thrown into a pool. 

Tweek is now at the edge of the pool, his feet hanging above it and he thinks he should just accept his fate, sure he knows how to swim, but he’s never swam drunk. Whatever was in that drink was definitely making him feel like he weighed thousands of pounds.

“Hey, let him go!” A voice screams, “Tweek!”

His head is hanging and he can’t put a name to the voice, and the guys just laugh and tell him to fuck off, and Tweek squeezes his eyes shut. Motherfucker. 

“He’s clearly out of it, and it’s fucking cold let him go!” 

“Let him go?” another voice laughs, “I mean, alright.”

His arms are released and he feels a billion tiny icicles pierce his skin, the cold numbing the voices in his head and making him feel like he’s just entered a different dimension. It was so quiet underwater, there were no noises, people, it was just him and the water.

Tweek used to love swimming, but he hadn’t gone in so long. His arms aren’t working the way they should and he feels his feet touch the floor of the pool. 

He blinks a few times, for some reason everything seems so clear beneath the water, despite the burn in his eyes and lungs. Tweek feels his throat closing up and he accidentally swallows water, which burns his chest but he can’t move, his body is weighed down by his clothes and his alcohol filled blood stream. It was only one drink, but god knows what was in it, because it clearly took him for a ride.

A second later, two hands are grabbing his waist and pushing them to the surface, and the cold of the September night punches him in the face, making him gasp for air. He’s brought to the side of the pool and is pulled out, his body is so cold, and the water in his lungs is being coughed out and he’s dizzy. Much more awake than he was the moments leading up to whatever the hell just happened. 

The band's music was no longer playing, and he felt voices around him asking if he was okay, but he couldn’t form any words. His mind was just blank as the final bits of water hit the concrete of the ground. 

He could hear yelling, or something, and rushed apologies and feet fading away.

“Tweek,” hands are shaking him, “Come on Tweek, answer me.”

Tweek backs up and sits on his calves, his hands on the ground and shakes his head. At some point a towel had been wrapped around him, and he felt a comforting hand on the back of his neck.

“Hey, are you okay?”

He looks over to see Craig sitting next to him, and Kenny is on the other side. 

Tweek coughs a little bit more, it’s all hitting him at once.

“I’m sorry,” is the first thing he can think of saying, he one hundred percent just ruined everyone’s night.

“Why are you apologizing?” Kenny asked, “They provoked you. Someone told me the entire run down of things. They fucked up, not you, don’t apologize.”

“I should’ve just let them be, I shouldn’t have said or done anything,” Tweek whispers, “I’m sorry. I really shouldn’t have done that.”

Kenny looks over to Craig, who just shakes his head. That’s when he notices Craig is soaking wet too, much like himself.

“Oh god,” Tweek whispered, “You’re all wet!”

“It’s okay, I’m alright,” Craig reassures, “You don’t have anything to apologize for. Those douchebags don’t even go to this school, they’re at some random community college and were invited by a friend of a friend,” Craig grumbles.

Tweek hates himself. That would never change. He stays quiet as the two boys lead him inside and take him upstairs to the room he was in before, to which he finds out is Craig’s room. He apparently shares this house with Clyde and two other boys. 

Kenny leaves to go grab Kyle, and it’s now just Craig and him alone in his room. The alcohol is still buzzing in his system, and he feels himself shake from the cold. 

Craig gives him a change of clothes and lets him go into the bathroom to change, saying he can take a shower and clean up.

Tweek goes into the bathroom, catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror and cringing, his shoulders scrunch up and he had to look away. He strips off all his clothes and turns on the shower. Waiting for it to heat up, he wills himself to look at himself again.

All bloody, as he was used as pretty much a human punching bag for about five minutes before they decided to throw him into the pool. Tweek still felt pretty drunk, but he wasn’t as drunk as he felt before he was thrown into cold water. His hands meet his face and he does his best to not break down in tears right then and there.

People at his high school used to provoke him and make him angry so that he would fight them, sometimes he won, but he was never praised for it. Instead they made him feel even worse for it, Tweek really hated fighting people. His skin crawls with the familiarity of his childhood self, someone who was so helpless and vulnerable that his peers and parents took advantage of that. Age-old trauma and nightmares haunted him in the darkest hours, making him incapable of taking care of himself sometimes.

He reminds himself then that he needs to go back to therapy, text his grandma, talk to her about what’s going on. She was his life line, without her he doesn’t know where he’d be. 

The only times Tweek has ever felt silence in his brain was earlier, when he was practically drowning, and when he would hide away from the world, unable to get out of bed to do anything, when he would stay there for so long he could be considered a living corpse at some point.

At some point he backtracks, feeling a hot stinging tear drip down his cheek and he quickly wipes it away, finally getting in the shower and standing beneath the burning hot water. It hurts so much, but he hardly cares, it’s cleaning him up at least. 

After he fully showers and cleans himself up, he changes into the clothes Craig gave him and opens the door. Craig is sitting on the bed, rubbing his head with a towel and looks back at him.

“How are you feeling?” He asked, and he offered for him to sit next to him, “Does anything hurt?”

Tweek blinks a few times and nods, “I’m fine.” Is what he decides, sitting next to Craig on the bed, “Are you…?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Craig shrugs, “I didn’t get touched by any of them because by the time I was jumping into the pool, Kenny already had one of them pinned down.”

“I-“ Tweek feels his stomach drop, “Where is Kenny?”

“I think he’s talking to Kyle in Clyde’s room,” Craig shrugs, “You should sleep.”

“Thank you,” Tweek blurts out, “You jumped into the pool and saved me. Thank you.”

“You were going to drown if I didn’t,” Craig says, “They basically— nevermind , they should be lucky that they even got away. They ran off like baby deers.”

“I feel awful,” Tweek admits, “I hate fighting people. But they taunted me, it was like something else took over my body.”

“It’s okay,” Craig puts a hand on his shoulder, “You’re better than me. I would’ve knocked their teeth out.”

“What, you’re telling me you’re a fighter?” Tweek jokes, and Craig laughs for a bit with him.

“Nah, not anymore, if it was little freshman Craig though, bam, teeth gone,” Craig mimics a punch and smiles, look over at Tweek, “You’re pretty sick though, you definitely did a good number on them, cause they were already bloodied up before Kenny got ahold of them.”

“You’re quite the bad boy then,” Tweek smiles the best he can at Craig’s little story, and Craig shrugs.

“What can I say? I’m just not like other boys,” Craig laughs towards the end of his sentence, putting them in a soft silence that Tweek couldn’t find himself uncomfortable in. Then he remembers.

“I should probably thank Kenny too,” Tweek blurts out suddenly, “I need to see him.”

His body moves before his brain does and he stands up, and Craig tells him where Clyde’s room is.

When he knocks on the door, the voices go quiet and the door swings open to reveal Kenny standing there. Then, without a moment to spare, the tall dirty blonde flings himself at Tweek and engulfs him in a hug, squeezing the life out of him and practically knocking them over.

“I was so scared,” Kenny whispers, “I saw Craig run off towards the pool and— god, fuck— I immediately took off and followed him because I knew something wasn’t right and then I saw them throw you into the pool, and that’s when I just lost it and tackled them— and Craig dived after you! And holy shit, Jesus Christ, I was afraid you were going to drown—“

“Kenny— Kenny I’m okay,” Tweek pulls away slightly to look up at the taller, “I’m a bit shaken up but I’m fine.”

“You should tell Kyle that because he almost had an aneurysm when he saw Craig pull you out of the pool,” Kenny points to the bed where Kyle is distracted and ranting on the phone to someone angrily.

Tween nods, then steps into the room to where Kyle can see him, and the redhead puts whoever he’s on the phone with on hold and leaps to his feet. He grabs Tweek’s arms and sighs in relief.

“Dude, holy shit!” Kyle says, “Are you okay? Where does it hurt? Did you clean the wounds well, and how are your lungs feeling!? I was on the phone with Stan and he said he and Clyde couldn’t find those douchebags anywhere— can you believe the audacity of them to be such dicks at a party they weren’t invited to?”

“Right…” Tweek replies, “I started it though. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“You were defending yourself,” Kyle corrects, “Plus, you didn’t try to drown them in a pool.”

“I guess so.” 

Kyle looks at him longingly, then sits back down to continue on the phone.

He walks back over to Kenny and he looks up, “I kinda want to just go home.”

Tweek looks away, heading towards Craig’s room to see if he left his keys and phone in there.

Knocking on the door before entering, Craig greets him and hands him his jacket, saying he found it on the ground in the kitchen. Tweek mentally thanks his past self for taking it off, because if he didn’t he would’ve had to probably buy a new phone. He clicks his phone on, seeing text messages from an unknown number.

Unknown

Baby

It’s me, your momma. I miss you so much.

I know you’re mad at me but you should understand 

I did it to help you

You were mentally sick

It was so hard on me and your father

You should’ve helped us, you’re our son

My baby boy

Sunshine? 

Tweek stares at the messages, his eyes brimming with tears. He wants to respond, he wants to respond so badly but his hands won’t type. His brain won’t pick out words to say, and most importantly he shouldn’t. She doesn’t deserve his response, she deserves nothing, she was awful to him and contributed just as much to his suffering as his father.

The nicknames, though, is what makes his stomach hurt the most. It reminded him of when he was a kid.

Tweek is four as sits in the grass of his backyard, in the background his parents are discussing something and looking over at him. He had begun getting nervous jitters and never wanted to leave his mothers side, opting to stay indoors and play with the toys his grandma had bought him. 

They at some point started arguing, but from birth, Tweek had already grown used to it and it was one of the only things that no longer gave him anxiety. 

He looks back to his mom, who is pressing her hands against her temples and just letting her husband spew whatever. And then she looks at him, and her face momentarily falls, but then goes back to angry.

“You want to argue in front of our son?” She spits, “He just needs help. What are we going to do about this? He probably got ADD from your side of the family.”

“Mine? Your family is as spastic as mine!”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, really!”

“We need to do something about his disorder,” his mother said, her voice had calmed down and she looked down, “We can’t deal with whatever is wrong with him.”

“I think I know someone that can help with it.” His father responds, “But we can’t tell anyone what we’re going to do…”

Tweek looks back at his toys and picks one up, perhaps his mother and father would want to play with him? He picks up the toy train and runs to his parents.

“Can we play?” He asks, “I-I made a new s-story for the trains.” He nervously fiddles with the toy and his father shakes his head.

“Me and your mother are talking right now, child,” he responds. His mother looks angrily at the man, and leans down to kiss his forehead.

“Baby boy, mommy and daddy are talking right now, okay?” She cooed, “We can play soon, just give us a few more minutes. Sing that song you do when you wait. Alright?”

“Yes mommy,” Tweek says.

“Thank you, sunshine,” she pinches his cheek and sends him away, and Tweek sits back in the grass. 

Not too far from him is the drink his parents had made for him, it was some weird bitter drink that they said he should drink because they’re good at making it. It tasted bad.

His parents never played with him, so he sat for hours singing his little waiting song, but his parents never came over to play with him. 

Tweek swallows the lump in his throat and quickly shuts off his phone, taking the jacket and wrapping it around his arm.

“I’m going to go home.” Tweek says, “I’m glad I found you. And thank you again. I’ll see you soon.”

He leaves the room and heads down the steps, already seeing Kenny was waiting by the door. 

“I can walk alone,” Tweek says quietly, “It’s alright.”

“I don’t think I’d feel comfortable without knowing you got home safe with my own two eyes,” Kenny replies, “Are you okay? You seem a little down.”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Tweek doesn’t make eye contact with Kenny as they both head outside, it’s cold as ever and the pair don’t walk shoulder to shoulder as they normally would.

It’s quiet now, as everyone is beginning to go to sleep and no one is on campus. Tweek sometimes wonders if he didn’t push for an apartment off campus if he would’ve ever made friends with Kyle and Kenny, because the only reason he probably met Kyle was because he was coming from a specific direction when Kyle had run into him. If he really thinks about it, his wrists still hurt a bit whenever he moves them a certain way.

As they get closer to the gates of the quad, Kenny stops them both and looks down at him. Tweek shivers a bit.

“You should wear my jacket, it’s cold outside,” Kenny points out, then he scans Tweek’s face, “You’re probably going to have a sore face for a bit. If you have it then put some medicine on the open wounds, okay?”

“Alright,” Tweek agrees, putting on the jacket around his arm looks away to continue walking.

“Tweek, you would tell me if something was wrong, right?” 

Honest? No, “Yeah, I would.”

His silence after his response is telling, and Tweek picks up his pace the closer they get to the street his apartment is on. Tweek feels uncomfortable out of nowhere, just needing to be alone in his apartment to avoid contact with other people. It was thankfully Friday, and he would have the rest of the weekend to spend alone and get himself put back together. 

The pair arrived in front of the apartment building, their walk had gone in complete silence after their exchange at the gate. Tweek paused before going in, turning to Kenny.

“Get home safe, Ken,” Tweek says, his voice cracks almost, but he manages. 

Kenny looks at him for a while longer and clears his throat, looking away, “Yeah. Of course. Text me if you need anything.”

Instead of an outward response, Tweek offers a slight smile and nod, then enters his building. When he makes the climb up the stairs, it’s when his gut begins wracking his body and making him feel insufferably guilty for everything that happened tonight. He shouldn’t have done what he did, no matter how many times someone says he was fine for what he did— he wouldn’t think that, it was useless and there was no point in defending him.

He takes a long, hot shower, even though he had taken one at Craig and Clyde’s, he still felt gross. His hair hadn’t even fully dried yet. Tweek sits in the shower with his arms wrapped tightly around his legs, his breathing labored as he allowed the hot water to pelt his skin. He knows that he needs to contact his grandma soon, give her an update, but he can’t seem to face her and now that his mother has somehow miraculously gotten out of jail and messaged him, it feels all hope is lost.

Finally, he washes himself and gets out of the shower, he brushes his teeth, and then decides against taking his medicine to sleep. 

Hours pass and Tweek remains awake on his bed, he regrets not taking his medication, but it’s pointless now. The time is nearing five am, and all he was able to do was scroll through different articles on his phone and look at videos on YouTube occasionally. However, soon enough he had fallen asleep, whatever time it might’ve been. 

Tweek sleeps for almost ten hours before he finally awakens with a startle, a nightmare probably, and he rolls onto his back, staring at the ceiling and processing just waking up. His head is pounding and the sound of the AC is rumbling in his ear.

He reaches for his phone and it’s dead, so Tweek groans and mentally drains having to wake up and do anything productive. Tweek can hardly feel his face from how numb it feels. Not minding that, he feels his brain lagging and fogging over. 

Oh, great. 

He knew this was coming, the period of time where he can just tell that a depressive episode is creeping upon him, but he doesn’t know when. Tweek feels like it’s already here, as nothing feels real and his self worth is decreasing more by the second. Times like this he feels useless, so lost and confused as to how he’s made it this far in life. 

Tweek would never kill himself, but his thoughts often spiral to the most tragic and horrific ways he could do so, he would wonder if he would be able to see everyone’s reactions to him doing it, too, or when they get the news. It’s a disgusting feeling that digs into his skull and reminds him about how fucked up he is. 

Pulling the blankets over his head, he decides he will just stay in bed for the rest of the day and not get up, as he can't commit to that. Nor will he charge his phone, as it had dropped onto the floor and he couldn’t even make the effort to reach down and get it.

His medication is screaming for him to take it, saying he doesn’t want to deal with the withdrawal, Tweek scoffs though, one missed dosage won’t do anything. He’d be fine, he needed to learn to live without them anyways, as he’s growing up and needed to figure out how to live and move through the world without medication keeping him sane.

He just really needed to get through this. Alone .

After many hours of just staring at his blank wall, he finally drifted off to sleep, even if it wasn’t peaceful, it was still sleep. 

When he wakes up this time, it’s three am and he feels better than he did before. So, after he plugs in his phone, he actually gets out of bed and uses the bathroom, gets a glass of water, and then lays back in his bed into the warmth of his comforter. He picks his phone up and unlocks it, he sees just about a hundred texts from Kenny and Kyle alike, and then a few from Craig,

Kenny

do u want to get lunch with me and Kyle?

helloooooooo

tweeeeeek

alrighttyyy you’re probably sleeping 

4:45 PM

ok man wake upppp me and kyle wanna show u smth

a new song

tweek :(

kyle is sad walking everywhere bc ur not responding 

:’(

love u man

why won’t my messages send

6:32 PM

alright it’s been too long

where r u

???

hello

tweek 

dude

t

w

e

e

k

dude i’m worried

10:12 PM

alright 

ok

youre probably not even on ur phone

bc 

like idk 

i just hope you’re okay

Kyle

TWEEK

HELLO

Fhsjdjsjdjsjdjsjdj

Hegebshfudhrhehrhd

Ieurjendjshfjsjdj 

Ok

Fine :|

6:50 PM

pls answer bro

I love u 

I’ve only known you for like 

A week and i would move a mountain for u

Respond soon okay 

2:12 AM

me and ken r going to break down your door

I swear

We miss u

It’s been too long without Tweek </3

My heart is breaking 

While it’s endearing, it does make him feel guilty for not responding or bothering to turn his phone on, so he typed a quick response to his friends.

I’m fine.

Don’t worry 

Just had my phone turned off because 

Uh

I needed to think about some stuff

Oh yeah, let me just say I slept for 19 hours of the entire day, and tell them I didn’t take my medication that makes me not a flaming torch of misery, anxiety, and psychosis. Yeah, let’s tell them that. Tweek shakes his head and opens Craig’s messages, they’re nothing about how he’s doing thankfully.

Craig :)

Hey

It’s Craig 

what kindve music do u like

?

12:30 AM

i think you would like this song

[Spotify Link: Halah - Mazzy Star]

u should watch interestellar if you haven’t 

Good night :)

Thanks. I’ll listen

I haven’t seen it

I’ll watch it

He turns off his phone, wills himself to get out of bed, and goes to his kitchen. Tweek also decides he probably should eat something, as the pain in his stomach isn’t giving him any mercy. So, he makes a cup of ramen and opens his laptop to type in the song that Craig had sent him.

Pressing play, he sits on his couch and rests his eyes, the noodles cooling down on his coffee table.

“…Well I think I see another side

Maybe just another light that shines

And I look over now through the door

And I still belong to no one else

Maybe I hold you to blame for all the reasons

That you left…”

Tweek is standing with Kenny and Kyle, after a month long depressive episode and them quite literally forcing him to make an appearance in the outside world that wasn’t school or the quad, he had finally just accepted it. And by the time early November rolled around, he was doing a lot better mentally. During all of this, Tweek finally got a therapist, they took him to lunch and memorized his favorite foods. Let him sleepover at their dorms, threw little parties with just them, Craig, Clyde, and their other friend Token who they had met. 

He started taking his medication again, blocked his mothers number, he watched the sunset a million times and grew to love the smell of the air after it rained. For the first time, in possibly forever, Tweek had found out what it meant to love himself and what it meant to be loved by others, that weren’t his grandma of course.

The job he had gotten was at a convenience store just down the road, his friends came to visit him on his first day and then spent the next hour writing a review on Google.

So, now, a month later, he’s standing with his close friends and waiting for Stan and Craig to show up so they could go to dinner.

“You know, they said they’d be here ten minutes ago,” Kyle pointed out, he leaned his head against the wall of the restaurant and looked to Kenny, “I’m going to somehow blame this one you.”

Kenny squints, his eyebrows lacing together with a spiteful look, “Oh yeah? My fault… sure.”

“You’re the one who suggested we meet at the restaurant, we could’ve just all linked and then went,” Kyle replies, “Plus, it’s funny blaming things on you.”

The dirty blonde smacks Kyle, which causes them to break out in a playful wrestle. When Kenny has Kyle in a loose headlock, the red headed boy smacks his thigh, “You dipshit! Tweek help me!”

“I’m pretending to not know you guys,” Tweek looks the other way as the pair continues to fight. 

Finally, the two black haired boys emerge from the other side of the street and greet Tweek, Stan rolls his eyes when he sees Kenny and Kyle fighting.

“Really guys?” Stan says as he grabs Kyle and yanks him away from Kenny, and shakes his head, “You two are always going at it.”

“Kenny started it!”

Kenny’s mouth dropped and he pointed an accusatory finger at Kyle, “No way, he definitely did.”

Tweek watches the trio now bicker with each other as they head towards the entrance of the restaurant, and Craig stays behind to walk with him.

“Hey, T, how’s it going?” Craig smiles, “Babysitting duty?”

“Feels like it,” Tweek laughs a bit, “I’m okay. What about you?”

“Same, pretty much, I’m making this film project and it’s sort’ve a pain in the ass though,” Craig hums, then kicks a stray rock, “I can’t think of what to make it about. It’ll come to me eventually, but it’s sort’ve ticking me off.”

“Yeah, you’ll get it soon enough— inspiration that is—“

Craig offers a hearty laugh and looks at the door of the restaurant, seeing the trio finally enter and sighs. The air has grown colder now, so his breath is seen as a cloud. His cheeks have also gone a bit red and his imperfect skin, but perfect all the same, shines with the sun that was fading behind all the buildings.

In all honesty, Craig was probably the most attractive person he has ever seen. And on top of it, his personality showed through and ignited a small warmth in Tweek’s stomach. He might’ve had a small crush on the taller boy, but it was nothing that he could admit or confess. Craig wouldn’t feel the same, and Tweek doesn’t know if it’s just because Craig was the first person that was nice to him. 

He felt like a middle schooler who is too shy to talk to their crush, opting to dote from afar. They finally enter the restaurant and find where the other boys have been sitting, Kenny looking at them with a light glare in his eyes.

“What took you guys so long?” Kyle questions, raising an eyebrow. He smirks a little as he looks at Tweek.

“We were just catching up,” Craig shrugs, sitting down with Tweek. 

Kenny’s eyes are still on Tweek’s, looking knowing, and a little sad. Although Tweek doesn’t know why, he tries to ignore it and focuses on deciding what he was going to eat. Since becoming friends with the group, he’s been much better about eating, and was extremely happy when he had actually put on weight instead of losing it.

He actually feels happy, too.

After they finish dinner, they all walk downtown to hang out a little longer. Tweek is walking with Kenny as Craig and talking to the other two, the dirty blond occasionally bumping his shoulder and sighing.

They take turns pointing out people and giving them a life story that probably isn’t true, and when the trio ahead of them stops to chat in the park they stop not too far away.

“What do you think our life story from a stranger would be?” Kenny questions, he looks at a pair of teenagers sitting on a park bench, “I guarantee that’s their first date. She suggested the dinner place and he suggested hanging out in the park after. To spend more time together.”

Tweek shrugs, “Nah. They’re definitely two spies on a mission to save the park and they just so happened to be dressed up as teenagers to avoid suspicion.”

“Yeah, that tracks,” Kenny nods, “But seriously, what do you think our story would be?”

“Two boys are actually uncover heros, wonder Tweek and mysterion— that’s you by the way— and we are protecting our friends, but they don’t know our secret identity so we have to run off before they can see us change,” Tweek makes a fist and Kenny grins, bringing his hand up to push it down.

“You’re way more creative than me. I was gonna say two homeless guys meet and become best friends,” Kenny shakes his head, “I like the super hero one way more though. It’d be dope to be Mysterion and do whatever he does.”

“It looks like they're waiting for us,” Tweek suddenly says, “Let’s go?”

The pair jogs up to the trio, waving and listening in on whatever conversation Kyle and Stan were having at the moment. Craig was standing there with his hands together, slightly rubbing them.

Without thinking, Tweek took his gloves off and grabbed Craig’s hands to put them on, making Craig slightly jump and look down, he chuckles, “It’s okay-“

“No, your hands are cold and you don’t have good jacket pockets,” Tweek mentions, he slides the other glove on Craig’s hand and puts his hands back down, “Besides. I’m not that cold anymore, so you can use them until we get back to wherever, okay?”

“Alright, thank you Tweek,” Craig reaches up, ruffling Tweek’s blonde hair and smiling. 

Kenny clears his throat and crosses his arms, looking away with a defeated expression. Out of nowhere, Kyle suddenly hollers.

“Stan!” 

The group watches as Stan takes off down the street with Kyle’s hat, unfortunately Kyle is probably ten times faster than Stan, so they collide and land on the grass, laughing. They wrestle a bit as Kyle tries to get his hat back, and all Tweek can do is watch in awe.

He’s happy, and momentarily he forgets that winter is coming soon.

Tweek never enjoyed winter month holidays, it was full of fake happiness and the unforgiving bitterness of the cold. He also would just get random Christmas cards from relatives he never cared about, and they never really cared about him either. His grandma was the only one whoever made an effort for him.

Also, during the winter, his depression would hit him at random points— despite being better, he couldn’t be better forever, so he had to settle with being happy sometimes. It wasn’t like he was always depressed throughout the entirety of winter, but there were days that were worse than some. His discussions with his therapist had told him his brain automatically correlates bad things that have happened to winter, so it could be a trigger, and the anniversary of the most traumatic moments in his life could be the worst of it. Like when he found out his parents were drugging him and saw them being escorted by police, or the time his middle school bullies beat him until he passed out and left him to die in the harsh winter until a cop saw him lying on the side of the road. 

Around the time he was fourteen, he began showing early signs of bipolar disorder. He had discovered it ran heavily on his father’s side, meaning that it was more than likely going to be something he would have to deal with. Tweek remembers when his outbursts started becoming more common, from what was just simply mood swings had slowly turned into him screaming and punching his bed. In the end of it all, he would sink to the floor, wallowing in pity and sobbing out apologies. There was a time where his mental state had gotten so awful, that he had to be put in the mental hospital for almost a month. 

During that time, he had fought two of the nurses, screaming and throwing shit to the ground. He had to be sedated at one point and that was when it finally registered to them that he was definitely of inheritance to the long running bipolar disorder in his family. They started him on antipsychotics to which mellowed his intense feelings and mood swings. 

Right before they began putting him on antipsychotics, he had fallen into an intense manic episode that was probably scary for the doctors and other in care patients as well. He was usually so reclusive and dead-looking, so to see him in such a happy state wasn’t something they were expecting just yet.

Tweek left the mental hospital on a new medication to add to his collection, and on the borderline felt like a shell of a human. All the kids at school knew he was at a mental hospital, because his grandma had called the hospital during one of his bad depressive episodes and got them to transport him there. She couldn’t get him out of bed, so that was her only way of getting him help. With that, all the kids that lived near him saw him being wheeled out on a gurney and the rumor (truth) had been spread quick.

He remembers the sting of the feeding tube, he hadn’t been able to eat anything for that entire week and his body was fighting for nutrients he didn’t have. 

But in the end, he somehow ended up alive.

He somehow wished his life was a little different, if he wasn’t constantly having to run from his past and act as though nothing was wrong. His current friends didn’t even know the full story, they just knew he had to take his meds and that was it.

Part of him wishes they just knew everything, but the other half is thankful they don’t. It was too much pressure and he didn’t want to be treated like fragile glass. If there was one thing he hated the most, it was the idea that people had to treat him like he’d break.

He glared at the empty station, it was far too late and cold for anyone to be out and about. His cold hands stayed put in the comfort of his winter jacket, and his hair was encapsulated by a thick wool hat that covered his ears. It was sort’ve like the one Craig wore, but not as bulky, and his hat was knit. 

Tweek stares at the empty tracks, for a moment his mind wanders to if he just jumped in front of the moving train, how quick the death would be, if he’d feel anything. He stares longer and comes to the conclusion it would be an instantaneous death, as the impact would kill him. Unless somehow he miraculously landed in a position just in time for the train to go over him perfectly, like in the scenes of an action movie. The more he stares, the more he feels the pull of his depressed mindset to make him do the jump.

However, the moment he’s standing at the yellow painted pavement, a shrill ring breaks his entire thought process and he jumps back, his heart racing and he feels stupid for ever even considering such a thing. 

Tweek did not want to die.

He answers the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey! Hi.”

“Oh, what’s up Craig?”

“Duh, did you read the caller ID?”

“I— No, I kinda just answered it without thinking.”

“Ah, right. Okay. How are you?”

Tweek brings two fingers to his pulse, then shakily takes a deep breath, “Yeah, I’m good. You?”

“I’m good. Are you at the train station?”

“Yeah- evening walk.”

“At two am? When it’s 20 degrees outside?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Tweek, what station are you at?”

“Uh- the one by my apartment.”

“Why?” There’s rustling in the background.

“Fresh air?” 

“Mm. Okay. Are there any trains coming this late?”

“I’ve seen a few.”

“Ah, cool.”

“Is there a reason you called?”

The rumbling of a train nears and Tweek stares at the tracks, hearing more movement in the background on Craig’s side.

“I don’t know, I felt like I needed to call you. Just to chat and stuff.”

“Okay.”

“Did you know in the movie Interstellar that they developed a new CGI?”

“No. That’s cool, though.”

“And the interviews were real.”

“Wow.”

“If you were to watch any movie a hundred times, what would it be?”

“Before Sunrise.”

“Oh, good one. Did you know the screenplay was written in eleven days?”

“I didn’t. But that’s cool.”

It’s quiet on the other end, and if Tweek was listening harder he would’ve heard the honk of a car horn from the other end of the phone.

“I like talking to you, Tweek.”

“Why? I’m not an interesting person.”

The few people that got off the train were no longer in the station, leaving Tweek alone once more. He stares at the train tracks longer, thinking of the voltage that would probably kill him if he landed on them. He hums, and Craig begins to speak.

“I think you’re interesting. You’re not afraid to be to the point. Your rants make sense. The way you laugh at the shit Kenny and Kyle do is cute. Sometimes, from what I’ve noticed, you stare at people on the streets and whisper things to yourself. It’s endearing in a way. I always want to know what you’re saying about them.”

“Oh. Um—“

“And you always somehow make everyone’s day better. Just your existence is enough to give anyone a warm heart.”

Tweek blinks, a bit of warmth touching his cheeks as he processes his words. He stares even harder at the train tracks, never moving, but staring and thinking. His mind takes him places and he doesn’t know how it gets there. 

“So I think you’re pretty cool. Your taste in movies is romcoms and stupid action movies, but you hate horror movies. You like weather that’s in the middle of cold and hot. You hate storms. You like them when they’re watchable from a distance, though. You love cats but you’re allergic to them which is why you won’t get one.”

A small rattle on the tracks signals another train coming, and it’s silent on the other end of the phone. Tweek glares at the oncoming train, his eyes squinted as he looks on, his hair blowing everywhere with how close he was to it.

“Tweek,” a voice calls, it makes him turn around and he sees Craig standing by the steps. His jacket is lazily thrown on, his hat isn’t put on right, and he’s standing there looking like a God nonetheless. Craig looks at him knowingly, his eyes locked on him and then the train itself.

Tweek’s heart skips a beat, and the train comes to a stop as Craig gets closer to him, “Let’s go for a ride, yeah?”

Tweek nods, and the pair get on the train. It’s significantly warmer. The cart is empty, so the two of them sit next to each other and Craig pulls his phone out.

“Hey, do you remember when we first met?”

“Yeah, on the plane.”

“So, have you ever listened to The Cure?” Craig asks cheekily, Tweek shakes his head.

“No, I haven’t,” Tweek jokes.

“Now you will, this song is called ‘Jupiter Crash’,” Craig smirks, “I hope you’ll like it.”

Craig puts one of his ear buds in Tweek’s ear, and then puts one in himself. The instrumental fills his ears for a while, and then it gets to the chorus. As it plays, it reminds him of when he first got to his apartment, before he rekindled with Craig. It was a dull moment in his life, but he’s thankful for what came after it. He was doing better than he ever had before.

“…Yeah that was it

That was the Jupiter crash

Drawn too close and gone in a flash

Just a few bruises in the region of the splash…”

Tweek leans his head against the window. His mind races, there is no way Craig just randomly decided to call him. He feels slightly like a burden that Craig had gone out of his way and interrupted his night just to hang out with him. But Craig is his friend, so he tries to grasp that it was okay that he did what he did. But why? How did he know, could he read his mind or something?

“How did you know to call me?” Tweek lets out, “You never randomly call me.”

“I felt like something wasn’t right,” Craig replied, “You’ve been off the entire week. I was thinking about stuff and then I felt like something was wrong. So I called you. And I was kinda right.”

“How so?”

“You were going to kill yourself, weren’t you?” 

A pin drops, through the sound of the music, a loud, indescribable bang sounds through Tweek’s mind and he feels like he is going to just hurl everywhere. This was way too much pressure.

“I wouldn’t ever kill myself,” Tweek says, he is serious, very serious, “I just think about it sometimes. But never in a million years would I go through it.”

“I believe you.”

It’s a little awkward as the song fades.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed, or anything, we don’t even have to talk about it if you’re not comfortable with that,” Craig says, “I like to think just having someone next to you, that cares about you, can be life’s greatest gift.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Tweek whispers, “I’m glad we’re friends. Um— I care about you too, you know.”

“Then it’s mutual, I heard there’s a place in downtown Manhattan that’s open twenty four hours, are you hungry?” Craig asks him, he looks at Tweek when he says it, his eyes trailing around his face.

“I could eat.”

“Then it’s settled, we’ll get some food and then we can go back to wherever, have a sleepover or something.”

“Are we little kids?” Tweek smiles a bit, “But sure. Which place are we having this sleepover?”

“We can go to mine,” Craig suggested, “And… um, if you want to talk about anything there I’m all ears. It’s okay if not. But if you want to.”

“Thank you, Craig.”

They get off a few stops later and go to the small restaurant, there’s only about two people in it and they’re located further from their own table, they sit in silence for a second looking over their menu, before Craig finally speaks up.

“My project is almost done,” he mentions, “It’s just nature and friends. I don’t really know what else to make it about, I would do sci-fi— but it’s kinda hard to do that shit if I don’t have money.”

“That’s really cool still, I-I knew you’d find something to do,” Tweek smiles, he closes the menu and shrugs, “I have a huge performance right before winter break, you and the gang should come.”

Craig’s face lights up, “How come I’m just finding out about this?”

“I didn’t think it was that important, but since you guys are my friends I think you should come… it’s in two weeks,” Tweek smiles a little, but it slightly falters, “My piece isn’t done yet. I’m worried I won’t finish it.”

“You got this, Tweek,” Craig replies comfortingly, he offers a thumbs up and the waitress finally comes up to them.

After their order is taken they sit in a comfortable conversation, about school and movies they should see together. Craig enthuses about just about every sci-fi movie he can think of and says Tweek should give them a try. Tweek eventually agrees and it’s under the condition that Craig has to be there with him. 

When they’re done and already at Craig’s place, the taller boy gives him a change of clothes and hums a bit before grabbing some blankets.

“You can take the bed, I’ll take the floor.”

“What!? No way, you take the bed,” Tweek stammers, “It’s your bed, man!”

“Nah, okay, alright,” Craig rubs his neck, “Okay. Are you fine with sharing? I don’t want you to sleep on the floor, I can’t do that. You’re my guest.”

Tweek thinks for a moment, “Okay, yeah, sure. I don’t want you on the floor and you don’t want me on the floor. So that works. Right.”

The two of them settle on the bed and Tweek lays down, staring at the blank ceiling. Craig soon lays down next to him and sighs, “Long day, huh?”

“Yeah,” Tweek replies. He momentarily thinks if he should actually tell Craig what was going on. Hell, the guy had some superhuman power and figured out that he was thinking about killing himself or something. How does he even start? Where does he start? How does he get the point across that he absolutely doesn’t want to die, or ever actually kill himself. It would be too awful. Gruesome.

Tweek turns on his shoulder and looks at Craig, “Craig…”

“What’s up?” He swings his head to look at the blonde, his eyes looking into his own, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah… I’m fine, but I think I should just talk okay?” Tweek says, “Just… talk. And please don’t interrupt, okay?” 

Craig nods and motions for him to continue talking.

“So. Um, yeah, basically I’m just really sorry, firstly, the thing is I have a lot of problems with mental health that stem from my childhood and I don’t want to get into huge details but shit like bipolar and anxiety— and other shit, I don’t know. I was violently bullied when I was in school, too, and never had a friend before I came here,” Tweek takes a deep breath, “I get in th-these head spaces that makes me think of how I can gruesomely die and what would happen if I die. W-Whether it’s an accident or by myself. I hate myself, I hate a lot of myself, to be more clear and there’s no winning in my world. I practice music because it’s the only thing I c-can do to convey my emotions without speaking.”

Craig is still watching him, his face unmoving as he watches the blond talk.

“And all my life I’ve had these awful dreams and I’ve been helplessly afraid of messing up. Almost all of the shit that has fucked me up in the past was during holidays and winter and it just fucking sucks. I’m so tired of feeling like I’m different from other people and that I stick out like a sore thumb or something— it-it fucking sucks,” Tweek sniffs, a tear rolling out of his eye and across his nose bridge. He closes his eyes, “But I’ve been so much better mentally since coming here, with you guys as my friends and I’m s-so grateful for you guys because you’re sincerely the best people I have ever met. And even if in ten years I don’t see you guys I know I’ll have become a better and more confident person. I just- thank you. I-I know this is a lot. But it’s the run down to the best I can filter myself so it’s okay if you have nothing to say.”

“Thank you for trusting me,” Craig whispers, he smiles a little bit, and then speaks again, “Don’t know if this is cheesy to say, but you’re a fucking warrior for getting this far. I’m proud and so happy for you.”

“No, not cheesy,” Tweek shakes his head, “It’s nice to hear, actually.”

“Well then that’s great,” Craig fully turns his body to face him, his eyes on his. 

If this was a movie, this would be where they would kiss and confess their undying love for each other, then they would hold each other for the rest of the night and wake up, and somehow manage to live the rest of their lives together despite only meeting a few months prior. 

But this is not a romantic comedy, nor a movie of any kind, it’s Tweek’s life that has somehow crafted into something he actually cares for. He has friends that care for him and him the same. Never would he have expected something like this to actually be his life. For what he promised would be a year where he slips under the radar and wouldn’t let anyone in his life, turned out to be anything but that.

“You make a cute face when you’re thinking,” Craig says, breaking his train of thoughts.

A blush creeps onto Tweek’s face and he looks away slightly, “Thanks…”

“Mhm, I’m tired as fuck though, and I’m sure you are too,” Craig closes his eyes and shuffles under the warmth of the blankets more, so Tweek follows in suit and rests his eyes. 

He’s not sure if he’d be able to sleep, but it was definitely enough silence and comfort to keep his thoughts at ease. 

When he wakes up, he’s only slept for about four hours, but it tracks for him. But Craig is still asleep soundly next to him, his steady breathing bringing comfort to Tweek and letting him know that everything was still real. 

Craig was so pretty when he slept, and contrary to what Kenny had said before when Tweek said he was going to hang out with him, he was not an asshole. Sure, he grumbled and flipped people off, or loudly stated his disinterest towards people, or the people in his film classes were apparently ‘fake’ film kids— but other than all that, the raven haired boy was a kind person who cared deeply about people. He had complex emotions, though he was usually straight-faced, stoic, and deadpanned a lot of what he said… he was also affectionate and knew how to word things in a way no one else could.

He was nice, and that’s what Tweek has come to finalize in his feelings about Craig. The boy was handsome, a film nerd, and enthused about the small things in life that made him who he was. Sure, everyone has their flaws, but if Tweek has learned anything, it’s okay to have those flaws. 

Just like him, his temperament and his reclusiveness, or the way he judged people way too quickly. He used to hate himself for it, he hates being angry and getting into fights, but now he’s better about it and has learned strategized ways of calming himself down before it got to that point with his therapist. 

The humming of what could only be the heater fills up the silence in the room with a white noise of some sort. Craig slightly shifts and his eyes slightly flutter open, sleep very apparent on them.

“I could feel you staring at me,” Craig mumbles, “Can you not sleep?”

“I’m not used to sleeping away from home,” Tweek whispers back quietly, “It’s nothing.”

“Is there anything I can do to make it more comfortable?” Craig asks, he widens his eyes and blinks a few times, reaching behind him to pull his phone off the side table, “Sheesh, it’s early. Are you tired?”

“A little…”

Craig opens his phone to YouTube and types in something along the lines of cats, then clicks it, “Sometimes watching videos can make you tired, we can watch them together.”

Tweek agrees and turns his body so it’s more comfortable to watch the video, he silently stares at the silly cats, doing silly things and seeing an amused grin over Craig’s face. It’s calm and sweet, so Tweek smiles a little too. He gets a little more comfortable and leans his head further into the pillow, his eyes grow a little heavier as the video continues, and eventually, somehow; he actually drifts to sleep.

And unbeknownst to him, he had definitely fallen asleep against Craig’s shoulder.

“Winter break is in two days!” 

The shrill sound of Kyle’s voice echoes through Tweek’s apartment, he closes the door behind him and then jumps onto the couch next to him, his green trapper hat almost flying off. Kyle leans against Tweek and looks up at him.

“Are you excited?” Kyle questions, “Your performance is tonight!”

Tweek glares down at his friend, “I am not excited at all.”

“Why not,” Kyle offers a pout and pokes Tweek’s cheek, making the blonde shake his head and look back at his sheet music.

“Something sounds off about my piece and I can’t figure out what it is.”

“Well, play it, maybe I can help you?” Kyle sits up and looks at his sheet music, he curls an eyebrow and hums, “It looks fine to me. Nothing out of the blue.”

Tweek nods, “That’s my problem. I’ve been practicing for the past two weeks and it just doesn’t seem right.”

Kyle purses his lips, “Maybe you need to like, add some lyrics or something. It seems like a pretty good set up for it.”

“Dude, I can’t write lyrics in eight hours,” Tweek says, “I don’t know. Here, just let me play for you.”

He pulls himself to the ground and lays his hands on his keyboard. Tweek sets everything up, then turns to Kyle, “Tell me the moment something sounds wrong.”

Kyle gives a thumbs up, letting Tweek begin.

It's rhythmic and soft, and then slowly builds up to we’re the keys get more intense and the melody fades from soft and sound, to something more harsh and spontaneous. His fingers work the keyboard quickly, and the sound is effortlessly beautiful. Slowly, after about twelve minutes, it begins fading again to the softness, and Tweek’s fingers begin gently hitting the keys and he comes to a soft stop. When he lets go of the keyboard, Kyle pats his shoulder.

“Dude, I think you’re thinking too hard, that was fucking phenomenal. I couldn’t put together a single wrong thing with that,” Kyle grins widely at him and moves over so Tweek can sit back down.

“Are you sure?” Tweek fiddles with his fingers, “I’m considered top of my class for my skill and it’s like— I don’t want to disappoint. This is a major part of my grade and it can get me recognized by big name musicians.”

“It sounds like a score for a super sad movie bro, it’s that good,” Kyle waves it off, “Like, if I was a huge rockstar and I saw you perform that I’d immediately want to sign you, kinda way.”

Tweek smiles a little, his phone going off from the coffee table and he grabs it to see who it is.

Craig :)

so lost on what to wear tonite

agah like fancy or casual

or can i wear my usual clothes

should i look fancy ??

Maybe like a button up and some jeans

Ooo… yeah.

i like thay idea

i knew i could trust u

“Ew,” Kyle groans, “Who’s messaging you and making you smile that hard?”

He leans over and Tweek’s ears heat up, “No one!”

“Oh come on,” Kyle nudges, “It’s Craig isn’t it? I see the way you guys act together. Do you have a crush…”

He playfully draws out the last part and pokes Tweek’s side, “Oooo….!”

“Stop- I don’t,” Tweek complains, making Kyle raise his brows, “Ok, maybe I do. But Craig doesn’t like me back so it’s whatever. Besides, he’s just being nice to me.”

“Wow, dude, are you sure you’re not a part of a romantic drama or something?” Kyle laughs and shakes Tweek’s shoulder, “That’s funny dude.”

“Don’t put these ideas in my head,” Tweek shakes his head, closing his eyes and then leaning forward to grab his sheet music, “He definitely doesn’t like me.”

“You’re hopeless,” Kyle stands up and goes to Tweek’s kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water from his fridge and leaning against the counter, “Think about it man. You guys are always being gross and cutesy together, he talks about you when you’re not even around. It’s like you hung the stars in the sky for him— I don’t know man. He seems pretty head over heels.”

“You’re going to make me crazy, Kyle,” Tweek sighed, “Anyways. Is Kenny and Stan coming tonight?”

“Yeah! Clyde and Token too!” Kyle grinned, “We’re excited to see you perform. You’ve been working so hard.”

“Agh, I’m so nervous I could die,” Tweek pressed his hands into his face, “But I know it’s stupid. I can do it. I just need to get on with it… get it all perfected… you know.”

“Oh trust me, band practice with Kenny is a nightmare,” Kyle laughs, and then his face flashes with a reminder, “Hey, have you seen those guys from the party since?”

“No, I think they’re just some losers. They probably aren’t even in college,” Tweek shrugs, “They probably measle their way into college parties all the time.”

“Maybe you taught them a lesson,” Kyle nudged, looking at his phone, “Okay. I gotta head out. I’ll see you tonight, Tweek!”

Tweek gathers all of his things and puts them in his bag, then heads to his bathroom to shower and get ready. He pours out his meds that he needs to take and then quickly strips to get in the shower.

He had about five hours before his performance, and about an hour of that would be getting to the theatre and practicing before the showcase. Tweek finish up with the shower twenty minutes later and then heads to his room, taking his black skinny jeans and button up out, he opts to not wear the tie. He then begins to fully towel dry his hair. Oh shit. His hair, it was usually wild and unkempt, so he dug through the items on his dresser and found his hair gel.

Taking a brush, he pulled through the knotted loose curls and put a small amount of gel in his hand and ran it through his hair pushing it back. But it didn’t stick, and his damp hair just poofed back up. So Tweek groaned, and poured more gel and ran it through his hair, keeping all his hair out of his eyes and combing it.

Thankfully, it finally stays down and he goes to rummage through his accessories that he had recently bought, wondering if he should wear jewelry with his outfit. Agh— no way. What if his finger somehow gets caught on it and he messes up!? Tweek steps away from the jewelry and sits on his bed, relaxing a bit. He needed to leave soon. 

Well, not super soon, like three and a half hours, but soon enough. Tweek runs his palms on his thighs and begins doing breathing practices, he goes over the music sheet in his head too, practicing the keys mentally in his head as he waits to leave. 

After he had probably waited two hours practicing on his head, he rushes to the living room and grabs his bag and then his keys, phone, headphones, and wallet. He had about an hour and half, but it was fine. Tweek double checks and makes sure he has everything before putting his jacket on and rushing out the door— locking it three times and then quickly going down the stairs. 

He decides to walk instead of run, as there really was no rush, and also because in the instance that he trips and gets hurt or something, or doesn’t pay enough attention and ends up getting hit by a bus or car— agh. Tweek shakes his head and continues his walk towards campus. He fiddles with his headphones and puts them over his ears to cancel out the access noise of the busy streets of Manhattan. 

Once he gets to the gates he heads straight for the theatre and pushes the doors open. There are no more than two other kids there and his professor who is talking to one of the two students. He takes his headphones off.

His professor looks over to him and smiles, then walks over to him and holds out his hand. Tweek nervously shakes it and his professor speaks, “Tweek! You’re early, huh? Well, you’re going to be going fourth, so be ready after Clare. Alright?”

“Yes, professor, um- where is the piano?”

“It’s going to be right on stage, actually, unfortunately they didn’t have another one, so you’ll have to just use that one for a little bit of practice before,” the professor nods and then walks away to talk to the other student.

This was so nerve wracking. He quickly sped down the aisle of the theatre and up the stage steps, he set down his things and pulled out his sheet music, setting it up.

More people come in the longer he practices, the doors haven’t opened yet. When he momentarily steps away and gathers his things so another person can practice, he notices the familiar face of Craig— oh shit. Fuck. 

Craig looks effortlessly handsome, he’s not wearing his usual chullo hat and instead his mildly long hair is semi-gelled back and he’s wearing a light blue button down — the top three undone — and black slacks, he notices Tweek and waves.

“Hey!” Craig walks over to the stairs Tweek had stopped on, and looks up, “Wanna come down?”

Tweek blushes, but nods nonetheless and walks down the steps, stopping at the last step, “You’re early! How’d they let you in?” 

“I said I was bringing you something,” Craig shrugged, “Your jacket is still on, you cold?”

“Oh!” Tweek quickly unzips his jacket and sighs, “I totally blanked on taking it off— ack!— I’m so dumb.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Craig smiles at him and gives him a one over, and then his eyes stop on his chest. Tweek’s heart rate spikes and he looks away from Craig, but before Tweek can say anything about it Craig laughs, “Your buttons are done wrong.”

“What!” Tweek looks down and his eyes widen, “Aw shit, what the hell!?”

“It’s all good, I can fix it, let’s go to a bathroom,” Craig takes his arm without warning and leads them to the bathroom just outside to doors, and then motions for Tweek to set his things down, “You’re silly. You must’ve been in a rush?”

“Ah- yeah, I can fix it myself—“ Tweek goes to take Craig’s wrists that are already moving towards his buttons, but the raven haired boy just shakes his head.

“I said I’ll fix it,” he tsks, he pulls out the shirt from where it’s tucked in, then undoes all of his buttons, “Do you want it all the way up? Or leave a button undone?”

“All the way up, thanks,” Tweek nods, he wanted to look more fancy. All the other kids did so he felt inclined. 

The taller boy begins to button him up carefully, making sure it’s all aligned and looks good. This is really intimate. Craig’s face is cute when he’s focusing— his eyes are so pretty. Is that color of grey even real? Tweek’s mind wanders as he stares at the tan boy in front of him. Maybe Kyle was right, but he shouldn’t give his hopes up just yet, because his life really is turning into a romantic comedy. How could he be so dumb to fall for someone this quick? Craig may or may not feel the same for him, but Tweek finds it hard to care if it meant their friendship would always be this intimate and close.

Craig’s been done for a second now, staring down at him and waiting for him to come back to earth, Tweek doesn’t notice until a hand lays on his shoulder and he jumps from the sudden touch.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Oh. 

Oh hell no.

“I have plenty of pennies, thanks though— and thank you for fixing my shirt!” Tweek panics and turns to go out the door, but Craig is quick and grabs his arm, making him spin around—  ah, this is slightly annoying, what are these signals he’s sending?! Tweek turns around, “What, man!? Jesus— sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“It’s okay,” Craig says, “I just wanted to say good luck.”

Tweek’s face contorts, and then he nods stiffly, “Thank you…”

The way his gaze lingers all over him is enough to make Tweek feel like he’s out of place. In truth, Craig has been slightly more shifty around him for the past few days and has been extra kind and wanting to be around him all the time. Craig’s hand holds his arm for a bit too long, but eventually Tweek moves forwards making the taller let go and wave awkwardly at him. 

How annoying. Tweek exited the bathroom and wrapped his arms around himself, Craig always did that— always was so intimate and sincere. Tweek hated it, well, hated that he couldn’t tell if Craig was just that affectionate or if he was genuinely interested in him. His nails dig into his biceps momentarily, but the moment he feels the sting he releases. God, Tweek looks behind him and slouches his shoulders, I am such an idiot. 

He goes to the back of the stage and sits down at one of the tables, his hands clasped in his lap and his eyes are trained to the floor. However, his line of sight is disturbed by a pair of fancy shoes.

“Hey, Tweek,” the voice says, and when he looks up, he’s met with probably one of the most annoying guys in his class. He thinks he’s so much better than anyone, even though he’s not. Kevin… whatever the hell his last name is. Tweek looks away and Kevin moves to be in his line of sight again, “Yo, I’m talking to you.”

“Okay, what do you need?” Tweek asks, his voice teetering with impatience. He hates interacting with this guy.

“Just wanted to tell you that I hope everything goes fine during your performance, his smile is shaky and his hands are crossed behind your back, “You are the best student in Professor Woods' class, so break a leg.”

Ugh, Tweek hums quietly, “You too. Thank you.”

Kevin turns on his heel and disappears behind a wall. Turning around, Tweek closes his eyes and steadies his thoughts, going back to a more tranquil state. As he did before he left, Tweek begins to play the sheet music in his head, his hands slightly moving as he thinks about the keys. 

Any good pianist has the keys memorized, as his grandma would say. It would always make Tweek feel better, because he devoted his entire life to his music and arts. He crafted small works and would play them for his grandma when he felt proud of them, too. She would always cheer him on.

Tweek continues this, until his Professor rushes around the corner and claps.

“Good evening students! Alright, so we are in a small break and performances will begin shortly, I would like everyone to line up in the order of the number I gave you,” he motions at the curtain, “We’ve got a full house tonight! So remember, deep breaths and focus on what’s in front of you. You all have been practicing for the entire semester and I’m so proud of how far you all have come!”

He waves for everyone to move, so Tweek quickly turns around and goes to grab his bag, but when he looked down it wasn’t where he had left it. His heart shattered into pieces. Fuck. God. Fuck!

Tweek quickly looks around and touches his chest, then trails up to his pulse on his neck. It’s too fast. It’s too fast. He feels like the walls are caving in, his hands shakily reach into his pocket and he pulls up his photos, desperately looking to see if he had taken a photo of them.

A comforting hand almost makes him jump out of his skin and fall to the ground, it’s Professor Woods. His eyes show concern as he looks up at him.

“Tweek, are you okay?” His eyes looks over his face, “What’s happened, son?”

Tweek takes in a shaky breath, “M-My bag with my sheet music isn’t where I l-left it— I s-s— swear I left it there! God, oh god, Professor, this isn’t good— i-it’s just disappeared!”

He looks up and sees Kevin’s eyes on him, there’s a glare in his eyes that sets off a fire in him. Tweek storms forwards and points a finger at him, “You! Where did you t-take my bag!”

Kevin throws a feign hurt look on his face, his hands up, “I didn’t touch anything!” 

Tweek is about to step forwards but Professor Woods holds his arm, “Tweek, let me handle this.”

“Kevin,” the professor's voice is stern, “Did you touch Tweek’s bag?”

“No, sir,” Kevin smiles, “Why would I do such a thing?”

The first person is called up and Tweek’s hands spasm, his eyes narrowing, “You have something out for me! What do you even mean!?”

Professor Woods presses his fingers against his bridge, “Okay, fine, if we find out that you did take his notes there will be consequences.”

Kevin falters a moment, “Well, I didn’t, the spaz probably forgot it somewhere.”

Professor Woods glares at him, “You watch your mouth, kid.”

Kevin rolls his eyes and turns away, and Tweek’s shoulders, and once anger, falls back into anxious twitches. 

His professor looks at him, “Tweek, I know for a fact you have everything memorized, I saw you practicing. You didn’t even look at your sheet music, you got this, kiddo. You’re capable of more than you think.”

Tweek hadn’t even thought of the fact he spent hours and hours a day studying every single piece of his sheet music. Although it was extremely inconvenient for him to not have it, he knew that he needed to remain calm. 

He breathes deeply, and then rubs his face, “You’re right, sir, I can do this. I have nothing to be afraid of.”

Professor Woods beams, “That’s what I’m talking about, kiddo.”

Tweek quickly gets in line, right behind a blonde girl and practices his breathing. His hands are still shaky, but he can only hope that they stop before he gets on stage. He watches spitefully as Kevin makes his way on stage and pulls out his sheet music, sitting down at the piano and starting his performance.

It’s more of a continuous classical piece, as if someone had just entered the royal palace. Tweek rolls his eyes, of course he would do that. However, during the end of his piece his finger slips and he presses the wrong key, throwing the entire thing off and very clearly messing him up as well. Kevin’s fingers stutter over the keys before finally getting back to where he was and closing out his performance. 

When he walks off stage, he sends daggers into Tweek’s brown eyes and shoulder checks him, which only pissed Tweek off more. His hands were no longer shaky, but his teeth were gritting and he had to shake off his nerves and give the best show of his life if he was going to one up Kevin.

The blonde girl goes out on stage with her violin and waves to the crowd of people with a smile. Her confidence is admirable and she begins her piece. It’s as beautiful as Tweek would expect, especially the fact it took different turns in the tone and was enhanced by her facial expressions. 

He was next. 

Slowly, he practices his breathing as the girl slowly comes to a stop. The crowd goes far more intense with their clapping than they did for Kevin and the boy before him, which made his stomach feel even worse. He had to perform without his sheet music too, which made everything way more tense. In his mind, he envisions the paper, slowly regrounding himself from straying too far off the deep end.

His name is called, and then it’s showtime. Tweek doesn’t greet the crowd as he walks to the piano, he momentarily looks and sees in the front row that his friends are waving and cheering him on. But, for some odd reason, he doesn’t see Craig. Tweek shakes his mind from the thought and sits down.

Closing his eyes, he lets his fingers trace over the keys, he blocks the quietness from the crowd and slowly places his fingers on the keys for the beginning, and then starts. Tweek’s finger moved with muscle memory and the fact he knew his piece by heart, just like his Professor had said. As he continues, his heart rate steadies and his hands still, he’s getting to the drop where he goes from the highest build up, to a sudden decline that would bring in the middle half of his piece. 

Tweek feels it in him, every movement and sound that fills his ears strickingly reminds him of how far he has come, just how much he had grown and changed as a person. He was no longer the loner, the recluse who feared everyone and judged people off the minorest details. He had become someone, he wasn’t a nobody, he was no longer someone who hated the world for ruining his life.

His music described him, his slow melancholic life taking one-eighty the moment he came to NYU, the moment he met Kyle, and all the other friends he had made. Tweek had finally found his place in the world and he couldn’t be more proud of himself. Tweek smiled, it was painful as he held back his tears, but as he knew the end to his piece was coming to an end, he held his breath and slowed his movements down. Opening his eyes, he faded himself out and rested his hands on the keyboard.

It’s silent for a moment, but before Tweek can release his breath the crowd erupts and he slowly stands up. His eyes are finding it hard to reach the crowd, but the moment he sees Clyde jumping up and down with joy for him, with tears in his eyes Tweek finally breaks. 

The tears spill, his stomach twists with anything but anxiety. He releases his breath and when he looks to the back of the theatre, he can see Craig standing there clapping for him too. He doesn’t even bother to care why Craig wasn’t sitting with the others, he just felt so relieved. 

When he exits the stage, his Professor engulfs him in a hug and beams, “I knew you could do it.”

A few other people cheer at him, like they had done the others, and he can see Kevin standing there with his arms crossed and his ears red. He looks beyond pissed, and Tweek feels a bit of cockiness in his soul. Ha.

“Hey, Professor Woods,” a student says, “Um, I found this with Kevin’s belongings on my way back from the bathroom. It says Tweek’s name on it, I don’t know if it’s important.”

Kevin pales as Professor Woods turns to him with a glare, “That’s an immediate fail for you.”

He takes the bag and hands it to Tweek with a sincere look, then back at Kevin, “Tweek being one of my best students and being able to perform so beautifully still after you tried to sabotage him just proved why he’s at the top and you’re not.”

Kevin scoffs and rushes away to wherever the hell he’s going to, and Tweek immediately pulls his phone out to text his grandma about his performance and that he’d send it to her as soon as they get the videos from the film class. 

Hey nanna!

I just performed. It went super well

Wish you were here <3

I did well. The video will be sent soon.

I love you ❤️

Nanna

Oh my goodness

❤️ I knew you could do it

So proud every day Nanna loves you so much

Good job my boy ❤️ So good

Tweek sits in the back and claps for the rest of his classmates when they go, and by the time it’s all done Tweek can finally go down and see his friends. He rushes over to them and Kenny is the first to engulf him in a hug, and Kyle is right after. 

“That was incredible!” Kenny beams, he shakes Tweek’s shoulders a bit as he pulls away, “Did you perform without your sheet music?! I didn’t see you set it up?”

“Um— yeah, I lost it,” Tweek says sheepishly, opting to not tell the full story. He lets Kenny hug him one more time before Clyde and Token finally squeeze in and hug him too.

“Wow, dude, wow,” Clyde says tearfully, “I thought I was a master pianist but you!? Beyond masterful. Too exquisite and perfect!” His wet eyes don’t go unnoticed, and Token laughs playfully beside him.

“Yeah, man, that was killer,” Token side hugs him, letting his arm hang around Tweek’s shoulders as he looks at the group, “Anyways. I’m fucking starved, man, that was way too long. Should we get dinner or something?”

“Yes!” Kyle chimes in, “We can do it as a like, hurrah for Tweek!” 

“You guys don’t have to do that,” Tweek says, his cheeks tinting slightly, “It wasn’t that big of a deal.”

“Dude, you killed it, let us treat you to something to eat,” Kenny groans, “You’re deserving of an award!”

Tweek rolls his eyes, “Fine. But I get to choose the place we eat!”

Clyde whines a bit, but eventually agrees and the group continues to chat a bit. Although, about ten minutes later there is a clearing of the throat from behind Tweek and he turns around.

There stand Craig, in all his glory, with an awkward look on his face, he swallows harshly before speaking, “Um, firstly— great job! That was really beautiful and I genuinely teared up and everything,” Craig looks away, his eyes looking at all the other families and groups of people standing around, “Er— could we possibly talk outside? If that’s okay?”

Kyle’s eyes widen, and he grins widely. He does a wiggly dance and ushers Tweek forwards, answering for him, “Yeah! Go for it, Tweek is totally available right now!”

Tweek rolls his eyes, but nods, “Y-Yeah! Sure, I’ll be back guys.”

The pair walks outside the theatre, Craig taking them to a secluded area where they’re by the fountain and away from all the crowds. He nervously shifts and looks around, seeming as though he was trying to find the words to say.

“Is everything okay?” Tweek asks, and Craig looks at him nervously.

“Yeah! It’s just—“ he stammers a bit and then takes a deep breath, “Okay, Jesus, how the fuck do I even say this out loud?”

“Um, take your time, it's okay!” Tweek reassures, he feels jittery from what Craig could possibly say. Did he do something bad? What happened between the time they were in the bathroom to right now? Why was Craig so nervous? That guy never got nervous!

Tweek offers a smile and plays with his hands, his eyes casting down and he wanders with his thoughts a bit more. Truthfully, it was probably nothing bad, unless Craig somehow confesses to murdering someone or something like that— then he really has no clue as to what it could be. Tweek was not good at reading people, hence his problem with judging people too quick at points, (he’s gotten better at it!). 

Craig finally takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, “I like you. But not in a friendly way. Like the— like the way that you like someone more than a friend. Wow, I said that in the most embarrassing way possible— but holy Jesus fuck is it killing me to keep it in any longer.” The raven haired boy says exasperatedly, then tugs on his chullo hat a bit, “It’s been a while and I feel so helpless watching you from afar that I’m starting to feel like such an idiot, it’s okay if you don’t feel the same and I don’t want to ruin your night—“

“Craig-“

“Because I know this night was and is so important to you—“

“ Craig- “

“So just forget everything if you don’t and I will t—“

“Holy shit, Craig!”

The taller boy stops his rambling and looks down at him awkwardly, his eyes shifting and his body language shows that well , he’s trying not to explode.

“Uh, yeah?”

“I like you too.”

“What-“

“I like you too,” Tweek says again, more affirmingly, “Like, the same way as you.”

“Oh—“

Tweek stares at him, and Craig stares at him back. Their gazes linger on each other and they awkwardly shift their bodies closer together.

Craig’s mouth cracks into a smile, “Oh! Wow, that’s— wow, do you want to like— kiss— Why do I literally feel like I’m some middle schooler right no—“

Tweek cuts him off and pulls him down by the flaps of his chullo hat, the taller boy having to lean down slightly while Tweek meets him halfway on his tippy toes, their lips interlocking and silencing Craig’s awkward ramble. 

They practically melt into each other, Craig’s hands finally coming up to rest on his hips and he squeezes lightly to show his appreciation. Pulling away, Tweek connects his forehead to Craig’s and smiles, “You are such an idiot.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Craig mumbles, “But idiots like myself seem to win, I guess.”

“Right… okay.”

“Oh yeah,” Craig shoved his hand into his pocket and smiled a little, “I want to give this to you.”

He holds out the small orange cat keychain, it’s dainty little self all the same and Tweek smiles at it, holding his hand out.

“Wow,” Tweek whispers, “Who knew this stupid cat keychain would keep us this close?”

Craig shrugs, “I like that it’s a reminder of how we first met, I mean, not everyone gets to say they tracked down their future boyfriend but everytime we came close to each other a comedicly timed ‘it was too late’ moment would happen.”

“Yeah, its better than meeting on a dating website though,” Tweek holds the keychain tightly and looks up to Craig, “I think we should name it!“

“Ooh, Yeah! What about uh, Frank?”

“We were not naming this cat keychain Frank, what about Jupiter?”

“Oh! Like the first part of the song I showed you!” Craig smiles, “I love it!”

“Alright, Jupiter it is.”

——————

By the time the middle of their second semester came, Tweek and Craig had already adjusted to fit each other’s lifestyles. They spent most of their time together, which his friends found both endearing and disgusting at the same time. The only one who took a while to adjust to them being a thing was Kenny, but eventually the dirty blonde just accepted defeat and allowed them to be grossly adorable with one another.

Tweek had given Craig a little bit more of a run down on everything so that he wasn’t holding anything in, and told Craig that he was working on a lot of things with his therapist. Craig would now walk him to his appointments, and he would walk him to work now too. 

As their relationship strengthened, Tweek slowly felt himself become more confident and not as afraid to do things he was scared of before. Craig was extremely supportive and always was there if Tweek was having a particularly bad week or if his anxiety wasn’t being helped as much from his medication.

Right now, Tweek was getting ready for the movie that they were planning on seeing with Kenny and Kyle, but per usual the pair was running a bit behind. Tweek had gotten used to being a little late leaving being in a relationship with Craig. Although, Craig was always on time for him, so it cancelled.

Craig groans from the bathroom, and Tweek lifts his head up, watching the lanky raven haired boy shuffle into his bedroom, “My hair is so annoying. I need a haircut.”

He pouts and runs a hand through the much longer locks of hair than he had before, sighing when his fingers get caught, “See, honey, it’s too long.”

Tweek smiles and reaches a hand out for his boyfriend to take, “It looks fine. I love your hair.”

“Baby, you’re lucky I value your opinion more than anyone,” Craig lets Tweek lean forward and rest his chin on his stomach, his eyes looking down at the blonde, “Because if anyone else said that I wouldn’t believe them for a second.”

The blonde wraps his arms around his boyfriend and inhales slightly, “It’s because I’m always right, babe.” 

Tweek leans back, bringing the slightly grumpy raven haired boy down with him, they collapse next to each other and Craig pouts.

“Don’t be a baby,” Tweek whispers, “You look cute.”

“Easy for a boy blessed by the gods to say,” Craig mumbles, he reaches a hand out to touch Tweek’s shoulder, his eyes meeting the blondes and he smiles, “I know, I’m just being dramatic… I like when you compliment me.”

“Cute, cute, cute,” Tweek grins, “Now, can we go? Kyle and Kenny are going to kill us.”

Craig whines, moving his body to roll off the bed, releasing himself from his boyfriend's hold.

“Fine,” Craig sighs, “But,” he leans down to kiss his boyfriend who is still laying on the bed, soft lips meeting innocently, and then Craig pulls away. He straightens his arms and smirks, “Last one outside has to buy the other’s ticket!”

He races from the room and despite Tweek’s protests as he gets off the bed, Tweek still lets him win, because, well— he likes letting Craig have his little wins. Mostly because he loves seeing Craig happy, another is because he looks really sweet when he does his victory dance.

When Tweek fake jogs outside, he sees Craig already doing his little dance, and the warmth in his heart ignites further.

The raven haired boy twirls and scoops Tweek into his arms, rocking them back and forth, “I know you let me win,” Craig giggles, “You had no chance at winning anyways. I did cross country for like, one year in middle school.”

Tweek rolls his eyes, “You’re cute when you dance,” he tickles Craig’s sides to be released and starts pulling the boy towards the way of the movie theatre. Craig wraps his arm around his shoulders and brings them closer.

“Ah, I’m just so happy,” Craig looks up to the sky and basks in the cold sunlight, the wind blowing his hair and making his sharp features even more defined, “Everything is perfect.”

Humming, Tweek leans into the tall boy and looks up at him. Everything is perfect. There’s nothing Tweek would change about anything right now. He’s got a boyfriend, one who understands him at such a deep level that even Tweek can’t get to that understanding of himself. There’s his friends, his job, school, everything. It’s all exactly how he wants it to be. 

When they arrive at the theatre, Craig leans down and plants a long kiss on his cheek, then pecks it a few times. They both look over to their friends, Kyle and Kenny. The pair gags at their affection and Kyle calls out to them.

“You guys are so gross,” he teases, and when they get closer he nudged Tweek, “Keep it to yourselves!”

“Oh, like you wouldn’t be the same if you actually confessed to Stan,” Craig comments, earning a smack on the head from Kyle, “Sorry, sorry.”

“I’m getting there!” Kyle groans, “He’s just so difficult. I don’t want to make him cry!”

“Why the hell would he cry?” Craig laughs, “Are you gonna like, scream it at him?”

“No! He’s emotional, Craig!” the redhead corrects him and then turns to Kenny, “Help me out here, man.”

“Nah,” Kenny shrugs, “You got this, bro.”

The three continue to bicker, and Tweek watches that from the sidelines. It was usually like this, as Tweek never really was an instigator like Craig or pretty much any of his friends were. But, it’s endearing, and it brings a warmth to Tweek’s soul seeing all of them get along and be able to laugh with one another. 

To the happiest moments of his life, Tweek supposed.