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Summer break was over and everyone was getting ready for the first day of high school. Because of the small town’s odd daily occurrences of the paranormal, alien, and unlikeliness nobody was a stranger to each other. It made for a weird, but comforting thought to be familiar with all the townsfolk in South Park.
It also made the information highway that was Twitter the more interesting to read through. Sitting against a tree Tweek kept staring at the same string of one-liners his crush had been tweeting throughout the break. Craig had gone away for the last three months visiting family in California where he had gone to see every beach, amusement park and arcade. There were a lot of photos of random things and few with the teen in them.
Kids walked around the courtyard, not allowed indoors school just yet. Some people ran up to their friends, excitedly dribbling on about their summer activities or how bummed they were to go back to school. Completely engrossed in the photos, Tweek sighed as he played with the zipper on his loose jean jacket before fidgeting with the buttons on the green long sleeve underneath. He spent most of the summer trying to figure out how to go on about his crush on his friend. Straightforward was the smart choice, but the most anxious inducing to him.
A nervous flinch escaped him before he scrolled to the last tweet Craig had posted. It was a photo of his new shoes for the school year. Tweek hadn’t seen any photos of Craig himself, and imagined if he had a wardrobe change or stayed ordinary old him.
“How was California?”
“Cool.”
“See any big fires or eat In and Out?”
“Shut up Clyde.”
His ear perked up as he heard the familiar droll voice. Tweek shot up from his spot and saw Craig waving at some kids calling to him. He had always been tall, but he looked like he grew significantly during break. His whole attire was black, aside from the worn blue jacket zipped up, a concert shirt poking out from underneath. Underneath an arm pit he had a big, brown paper bag. Tweek felt his heart skip as he got up, walking feet away from the boy.
The phone in his hands buzzed and Tweek realized Craig was posting again. They were random song lyrics, something Craig would do when he was thinking about lines for his screenwriting hobby. The smile on the blond grew as he scrolled back down to piece the song together when he bumped into the other boy.
“Oh. Hey Tweek,” greeted Craig with a little bit more enthusiasm than his face showed. He saw that he’d caused Tweek to drop his phone, and reached to pick it up. The blond stood frozen in place as Craig looked over the phone case covered in shiny little egg stickers, a small smile forming on his face. “New case. Nice.”
“Thanks! Sorry!”
But before Craig could question the apology he noticed Tweek had been scrolling through tweets on his page from months ago. He raised a brow before giving Tweek a puzzled look. The blond felt his heart pound faster, face betraying him as it grew red in shame. He snatched the phone away and ran off.
Craig stood there, pulling the paper back a little closer to himself before heading off to see the group of four regular mischievous teenagers occupying a bench.
Stan greeted him as Cartman looked confused to see Tweek running off into some bushes.
“What’s his deal?” he uttered before returning back to the naughty magazine Kenny had brought.
“Any of you guys got a glitter pen?”
“Wendy might have some,” answered Stan before Cartman began snooping at the paper bag. “Oooh, I know that wrapping paper. That’s an expensive toy store.”
“Shut up,” retorted Craig. Kyle and Stan exchanged looks. “Why’d you bring that for?”
Kenny muttered behind his scarf, pointing at Craig and the shrubs Tweek was hiding behind. Cartman ‘ooooed’ him and that’s when Craig felt a blush creep up his face. “Oh my god, you guys. It’s for his boyfriend.”
“None of your business.” He left, heading over to Wendy and her group of friends.
Tweek meanwhile was composing a message in his drafts, wondering how to word his feelings. How upfront should he be? Maybe a little coy or flirty line would do the trick? Perhaps texting him wasn’t the way he should go. He nervously squeaked and decided to walk around for a bit. That’s when he heard the girls from his grade cry excitedly over at a far distance. He looked to see Craig being pulled around by some of the girls, messing up his hair and patting his shoulders as if congratulating him.
Tweek felt his phone buzz, a trail of new tweets sent out.
‘Someone is so lucky.’
‘Love comes in the shape of a cardboard box from Lesdhcjdkekfg’
‘What’s the best color, Purple or Pink? Reply to vote!’
Tweek replied to the question before looking up to see Craig trying to take someone’s phone away, flustered and trying to keep his cool.
‘I wish my boyfriend spent as much money as Craig spent on his.’
He felt a lump in his throat. His heart pumped fast. The implication that Craig might have someone else...it made his mouth dry and heart pool in grief. The bell rang and as everyone headed through the doors he finished his drafted confession, it staring back at him.
Someone bumped into him and he dropped his phone. Crying in fear he watched it bounce, thankful for the thick safety case, before landing by someone’s new sneakers he was well familiar with. Tweek felt the blood drain from his body as Craig picked it up, recognizing the phone. Buttons were accidently pressed, and the tweet was posted.
“Tweek likes Craig! Tweek likes Craig!” they heard Cartman chant from down the hallway. A path was led around the two boys as Tweek still sat on his knee, watching as Craig looked around confused before reading what everyone began to whisper about. His mouth hung open as he read the confession he inadvertently posted.
“Gah, no!” shrieked Tweek trying to snatch his phone away. It only made things worse as Craig fell back on his butt, dropping the phone again. The screen cracked. Tweek felt as if the whole world was staring at him, disorientating him. He looked to Craig apologetically before running back outside unable to handle the looks and whispers anymore.
Tweek hid by the bushes from earlier, tears streaming from his eyes. Sniveling he let out little cries. He had made such a fool of himself, and now that his cheesy confession was out for everyone to see he couldn’t even delete it. The phone was cracked beyond use. His shaky hands desperately tried swiping or clicking onto apps to get it to register function, rubbing his swelling eyes with his sleeve.
“Tweek,” called a breathless voice.
He swirled around to see a blurry Craig behind him, hands in pockets as he peaked past his shoulder. His face the picture of concern he walked through the bushes.
“Argh! No, no. Please don’t punch me,” uttered the boy looking up in fear.
Craig's chest clenched up at the red, swollen bags forming underneath the boy's eyes. He responded with a gentle voice. “I’m not here to bother you Tweek, at least that's not my intention. I’m not mad or anything, honest.”
Tweek whimpered as Craig sat across him, long legs folded up with the paper bag on his lap. The blond eyed it intensely and with nothing left to lose asked a burning question in the smallest voice possible. “Who's that for?”
“You, actually.”
Tweek blinked, shoulders relaxing. He searched Craig’s face for any indication he was fibbing. All he noticed was a dark shade of pink as Craig eyed the gift. Clearing his throat he handed the wrapped package over to Tweek. “I got it for you from my trip. Open it please.”
There was a slight pause of apprehension. Tweek had a dozen questions going through his mind before turning the box in his lap. It was taped and folded very neatly with brown paper. His name was written in nice cursive with purple glitter ink and a little drawing of the little Gudetama egg from his phone case. A little grin spread across his face as he neatly ripped the paper, definitely keeping that doodle.
In his hands was a Lego assembly kit, an exclusive and limited edition of a racing series he’d been dying to have but knew was unattainable until now. His eyes glimmered as he looked at it and back up a Craig. The tardy bell rung in the background.
“I didn’t see you go to the Lego store,” he confessed with a dazed voice. None of Craig’s posts had shown him going to the store, much less any toy stores.
“I know you check my tweets so I made sure to keep it a secret.” He reached forward and took hold of the broken phone in Tweek's hand. A thumb rubbed at the chipped screen before brushing against the fidgeting boy. "I'll get this fixed for you."
Tweek felt his cheeks grow warm. “Craig this is....so cool. This is the limited edition, ultra exclusive-!”
“-that you’ve wanted since last year, yeah. I read a lot of your posts too.”
They locked eyes for a tense second before looking away, equally flustered. In his hands Craig could read over the confessional tweet, word for word. Evidently a hundred and forty characters could say a lot about someone's feelings. It read like part of a much longer confession but the first line got the point across.
'I like you Craig.'
“So,” Craig tucked his hands into his pockets, “has it been a while? You feeling this way?”
“Yeah…”
Craig scooted over besides Tweek. “I wasn't alone then.”
Tweek’s heart was thumping rapidly, he felt as if Craig could hear it. The boy reached over to his hand lightly touching Tweek’s. “So, I think you’re nice too. I mean we've been friends but, lately it's felt more intense than just that.”
“Thank you for the gift," Tweek pulled his knees up close. "I don’t know what to say.”
“W-would you like to sit with me during lunch? I mean, we always do but, we don’t have to sit. We can hang out in the computer lab or chill by the fence. Just us.”
Craig was fumbling over his words, and it comforted Tweek to know that he was just as flustered and awkward about the whole situation too. He clutched onto the box tightly, nodding his head. It would be nice to start things slowly.
“So, did your folk's coffee shop really flood during break?”
“The air conditioner broke and water came raining down on a bunch of customers. It was pretty funny.” Tweek laughed as they stood up to head inside, a skip in his step, to get some tardy slips. They walked closely side by side, fingertips lightly brushing against one another.