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He took a sip of his coffee as they walked down the lit up street. Christmas decorations sat in the window displays, multi-colored lights hung from the buildings and light posts; the reminder of Christmas was wildly presented throughout the city of Denver. While the decorations were pretty, the crowd was less enjoyable. In order to avoid them, he spent most of his time inside his flat. Unfortunately tonight, his friend forced him to come out.
“So, you’re making cupcakes for Saturday, right?”
“Yeah, I said I would,”
“I know, it’s just… sometimes you forget,”
The blonde rolled his eyes, taking another sip of his coffee. He flicked his eyes across the street to one of the brightly decorated store fronts, and his attention was immediately taken by the man near the storefront.
He broke in his stride and stared at the stranger across the street, his friend continuing forward. About two steps ahead, the red-haired woman stopped, noticing her friend had come to a standby. “You okay, honey?”
“I think… I know him,”
The red-haired woman shifted her head to look at the male across the street.
“Oh… he’s cute.”
“I think… it’s my ex.”
“You dated him?”
“Not— really, ugh, we were like 10, and there were these weird exchange students, and everyone was drawing these weird, and sometimes graphic, pictures of us, so we staged this fake break up — and then I sort of went over the top with it, and had to apologize, and then I don’t even fucking know. I asked him out… in a way? And then we dated… I guess .”
“Aw, that’s so cute,”
“No! It was not cute! It was fucking weird,”
“You should say something to him,”
“I don’t even know if it’s him,”
“What’s his name?”
“Craig Tucker,”
“Hey!” his friend shouted, getting the male’s attentionfrom across the street. The blonde bulged his eyes at his friend; not exactly surprised she would do this to him, but still somehow caught-of-guard.
“Jesus Fuck,” he muttered, following her across the street.
As he crossed the street and the man in question came in closer view, it was very clear to him that it was exactly who he thought it was. This made his heart beat quicken. The thought of seeing someone from South Park was already enough to bring on a fit of anxiety, but that someone being Craig Tucker of all people? He supposed it could be a lot worse, but still.
“Is your name Craig Tucker?” she asked once they made it it across the street.
“Uh… yeah…,” the man nodded in confirmation. He shifted his eyes to the blonde and his eyebrows rose, “Tweek?”
“I mean, I actually go by Isaac now, but, yeah… Hey, Craig,” the blonde pushed some curls behind his ear. Craig looked almost exactly the same. He had the same soft, big brown eyes and the same lips that ran forever in a straight line. However, his eyebrows were much more full and bushy now, and there was an assortment of stubble across his face.
“Tweek?” Alice looked at the blonde who hung his face down and slid his hands into his jacket pockets. Isaac had legally changed his name right before college started. It was already his middle name, so really he just rearranged it.
“Oh. Sorry… Uh. We used to call… him by his last name?”
Isaac’s eyes flicked up to the raven-haired man. He was surprised by his efforts in making the situation better. It’s not that Isaac really minded if Alice knew his birth name, but he was just so sick of the, no, no way, that’s not your real name, or wow, your parents must hate you, or his favorite, wow, your name is really dumb.
“Oh, makes sense,” Alice nodded. Craig eyed the blonde with knowing eyes and lopsided smile. Isaac acknowledged him with a small smile back, as if to say thank you. Alice extended her hand forward to Craig with a broad smile and said, “Well, Hi, I’m Alice.”
“Hi. I think you already know my name,” Craig grabbed her hand to shake.
Alice laughed, spreading out a cheeky grin and letting go of the other’s hand. “That’s right. Isaac was just telling me all about how you two used to date,”
Isaac’s eyes bulged at his friend once again. He ducked his head down, rubbing his fingers against his forehead and temple. He was sure he was blushing, but at least his face was already red prior due to the cold. He didn’t know if Craig was actually gay, or not. He did give off the vibe, and well, their coerced relationship was pretty fucking gay, but neither of them really understood it at the time.
“Oh, yeah,” Craig let out a laugh. Even though his voice was deeper, it still held the same nasally quality it had before, and his laugh was just as dorky. Isaac couldn’t help but smile a little at this. “It was pretty serious,” he said in a monotone.
Isaac met him in the eyes and said, “Yeah, we adopted a guinea pig together,”
“Doesn’t get more serious than that,”
Craig was cute when they were kids. Isaac thought so before they were even … together. Although, now, he was a man. He was… gorgeous, and Isaac frankly could not believe this man was actually considered to be one of his exes.
Silence settled among them, causing Isaac to feel uncomfortable under the stare of the male before him. He looked away. He felt like he was being examined, and he hated it. Craig had grown even cuter with age, while Isaac had just accumulated more fat around his waist and drier patches of skin on his forehead. He never got braces to close his gaps because his parents refused to pay for it , unlike Craig, whose once crooked teeth were now straight. He’s happy he at least managed to reach Craig’s height; the other male only nearly an inch or so taller.
“Well, we should probably get—“ Isaac began, but was quickly cut off by his Australian friend.
“You should come to my Christmas party, Craig,” Alice said. Isaac inhaled deeply at this and made sure to remember to keep his face neutral. He was notorious for being transparent with his emotions. He met Craig in the eyes and forced a smile. “It’s this Saturday, and there’s going to be free food, so you really have no reason to not come.”
Craig smiled slightly at this as he rubbed the side of his stubble with his thumb. “I will… see if I can make it,”
Isaac doubted he would come. This was stupid, and he was going to yell at Alice afterward. He watched as his childhood boyfriend inputted the address and time into his phone. He bet Craig would never look at this information again. Maybe he would find it years later, and question what the fuck it was for.
After a short goodbye, he and Alice continued down the sidewalk. They were headed nowhere in particular, but after that interaction, Isaac was ready to go home and just work on a puzzle or something. Just the thought of his hometown exhausted him.
Once they were out of hearing range, Isaac turned to his friend to say, “what the fuck?”
“What?” Alice bulged her eyes at him, giving him a look of innocence. “You guys had chemistry — chemistry and history — not to mention how fucking hot he was, like, what the fuck, Isaac? Don’t what the fuck me! I should what the fuck you for not getting his number and making me do all the work for you,”
Isaac rolled his eyes and took a sip of his forgotten coffee. “He’s not going to come,” he argued.
“I guess we’ll just see about that, mate,”
He shook his head. Alice had way too much faith in this man she just met. Isaac would be blown away if he ever saw him again. If Craig was anything like he was back in the day, he definitely wouldn’t be there.
x.’
Isaac didn’t even like Christmas. He in fact, hated it, and while many called him a grinch for it, he didn’t care. His family sucked, and the stress of everything else did too. Isaac loved his friend though, so he put his negative anti-Christmas feelings aside, and decorated his cupcakes with green and red frosting. He even made some of them look like Christmas trees and others like ornaments.
When he showed up at Alice’s party with them, she lit up, and Isaac decided that the struggle was worth it to make her smile so brightly.
“Isaac, you’re wonderful. These are amazing. I can’t wait to taste them,” Alice took away the tray of cupcakes. She brought them to a red-clothed table, many other deserts and snacks on top of it, including the famous Christmas ham his Australian friend waited all year for.
Alice went all out with decorations. Her Christmas tree was decorated with white Christmas lights and full of beautiful, multicolored globes. It looked much better than the tiny-table tree Isaac set up at his flat. She also had hung up a variety of lights among the house, along with a variety of Santa Claus decorations, and various different snow globes. A Christmas village was set up on the mantle, stockings hung up underneath for her fiancé and herself, along with two stockings for their cats underneath. It was definitely ready for a party, but Isaac wasn’t surprised. Alice and her fiancé, Jules, were great at throwing parties.
Isaac had showed up relatively early, so there were not many people here yet. He made his way to grab a drink. As he poured some Bacardi into a red solo cup, Jules came up to him with a broad smile. “Isaac!” They exclaimed, wrapping their arms around him. He was slightly caught off by the hug so some liquid nearly splashed out, but he managed to save it from falling. He wrapped his free arm around them and after a few seconds, they let go.
“I wasn’t sure if you were going to come!”
“Huh?” He looked down at them, taking a sip. “Why wouldn’t I?” he questioned with furrowed eyebrows.
“I know you hate parties and Christmas,” Jules frowned. “I don’t want you to outdo yourself. If you want to leave at any time, I promise we understand.”
He couldn’t deny the facts they just spit out. He sort of hated how well his friends knew him.
“Well, that’s what alcohol is for,” he tipped his drink up before taking a sip.
“Luckily, there is plenty,” Jules smiled, patting the table. After they patted his shoulder, they left to tend to another guest. He took another sip and eyed the room. Many of the guests were also friends of his own or people he had met in the past. A lot of the guests were part of the LGBT community, but most of the men here were taken. Alice prided herself on playing matchmaker. She was pretty good at it, but so far, the two guys she had set up him up with had been disappointing. Maybe Isaac was too picky. He didn’t know, but it seemed that around Christmastime, he was always alone.
Isaac made his way through the crowd until eventually, as more people scattered inside, it became too difficult to keep up with. He eventually found himself in a corner with one of their mutual friends, chatting about the woes of Christmas shopping. They stood by the door, and with every cold gust of air, Isaac witnessed a new guest walk inside.
His eyes bulged once he saw the particular guest enter.
It was Craig.
He had almost forgotten about him; about Alice’s invitation to him. He wondered if Craig was really gay because with the more and more people who entered, the gayer this party became. He excused himself from his friend, and walked towards the entrance. Craig stood with wandering eyes and a slight frown. Isaac almost felt bad for him.
“Wow, uh, hey, you came,” Isaac delivered as he stepped before the man. Somehow, he looked better than the other day, and Isaac sort of hated that. How did he look so good? It was unfair.
Craig nodded. “I did.”
“I’m surprised. I didn’t think you would,”
“Why?”
Isaac eyed him, unsure what to say. He felt stupid saying, didn’t seem like you’re thing, when he barely knew the man in front of him. Craig could have completely changed within the last thirteen years. Isaac definitely had. Hell, he didn’t even go by the same name anymore.
Isaac shrugged, “I don’t know. You wanna a drink?”
A smile came across the dark-haired male’s face at this. “Lead the way.”
Isaac guided Craig to the dining room, where the drink table resided. “Where is your friend?” Craig asked as they neared the table.
Isaac hadn’t gotten a new drink since his arrival, and had been carrying around his empty red-solo cup for nearly an hour. He grabbed another red-solo cup for Craig, along with a sharpie. “Alice? Uh, I don’t know — somewhere. Busy. Hosting a party, you know all that,” he mumbled as he scribbled both of their names on the two cups.
He handed Craig his red-solo-cup, and said, “I’m sure you’ll see her around soon.”
Craig took the cup and thanked him, before shifting his gaze to the dining table littered with various bottles of alcohol. He picked up New Amsterdam Pink Whitney and poured himself some. Isaac noticed black nail polish on his hands as he did so. His immediate gut reaction was, wow, cute, but he swallowed it. He grabbed the Bacardi off the table again and poured himself more, mixing it with some orange juice, while Craig added regular lemonade to his cup.
Suddenly, feeling very weird and anxious, Isaac took a large gulp of his drink, receiving an amused look from the male beside him. He didn’t know why he felt so nervous. He usually was a good flirt… not that he was trying or wanting to flirt. It’s not like he was trying to get with his ex-boyfriend that he was coerced into dating at age 10. That would be weird. Maybe that was it. Maybe that was why he was nervous — he didn’t know how to act around him.
“Thirsty?” Craig commented, side-eyeing him, before taking a much smaller sip of his drink. His thick eyebrows were raised and the look in his chocolate eyes made Isaac’s stomach rise.
Isaac pressed his lower back against the tables edge and stared out into the school of people. While he once knew just about all the faces, he could no longer say that with confidence. He probably knew less than half the people here, but the man beside him, only knew him and barely even that. God, if he was Craig, he would not have came.
“I don’t really like parties, or Christmas, or subsequently, Christmas-Themed-Parties,”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because I’m a good friend,” Isaac said, pulling the rim of his cup to his lips. He could feel Craig watching him so he looked over, and found he indeed was. “And Alice is a good friend, and Christmas is very important to her, and I’m pretty sure she would hate me if I didn’t come, so.”
Craig chuckled and turned his head away. Isaac watched him as he brought the rim of the cup to his lips with a smirk, “you haven’t changed at all.”
Isaac scoffed. “Excuse me. That’s offensive.”
“It wasn’t an insult,” Craig peered over to him with a half-smile to his lips.
Again, his stomach flip-flopped. He stared blankly at his former childhood sweetheart. He still wasn’t sure if that was a compliment. It kind of didn’t feel like one. He looked away, taking a swig of his drink in the process. Christmas music played in the background, the song on currently being, The Most Wonderful Time of Year. Isaac pulled the cup from his lips and looked into it, swirling the contents around.
“The whole Isaac thing… that’s different though…,” Craig commented. “Also, Isaac, I was just kidding. Obviously, I barely know you, but… it was a compliment.”
Isaac picked up his gaze to look at the man beside him. Craig gave him a small, reassuring smile before he reverted his eyes to the crowd. Isaac cleared his throat before speaking, “If you want you can just call me Tweek. It’s probably weird for you,”
Craig chuckled at this. “I’m not going to call you something you don’t want to be called.”
Isaac lifted a smile at him, looking over to see a sparkle in his eyes, “thanks for the other day… that was quick thinking with the last name thing.”
Craig shrugged, “I’m just glad your last name is still the same.”
Isaac wondered about the statement. He didn’t think Craig meant it in a marriage kind of way, but Isaac still strangely felt a pang of awkward tension rise between them. He looked away and hummed. “Yeah, unfortunately I’m yet to emancipate myself,” he joked. “But enough about me. You’ve obviously changed. I really wasn’t expecting you to come.”
“Why?” Craig puffed out a breathy laugh. “This is the second time you’ve said that.”
“Coming to a party where you barely know one person? That is not the Craig Tucker I grew up with,”
“Hey, two people. I think me and your friend really bonded the other day,”
“Right,” the blonde scoffed, peering toward the man beside him with a smile.
“The truth is… I just moved to Denver, and I thought maybe… I should at least try to make some friends. I figured it might be easier with someone I already knew.”
Isaac stared. Craig still wore his jacket, but it was unzipped and underneath he could spot a black and white floral design button up. The first couple buttons were undone, and his pants were black. It was much different than the style he used to have, but they were kids, and style was not something they really focused on. Although, Isaac recalled when playing their game of superheroes; Craig had put in the most minimal effort in as possible.
“Seems reasonable enough,” Isaac countered, looking back to the crowd. He took a sip. “Where’d you move here from?”
“Uh… technically, South Park.”
Isaac smirked at this and raised his eyebrows, peering over to the man next to him again. “You’ve been in South Park this whole time?”
“Not quite,” Craig said. “I went to college in Boulder, and after I graduated, I went back to South Park. I lived with my parents for a while, and then I found a job here. I commuted until I had enough money to move out.”
“Still,” Isaac blinked, shaking his head. “I can’t imagine.”
“It is pretty fucked up there,”
Isaac chuckled, “sometimes I think I imagined half of the stuff that in my head — is it really as crazy as I remember?” Isaak turned to him.
“What do you remember?” Craig asked, obviously amused.
A smile raised to his lips, “a lot of the memories have to do with —,”
“Stan’s gang?”
Isaac nodded, chuckling. “Yeah, and Stan’s dad,”
Craig shook his head. “I tried my best to avoid them, but they still managed to infect my life with their bullshit.”
Isaak hummed. It was rather loud in here, and sort of difficult to talk. “You want to sit outside for a little bit? I know it’s cold, but Alice has a heater on her patio. She is from Australia so she can’t stand the cold.”
Craig accepted the invitation. After they refilled their drinks, Isaac guided them through the crowd and led them outside. It wasn’t that cold out, at least to them, especially with the heater on. They both took a seat on the patio chairs; a couple of unknown guests across from them.
“So, I imagine that you stayed in touch with some of the people from South Park, then?”
Craig nodded. “Uh, yeah, you remember Clyde?” Isaac nodded in confirmation, encouraging him to go on. “We’re still best friends, and Token… but honestly, I got really close to Bebe, and a couple of the other girls… Once puberty hit, I found that I had much more in common with them.”
“Really? You didn’t want to talk about Bebe’s boobs all the time? Shocking.”
“God,” Craig grinned and shook his head, taking a swig of his drink. “Don’t ever say that phrase again… it’s all Clyde would talk about for like a year straight.”
Isaac grinned at this and took a sip of his drink. He was interested in how Craig handled his sexuality after the whole yaoi thing. “That would be exhausting to anyone.”
“I don’t think so, it was pretty much the only thing any guy in our grade could talk about,” Craig’s eyes fell to the contents of his cup and frowned; looking more annoyed than sad, but upset nonetheless.
“Sorry to have left you with all the heterosexuals,”
The corner of Craig’s mouth curved upward. “It’s fine,” he said, still looking into his cup, “I honestly didn’t even really understand what being gay meant until like sixth grade — and that was a struggle in itself,”
Isaac chuckled, “Uh, yeah, I know what you mean… Being outed by the the whole town before you even realize you’re gay yourself was a little much,”
Craig flicked his eyes up to meet his and smiled. “Try, a ton,”
“Yeah,” Isaac agreed with a grin, leaning forward in his seat slightly, “it was a ton,”
“And those pictures they drew? What the fuck was that?”
Isaac laughed again, shaking his head and shutting his eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t understand how they got away with that shit.”
“It’s South Park,” Craig rose his red-solo-cup, and slouched back into his patio chair, “That shit is the norm there.”
Isaac shook his head and huffed out a breath. “Why do I feel like that was just like… homophobia incarnate? Like the exchange students somehow knew we were gay, so they paired us up because we were the only two gay kids they knew of. Kind of like what Cartman did with Nichole and Token.”
Craig chuckled at this. “Wow, there gaydar must have been spot-on,”
“I mean they were right,” Isaac smiled and took a sip of his beverage. It was his third one and he had a slight buzz going on.
“They were indeed,” Craig chuckled. He rose his red solo cup to the other male and Isaac clicked their cups together.
“At the time, I wasn’t even sure I liked boys, I just liked hanging out with you,” the blonde said as he leaned back into his seat.
The other male grinned at him. “Same,” he dragged out the word on his tongue, his eyes skimming the ground. “But I also really enjoyed telling everyone I was gay. I was so excited when that New Kid moved to town. I introduced myself and immediately followed it up with, I’m gay,”
The blonde giggled and leaned forward in his seat, “Please tell me you still do that.”
Craig exhaled with a frown, “sadly, I think my 10 year self is cooler than my present self.”
Isaac leaned back in his seat, keeping his gaze with his childhood sweetheart. “I don’t know… You seem pretty cool still.”
Another smile spread out on the dark-haired-male’s lips. “Thanks, you too,”
Isaac smiled to himself, looking into his cup. He never talked about this because it was so weird and bizarre. Only the man in front of him could ever understand, “whenever I tell people about us, they are always like wow, that’s so cute! And I’m like no, it was really fucked up,”
“Ugh,” Craig groaned and hoisted his elbow onto arm rest. He leaned the side of his face into his hand, “Don’t get me started — when I started to date other people, I thought I was going to get stoned,”
Isaak pulled his head up in amusement and curiosity, his eyes going wide. “What? People still cared about our relationship after I left?”
“Yeah. I even began to lie and say we kept in touch, just so they would fuck off,”
“Wow, I’m sorry. I feel like I got the better end of the deal,”
Craig shrugged. “It was fine. People in that town are stupid. Eventually they fucked off, and I just did what I wanted.”
“Well, I have to ask… Who’d you date after me? Anyone I know?”
“There wasn’t much selection, so don’t… judge me, but Butters.”
Isaac let out a fit of laughter, kicking his feet up and down, causing Craig to hang his head down low. He rolled his eyes. “Fuck you, whatever,” he grumbled out.
The blonde lifted his head with a broad grin. “No, no, I’m sure you two were very cute,” he giggled between the words.
“Is that why it’s so funny to you?”
“Mm, yeah… I just, can’t picture you two dating.”
“He could be a huge asshole,”
“Two assholes being in a relationship together seems like its doomed to fail,”
“Again, fuck you. Like I said, there wasn’t much selection…” Craig leaned back into his seat once again, wearing a small smile.
A couple people came outside and began to smoke cigarettes by the side of the house. It seemed like someone had turned the music up a little more loudly because they could both vaguely hear White Christmas now.
“So… who else?”
“What makes you think there are more?”
The blonde shrugged. He tried to take another sip of his drink, but he realized there was nothing left of it. “Just a feeling,” he said.
“Well,” Craig sucked in a breath, “In high school… I started dating this guy… I don’t know if you know him or not. He had Tourette’s and Cartman —,”
“Wait,” Isaac leaned forward in his seat, setting the red solo cup on the ground, “isn’t that the kid you offered to do laundry for?”
Craig frowned. “Okay, we were like nine. Why does everyone bring that up?”
The blonde cocked his head, “I mean… you never offered to do my laundry.”
Craig shook his head and rolled his eyes slightly with a smile. “Anyways. That’s my list of romantic endeavors in South Park.”
Isaac partially wanted to ask what about beyond South Park? But he held his tongue and stood up. “You want another drink?” Isaac asked as he swooped down to take Craig’s cup, even before he said anything.
“I don’t know… I’m driving.”
“Come on, you’ll be fine. You can stay as long as you want,” Isaac eyed the raven-haired man. He didn’t expect to enjoy talking to him so much. He didn’t think about South Park often. Too many crazy things happened there and he didn’t enjoy reliving them, however, taking a walk down memory lane with Craig wasn’t so bad.
Craig looked as though he was struggling.
Isaac smiled, “how about, I fill it up, and you drink however much you like?”
Craig smirked, “are you trying to get me drunk, Tweak? And by the way, I actually was referring to you by your last name this time,”
Isaac giggled and looked down. “Is three drinks really going to make you drunk, Tucker?” He flicked amber eyes to hazel, holding a smirk.
“Well… you know how it goes.. it’s one drink, then it’s two, then it’s three,” he cocked his head to his side.
Isaac chuckled again. “How many times have people tried to get you drunk, man?”
“Try being best friends with Clyde.”
Again, he let out a chuckle. He kind of hated how much he was laughing with him. He didn’t like the feeling forming in his stomach. He felt weird. He could not be crushing on his childhood coerced sweetheart. It just seemed wrong.
He left Craig to go fill up their drinks, and as he did, he was bombarded by Alice. She grabbed his arm, and said, “I see you out there with your childhood lover.”
Isaac scrunched up his face as he poured the Pink Whitney into Craig’s cup, counting to five. “Don’t say childhood lover. It sounds wrong.”
“Fine,” she let go of his arm, “sweetheart. God, this is just so cute! I knew this would happen.”
He glared at her as he added the lemonade to Craig’s drink and asked, “what would happen?”
“That you two would cozy up and reconnect, and however.”
“We aren’t… cozying up,” Isaac disputed as he worked on his own drink. “We are just…” he thought of the subtle underlying flirtatious vibe between them. “Catching up. I don’t even know if he is single, or… anything,” He regretted it as soon as it came out of his mouth. “Not that… it matters. I don’t even know if I’m interested, ya know? Like I don’t know… it’s kind of weird.”
“He’s fucking hot!” Alice shouted. “Isaac, do yourself a favor, and make a move. The guest bedroom is yours,” Alice patted him on the shoulder before sauntering off. He realized afterward that he poured way too much liquor in his cup. He cursed to himself.
Isaac took the drinks and made his way outside. He stood in the doorway a moment to look at the man on the patio seat. He was definitely attractive, and fell in line with his type: dark hair and dark eyes. It felt strange though. This was Craig Tucker.
He continued in his stride and gave him the drink, sitting across from him. He took a sip of his drink and immediately winced, forgetting how much he poured. Craig laughed at him, which he returned with a glare.
“Fuck off,” he delivered. “I poured too much.”
“So… should I be scared to take a sip?”
“No, yours is fine,”
“Of course you would say that,”
Isaac glowered at him. “It is. It’s just Alice came up to me, and I got distracted when I was making mine,”
“Oh,” he nodded. His eyebrows shifted inward as he sniffed his cup, “do you think I should, like, say hi or something?”
Isaac immediately thought of Alice’s suggestion that he take the spare bedroom, and shook his head. “No, she’s busy. I’m sure we will catch up to her later,”
Craig nodded and took a sip of his drink. The blonde continued to watch him, checking out his handsome features. In all honesty, Craig was a good boyfriend for being 10. He wondered if that sweetness carried over into his later relationships. Isaac found it hard to find any good guy. So many of them were terrible. He was so sick of trying to sort out the bad ones, too.
“So, how’d you meet her?”
“Friend of a friend,” Isaac shrugged. “I was in this painting class at school, and I was friends with this girl, and she introduced me.”
Craig nodded. “I feel like I haven’t made a single new friend since that New Kid moved to South Park.”
Isaac bulged his eyes out, “you haven’t made a new friend since … we were 10?”
Craig frowned at him, “I’m not good at making friends.”
“Clearly,”
“Fuck you,” Craig held up his middle finger.
“Maybe it’s because you do that to everyone,” Isaac nodded to his gesture.
Craig pulled his middle finger back and shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I never had the motivation to try. Clyde, Bebe and I went to the same college… and then… I mmm,”
“Mmm, what?”
“Well, Thomas went to the same college as well and,” he shrugged. “I guess I was too preoccupied in my relationship to really bother…,” he held up his drink with smacked together lips, “ this is why I need to stop while I’m ahead,”
The blonde chuckled as he brought his own drink to his lips. “So you dated for a long time then?”
“Longer than anyone else,” Craig offered, placing the cup onto his thigh. “What about you?” He asked.
Isaac pursed his lips to the side. After Craig, he was left to question whether to not he was gay. He liked hanging out with Craig, but would he like hanging out with other boys? The answer was yes, but he still had to figure it out.
“I dated a few different people in high school. In college, I sort of slumped. I got into a relationship with this guy who didn’t understand my anxiety disorder… so that was fun.”
Craig frowned.
“I guess it was kind of my fault,” Isaac continued; his buzz quickly growing, causing more and more words to tumble from his mouth. “I began to, like, hide my anxiety from people? Ya know? Like I just… began to forego to mention it because it always freaked people out. Well, I finally told him I had it, and like, I dunno, he was dick, but I loved him, and was stupid, and wasted like two years of my life being miserable…” he eyed the people on the side of the house, smoking cigarettes.
Truthfully, after that, Isaac had grown weary of relationships. He felt like he was too much to handle. He felt unworthy. That was two years ago now, and while, he was over it, he still hadn’t been able to find anyone worth going on a second date with.
He wasn’t too keen on sleeping around either, out of fear of STDS, so the last time he had sex was, subsequently, two years ago.
He blanked out and only came back once he heard, “that’s shitty.”
Isaac shrugged and took a drink, leaning back slightly as he took a large gulp. “Yeah. I guess. Maybe I’m the shitty one for not being upfront about it.”
“No, you’re not,” Craig countered. Isaac lifted his eyes to meet his. He leaned over his knees and said, “who the fuck tells someone everything about themselves in the first part of the relationship? You learn as you go. And in your case, you learned he was shitty,”
He couldn’t help but smile. He felt his stomach do an assortment of flips. He didn’t know why his words meant so much when they weren’t really that special at all, but they did. “You know, for being 10, you were probably one of my least shitty boyfriends,”
“Least shitty?” Craig leaned back in his seat again with wide eyes. “Wow, can I quote that on my dating profile?”
Again, Isaac laughed. He shook his head, “I, uh, meant, you were… a good boyfriend. You really tried to be there for me; like I literally would come into your room screaming at 3 am, and you were still super nice to me,” Isaac laughed. “I mean… besides that one time with Cartman’s dumb buddha box thing,”
Craig laughed and leaned back in his seat, shaking his head. “Of course you would remember that… all the nice things I did… and you remember that,”
“Hey, I said one of the nice things too!” Isaac fought. He kicked him in the side of the foot and the smile Craig gave him made his stomach flip again.
“You were a good boyfriend too,” Craig said, making his heart palpitate even more.
Issac felt like it was getting harder to breathe. He took another sip of his drink. “You know, I did lie about something…”
“Huh?”
“So…” Isaac smiled, leaning forward in his seat, “hopefully you don’t bully me for this, but you were actually my first kiss.”
A grin immediately spread out on Craig’s face. He began to chuckle, and Isaac kicked him again, this time in the ankle. “Hey, I said don’t bully me, and laughing constitutes as bullying.”
Craig’s eyes land on his, his laughter simmering down. “It’s just funny because I lied too.”
Isaac sat back, chuckling, “wait what?”
“You were my first kiss, too,”
Isaac laughed in union with Craig, warmth spreading through his stomach at the revelation. This was actually pretty … cute. “You literally hung Butters to a flagpole because he hadn’t been kissed.”
Craig nodded with a toothless grin. “And yet… he still dated me. I think that shows what massive game I have.”
Isaac shook his head and rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t stop smiling, “or it just means you’re a massive, bully, hypocrite,”
“Hey, I remember you laughing,”
“I didn’t wanna get hung to a flagpole!”
Craig raised a hand in defense. “Fine, fine… Yeah I was a huge bully,” he shrugged. “A girl did try to kiss me once in third grade, though,”
“Oh, so what happened?”
“I pushed her away and said she was ugly and smelled,”
“Oh my god,” Isaac chuckled, taking a swig of his drink. “You seriously were a huge bully, Craig.”
“I was gay!”
“A gay, bully,”
Craig laughed. “Fine, okay, yeah, maybe I was a bully, but I promise I’ve changed... I’m still gay though.”
They both broke out in laughter. Isaac didn’t think it would be this easy with Craig. He knew the alcohol helped, but it felt like they had a connection, beyond the alcohol.
Isaac put it to the test and neglected to refill his drink. As they continued to talk, Isaac learned Craig was a cinematographer in Denver. He in fact, he occasionally shot for the Denver Nuggets, which seemed like something one would brag about, but Craig said it in such a monotone that it didn’t even seem like he cared.
When Isaac told him he was an architect, Craig seemed completely intrigued. Isaac unfortunately didn’t have his name on any buildings yet, however he was working on it. Craig offered him full confidence that would one day have one. Isaac’s heart warmed at that. Craig somehow had this quality where if he believed in you, you believed in yourself too.
Before either of them knew it, it was 4 am, and Craig was on the verge of falling asleep. The alcohol had completely worn off now and both were ready to drive home, although they sort of dragged their feet as they left. Isaac finally introduced Craig to Jules, who was nearly asleep on the couch. Alice had fallen asleep already. Jules invited Craig to come over again, so they could get to know him better since they had barely seen him tonight.
Jules gave Isaac a knowing look as they pulled away. Isaac did his best to stay passive, but to be honest, he think he had a crush on his former childhood sweetheart. He couldn’t get this past Jules either, for they were extremely diligent in picking up his moods.
Although they had said they were leaving, he and Craig loitered by Isaac’s car for another 30 minutes, not ready to part. Eventually, Isaac said, “well, I’m actually really glad you came tonight… I’m sure that if you hadn’t I would be passed out wasted right now, so.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad,” Craig countered with a half-smile.
Isaac shrugged, “no, I’m kidding… I love them both, and I actually knew a lot of people here… it’s just… the Christmas thing.”
Craig nodded, “Christmas is for sure not the most wonderful time of the year.”
Isaac grinned, “yeah, every time that song comes on, I get the urge to go to Andy William’s grave and kick his tombstone.”
Craig bellowed in laughter, “no respect for the dead… damn.”
“Was it too much?”
“No,” Craig smiled. “I’ll come with you to kick his tombstone. Every time I step into a mall, I swear that’s all I fucking hear. Dude’s gotta pay for that injustice.”
Isaac snickered. He felt like he was going to fall asleep, but he was having a very hard time saying goodbye. He just wanted to continue to talk; to hear Craig’s thoughts and opinions on everything. He wanted to hear stories about his work. He wanted to ask who he had met on the Denver Nuggets team. He wanted to to ask if they looked as good as in person as they do on TV. He wanted to just learn everything there was to learn about Craig Tucker and his life.
“I just can’t wait for it to be over,” Isaac sighed, noticing the cloud form from his lips because of the cool temperature. It really wasn’t that bad though. There was no wind, and it wasn’t snowing. Snow was on the ground, but it stood as almost a blanket for the cold temperatures. “I’m half considering to fake an illness to get out of seeing my parents.”
Craig’s corner lip perked up. “Can I say I caught whatever illness you did?”
“You have been around me a lot tonight, I think that’s perfectly reasonable to assume you would also catch this made up illness.”
They both laughed in union. Isaac really liked hearing his laugh. It was so dorky and cute. He wasn’t even going to deny it anymore. He had a crush on the man in front of him. He was sweet, and dorky, and cute, and funny. He didn’t care that he was coerced into fighting and then dating him when he was a kid. He liked him.
“Solid plan. As long as this illness isn’t contagious to guinea pigs.”
Isaac lit up. “You still have guinea pigs?”
“Yes, two, and I even managed to come up with different names this time,” he smiled. It made Isaac’s heart warm. “Pluto and Vega.”
Isaac grinned and let out a breathy chuckle, “still a space dork, I see.”
“Space Man Craig is what they call me,”
Isaac laughed again, ducking his head down and staring at their feet. It felt so stupid to find the perfect man in the person he dated at 10 years old. “That’s really cute. I missed Stripe a lot when I moved. I tried to convince my parents to let me get a guinea pig on my own but they said without you, I would probably kill it.”
“God, your parents are dicks,” Isaac picked his head up, and then Craig immediately apologized, “sorry.”
Isaac chuckled. “No, you’re absolutely right. They are major dicks.”
A moment flickered between them, and Isaac was ready for Craig to say he should probably go, but instead he went on, “I honestly think the separation was rather traumatic for Stripe… I felt bad for him. I tried to offer all the love and support I could but you can only do so much—,” he spoke in a monotone. It took Isaac a moment to realize he was fucking with him.
Isaac cut him off with a shove to the shoulder, “shut up, man.”
Craig snickered at him, his eyes gleaming slightly under the light post. “In all honesty, though… you moving did suck,” Craig licked his lips. “My little 10 year old self was heart broken, even if I refused to admit it absolutely anyone… besides Stripe.”
Isaac laughed but his heart swelled. He was rather sad too to move away. He had friends in South Park, but also he had Craig, and Craig was the only person who ever seemed to take time to understand him. “Well…,” Isaac sucked in a breath. “It seems as though fate has brought us back together…,” Isaac took a step forward to cut the distance between them slightly, “unless you know, it was actually the Asian Girls… somehow, somewhere.”
“Don’t doubt their powers,” Craig snickered again, also taking a step forward. They were rather close now, and hung between the tension of who is going to take the final step. “They make people gay, and they can take it away… and I’m not trying to be fucking heterosexual, so. I say we stay away from any slander.”
Isaac bit his lip as he chuckled. “Shut up,” he breathed out, his eyes dancing against Craig’s as they stood in the empty, snow blanketed covered street. “You’re stupid.”
“Blame my South Park education for that.”
Isaac chuckled again; hating that it seemed like with every word that came from the noirette’s mouth made him laugh. He bit his lip and exhaled, “I had a really good time tonight.”
“You mean morning? It’s like 5 am…”
“Again, shut up, or I will take it back,”
Craig snickered and chewed on his bottom lip as his eyes flickered down to the blonde’s lip, and then back into his amber eyes. “I had a really good time too,” he smiled tenderly. “I don’t remember the last time I stayed up this late to talk to anyone.”
Isaac grin widened. He typically stayed up pretty late, even on days where he had to be up early the next day, but usually he spent his time with stupid videos on his phone or conspiracy videos on YouTube. He didn’t spend the late hours of the night talking to someone. “Me neither,” he admitted.
They stared at one another a moment longer before Craig took the final step forward. Their actions were slow and paced. Isaac rose his chin slightly to to angle his mouth over Craig’s and rested his hand against his stubble, his eyes falling shut. Then, the space between them was gone; replaced with lips against lips. Goosebumps rang along his arms, and not from the cold, as they tilted their heads to deepen the kiss.
Craig placed his hand on his lower back and the other in his hair. Isaac began to feel dizzy under the smell of cologne and feeling of Craig’s tongue in his mouth. He rested his hands against the slightly taller boy’s chest in order to stop his knees from going out.
The kiss was perfect and well paced, and when their lips parted, Isaac struggled to open his eyes, feeling as though he had been pushed deep into a dream. With a gasp of air, he opened his eyes to find Craig’s chocolate eyes half-lid. Craig’s hand fell down to the base of his neck as the other male leaned forward again to place a chaste and tender kiss on his lips.
When he pulled back again, Isaac set both of his hands on the other male’s chest and smiled. It was quickly returned. With the hand that was previously attached to his neck, Craig pushed a fallen lock of hair behind his ear. “I think it’s safe to say we both have gotten a lot better at that,”
Isaac chuckled at this and nodded, “I would hope so.”
Craig stared in his eyes, running a hand across his cheek before letting go and stepping away. He pulled out his phone and with a few clicks, he handed his phone over to Isaac.
“If you don’t give me your number, I will continue to show up at this residence and demand your friends give it to me.”
Isaac chuckled as he typed in his information. “Rather aggressive, but… I’ll go ahead and save you the trouble,” he fidgeted with Craig’s phone, sending himself a message so he had Craig’s number as well. “And now I have yours as well,” he handed the phone back to the grinning man before him.
“Cool,” Craig grabbed his phone. “Now I can respond to this hey and not seem too eager texting you so fast.”
“I wouldn’t think you were too eager, either way,” Isaac grinned. He yawned and glanced at his car. “But… I really should get going…”
“Me too,” Craig sighed.
Isaac gave him a half-smile and stepped forward to kiss him on the mouth. Craig lazily smiled back at him as he pulled away. “Drive safe,” Tweek murmured before pulling his driver-side door open. “And you don’t hear from me, just assume I passed out while driving.”
Craig chuckled and took a step forward to rest his hands on the top of the car door. Isaac smiled up at him. “Please don’t. That would put a real damper on things.”
Isaac smiled, for probably the hundredth time tonight, “how bout I text you when I get home? Just so you know I’m safe.”
Craig returned his smile, “I’m looking forward to it… Goodnight, Isaac.”
Isaac murmured a goodnight back and Craig shut his door. He watched as the other boy walked to his car with a smile on his face. He already couldn’t wait to see him again.