Chapter Text
“Dude,” Clyde looked stunned. “You're ditching us again for Tweek?”
Craig just shrugged. “Tweek has to work at the coffee shop, I'm just stopping over to bring him dinner cause I know he probably didn't pack anything for himself.”
Clyde bounced forward, a grin on his face. “I can bring it over! I never get to talk to Tweek!”
Craig gave him a strange look. “You don't even like Tweek,” He started.
“What? Where did you get that idea from?” Clyde looked genuinely confused. “I've always liked Tweek!”
There was an awkward silence, and Clyde's face flushed. “Not like how you like Tweek, obviously, but I think Tweek is a pretty cool dude, you know?”
Craig laughed. “Clyde, relax, I'm just messing with you.”
Clyde laughed back, but his face was still uneasy.
Craig gave him side eye before sighing. “Wanna come with me?”
The brunet visibly perked up. “Hell yeah!”
Craig was in the library working on homework when a pair of hands slammed onto the tabletop. He looked up slowly, keeping a look of indifference on his face.
Clyde was grinning at him, but it wasn't reaching his eyes. “Where's Tweek?”
Craig shrugged. “Dunno.”
“You don't know where your own boyfriend is?” Clyde yanked out a chair and dropped into it heavily. “That's a shitty thing to admit.”
“I'm his boyfriend, not his keeper,” Craig amended, continuing his math assignment. “Why?”
Clyde stuttered to a halt, looking everywhere but at Craig. “Oh, no reason, it's just usually you two are together all the time, you know?” He continued to ramble, and Craig finally looked up and raised an eyebrow.
Interesting.
“We're not always together,” Craig clarified. “I do have a life outside of Tweek.”
Clyde's eyes flashed, and Craig for a brief moment felt intimidation.
What the hell?
Then a smile planted on Clyde's face. “Nah, you're right, silly me,” He knocked his knuckles on his head with a grin. “I forget that relationships in real life aren't what they appear on television.”
Craig warily watched him, still feeling uneasy. “You all right, dude?”
“Me? Oh, I'm totally fine,” He was clearly lying, but Craig didn't have the motivation to push it.
“Whatever.”
It was late at night when his phone went off. It was the familiar ringtone he had set up for when Tweek would call, and he answered it, sleep still dancing on the edges of his vision. “What's up, Tweek? Can't sleep?”
“Craig, I'm so sorry for calling, but I didn't know what else to do.”
“No, no, it's fine.” Craig turned his bedside lamp on and sat up, rubbing at his face. “What's up? Underwear gnomes? President Garrison? Wait, your dad?”
“No, but I wish. No, I uh—I tried to handle it myself, but nothing I do is working!”
“Tweek, buddy, you gotta tell me what's wrong,” Craig flipped the covers off and started to put on his hoodie. Yet again he'd have to sneak out and calm his 'boyfriend'. “You haven't told me what's wrong.”
“Oh, shit, sorry, yeah, Clyde's outside in our yard. I think he's drunk, but he's out there crying.”
Craig stopped in mid-lacing of his shoes and stared ahead. “What?”
“Clyde's here. I tried talking to him out my window, but he just starts sobbing harder. Dude, I'm gonna get in so much trouble if my parents see him. They're gonna blame me and say I—“
“I'm coming, Tweek, it's okay.”
Craig climbed out of his window for the hundredth time, and ran down the various streets to the familiar set of houses where the Tweaks lived.
Sure enough, the upstairs window was open, Tweek's head of wild blond hair sticking out the window trembling. “Craig!” He pointed down, but Craig could already see him.
Clyde was laying in a mound of snow, a bottle of jack tucked beside him and he was crying.
Craig approached him, unsure of how to even begin with the situation.
Clyde cries, that was a given, but he never got himself drunk. None of them were legal yet, and he already had big plans for when he hit the big two and one.
Somehow though, in Clyde's drunken haze, he noticed Craig, and waved at him with a watery smile. “Hi Craig!”
“Clyde,” Craig held out his hands to try to show he was harmless. “What's going on?”
“Oh, hey Craig,” He picked up the bottle of alcohol and went to take another swig of it, only to tip it over with disappointment on his face and nothing coming out. “Oh, it's all gone.”
“You drank the whole thing?” Craig asked incredulously.
Clyde's expression crumbled, and Craig found himself stumbling through the snow to grab hold of him. “Hey, hey, no, none of that now,” Clyde's eyes watered, tears already dribbling down his rosy cheeks. “I'm sorry, that was a stupid thing of me to say, listen, hey, no, I was dumb, please,” He grabbed his friend by the face and squeezed his cheeks. “Please don't cry.”
Clyde sniffled. “You're so good to me. I don't deserve it.”
Craig scoffed and pushed his cheeks in, producing fish lips. “What are you on about? Of course you deserve it.”
Clyde's expression broke again and Craig decided a conversation was needed, but not in a mound of snow. His pants were soaked through, and his feet were starting to hurt from the cold. “Come on, let's go.”
“I have no where to go,” Clyde whimpered. “Dad's mad at me.”
“Good thing we're good to you, cause you're coming with me.”
Clyde viciously shook his head. “No, dad's mad at me because of you.”
Confusion took over Craig. Robert never seemed to hold a problem with him before, so what did he do to earn his ire?
He ignored the anxieties in favor of pushing himself to his feet, grabbing hold of his friend and pulled him to his feet with a stumble. “Your dad's already mad, what more is he gonna do? Besides, I can't leave you out in the snow. Come on.”
Craig never did get a straight answer out of Clyde. After he piggybacked him back to his own home, climbed up into his room with said teen on his back, Clyde just continued to cry and mumble nonsensical gibberish that Craig couldn't decipher.
It was after Clyde decided he was done crying for the evening that he gave Craig a grateful, watery look and smiled. The curl to his lips weren't right on his face. It looked way too forced.
Craig watched him warily as he fetched a change of clothes for him out of his closet. “What's that face for?”
“I just wanna say you guys are so lucky, like,” He waved a hand around as it he was trying to catch his thoughts. “You guys are just perfect together.”
“Huh? Are you talking about me and Tweek?” Craig didn't know where that came from or why, but he didn't want to talk about it.
“Yeah, man, like,” Clyde's face drifted away in thought. “You guys just get each other, you know? You two are--” His eyes started to water. “I'm jealous.”
That caught Craig off-guard. He stared hard at his friend, who was drunkenly rolling around on the floor and giggling now, seemingly feeling much better than he had twenty minutes ago.
Craig filed it away for another day and threw a cotton shirt and a pair of sleeping pants at Clyde's head. “Get changed. I'm going to bed.”
Clyde grinned at him. “Can we share the bed?”
“Do I look like I'm gonna make you sleep on the floor? If you don't hurry up, I will.” Craig crawled under the covers and left half of the bed uncovered and available. “Drag your ass.”
Clyde complied, somehow, only stumbling into the nightstand once, and eventually he slid in behind Craig.
“Hey,” His voice permeated the room.
“Hn?”
“Thanks.”
Craig didn't remember drifting off, but when he woke up the next day, Clyde was already gone.
When school resumed Monday, Clyde acted like absolutely nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Craig kept a close eye on him as much as he could, but it was difficult being in different classes, so Tweek took up the mantle where Craig couldn't.
The three (two?) were the only ones aware of what had taken place over the weekend, and Craig was about to lose his goddamn mind if someone didn't address it.
Thankfully, Tweek had shorter patience than Craig and finally dragged Clyde into the boys bathroom on the second floor and locked the door so the three of them were the only ones in there. “Dude,” the blond started. “What happened?”
Clyde cocked his head, feigning confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Last weekend, you--”
“Listen,” Clyde's face closed off, and warning bells went off in Craig's head. The last time he saw Clyde's face do that was after his mom died. “Can we just forget about it? It was stupid, and I—I don't honestly know why I did that.”
“I think we should at least address what got you so upset you drank an entire bottle of jack,” Craig put in.
Clyde flushed. “It was only half full. Dad's been drinking again.”
Tweek's face fell and he put a hand on Clyde's shoulder in a reassuring manner.
And then it happened.
Clyde shrugged his hand off with a sudden jerk of his body and pulled himself away. “It's fine, it won't happen again.”
“Clyde--”
He walked over to the door, unlocked it, and escaped without another word.
Tweek glanced over at Craig, and Craig sighed.
Clyde acted like absolutely nothing happened. In fact, his annoying nature only increased.
He fawned over Bebe, who took it in stride like a champ, but when he kept putting the moves on her and getting too close, she'd put up the roadblocks and put him back in his place.
It was nauseating to watch, and it was far more annoying having to sit with it everyday.
Craig ignored it for the most part, but he kept catching Tweek watching Clyde like a lost puppy. His blue eyes would be pinpointed on the brunet, and anytime Clyde would make a move on Bebe, Tweek's face would crumble and he'd disappear for a short time.
Then The Big Deal happened.
Another couple came out at the school, and Tweek and Craig were no longer the top couple at the school. Their spotlight time had come to an end, and they faded back into being the unknowns for the town.
Thank god.
Tweek was the one to bring it up with Craig.
“Hey, did you want to you—you know?” He awkwardly shrugged, hemming and hawing and being his adorable awkward self.
“Break up?” Craig thought hard about it. “I mean, it wouldn't hurt my feelings. Unless—“
“No, no, I—I'm tired of playing this act for the town,” Tweek ran fingers through disorderly hair. “It's been great. You're an awesome friend, but I think—I think we need to tell Clyde.”
That caught Craig off guard. “What? Tell him we broke up?”
“Tell him the truth,” Tweek offered. “Tell him this whole thing was just a set up for the town.”
“Tweek,” Craig said. “Is there something you're not telling me?”
“I mean—” He fidgeted. “I already know what I am. I accepted that part of me way back. I think it would help Clyde out with his own problems.”
Craig squinted at the blond. “Is Clyde having a sexuality crisis?”
“Sort of? I think?” Tweek bit his lip. “I'm just trying to piece together things from that weekend, but things aren't clear yet. I'd like to talk to him, if you're fine with that.”
Craig shrugged. “You're your own person, but we can tell a few people to get the word out we've separated.”
“Cool.” Tweek smiled. “So, anyone catch your eye?”
Craig looked away from him, flushing. “Yeah, but there's no way in hell he's not straight.”
Tweek's expression fell. “Oh, I'm sorry. Are you still going to try?”
“Hell no,” Craig stretched his arms above his head. “But what about you? Anyone catch your eye?” He quickly changed the topic to get Tweek off his tracks.
Tweek's face turned rosy, and he smiled. “Yeah, I think—I think he likes me too. But he was scared to do anything cause you and I were together, so...”
“Give it some time,” Craig offered. “Otherwise people will think nasty things.”
“Fuck people,” Tweek snorted. “I don't give a shit what they think.”
Craig laughed, clapping him on the back. “I'm proud of you.”
Craig expected a lot of things to happen after Tweek talked to Clyde.
Maybe some tears, maybe some heartfelt bro to bro conversation, maybe a demand for answers and why wasn't he put in on the loop.
What he didn't expect, however, was for Clyde to stomp into his gym class on a Wednesday afternoon and punch him in the face.
He felt his nose crack, and the blood was soon soaking his gym shirt. There was loud squealing from the girls who crowded by the bleachers, watching Clyde in fear.
Kyle and Stan were in Craig's gym class, and they dragged the brunet away as he kicked and screamed. “You asshole!” He yelled back. “You guys did that on purpose! You knew! You fucking knew!”
The gym teacher ended up grabbing Clyde by the arm and dragged him to the principal's office, and Token offered a fresh towel to Craig with a look on his face. “What the fuck was that?”
“That?” Craig asked as he pressed the towel to his nose. “I have no fucking clue man.”
“Well, figure it out.” Token snapped. “To piss off Clyde like that you must've done something big.”
Craig needed to talk to Tweek and fast.
Craig ended up in the principal's still in his gym clothes, and the lady just looked him over. “You look like you got sucker punched,” she commented.
Craig's eyes traveled to Clyde, who was pointedly not looking at him and looking very upset. “You could say that.”
“Since he did assault you, you are given the option to press charges,” Clyde's eyes widened minutely, but the rage was still on his face. “I would help you out, of course, with the proper procedures and I would call the authorities.”
“That won't be necessary,” Craig declared.
The woman raised an eyebrow. “He punched you in the face.”
“I've deserved worse,” He shrugged. “And I'm sure Cartman's done worse things and gotten away with it. So no, I don't want to press charges.”
The relief on Clyde's face was immediate, and he finally looked over at Craig.
Then the anger came back two-fold and he turned away.
Craig stared at him long and hard.
“Regardless,” She snipped as she pulled a file out from her desk drawer. “There are still rules in place, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to suspend you.”
Craig did a double take. “What?”
“Clyde will be suspended for the rest of this week and all of next week,” She declared, signing off on something. “That is all. You're dismissed, Craig.”
Craig looked over to Clyde and saw him tearing up.
What the hell did Tweek tell him?
Turns out Tweek said a lot of things to Clyde.
After Tweek saw Craig's bloody shirt, he immediately apologized and blurted out everything that had happened.
“I told Clyde that our relationship was fake to appease the town. He thought I was kidding, but I explained to him what had happened and he got mad! He got really mad, Craig, and I couldn't understand!”
“He kept saying your name, and how he was upset with you because you knew. What did you know, Craig? What did you know?” Blue eyes were tearing up, and his expression was broken.
Craig thought long and hard. “Fuck if I know, I have no idea what he's talking about. He's so pissed he got himself suspended for punching me in the face.”
“I fucked up, Craig, I—” Tweek sobbed, the tears pouring down his face. “I fucked up, Clyde's in trouble, you're hurt, everyone is upset—”
“No, Tweek, do not shoulder this blame, this is on all of us, okay.” Craig grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him gently. “This is not your burden to bear, okay? It's not. I must've done something along the way and I'm dumb enough to not realize it. Let me work on fixing things, okay?”
Tweek sniffed, eyes roving over Craig's face. “O-okay.”
Clyde tactfully ignored phone calls, text messages, and house calls. Anytime Craig would show up, he'd refuse to answer the door.
Eventually, Jimmy was the one to show up on Craig's doorstep. “Clyde told me to tell you to stop.”
Craig stared at him. “What? Stop what?”
“You continue to go to his house. He doesn't want to see you. He wants you to stay away.” He tipped his head. “So I have to ask, what the fuck happened?”
Welp, cat was already out of the bag, and eventually the whole school was going to find out anyway, so Craig confessed the set up between him and Tweek.
Jimmy stared at him long and hard before he took a crunch and walloped Craig right in the ankle, causing him to stumble back and cradle the offended limb. “What the fuck, Jimmy?!”
“You moron,” He snapped. “Clyde's been mad crushing on Tweek since the fourth grade, and you guys decide now of all times to tell him the truth? Do you know what his dad's been doing?!”
Craig didn't get a chance to respond because Jimmy plowed ahead.
“Clyde tried coming out to his dad. It didn't go so well, and his dad has started threatening him and doing all sorts of shit to him. So while Clyde's trying to work himself out and convince himself he doesn't like Tweek that way, you jackasses pull that. What the hell is wrong with you?!”
“I didn't fucking know!” Craig snapped at Jimmy. “He never told me!”
“He's your best friend and you didn't know?!” Jimmy pulled his crutch up like he was going to hit Craig again but kept it pointed at the dark haired teen. “I asked him, outright, one day what was wrong cause he seemed so upset. He told me cause I asked him. When's the last time you had a proper conversation with him? Huh? When's the last time that you and Clyde sat down and did best friend stuff, huh?”
Craig stared at him and Jimmy took several breaths to calm himself. “Sorry, sorry, I just—I don't like seeing my friends upset, and when my friends upset each other, I get upset, and I don't like yelling and I'm sorry I hit you—“
“—It's fine,” Craig said meekly but Jimmy ignored it.
“—But I really think Clyde needs a friend right now, and I'm telling you this out of confidence that I think he's so fucking lonely and miserable, but his window is unlocked and he's home alone.”
“Right now?”
Jimmy nodded. “Right now.”
Craig didn't hesitate. He grabbed his sneakers and slipped them on, racing down the street towards Clyde's house.
True to what Jimmy said, the window was unlocked.
Craig slammed it open, and the brunet sitting at the desk jumped. “What the—“ He was on his feet in an instant. “Craig! What are you doing here?”
Craig rolled to the floor panting. He didn't give himself a chance to catch his breath, he pushed himself to his feet. “Listen, I got to talk to you—“
A stapler flew across the room and narrowly missed his head. He winced as it dented the wall. “Clyde, wait—“
Clyde picked up a snow globe. “Get out.”
“Clyde, please, let me talk to you, okay? What did I do?”
“What did you do? What did you do?!” He squeezed the glass of the snow globe, tears threatening to spill. “You jackasses knew! You both knew! And you flaunted this whole time right in front of me!” He hurled the snow globe, and it shattered against the wall.
Craig held his hands up. “Clyde, what the fuck are you talking about!?”
“You knew that I liked Tweek! You knew and you set up a fake relationship with him anyway to make sure I couldn't be with him!”
Everything froze around Craig.
Jimmy's words resonated in his head, and he thought back to what Tweek had said he told Clyde.
It was looking so, so ugly.
“Clyde no, that's not why we got together, okay? We had no clue. Honest, if we had known—“
Clyde's face was contorted in pain. “You did, you did fucking know.”
“No, I didn't!” Craig snapped at him. “I wouldn't do that to my friends! I wouldn't intentionally do something like that to hurt them. I care about my friends!”
“Then obviously I'm not your friend because you did do that, and you did it to me!” Clyde sobbed. “Get out, I don't want to see you!”
“Clyde—“
“Get out! I don't want to talk to you anymore!”
Craig ended up calling Tweek and relayed what he found out.
Tweek just started crying into the phone.
Craig offered to come over, but Tweek declined, and hung up the phone after thanking Craig.
Craig just stared at the receiver wondering how things went so wrong.
A month after the incident, Clyde still refused to talk to Tweek and Craig. Craig tried to mend things, and even Tweek tried to get in and talk to him, but the brunet resolutely closed himself off.
Token put his foot down one afternoon after he wheedled information out of Craig that morning. (“Tell me what happened.” “Listen, Token, I—“ “—Obviously can't fix this on your own. Tell me everything, now.”)
He dragged Craig's gang outside right after the last class and literally put his foot down on the black top of the track. “All right, you're all morons.”
Clyde opened his mouth to argue but Token shot him a look. “All of you are morons, except Jimmy.”
Jimmy did a little victory hand pump to the air.
“What we have here is a shit ton of miscommunication and lack of communication,” His stern eyes ran over each party member involved, each sheepishly staring at the ground forlornly. “Let's start with the basics. Tweek and Craig faked a relationship because of fan art back in fourth grade.”
“Tweek and Craig kept their relationship going to appease the town because we all know the town is full of nosy assholes.”
“Tweek and Craig decided recently to end the relationship when another gay couple came out, and they told Clyde the truth about what had been happening.”
“Meanwhile, Clyde was crushing on Tweek since before the relationship started. When they got together, he assumed they knew and did it out of spite.”
“Then when Tweek told him the truth, he assumed it was Craig's idea to fuck with him?” He stared at Clyde. “I'm lost from here.”
Clyde pointedly ignored him in favor of staring off into the distance. “Doesn't matter anyway.”
Jimmy turned to the brunet. “Why doesn't it matter?”
“Because it just doesn't, okay?” He snapped. And Jimmy cocked an eyebrow at him.
“Don't get lippy with me.”
“Okay,” Token interrupted. “Why doesn't it matter?”
“Because my feelings for Tweek?” Tweek perked up slightly as Clyde's attention focused on him. “Gone. Forever. It doesn't matter. I blew things out of proportion. Okay? I'm dramatic. Always have been, right? Crybaby Clyde.”
Tweek's face crumbled, and right then and there Craig realized who it was that Tweek wanted to confess to. He reached out to comfort him when Tweek just rubbed his eyes and planted a smile on his face.
“Can we still be friends?”
Clyde's expression wavered, and he looked away. “I guess. If you want.”
It wasn't what Tweek wanted, Craig could tell for sure, but Tweek wasn't going to let him slip away that fast. “I want to be your friend, so please be mine.”
“All right, apologies all around,” Token demanded, pointing to Craig. “You start.”
The last year and a half of high school was a nightmare, Craig decided.
The gang had effectively fallen apart.
Clyde, despite saying he would be Tweek's friend, ignored him like gum on his shoe. Tweek would call, ask to hang out, and Clyde always had an excuse, always had something else going on.
Even at lunch he stopped eating with them, opting to sit with the girls.
It was by doing that, came the next big drama season.
The final month of high school had Bebe sliding into the seat next to Craig with her pulling on his sleeve. “I just found out something with Clyde,” She looked around and leaned in with a loud whisper. “Clyde's been avoiding Tweek cause he's got mad feelings for him.”
Craig stared at her. He couldn't exactly tell her that he was already aware that Clyde had, at one point, had feelings for the blond. He had said that they were gone though.
Apparently not.
“He's madly in love with Tweek, but he keeps saying he can't be with him. I don't understand, what the hell happened with you boys? There's more drama going on with you guys than when we made the list back in fourth grade!”
Craig ran his hands through his hair with frustration. “Listen just—don't say anything, okay? Clyde's going through some rough shit, and I don't know what to do for him anymore.”
“Don't say anything huh?”
An unfamiliar male smirked down, and Craig realized it was one of the football players on Clyde's team. “So, Clyde's a fag.”
Craig went to get to his feet when Bebe's hand shot out, nails digging his cheek.
The teen winced, drawing back. “You bitch—“
“Listen closely little boy,” Her eyes were aflame. “Word gets out, I'll know who spread the rumor and I'll know exactly who it is I will have to deal with, got it?”
He spat at her, and stomped away, and she turned to Craig with an apology on her tongue.
Days later, the rumor mill was abound, and it was far, far worse.
Bebe held true to her word, and got even by rubbing poison ivy all over the jock's jeans when he was out in the field playing, and he was out for a week with a bad rash. His car was also dealt a terrible fate. The moron had left his sunroof open and she poured week old, sun-cooked shellfish sludge inside all over his seats and upholstery.
The vehicle was never the same.
And neither was Clyde.
It should've been a celebration. It should've been a time for fun, reminiscing, and having one last hurrah.
Instead, it ended up with Clyde and Craig trading harsh words, snapping and screaming at each other. It ended up with Craig and Clyde getting into a fist fight at Token's house. Token broke up the fight, but that was the final straw.
Clyde left.
He blocked everyone's number except Bebe.
A month later, at Bebe's pool party, Craig ran into him once more.
It was the last time he ever saw him, and it was as he was shoved into the pool by the very person he used to call his best friend.
After that, Bebe revealed that Clyde moved out of the state to New York, where Token had ended up moving for college.
A few months later, Clyde's number was disconnected.
Bebe called Token, begged for him to go check on Clyde.
Token went to the address she had given, and sure enough, Clyde had moved.
Clyde had effectively erased himself from their lives.
“Well, well, well,” A voice laughed on the other end of the phone line. Token Black chortled deeply and melodically. “It's about goddamn time you gave me a call.”
Craig winced, eyeing the door. “I got the message from Kyle a while ago, some shit happened, and I sort of—lost track of time.”
“Lost track of time?” Craig could picture him smirking condescendingly into the phone. “For what, seven months?”
“Has it really been that long?” Craig gaped, completely forgetting that Token wouldn't see him.
“Seven months and four days, jackass,” Token said endearingly. “I have only one thing to say about that: don't fucking do that again.”
“I apologize, sincerely.” Craig offered, sitting on the edge of Kyle's bed. “So, what was it that you wanted to talk about?”
“Well, there's lots to discuss,” He drawled. “Why don't we start with my favorite that's been spreading among the friend group, hmm?”
Craig blinked, silent.
“Silence is the soul's way of admitting guilt, Craig,” Token reminded him. “I hear you and Broflovski are a thing.”
“Yeah, we are um,” He scratched the back of his neck, feeling it heat up. Token didn't even have to be in the same state to still get the best of him. “We are a thing. He's my uh, he's my boyfriend.”
“Oooooooh?” Token was clearly enjoying this by the way his voice went up in pitch, a bit of mania to it. “How did that happen?”
Craig sighed. “It's a long story.”
“Then make it short.”
“You make it sound like it's something that can be made short,” Craig nearly whined into the phone.
Nearly.
“Now I definitely have to hear all the juicy bits,” Token teased. “If the story of you and Kyle getting together is an epic tale that rivals that of the Lord of the Rings series, I'm all ears.”
“Listen, you little shit,” Craig started to threaten but Token cut him off.
“Seven months of radio silence...”
Craig snapped his mouth shut, then felt his face heat up. “Fine. It's nothing like what you are probably hoping, Kyle called me one night when he was being harassed by someone, needed a ride out, and I went and got him.”
Token hummed. “I feel like you're leaving out a lot of the story, but okay.”
“I let him spend the night,” Craig continued, ignoring his friend. “And I—sort of—told him things.”
“Things.”
“Yes, things,” Craig hemmed and hawed.
“After he was harassed?”
“I waited for the right moment!” Craig snapped into the phone. “I'm not that much of a dick!”
“Right,” Token drawled lazily, clearly not believing in him. “And I take it the things you said he liked and now you've hit it off.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“A while now?” Craig blinked. “Shit, six months now that I think about it.”
“So you can't wholly blame Kyle for ignoring me,” Token said, a little bitterness in his voice.
“No,” the dark haired man sighed. “No I can't.”
“And as much as I'd love to talk about you and Kyle and all that sappy romantic stuff, I would like to know why one of my very dear friends basically disappeared off the face of the earth and stopped contacting me.”
“I don't know, why don't you talk to Clyde about disappearing acts?” Craig hissed into the phone, wary of his voice rising. “He's a fucking professional when it comes to that shit!”
Token was silent, and Craig felt his heart sink.
“I'm sorry, Token, that was...out of line, and completely unnecessary.” He covered his eyes, feeling them burn. “I'm so sorry.”
“Craig,” Token's voice, the ever calming presence even across the country, thousands of miles away, spoke softly and assuringly. “It's okay, I understand.”
Craig inhaled and it wavered. He wasn't going to cry, he's wasn't going to fucking cry.
Token must've heard it and his voice became just as broken. “It's okay,” He assured him. “Listen, I haven't given up on him, and you can't either, okay? I hired some of the best private investigators to locate him, and I won't stop until I've either run out of funds or I'm dead, and neither one are happening anytime soon.”
Craig wiped at his eyes, ignoring the moisture that came away with his fingers. “That's not what I'm worried about.”
“We won't think such negative thoughts, okay? You have to keep hoping, Craig, please. Don't give up on him.”
“This is all my fault,” Craig felt himself sinking. “None of this would've happened if I hadn't—“
“If you so much as finish that line, I will fucking call Kyle and—“
“I stopped, I stopped,” Craig took several deep breathes trying to regain control. “But you—you hired investigators?”
“Yeah, Did it a few weeks ago. From what they've found so far, he's not in New York anymore, and from some of his activity he had transferred some things out west. Nothing specific, but they're thinking he moved to California.”
“That doesn't make sense,” he murmured. “Clyde's been so...he just doesn't seem like he'd fit in out there.”
“I know, that's why I'm going to let them continue to do their jobs,” Token commented. “If I find out anything more, I'll let you know. I wanted to get a hold of you before I had to hire investigators to find out what the hell's going on your way, but I knew Tricia would get someone to get through to you.”
The dark haired man rubbed at his face, suddenly feeling exhausted. “You two never should've been allowed to meet, I swear.”
“Fourth grade, and let me tell you, she's possibly one of my favorite Tuckers,” Token chortled. “Besides you of course.”
Craig smiled.
“I am going to let you go though, but don't ever disappear like that again, got it?”
“I got it,” Craig smiled into the phone. “Talk to you later.”
“Later dude.”