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Maybe taking a twitchy boy to a creek wasn’t a good date idea.
Or maybe it was.
Last week, Craig had asked Tweek if he had wanted to go to the creek in the forest near his house. Tweek, of course, was hesitant about it. He had never been to a creek, and definitely not one in the forest. He was already scared of the forest, but maybe it wouldn’t be that bad.
The creek was only a small walk from Craig's house. There was a path leading into the forest, and they made sure to follow it exactly. Tweek would sometimes stop to panic when he heard a small sound, but other than that they were mostly uninterrupted.
On the walk there, Tweek and Craig talked about everything and nothing. They talked about how Stripe #4 was doing, Craig’s fascination with space, Tweek's interest in toy cars and playsets, and school work.
When they got to the creek, Tweek was already starting to regret his decision.
“What if there's something dangerous in there? Like-like a rattlesnake or something..” Tweek fidgeted with his hands.
“There’s no rattlesnakes here, Tweek. I’ve been to this creek with my sister like a million times.”
“A million? That’s a lot.”
Craig sighed and pulled his shirt off. He took his shoes off and put them into the bag he had brought. He put on the water shoes and stepped into the creek carefully.
“Wait– Wait for me.” Tweek repeated the steps that Craig did.
The water was cold, but it wasn’t anything that bad. The stream of water pushed Tweek’s legs a bit, but it wasn’t at all that strong.
“It’s not that bad, right?” Craig grabbed Tweek’s hand.
“No.. but-but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a snake.” Tweek shook his head.
“Stop worrying so much.”
“You know th-that's difficult for me.”
Craig walked down the creek and scooped up a bit of water in his hand. He chucked the water at Tweek. Only some of it flew, but it was enough to surprise him. Although, even if he had nothing in his hand, it would still surprise him.
“GAH-” Tweek jumped back in surprise. “Dude! You-you’re gonna give me like a thousand diseases!”
Craig laughed. “A thousand is a lot.”
“Of course it is! You know there are roughly like.. Ten thousand diseases in the world?”
“That’s a lot. I think you watch too much informational TV, though.”
“Like you haven’t watched over 30 video essays about space!”
“Good point.” Craig let out a chuckle.
Tweek kneeled down and put his hand in the water, feeling as the stream went through his fingers.
Craig looked around the outer-ends of the creek, looking for any kind of wildlife. He assumed if he saw some kind of creature, it was gonna be a fish or a frog. He had only seen a snake down here once, and that was four years ago. There were of course some bugs. There was an ant with a little colony, a caterpillar, and a couple of ladybugs swarming around.
He saw two beetles making love and couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at them, like any 5th grader would when they see bugs making love.
While Craig was fascinated with how the bugs on the edge were doing, Tweek had spotted a toad. It was sitting on the edge of the water, completely chilling. But, Tweek is Tweek, so he immediately started to get farther and farther away.
Tweek wasn’t dumb, he knew a toad couldn’t hurt him. But, it could always jump at him, which would surprise him, which would make him fall, which would make him bang his head on a rock, which would eventually make him die.
“What time do your parents want us back?” Tweek yelled to Craig.
“Around six!” Craig yelled back as he picked up a small turtle that he had found. “Look, a turtle.”
“It probably has AIDs.”
“Shut up, dude.”
Tweek let out a chuckle and walked over to his boyfriend.
He felt kind of relaxed. Well, as relaxed as he could be. He liked the way the water hit the back of his legs, and the soft noise the stream made. What made it even better was that Craig was there.
Craig put down the turtle and grabbed Tweek’s hand. He led him silently down the stream.
Craig felt like he could enjoy this time together. Just him, Tweek, and an occasional fish that went by.
When the time was right, they dried off and walked back to Craig’s house.
It was a nice outing. Tweek would consider doing it again.