Chapter Text
“Oh please, Craig, please! Tolkien is sick and me and Jimmy need a ride there!” Craig knew Clyde was begging him because he wasn’t allowed to drive. After he had crashed Craig’s car a while back, Clyde’s dad deemed him too irresponsible to drive which was the opposite of what Clyde wished to prove.
It took a week of Tweek, Tolkien, and Jimmy convincing Craig for him to finally talk to Clyde after the incident.
He loved his best friend but he had also gotten grounded after his parents found out and he was made to pay for the damages with money he had made from his work money. So even the thought of driving with Clyde in the car was rejected by him.
“I’m not your valet service and me and Tweek are busy anyway” He didn’t lift his eyes from the physics textbook in front of him. He knew Tweek was glancing between him and Clyde but before Tweek could say anything Craig cut him off.
“No Tweek, you know I want to see those constellations tonight. I can’t drive anyone.” He continued reading the passage.
“We see them every winter babe, missing it o-once won’t be that bad” Craig fought back the frown on his face and instead sighed loudly. He knew Tweek couldn’t say no but he also wishes Tweek would work on saying no, especially when it came to Clyde. Craig had learned to say no to others very quickly in life, last time he didn’t he got stuck in Peru and lost 100 bucks, and he wishes he could transfer that skill to his boyfriend.
“Fine but if anything starts I’m leaving you all there” He huffs slightly “I refuse to lose any more brain cells to those parties.”
Craig hadn’t been in the house for more than a minute and he was already over it.
Here they were at a stupid and loud party that made Craig want to go home and curl up in his bed. The only thing stopping him from going insane was the feeling of Tweek’s hand in his. Tweek was having a conversation with Clyde and Jimmy about something that had apparently happened in drama class. Craig didn’t care much considering he didn’t take the class.
His boyfriend's anxiety had gotten better, well slightly, Tweek had gotten better at not showing it, more specifically by surrounding himself with people he was comfortable with. Craig and Clyde are the perfect and current examples of this.
“Tweek!” A voice called out causing all three of the boys to look up. It was Butters and he had a big grin on his face, Craig also noted he was with Kenny. Tweek returned Butter’s grin with a smaller one as the two blondes approached.
“Me and Kenny were hoping you’d come!” Craig fought back the urge to raise his eyebrow to question them. Instead, he settled on being quiet as Butters and Kenny looped Tweek into a conversation. He watched as Clyde and Jimmy walked off as if they were searching for someone. ‘Girls most likely’ he noted to himself.
What caused Craig to finally speak up was Tweek getting Craig’s attention “What?” He asked knowing he didn’t hear what Tweek was saying to him.
“I’m gonna g-grab a drink, do you want one?” Craig shook his head at the question, even if he knew everybody here he still didn’t trust most the people not to somehow put alcohol in it. He didn’t particularly like himself while he was drunk either.
“No, I don’t want one.” Even if it was only for a little bit he didn’t enjoy the feeling of his hand sliding from Tweek’s, his only anchor in the current loud environment.
He then, just like he did Clyde, watched Tweek walk away. Butters stood on one side of him with his arm wrapped around Tweek’s and Kenny mirrored him on the other side. Craig sometimes wondered how Tweek made friends with two of the most extroverted people in their year.
Craig wandered further into the house and found a place to stand, a corner by himself while he waited for Tweek.
He crossed his arms, pulling his phone out hoping people would get the message to leave him alone. He also hoped the constant look of unfriendliness might help but it seemed people weren’t able to get the message.
He watched Eric Cartman approach him, with that ever-sleazy grin on his face, that always let people know he was going to cause some kind of trouble.
“Tucker!” He greeted with an enthusiasm that caused Craig’s lip to curl in disgust, he hated hearing the asshole say either of his names in any context. “I’m surprised to see you here. Been lost in that head of yours again?” Cartman commented, an attempt to ‘poke the bear’ as people say but Craig said nothing. He knew the fat ass was referring to when Craig had a bad habit of smoking weed and being out of it but he had gotten control of it. However, he continued to look down at his phone.
Cartman scoffed (not so) quietly at Craig’s silence but said boy still heard it over the music.
“I seen your little gay boy with Kenny and Butters” The phrase causes Craig to glare at Cartman, he hated the phrase especially when it was used to describe Tweek.
“He has a name” Craig coldly replied, his look of unfriendliness had become a pissed-off look but it didn’t deter Cartman, nothing seemed to.
“Do you think they’re all fucking in the toilet?” Craig blanked out for a good few seconds and only realised what happened when he realised Cartman was holding his bloody nose. Craig didn’t flinch though, he continued to stare at Cartman with a harsh look.
Finally, the asshole looked up and made eye contact with Craig, he growled out “you fucking bitch.” He looked ready to ram Craig down.
The boy knew he had the height advantage but also knew full well that Cartman had the weight advantage and could easily knock Craig down.
That didn’t make him want to stop. He was determined to show Cartman that he couldn’t just throw phrases around like that.
Craig felt a burst of adrenaline as Cartman ran at him. The bigger boy knocked him against the wall causing all the air to dispel from his lungs. Craig quickly retaliated with a punch to Cartman’s face, it didn’t knock him away but the boy hissed in pain.
The blow to Craig’s stomach made him double over allowing Cartman to pull him to the ground and straddle him, making it hard for him to fight back.
Cartman kept punching and it got to the point Craig was getting dizzy and knew his face was going to be swollen for a few days or more.
After what felt like hours but was only a minute, someone pulled Cartman off of Craig. He heard the distinct voice of Kenny shouting at his friend but his focus was on his boyfriend and his friends around him.
“Craig, buddy you all good?” Clyde asked concerned.
“I’ll get an I-icepack.” He heard Jimmy state.
Tweek said nothing but quickly took his boyfriend's hand and with the help of Clyde got him off the floor. Tweek and Clyde took him to one of the toilets in the house and sat him on the toilet lid.
He could hear Tweek muttering to Clyde about making sure no one came in and he watched as Clyde nodded and left, shutting the door behind him.
Tweek got some toilet roll and wet it before holding it against Craig’s nose. He wasn’t twitching or even talking. He was quiet and it unnerved Craig.
He lifted the toilet roll before wiping his nose again causing Craig to lean back “ow, be more careful would you.” Tweek only fixed him with a hard glare that kept him in place.
After a beat of silence, Craig spoke up “He was saying some fucked shit about you.” He expected Tweek to reply with a quiet ‘Thank you’ or ‘You didn’t need to hit him for me’ but instead he got a harsh statement that shocked Craig.
“He’s fucking Cartman, what do you expect Craig” He instantly knew Tweek was upset. He fought back the frown that wanted to settle on his face “Honey-” He was cut off immediately by Tweek who Craig noted sounded similar to Craig’s mum when his dad tried to apologise to her.
“Don’t.”
The boy stood back and had his arms crossed, hands twitching just the littlest bit, clearly itching to grab for his hair or his shirt.
“I thought that you had finally been able to ignore him after knowing him for so long. After staying out of fights for months now but no, I know this isn’t what you wanted to do tonight but I wanted to spend time with our other friends Craig.”
Craig looked down at his hands, feeling like he was 10 and being scolded again.
“You didn’t have to come tonight, you could have dropped us off and left to see the constellations yourself.” Craig felt a lump rise in his throat at the sentence but he held it back.
“I’m going to go home, I’ll see you tomorrow ” Craig got up and opened the bathroom door, not responding to Tweek who was asking where he was going.
He practically stormed by both Clyde and Jimmy, who was holding out the icepack for him and left to go outside. He had to shove past multiple people but eventually made it outside and the cool air helped him calm down. The tension left his body and he felt ready for bed.
Until he heard sniffling.
He looked over the direction it was coming from, the curb right next to where his car was. It was Kyle Broflovski. Both Craig and Kyle avoided speaking to each other at school as they hadn’t had the best interactions in the past and only were in each other's presence when Tweek was talking to him or Kenny.
Tonight however Craig’s heart seemed to soften at the sight of him at this moment.
He was curled in on himself, he had his hat off and on the floor, his face was almost as red as when he got mad and he seemed unaware of his surroundings.
Craig approached him to tell Kyle to move so he wouldn’t be run over when Craig moved his car but without realising he sat next to the redhead.
“Broflovski” Craig muttered as if he was going to say something worthwhile like ‘sorry you’re having a shit night’ or ‘I get how you’re feeling.’ Instead, when Kyle looked at him he said nothing, he could see how the boy’s usual steely expression had basically melted away.
Kyle however tried to look intimidating “What do you want?” His voice cracked which didn’t help him seem any scarier.
Craig said the only thing that came to mind.
“Do you wanna go somewhere else?”
It was surprising that Kyle had actually gotten into the car. Craig watched out of the corner of his eye as he watched the surroundings pass.
Finally, Kyle spoke, albeit quietly but still did “Where are we going?” Craig didn’t want to freak him out and hoped Kyle knew he wasn’t planning to kill him. “Starks Pond. There’s some constellations out tonight I wanted to see, they help make me feel better.”
Kyle could only make a noise of slight interest before watching out the window once again. Whatever happened tonight had broken down the Kyle Broflovski that Craig had known ever since they were tiny. The boy who didn’t take anyone's shit and always seemed ready to get into an argument if needed.
He knew just how much he related to Kyle at this moment, it was a stressful night for the two of them.
“How do you know if you’re gay?” Kyle’s sudden question made Craig whip his head to look at him but quickly back at the road as he remembered he was the one driving.
Craig processed Kyle’s question in his head as part of him worried that if he took too long that he would seem like a fake to Kyle, he tried to quiet that part of him.
“I guess if you’re really interested in a guy” He shifted in his seat. “Like you could imagine being with them romantically. Just the same way straight people think but… gayer?” He heard a quiet chuckle come from Kyle.
Craig carefully pulled into the side a path before getting out. He didn’t bother to check if Kyle was coming, he wanted to give him the choice to come if he wanted to.
Craig opened the boot and grabbed the picnic blanket sitting there. It was the one him and Tweek used for stargazing when they both needed a break from the world. Tonight though it would just be Craig (and maybe Kyle).
He looked up as he heard the car door open and close. Kyle had put his hat back on and fixed his jacket slightly.
Craig just closed the boot and held the blanket up to Kyle before locking the car and heading towards the pond. He could hear Kyle following behind him, the crunch of snow was nice on his ears compared to the loud music of the party, it felt like he belonged here almost and not with other people.
He came up to his usual spot which was clear of trees and laid down the picnic blanket. He initially sat on it before leaning back completely and began counting how many stars he could see.
One.
Two.
Three.
He heard the crinkle of the blanket as Kyle lay down next to Craig.
Four.
Five.
Six.
He noted the quiet breathing of Kyle and how much calmer it was now than when Craig had originally found him.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
No words were said the rest of the night, only the silent watching and counting of stars.