Work Text:
He looked at the clock on the opposite end of his room. 3 a.m.—the devil’s hour.
Tweek’s pulled his blanket closer to his chin, listening to the ambiance from outside the window that he had left cracked open. He felt like he was in a game where he had to resist the urge to abruptly open his eyes, hoping to catch a demon, the gnomes, anything. Unfortunately, competitions weren’t exactly Tweek’s forte and the ten-year-old was constantly losing to himself.
The boy cracked an eye open, catching a dark movement in the corner of his room.
“Gahhh!” he cried, shooting up so that he was in a seated position. When he squinted his eyes to see what sort of monster had been crawling around his room, ready to dissect him and suck his organs through a straw, he let out a relieved sigh.
It hadn’t been a demon at all—just the shadow from the moonlight behind a tree branch outside of his window. Tweek laid back down with a yawn. He hadn’t slept in nearly forty-eight hours.
It was a few minutes before Tweek felt his eyelids struggling to stay open, slowly blinking them more and more until they were so heavy he’d have to pry them open with his fingers if he wanted to stay awake.
The night, however, decided it wanted to be cruel to Tweek. The moment he was drifting off into a deep sleep, he heard a tapping noise on his window. Again, he flew up and let out a loud yell. He instinctively covered his mouth, afraid of waking his parents up, but his eyes darted to the window next to his bed.
It was that same branch, except this time it was moving back and forth with the wind, slowly tapping against the glass. The long, thin twigs reminded Tweek of the bony fingers of an old lady. He tried to ignore it, but he couldn’t resist the urge to drift his gaze over, jumping every time he saw the lady’s hand. He knew what it was, but as long as he could see it, it would pose a threat to his sanity.
Tweek crawled over once more to the window, opting to close the blinds this time. In the morning, he’d have to take a tree trimmer and cut the branch off completely; otherwise, the thing would torment him every night.
Then he flopped down onto his back, listening to the mattress springs squeaking under him. He gripped the soft comforter in his hands, holding it so tightly that he felt his jagged nails digging into his palms through it. The boy made a mental note to clip his nails tomorrow. Craig had complained a few days ago that it hurt to hold Tweek’s hand because whenever he twitched, his sharp claws would stab into Craig’s hand and cause the other boy to jump.
Craig…
Tweek’s eyes shifted to his phone sitting atop his nightstand. Would his boyfriend even be up right now? It was doubtful. The few times that Tweek had slept over at Craig’s house, Craig had been able to pass out right away. Meanwhile, Tweek would be stuck twitching and groaning and waiting for some sort of mutant to peer over the edge of the bed and grab him by the feet, pulling him to the ground while he screamed Craig’s name, only for his cries to fall on deaf ears.
Of course, such a thing never happened. But it could, and that was enough to keep Tweek in a constant state of paranoia.
Without thinking, he rolled over onto his side and reached off his bed to grab his phone. His thumb hovered over the ‘call’ button for a moment before he pressed it, feeling the phone buzz. When the phone rang six times, Tweek was about to end the call when the ringing suddenly ceased and he heard a voice on the other end.
“Tweek?” Craig sounded exhausted. He had definitely woken the poor boy up, and Tweek’s chest flooded with guilt. He was an awful boyfriend.
“C-Craig?” he asked as if he wasn’t the one who made the call. He heard Craig groan.
“Dude, do you even know what time it is?”
“Uh, yeah… Sorry, it was—gyah!—an accident. G-Goodnight.” Tweek’s fingers moved to hang up, but Craig’s voice made him pause.
“That’s obviously a lie, Tweek.” He heard the muffled sound of Craig yawning. “You already woke me up, so you might as well tell me why you called.”
Tweek gulped and he hoped that it wasn’t loud enough for the phone to pick up. “W-Well… I was having trouble sleeping.”
“What do you want me to do about it?”
Tweek growled out a curse. “Whatever, dick! S-Sorry for bothering you! Just go back the—gah!—fuck to sleep!” Was it really so wrong for him to seek his boyfriend’s aid during these times? Isn’t that what couples did? Sometimes, Tweek felt like Craig was nothing but a glorified best friend who tolerated Tweek more than actually liked him.
“Ugh. Hang on, I’ll call you back.” Before Tweek could reply, the call ended and Tweek was met with the sound of silence once again.
Despite his anger, he sat up and waited for a call back from Craig. A minute passed. And then two. And then five. And then ten. Tweek patiently tapped his fingers on his lap, waiting for the screen of his phone to light up. Outside his window, the old lady was still tapping on the glass, begging Tweek to open the window and let her in.
After waiting for fifteen minutes, Tweek angrily tossed his phone onto the floor next to him and fell back onto his pillow with crossed arms. He was almost certain that Craig had either accidentally fallen asleep, or had gone back to sleep on purpose and would just say it was an accident at school tomorrow. Seriously, his boyfriend was such a prick sometimes.
While he was cursing Craig out in his head, thinking of what he would say when he chewed him out at school tomorrow, Tweek heard his phone buzzing on the floor. His eyes widened as he leaned over the side of his bed and picked it up from the carpet. Surprisingly, Craig had called back.
“Hello?” Tweek asked in a high-pitched voice. He heard some shuffling from Craig’s side.
“Dude, let me in?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“Open the fucking door.”
Tweek scooted over to his window, peeking between the blinds. He squinted and saw Craig standing expectantly at his door, holding up a middle finger in the direction of Tweek’s window.
“J-Jesus, Craig! Hang on!”
Tweek jumped out of his bed, completely forgetting about the demons stalking him from every corner of his room. He raced down the stairs, using the banister to catch himself when he missed a step and slipped.
“What the hell—nyegh!—are you doing here?” Tweek screamed with a whisper. Craig yawned nonchalantly and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.
“Well, let me in first,” he said with a sniff, his voice extra nasally from the cold. Tweek stepped out of the way to allow Craig to walk through the door. He, however, did not explain what the hell he was doing at Tweek’s house and instead started walking up the stairs. Tweek fumbled with the lock of his front door before running after him, careful to not let the stairs creak too much.
“Craig!” Tweek called firmly but quietly. The boy didn’t turn around as he let himself into Tweek’s room. Craig kicked off his shoes and socks and set them by the door. Then he took off his hoodie and threw it on the floor to reveal his pajama shirt underneath, complete with matching pants. His blue hat stayed firm on his head.
Tweek followed him into his room, watching as Craig crawled onto his bed and under the covers. He threw his hands into the air and groaned. “Craig! What the hell!?”
“What?” Craig sounded annoyed—like he was mad that Tweek didn’t understand what he was doing. “You’re the one who called me.”
“Well, yeah!” Tweek cried as he stepped towards the bed. “That doesn’t… That doesn’t mean you had to come all the way here! Did you walk?”
Craig ignored his question. “Well, I’m here now and I don’t feel like going back home. Just come on, Tweek.” He scooted over to make room and patted the space next to him, inviting Tweek to come and lay in his own bed.
Tweek grumbled as he let his shoulders sag in defeat. He crawled in next to Craig, who was lifting the covers to let Tweek get under them. The two of them lay on their backs, Tweek looking at Craig while Craig had his eyes closed as he was breathing softly. He could feel the heat radiating from Craig's body as their arms touched.
When Tweek’s anger and confusion subsided, he blushed, feeling a warmth in his chest at the thought of Craig caring so much about his well-being that he walked all the way here in the freezing Colorado night to make sure Tweek could sleep. Without thinking, he shifted closer to Craig and laid his head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around his boyfriend's chest. Craig moved so that Tweek was laying on his outstretched arm and the brunet was returning his hug, rubbing circles on the small of Tweek’s back. He never opened his eyes once.
Even though Tweek could hear the lady tapping on his window, and could see the shadows of demons casting over Craig’s pale face, he smiled to himself and finally drifted into a peaceful sleep.
Craig smiled when he heard the soft snores coming from his blond boyfriend, taking off his hat and placing it on Tweek's head to make sure he stayed warm. Silently, he promised himself that he'd make sure Tweek was never sitting alone in his room, shaking and scared from the night ever again. Craig would do whatever it took to make sure of it.