Chapter Text
Tweek was nearly done with his shift for the day. He had been clocked in for nearly 8 hours at this point. He worked at a local restaurant somewhat nearby his parents’ apartment. Sometimes wished he could do something else but he had little choice despite being 20 years old. There was no way he could move out, he couldn’t afford it and it had nothing to do with the pay he received at his job.
The reason was because he had to give most of his paycheck to his parents. They didn’t work. If they did, they would only hold a job for a small period of time because they either stopped showing up or got fired. Tweek didn’t even know if either of his parents were employed at the moment but it really didn’t matter too much. They would just quit the job or get fired.
The money Tweek made was more than enough money to pay for the rent for the apartment and any food they needed but a good portion of the money would be spent on drugs by Tweek’s parents. Tweek was not a fan of this. Not because he had an issue with people doing drugs but because he had no choice but to pay for it.
Although Tweek never gave his parents all the money he made. He always cashed the check before giving it to his parents if he could but that didn't always happened. He would always try to set aside some amount of money to himself. No one else knew about this except for him, and he had no plans on telling anyone anytime soon.
Tweek had to admit, even if his job was a bit stressful, he enjoyed talking to his coworkers when it was not too busy. Especially, during closing or opening when they were either setting up or cleaning up.
As Tweek swept all the food crumbs and straw wrappers from under the table, he could hear his coworkers Rebecca and Gary discuss Breaking Bad. David had gotten them all into watching it. Tweek was still late to actually watching the series but didn’t mind all the talk about it.
Tweek finished sweeping the floor. He had gotten most of the dirt, food, and wrappers off the floor but there was still a few spills he had to get with a mop. He passed his coworkers as made his way to the back of the restaurant where the cleaning supplies was stored. The room was very small and crowded. Various brightly colored bottles filled the walls along with different brooms and mops. Most of which were a little dirty except for the new blue mop head that was still in a bag. Tweek grabbed the mop the restaurant was currently using and filled a bucket full of water.
“Hello there, Tweek!” Chef Tweek’s boss waved at him from the doorway
“Augh!” Tweek yelped out as he jumped at the sudden sound. He turned around and let out a sigh of relief. “Oh hello, Chef.”
Chef laughed as he took in the scene before him. “Well, Tweek. The others are done cleaning now. You can go home now.”
“Gah! I still need to mop!” Tweek protested.
“Don’t worry about that.” Chef smiled kindly. “I’ll get it for you.”
“Nghh, are you sure?” Asked Tweek as he handed Chef the mop handle.
“Yes. Now, don’t forget your leftovers.” Chef said as he took the mop handle.
“Thank you, Chef.” Said Tweek leaving the room with one less thing to do.
Tweek was sure to grab the box of leftovers with his name written in black ink displayed on the box. There wasn’t always a lot of food at his house, so the leftovers he got from work were extremely helpful and enjoyable.
Tweek would often walk home with Rebecca. The two got along and took a similar path to their apartments. Although , Rebecca lived on a different street, they still had to walk in the same direction to get there. Meanwhile, Gary would often drive with one of his siblings to do various activities after work. Today, they were going to volunteer at a homeless shelter. That was actually quite common for Gary and his various siblings to do.
“Do you have any plans?” Asked Rebecca.
“Gah!” Tweek let out. “No! I might go to the coffee shop.”
“Really? I think I am going to go back home.” Rebecca replied to her friend’s answer.
“Nghh, to just relax?”
“I am going to watch something maybe. Maybe I will do research too.”
“You do research?” Asked Tweek who seemed a little surprised.
“Yes. I am saving to go to college and I want to have the best skills prepared!” Said Rebecca, her hands were shaking a little but that was normal of her. Tweek would also shake but for him it was his entire body and it really only happened when he was nervous. But Tweek feeling nervous was also normal.
Once they reached the street Rebecca’s apartment complex was on, they parted. Tweek was still very much considering going to the coffee shop nearby. They were still open for a couple more hours and he preferred hanging out there than his parents’ apartment. The temperature was just right, it smelled like coffee instead of the weird smells the apartment had and it was actually clean. Not to mention the WiFi was miles better than the shitty WiFi Tweek had at home.
“Hey, Kevin, it’s him! The Tweak boy!” A voice called out from a short distance.
Tweek frantically looked around and he tensed up as the four figures approached him, one of which he recognized. That was Kevin, he wore a light blue Star Trek shirt with messy dark hair sitting on the top of his head. A blond with a bowl cut wore an off-brand dark blue polo and held a knife stood beside Kevin. The other men stood close to each other, one with a scar over his eye and the other was a redhead with big round glasses on the short side. Tweek knew exactly who these people were, they were the drug dealers of his parents. But what the fuck did they want? Tweek had made it clear he didn’t want their products, were they really trying to sell him stuff again?
“Nghh, look I don’t want anything to do with your drugs.” Tweek began to slowly back away from the group of four as he trembled in fear.
“That’s not a choice!” Said the one with a bowl cut holding a knife as he got closer to Tweek his mind raced as he got closer, what was he going to do about this? This guy wasn’t joking around, he was serious.
“Yeah, you tell them Bradley!” Said the other blond.
“Shut up Butters!” Kevin snapped. Turning to Tweek, he stepped closer. “Your parents are late on their payments and we need the money.” Kevin approached Tweek.
Tweek desperately searched for an escape route, but he was cornered in the alley. Shit, shit, shit! I gotta get out of here! Thought Tweek, he shook uncontrollably, he wanted to get away from these guys.
“I don’t have any money with me!” Tweek yelled. He only had about $20 on him at the moment, he wasn’t going to let it go, it was his money anyway!
“Doesn’t matter! $300 now!” Demanded Kevin who had Tweek backed into a corner in an alley, his eyes frantically darted between the four figures surrounding him. There was no way he could escape right now.
“Gah! I don’t have that much with me!” Tweek shouted as he backed into the side of a building, he felt the rough bricks against his back, still shaking uncontrollably.
“Then fucking get it. The bank is still open!” Kevin shouted, pressing Tweek against the brick wall of the building.
“No! I’m not fucking giving you anything!” Tweek pushed Kevin away.
“Fuck!” Anger was visible in Kevin’s eyes.
Suddenly Kevin’s fist collided with Tweek’s face right into his nose. The sharp pain exploded in Tweek’s head causing him to yelp in pain. He tasted the metallic flavor of his own blood run down from his nose to his lip. It was hard to ignore the pain that Kevin had caused.
He clutched his bloody nose, blood ran through his fingers as he looked on the ground to see the chicken he had been carrying laid on the concrete ground. Now covered in dirt, he could no longer eat it. He felt disappointed by the sight, he was looking forward to eating that later.
“Aww, you can’t fight?” Kevin taunted him.
“I fucking can!” Tweek shouted as he made a fist and directed it towards Kevin’s face. Suddenly, Tweek felt two hands against his shoulder pushing him to the ground. He was on the ground but he quickly got up and brushed off his pants. He was not going to let these guys win.
Bradley took a quick look at the redhead and maliciously smiled. Tweek felt a pain in his ankle as it was kicked by Bradley. Tweek wasn’t going to let this fight get to him, he was going to at least try to fight these guys off.
He made a fist and went for the short redhead, he watched as he successfully landed a punch and the redhead fell to the ground causing him to shout.
“Shit!” The redhead rose from the ground and attempted to attack Tweek by jumping on him. Tweek noticed as soon as possible, pushing him before he could even reach his goal.
“Hey, Dougie, how about you don’t try to fight him?” demanded Kevin. “You’re not being very helpful at the moment.” Kevin shook his head and sighed.
“Fine!” The redhead named “Dougie” walked back a bit but just enough so he still had Tweek in the corner with the other three figures.
Tweek took the opportunity of distraction to get another punch in. This time his target was Butters. His fist hit Butters’ face right into the nose causing it to bleed. It dripped down his nose and face. Turning away, Butters fled from the fight with a bloody nose leaving a small trail of blood droplets behind him. This made Tweek’s job a little bit easier, it was three against one now.
“You bastard!” Shouted Dougie anger in his eyes behind his thick round glasses, he raised his fist towards Tweek’s stomach disobeying Kevin’s orders. Tweek shouted in pain falling back onto his ankle awkwardly causing him to hit the ground landing on his hip and held onto his stomach. He tasted more blood run down from his nose to his face from his previous nosebleed.
“What the hell is going on here!?” A nasally voice called out.
Shit! Not another one, what if he just wants to finish me off!? Thought Tweek as he felt himself shake uncontrollably once again holding onto his stomach as he laid on the ground. Thoughts of what this person may try to do to him began to fill Tweek’s head. What if he has a gun? What if he injures him so badly he needs to go to the hospital? What if he tries to kill him!? He already knew that his nose was bleeding fucking everywhere, his hip hurt, he had stomach pain, and his ankle is a bit fucked up.
The three quickly looked behind themselves to see who the fuck was shouting at them. All their eyes widened in horror when they caught sight of who the person was, whoever this was, they were bad news. Tweek felt his mind race as he thought about the situation more. He could actually die today. He didn’t want to die!
“Shit! It’s Craig!” Kevin hissed in frustration.
“What’s going on here? Do you have someone backed into that corner?” Demanded Craig, his nasally voice got closer and closer to the group of men.
“Shit, we gotta go!” Kevin frantically looked at his teammates frozen in his spot.
“But what about the payments!?” Shouted Bradley. “We-we could fight him! I have a knife with him.” Bradley showed off his knife to Kevin.
“We’re not fucking fighting Craig for this guy.” Kevin pointed towards Tweek who was still on the ground from Dougie’s punch. “We’re leaving now! ” Kevin ordered.
“Yeah, Kevin is right Bradley!” Agreed Dougie. “I don’t want to fight Craig for this guy, we can fight him later!”
“Fine! Whatever!” Bradley finally agreed, following Kevin and Bradley in the opposite direction the “Craig” guy was coming in.
They ran off before Tweek could get up again, he watched as they ran down in the alley out of his sight.
Tweek sat on the ground still shaking, he could feel pain both in his face and ankle, he wanted to get somewhere safe to treat his wounds. The blood from his nose had made its way down to Tweek’s neck and shoulders and had stained his white shirt. He remained scared on the ground watching Craig approach him.
“Don’t hurt me too!” shouted Tweek, once he realized what he said, he covered his mouth, he looked at him in fear. He could really die right now, especially if his guy has a gun.
“Hey, calm down. I want to make sure you’re ok.” Craig spoke with a monotone voice.
“Gah! What!?” Tweek shouted in surprise, uncovering his mouth.
“Yeah, I heard someone shout. You ok? Here take this for your nosebleed.” Craig handed Tweek a tissue. “They really got you bad there.”
“Nghh, my ankle fucking hurts.” Tweek took the tissue and used it to clean the excess blood off himself before pitching his nose to hopefully stop the bleeding. He felt a sharp pain in his ankle as he rose to his feet once again, he took a step causing him to let out a small yelp in pain.
“Be careful, you said your foot hurt.” Craig leaned forward towards Tweek silently offering him help.
“Nghh, I’ll be ok.” Said Tweek with some pain in his voice.
“Was that your food?” Craig pointed towards. Tweek’s now dirty chicken that laid on the ground, it was only a matter of time before the ants or rats got to it. Unless a dog were to find it first of course.
“Gah! Yes! I wanted to eat it but those guys made me fucking drop it!”
“Oh. Um, I have a coupon for a place nearby.” Craig dug around in his pants pocket to hand Tweek a coupon. “Um, I also have a little bit of money I can give you.” Craig handed about $7 in cash to Tweek.
“Gah! No, no, no! I can’t take your money, man!” Tweek rejected Craig’s offer for a free meal.
“No, please take it. Those guys ruined your meal.” Craig insisted.
“Nghh, I’ll take it! Thank you!” Tweek accepted the money and coupon. He had seen that place before and the food did look good. They were closed right now, but he could go there tomorrow afternoon for lunch. He could have a nice lunch that wasn’t at his workplace for once.
“I need to know. Why were those guys bothering you? I’ve never seen you before.” Craig bluntly asked.
“Gah! They wanted money from me but I don’t owe them anything! I’ve never bought anything from them either!”
“Alright, be careful.” Said Craig. “Avoid them if you can, you don’t want to get involved with them.” Craig warned him.
Tweek nodded. This Craig guy was pretty nice. Not to mention very good looking and tall, no he was gorgeous, just Tweek's type in fact. Tweek tried to walk but he was limping due to the pain in his hurt ankle. He figured that Craig must have noticed because he was quick to offer Tweek help. Tweek was unsure at first but eventually decided to allow the help. Anyway, Craig seemed like a good guy, he seemed trustworthy. If he were with Kevin and the others he would have tried to hurt him by now, but he’s only done the opposite. This would result in the decision to allow Craig to walk him back to his parents’ apartment. Due to his limp Tweek didn’t mind the help at all.
“So, what’s your name?” Craig asked.
“Gah! I’m Tweek. And are you Craig? Nghh, one of those guys called you that.” Asked Tweek.
“Yes, I’m Craig.”
“Are you like a fighting expert or something? They seemed scared.”
“What?” Craig gave Tweek a somewhat confused look, laughing a little.
“They ran away when they saw you. Are you a fighting expert?”
“Oh. I guess you could say that.” Answered Craig. “Hey, you seem a little shaken up. Are you ok?”
“Nghh, I’m just worried I’ll get attacked again.” Tweek started to frantically look around his surroundings. “I don’t want to get hurt again!”
“Oh. Don’t worry about it. They’ll leave you alone if I’m here.”
The two continued to talk until they finally reached Tweek’s parents’ apartment. The building was run down and Tweek had always felt this was an unsafe area. It was always so run-down for as long as he could remember, there had been physical fights, robberies, and shady activity. None of this helped Tweek’s anxiety about getting hurt or killed at any given moment. He felt as if he always had to have his guard up. He didn’t really care much for the location of this place at all. He felt unsafe even in his own home.
“Hey, Tweek.” Craig called. Tweek looked in Craig’s direction from the entrance of the apartment building. “Be careful, ok? Be sure to check out your ankle and run for it next time you see those guys.”
“Nghh, I’ll try, Craig.” Tweek said with a slight smile as he waved at him and entered the apartment building.
The apartment Tweek lived in was an absolute mess. There was trash in various places, not to mention there were a few needles hiding there too. It was also pretty dusty. The TV looked like it was from at least 20 years ago and it still had a cable box for whatever reason. There was not even anything good at cable anymore. The couch was dirty and had various stains on it. Tweek didn’t remember the last time they got a new couch. He tried to clean up from time to time but he was usually too busy with work or avoiding the place to clean up every single mess made in the place. There was also an odd smell to the place that Tweek couldn’t really describe but the entire building seemed to have that problem, he figured that whoever owned this apartment complex just didn’t care about the condition of the place. Another problem with the apartment is that the walls were thin. He could hear his neighbors make noise all the time, which Tweek found to be annoying. He didn’t care if they were talking, fighting, watching TV, the noise was annoying.
Tweek walked into the kitchen to get a small snack. There wasn’t much in the kitchen because no one had done shopping recently. He grabbed some crackers from the cabinet and took them to his room which he had a lock on. He often kept his door locked, so his parents couldn’t come in and take anything from him. It had to happened before when he was much younger and he wasn’t letting it happen again. He had managed to get a flat screen TV, a second-hand DVD player, and a small DVD collection he had built up over the years. He also owned a somewhat decent laptop he had saved up for while he was in high school. He was very careful when handling it in fear it could break if he were to drop it. He only ever used it on his desk or in his bed.
Tweek laid down on his bed. He felt the soft sheets on his body. He couldn’t help but to think about Craig. He didn’t need to help him out like that but he did. Not to mention he was very kind and had good looks. He actually appeared to be worried about Tweek, which was something he didn’t see very often. Well, maybe Chef worried about him a little but it wasn't like he ever got hurt at his restaurant job. Tweek had to remind himself of something, he’ll probably never see Craig again. But that didn’t change the fact that Tweek wanted to see Craig again. All he could do is hope that he can see the beautiful man that helped him out earlier but he knew that was unlikely. Still, Tweek would love to see Craig again if it were possible.