Work Text:
Craig didn’t understand the point of this so called “Hug Day”. But even if he didn’t, he did what he was told to do because at least then he didn’t have to do Math for fuck’s sake. He really hated that subject because he sucked at it and everyone knew that. He was glad that they were wasting their first class of the day to make these heart shaped cardboard cards to use for who knows what.
The idea came from their art teacher who was a hopeless romantic. She had somehow been able to convince the whole school to do this sickeningly adorable event instead of limiting it to her own class only. When she had announced this through the indoor radio system, Craig had been super happy that he didn’t have to participate in such nonsense because they had no art lesson that morning. However, he was so wrong about that as he then learned that everyone was included and he felt like moaning in frustration.
Craig Tucker was not known to be a fan of romance.
So it was an incredibly odd sight to see him making a pastel pink colored cardboard card, big enough for everyone to see it as he tied a rope on it so he could wear it like a necklace. As he put it on, he felt ridiculous like as if he’s masculinity gradually faded out of his body and his soul. He hoped nobody would take a photo of him because if his dad saw it, he would probably have a tantrum over it and that was so embarrassing to watch.
It was a miracle that his dad had even accepted Craig’s sexuality–he was gay and didn’t hide it from anyone at school. To put it bluntly, he didn’t give a damn if everyone knew because who the hell had a right to tell him who to be with? Exactly. Nobody.
When the students had made their heart shaped cards and hung them on their neck, they were told to hug each other and then write names on each other’s cards. Craig thought it was a form of violation of a person’s personal space but it was mostly because he didn’t even want to do these sickeningly cute things–yet he still ended up hugging a bunch of people without even realizing it. He just didn’t feel like denying the requests. Or maybe he had just gotten obsessed with hugging everyone? In the corridor during recess he saw that Eric Cartman was trying to beat everyone like as if this was a competition. But no one wanted to hug him and that was amusing to Craig who didn’t even want to hug anyone yet still got them all the time.
He had one goal though–get Tweek Tweak to hug him. Even though they were just best friends to a lot of people, Craig had to admit that he thought of his friend a lot but wasn’t sure why it was. This was one of those reasons behind his plan to get him to hug him. He wanted to know if it was deeper and if it was both sided. If it was just him, things would be so awkward between them and he didn’t want that at all.
As the day went on, Craig’s heart was almost completely filled with names of people. Some were even from people Craig didn’t know because they were from a different class. Craig didn’t care though because he had a clear goal. During recess when he looked for Tweek, he saw some of his classmates hugging people they had obviously been crushing on for quite some time. He was actually surprised once too–he saw Kyle Broflovski hugging Heidi Turner in the backyard playground during the last recess. He hadn’t had any idea that they had a thing for each other.
He saw Tweek standing by a tree with Butters Stotch. They were giving each other hugs and wrote each other’s names on the cardboard hearts when Craig approached them.
“Oh, hey, Craig!” Butters greeted him.
“Yo”, Craig greeted nonchalantly. “If this day ended soon, I’d be so happy.”
“You really aren’t a fan of this hugging, huh?”
“Not really. It feels forced.”
“Well good that I already hugged you then! Bye!” Butters just said and walked away whistling the apple song that he was always singing.
“I want this day to end, too. It’s just too much pressure to hug so many people!” Tweek squeaked and looked around restlessly.
“Calm down, Tweek. We just have to wait for two more hours and then we can leave”, Craig told him. “I actually have a question for you”, he added.
“You can ask me anything, Craig. You can even hug me if you want”, Tweek said.
“Huh?”
“I saved my hug for you the last”, Tweek confessed.
“Oh, you did?” Craig asked confusedly.
“Yes. The recess ends soon and we can’t be late, Craig!”
Craig sighed. It was better to just get it done and quickly. He took few more steps to his best friend and then wrapped his arms around him, pulling Tweek against his body. Tweek didn’t resist it at all. In fact, it seemed that he calmed down immediately when Craig hugged him. Craig himself felt very good doing it, and his heart actually skipped a beat when Tweek returned the hug. He knew exactly what that meant–Craig had developed feelings for his best friend at one point and he wasn’t bothered by it at all and he actually found himself hoping that Tweek felt something for him, too. He didn’t want to lose his best friend over something like this and ended up hugging Tweek a little bit tighter.
Their moment was cut short when the bell rang to signal them that the recess was over and they needed to return to class. They broke out of the hug and Craig noticed that Tweek was slightly blushing. He wasn’t confused by it, nor restless over the fact that they might be late from class. Instead, Tweek just looked at him in silence.
“You too?” Craig just simply asked him.
“Yeah. I don’t know when it started but I think about you a lot, Craig”, Tweek confessed.
“Well damn, you’re lucky then because I also feel things for you”, Craig just said and then grinned. “This is such a cliché–confessing feelings for each other on Valentine’s Day.”
Tweek smiled and looked even more relaxed. “It’s a perfect day for love confessions, Craig.”
“I guess so. I’m not a huge fan of romance.”
“I know! And I don’t expect you to be a huge romantic, Craig. I like you as you are.”
Craig smiled. “Well then, you can be the romantic of this relationship, Tweek.”
“Someone’s has to be.”
“Well said. Shall we go back in now? We are about to be late from class.”
“Sure, but first…” Tweek said and then he took out a pen from his pocket and wrote his name down on Craig’s cardboard heart. Then he offered the pen to Craig who wrote his name down on Tweek’s. He gave it back to him and Tweek put the pen back into his pocket.
Then they headed back inside holding each other’s hands.