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“craig, honey, it’s five til eight! you should be down here getting your shoes on!” his mother called up the stairs. craig figured at the very last minute that maybe he should try and make himself look a little nice for the date he is about to go on. he is miserably attempting to not stumble over his big jeans and pull on his least annoying pair of socks without sending himself falling flat onto his ass.
he finds himself dousing his shirt in an unreasonable amount of cologne. he has never done that before, not in his life, not ever. and even worse, he picked this t-shirt with the very conscious memory in his head of this guy wearing a shirt from the very same band. the thought of this choice impressing him makes craig’s teeth hurt and his stomach swarm. he worries that cliches are true.
and- this guy- he swears he’s known him all his life yet he doesn’t recall a single conversation with him. to be fair, though, it’s like this with just about half the people in his school anyway. this guy is small and characteristically very doe-like, yet he is very ungraceful. craig’s caught him tripping on his shoelaces when he thinks nobody is looking- or, he thinks everyone is looking. he’s very outwardly nervous. craig connects that he is a lot like bambi.
he’s got a bird's nest of blonde hair on his head, but craig thinks it oddly fits his face well. he doesn’t fit the normal standard for being attractive, rather he is in a more unconventional sense. he has huge eyes to contrast a little dainty noise, and his face always has a sort of flush to it, kind of like he just always might cry.
that’s what craig assumes drew him in- but he’s not really too sure. the only thing he’s really sure of is that the crush he’s had on this guy is perhaps the most humbling experience of his life. this guy is just so rattled up and alluring and it’s all so endearing to craig, he strikes him as something to be held and nurtured and craig wants that. craig thinks of him as being really pretty, but he wasn’t even sure if you were “supposed to” think of guys as being pretty- he himself wouldn’t mind being called pretty… he’s so confused.
he’d already spent so much time going through mental gymnastics to not be so overt about the fact that he is literally beyond infatuated with this guy and he finally asked him out. craig’s never been fond of the talking with people thing, but he thought that if he had to go on any longer without at least risking it he might’ve imploded- so there was craig, weaving his way to go blankly stare at tweek where he sits alone at lunch and then just handed him something scribbled on a post-it. not a single person knew, and tweek hardly made a noise, and craig’s very lucky he didn’t.
but he’ll be even more lucky if tweek even shows up period. oh god- what if he doesn’t? craig’s not sure he’s ever been this nervous in his life, either. and he doesn’t have the willpower and neither does he have the time to stand and tear his hair out! he intentionally-unintentionally slams his bedroom door behind him and he practically flings himself down the stairs to where his mom waits very impatiently by the front door.
oh, and even more embarrassing, craig can’t even drive! not that anyone his age does, but it makes him feel so lame. he’s never even cared about this shit before, what is his deal? is that what people who like each other deal with all day? attraction is evil!
he doesn’t miss the way laura scrunches her nose when she catches a whiff of him passing by her out the door, but she smiles a little anyway and says nothing coming out the house and into the driver's seat.
craig finds himself picking at some loose thread on his pants and wiping his clammy palms down them. he usually hates to be so overly aware of himself, but something in his stomach is bubbling as something pleasantly painful enough to almost nauseate him.
“you really like this boy don’t you?” laura hums with a gentle smile.
craig rolls his shoulders a little “yeah. i guess. what makes you ask?”
laura takes a hand off the wheel to lean it over to pinch his cheek “you’re so nervous.” she laughs lightly. “it’s that one boy- tweek?” and that’s the real kicker really- his name is tweek. he’s really so strange, and craig tends to forget how he even started liking him in the first place.
he hated spending time listening to everyone at his lunch table, so he tunes out instead. it’s caused him to stare at the back of the lunchroom with his eyes carefully fixated on tweek for the entirety of the school year. and as it plays out, he then started to come up in his dreams, and then in vaguely resemblant stick figure doodles on his homework. cliches are very real, and it’s all so scary. he’s never felt so strongly and so confused towards somebody in this way- and acting on it finally seems so surreal.
his mother continues “i know him. his parents are those secluded guys down the way who run that coffee shop. he seems like a sweet kid. not someone i would ever expect you with, though.”
“that’s a bad thing, isn’t it?” craig murmurs anxiously. laura only laughs a little and shakes her head. south park is unfortunately not a large town and every drive has always been very little. it’d be fine if craig’s heart wasn’t literally beating into his ass. she pulls slowly into the parking lot and craig fears the beginning of an end is near.
“no, no, not necessarily. i think he’s good for you- he’d be good for you if everything works out. which i think it most likely will.” she’s pulled into a parking spot and leans to stroke craig’s hair back behind his ear in her typical fashion. “i know you can be good at this, don’t stress too hard.”
craig peers all around outside the window instead of really listening. “what if he isn’t even here?” to which laura just points out his window to someone on one of the benches outside with a blonde head of hair peeking over the back and a repetitive nervous swivel of their body. “oh,” craig sighs in relief. it’s all he truthfully has to say.
his mom gives him a thumbs up and another small pep talk before craig finally works himself up enough to slug his body out of the car like he’s boneless and in a puddle. he tries to not approach tweek from behind as to not scare him, but this proves pretty pointless as tweek still manages to whip his head in craig’s direction and give him his deer in headlights look.
craig puts a hand up just hardly to his side to try and say hi, but his body feels too much like jello and his brain too much like mush. tweek takes in a long breath and pushes his weight off the bench a little.
“you actually showed up.” tweek says, sounding a little surprised. it came out more with the intonation of a question.
craig assumes it’s because he showed up late, something along those lines, and he immediately flushes in embarrassment and feels a sense of dread. “i’m sorry i’m late, by the way.” he murmurs awkwardly and he can feel his face making a strange expression.
tweek looks a little puzzled now. he flashes his home screen to craig to display the time. all craig is really focused on is his screen protector that is in shambles, and how tweek hold things like he’s never held anything before in his life. “you’re early.”
“oh. okay.” is all craig had in response. tweek keeps his face furrowed a little at him, but something about him lightens in just the slightest. craig lets tweek stand up off the bench and they don’t say anything heading towards a small ice cream shop in the corner of the shopping center.
craig’s glad tweek seems to flow with what had been arranged because he finds it dreadful when plans aren’t followed in his usual group of friends. tweek made craig give him a very detailed plan of what he wanted to do, and craig’s afraid he found it very endearing. he appreciated it more than anything, as if tweek was doing him the favor.
but what was most prominent on his mind while they walked along the sidewalk in silence was what tweek really meant about his shock that craig had even showed up. craig assumes that they just worry in a similar way.
—
inside the ice cream shop, craig orders the exact same thing he’s been getting since he was little. he is first to order. tweek, however, tries about every single flavor there is on those tiny sample spoons, and by the end of it, he decides simply that he just didn’t want any anymore. that ruined craig’s well thought out creative save to offer to pay for tweek ( with his mom’s money ), but it didn’t discourage him that much. craig felt like he maybe understood; tweek was overwhelmed.
when they sat down they chose a table with high stools. craig looked down from time to time to see tweek’s legs swinging back and forth, but he didn’t tell him that it was shaking the table terribly. tweek seemed to just watch intently as craig tried his best to not make a mess with his ice cream. this was making craig a little nervous again, but tweek started to speak and break their silence.
“i’m sorry.” tweek muttered. sorry? for what? craig was taken aback.
so, he felt very quick to reassure him “no, it’s okay. i get it.”
and then tweek gives him that very puzzled look again. and almost like he was talking to himself, he questions “you do?” and it was said very quietly, but this makes craig feel like he said something wrong.
“i think so.” craig mumbled in an attempt to save himself. tweek carefully nodded and began to unfurl a crumpled up napkin in his hand.
“uh- you have ice cream on your chin. all over.” tweek handed him the slightly sweaty napkin. craig didn’t take it because it took his brain far too long to digest what tweek said, and he instead smacks the back of his hand to his chin and wipes furiously.
tweek began to giggle at him a little but craig notices he stops rather quick, and he just smiles shyly instead. craig wouldn’t have felt so bad if he laughed, he preferred it over his silence. but his face turns hot and red and he has to turn away a little to fix himself. tweek doesn’t say anything the rest of the time craig eats and seems a lot more shy, and craig keeps catching him look and then look away. craig is okay with this, and doesn’t say anything, either.
—
out of all places they could be, they find themselves inside of a discount sort of store with a bunch of deadstock. on their walk there, craig noticed tweek was shivering and so he just hardly stuck his hand out into the direction of tweek’s to try and hold it. tweek didn’t seem to notice this attempt, and for this craig feels so relieved. he isn’t aware of first date etiquette, he isn’t really sure if it’s appropriate to try to do things like that. but he really did want to hold his hand.
presently, tweek is occupied looking at single packs of character socks. craig is occupied watching him. tweek picks a few up and stares at them a little too long before inevitably putting them back down.
one pair he does put down strikes craig very particularly “you don’t want those?” tweek picks them back up and examines them again before shrugging.
“spider man isn’t really my favorite.”
“he’s my favorite.” craig says like it would’ve mattered. tweek laughs at him for the second time that day and hands them to craig instead without a word. craig doesn’t think what he said was funny, but the way tweek laughed behind his hand made him feel like it was worth something.
they go down another aisle and find themselves both distracted by the section of cheap little toys. there’s a sudden gasp from tweek after he’s dug up something in a bin and it causes an immediate interest from craig. tweek looks up to face him and curls what he has in hands a little bit to where craig couldn’t see.
“sorry.” it’s something tweek has also done twice. craig doesn’t see why he would need to apologize.
“it’s cool. i really like those too.” craig did in fact see what tweek was holding. it was some sort of lego keychain. usually, craig doesn’t like to let people know that he spends hours of his free time occupied with things like disassembling legos and rebuilding them again. he doesn’t think those things match what people usually think of him. but tweek makes him feel comfortable like he can say those things, and craig hardly really knows him.
“uh, i do too- or i did. like when i was younger… and stuff.”
“i like them right now.” craig reaffirms. tweek nods in quiet like he usually does and stops crumpling the package. craig notices yet again that tweek has a confused expression.
“yeah, me too.” tweek says honestly after a while. craig finds himself smiling a little, now, and doesn’t mention him changing what he had just said.
“are you going to get it?” tweek looks down at it again and thinks a little with a small hum, and then he shakes his head.
“uhm, no. i don’t have the money anyway.” craig really thought he would’ve since he seems to be working all the time, but he lets his assumption go and shrugs.
“is that it? i’ll… buy it for you. if you want it.” craig didn’t envision himself being so awkward offering in his head. but tweek doesn’t seem very receptive to the tone it was said in and instead a sort of softness falls over his face.
“seriously?” tweek asks, and craig swears that he looks a little sad.
“yeah, i don’t mind. i kind of wanted to get one anyway.” tweek doesn’t give him a response yet and instead pokes through the bin once more, and after awhile he produces one out and hands it to craig hesitantly. there is a little shy flush that craig sees on his cheeks, and in response to the action, the same graces his own face as well. craig feels so flustered he might pass out.
“thank you.” tweek says rather quietly, and turns on his heel towards the end of the aisle. at the register, craig fumbles putting in his moms pin number and isn’t really too sure how to pay with it. tweek waits patiently beside him. eventually, craig is able to hand it off to tweek and make him smile. craig feels full with something he doesn’t think he has ever before, and it is almost overwhelming, and it would be if it didn’t make him feel high on life and earth. they walk out, tweek’s lego shark guy and craig’s lego spider-man keychain swinging, and craig swears his feet feel lighter.
—
they’re sitting half a foot from being shoulder to shoulder on the bench tweek was occupying when craig first arrived. just like the entire time they’d spent this afternoon, neither really had much to say- but it didn’t feel like there was anything wrong with that.
craig’s got about five or so minutes until his mom arrives to get him, and tweek told him that he’d be taking the bus home. though, craig’s sure that laura would embarrassingly insist on giving him a ride anyway. secretly, craig wished that tweek would accept it, despite being very aware of how mortifying that idea is realistically.
tweek seems cold, though, and if he were to be leaving him in the cold, craig decides it’s now or never to ask. he inhales some cool air and tries to clear his throat. “do you want to wear my jacket?”
tweek looks up surprised. craig worries that he’s being too forward, or that he’s just being too corny. and both are probably true regardless. “are… are you serious?”
“uh, yeah.” craig tries to not sound so much like he’d like to wallow away right about now. “you can give it back to me next time. or, you can keep it. it doesn’t really matter to me.” craig tries his best to convey that he is being sincere with what he says, because he is. it’s just some jacket he bought at the activities office in middle school, if that was what tweek was worried about. he even wishes he had something better to offer.
“next time?” is the only thing tweek picked up on. craig hardly even caught himself saying that. he just assumed things went well- why did he just assume that? his stomach sort of drops and he thinks he’s fucked everything up. “you would want to go out with me again?”
the emphasis on the me stands out to craig. he isn’t all too sure what it was for when craig’s the one doubting it about himself. “uh, yeah… what do you–”
tweek cut him off pretty quick with a sort of rush in the way he is speaking “i honestly just thought you asking me out was just you trying to be mean to me, craig, i’m so– i’m really confused. what did you even ask me out for anyway?”
this is the most bewildered craig has felt all night long, and it upsets him so much that someone like tweek could ever think that. why would he think that? he takes a moment to even ask “what? why?”
“well–” he pauses himself and looks down. “i dunno. i’m sort of just used to it, i guess. you kind of guys being mean to me, i mean. i didn’t even think you would show up.” everything kind of falls into place from there, and craig concludes why tweek was behaving especially standoffish, even though he just brushed it off as tweek being tweek.
but craig knows what he means by referring to craig as “those kind of guys”. he’s always been sort of pushed into some box by everyone in school and he’s very conscious of how he’s perceived, but it really is so far from the truth. this makes him feel bad, as it usually does, but he asks something that is largely more important to him “... so why did you show up?”
it makes tweek stop in his tracks and instead look away a little sheepish. blessed by it being dark, craig would’ve been unable to see how red tweek had become. tweek plays around with the hem of his shirt. “i didn’t think i could really say no.”
“i’m sorry you thought i was trying to be mean. i wouldn’t have asked you out if i didn’t want to.” and he really means that. he’s never just been the type to exert energy he doesn’t need to. “... i do really like you. honestly, i think i’m the undeserving one, you’re a lot cooler than i am.” he’d normally be embarrassed displaying so much vulnerability and telling truths like these- and he is, a little, but he really doesn’t feel much shame with the idea it’s what tweek does deserve to hear.
“...you do like me? like, really?” tweek’s eyes gape at him a little and his voice has become a lot more hushed.
“yeah.” craig nods. “i have for a little bit, i dunno, you just…” craig doesn’t know how to verbalize past this, but tweek kind of just seems to accept that and relaxes his shoulders a little.
“... so you would want to go on another date?” tweek half mumbles. craig smiles a little nervously.
“uh, yeah. if you feel like you want to… and stuff.” really? the confidence he thought he had was crumbling, and the reality of the situation really starts to hit. this is the guy he has a big fat stupid crush on and all he can do is blab and sound deranged. he’s totally blowing his shot. seriously. and stuff.
“i think i’d like that, yeah.” tweek begins to nervously pick at his shirt again and smiles a little with his head down.
“you think?” craig asks, and it was meant to come off genuinely. he did really want to affirm that part since he still wasn’t so sure if tweek actually liked him at all yet.
tweek, however, seemed to register it differently. “okay fine, a little part of me actually showing up was because i kinda really wanted you to be there.” tweek’s hand graces the side of craig’s arm, so slowly but so suddenly, and it makes craig unreasonably flustered. “i get the appeal over you… is that what you wanted to hear?” tweek’s voice is laced with something light and almost teasing. craig could almost throw up. he’s pretty sure he squeaked from somewhere in his dry mouth and laura just so coincidentally shows up then. craig tugs off his jacket and carefully places it into tweek’s lap, then approaches his mothers car, trying his absolute best not to stagger.
—
as expected, laura managed to coax tweek into accepting her adamant offer of driving him home. it went against all her morality as a mother to leave someone’s kid out by himself in the dark, let alone knowing he’d be taking the bus. certainly not in the town they live in. even more in character, laura spent the entire time smothering him with love and questions.
eventually, they successfully arrived to tweek’s house. it’s kind of bland from the outside, craig vaguely remembers trying to trick-or-treat there, and it looks like almost every single light in the house is on. tweek says a very shy thank you to laura and an even shyer bye to craig as he slips out of the car, waving behind himself with a little smile.
craig sits and watches him from the passenger seat, and with his mother being very present, craig unbuckles himself and pushes out the car door as soon as tweek gets up to the porch. his body moves quicker than his brain. this feels improper.
tweek makes a small noise to ask him something, and stupidly, craig holds his arms out stiffly and it is probably the most embarrassing thing he’s ever done in his life. tweek, however, almost immediately leans into him and lets craig bring his arms around him like they’re ungreased hinges. tweek’s taking this lazy hug like he has really not been held in a while. it makes craig feel not so ridiculous after all.
tweek’s all twitchy and his back feels tight and tense beneath where craig’s hands are, and every breath he takes is quivery and as if it hurt, but he lets craig hold him for a lot longer than he’d expected him to. the entire time, craig keeps his feet planted hard into the concrete and tries to lean his chest back ever so slightly to avoid pressing his pounding heart anywhere near where tweek could feel.
when they finally pull apart, tweek eyes him up and down a little and it seems the shyness catches up to him again. “uhm. thank you. i really like your shirt, by the way.” craig has forgotten all about that bit “i’ll text you, okay? bye craig.” he waves once more to him. craig watches for too long as he disappears inside, and he eventually retreats to his mom’s care with a heart full and his body tingly and flushed so badly he almost aches.
craig’s never been so giddy in his life. laura laughs at him all the way home.