Hysteria
Tweek Tweak is a coffee addict.
His life is based on addictions.
Every corner of his mind would be occupied by the same thing or it didn’t have a proper place at all.
People could say that he is a 100% or 0% person.
His parents often told him that it's a disease; something about his mental health. It isn’t even something he likes to do. He wished sometimes he could be less into stuff or more into others. People, like his one-time therapist, told him that was a quality and could only bring him to do better.
But it’s not like that.
He went through a lot of periods.
First was the coffee, not that he ever left that one.
Not long after, he passed through sports, video games, books, movies, baking, herbology, and more.
Most of them only stayed for a period, sometimes coming back and occupying his whole mind without a proper warning. Many things came and went.
His mind was still whispering to him that he needed to find something. Maybe to define himself.
His lack of sleep granted him to basically use the time he couldn’t sleep to deal with some of his new 'hobbies' faster. A good point for his unhealthy life.
Not that his parents care about his health and life in general. Telling him that his pain is his imagination or just lies he creates to avoid working at the shop. They won’t drag him out of the house if he is fever-y or throwing up, but that’s only because it would be bad for business.
They weren’t the worst but far from the healthiest parents.
Tweek tried to ignore this truth and managed with time, as he tries to look at the bright side. A cake for his birthday, gifts for Christmas, no beating, letting him do what he wants to do - if he does his part at the coffee shop - and a room for himself. Maybe they don’t love him as parents must do– he knows that the coffee shop will always have the first place in the family. Not that he minded.
He was used to it, now. The fact that the ‘Revelation’ didn’t shock him much more than a small cut made him suppose that he always knew that deep in his heart.
But they are nice. Sometimes, he comforts himself by wondering if they just have no idea how to handle a child.
At least, he isn’t unhappy.
They told him during his first years at school that his time will come during high school. He wasn’t sure if it was the truth or just a way for them to ignore his singularities in the middle of the other kids. He would be lying if he wasn’t aware that he is ‘weird’ or ‘unique’; the word people use when they don’t want to hurt you. The twitchings and various noises escaping his own body has never been something he wished for.
The reason for his behaviour had been cleared up when he was around twelve and actually looked at what he was searching for at the house next to Kenny's. Same boy who found him having a breakdown when his mind registered the fact that he had been drugged since his birth. Even maybe before.
Maybe it’s this incident that brought him to be a full-time buddy of Stan’s gang. Tweek wasn’t a loner, he doesn’t really look to be alone but he doesn’t mind the creepy loneliness. He passed his first years at school alone, only really talking to others when group tasks or other assessments required it.
His sociability exploded with his music addiction. There was always one addiction waiting in his shadow, or that’s what it looks like from his point of view.
One good thing from his parents is that they made him learn how to play the piano. They had insisted on him touching music to help the family business. At first, he wasn’t totally enjoying it because of his spasms. But he gradually became more and more confident and remembered a few partitions.
But playing at the coffee shop was another whole level, he only managed to play something at the opening or at the closing.
His parents rapidly stopped him to not lose time on it, to make space for true useful competences since it wasn’t attracting customers; as if the meth isn’t enough.
But he continued, on his small amount of free time and he quickly decided to try new stuff.
Tweek has never limited himself to only one genre of music, he has a ton of various songs on his phone. He didn’t like every music but it was rare for him to not find at least one thing enjoyable in a genre. It brought him to try various instruments—with difficulty but managed to do so.
Tweek needs music. More particularly the one helping him to put words on things in his head; he has found most of his answer in songs. Thanks to it he found himself vibrating with something else than paranoia. It was rejuvenating.
Or at least he understood himself with their help. Sometimes he wanted to talk about the inside, but the words were often too buried– the music replaced this loss.
But the distress call was always a step he never had dared to pass. Not that Tweek hates himself. He doesn’t think that’s the case. He is just aware how hard it is to understand or to handle himself.
The music helps that.
As well as the sport.
He continued both of them. These two addictions were too good to not let them poison his mind. It might sound violent but sometimes he struggled to not move around, grab, push or bite on something. Nobody had listened to him when he had wanted to talk about it– so now sport was simply the most efficient way. He isn’t a hardcore jock, basically he continued boxing - with less and less time - and started to run, feeling the adrenaline at the tips of his lips. Even if it didn’t replace the pleasure of breaking stuff.
During one summer he got his hands on a guitar and it was the start of a long ride. Quickly switching with electric or bass, he started to make his fingers bleed or just tremble from exhaustion at some point; and for a moment, he felt talented. He thought he had something with music and it could be the solution to his lack of understanding about– a lot of things.
He isn’t a writer at all, even less confident in his squeaky voice so he just leaves his fingers to take care of everything. His whole pocket money, in other words the tips he earned at the coffee shop, passed into this. More than during his video games phase.
‘If you want to do something you have to be good at it.’ That’s maybe the sentence that made him scared to try new stuff.
In a way, his parents are right it would be a loss of his time. Or maybe they just told him that so he never leaves the coffee shop.
But music felt so good. He isn’t losing control and it’s not quite he has it either but it’s somehow natural for his fingers to get back up if he makes a mistake. Unlike the rest of his days.
Everything amplified when Stan proposed to his gang to make a music band during their sophomore year in high school. Well, only to Kenny and him. Kyle doesn’t know a thing for music and even if his voice wasn’t bad when he tried, Stan and him seemed to agree that he doesn’t have to be a part of it. Cartman was an obvious no. Kenny has an amazing voice - he did opera once - and made his own drum with the garbage around his house. Karen had a music band role play period and obviously her brother put everything in place to give her the best experience. One time, the last year of middle school if Tweek remembers, Kenny found an almost in perfect shape drum and they skipped school to help him to renovate it.
Stan was obviously determined to properly form a band. Since his small period with the goths got him really into writing. If he shared them, and that is a big if, it was most of the time when Cartman wasn’t present and he had something really precise to show. His writing is on different things, always sentimental though which is his forte; he even wrote love lyrics. The pronouns were neutral each time and often piqued the blond’s curiosity but he never found the courage to ask about it. A large part of them are kept hidden though, even Kyle couldn’t read them. Stan knows how to play guitar and learnt a bit of piano because he was into electronic music and knew all of those new instruments. Didn’t he write a song for Kyle to not leave South Park when they were kids? Tweek can’t properly remember.
Surprisingly, Tolkien joined the cruise. Not that Tweek minded, he has always found him cool and his composure is impressive. But the two gangs never really tried to mix or pass time with each other. There isn’t even a competition between them, it just– rarely happens. Sometimes they would eat together or talk a bit in class but it was rarely more than that.
Tolkien has a small experience in music. His parents bought him a few lessons about singing and guitar when he was younger, so he was a big help. The only condition is to not play some depressive goth stuff with a heavy side-glance at Stan.
That’s how their group was created– mostly for fun. Tweek has a hard time imagining something coming of it, other than pure adrenaline.
He tried to keep his mind and body at a low excitement rate. It was just to have fun and be a typical teenager in a crazy town, after all.
With their band, Stan’s gang came to a sort of friendship with Craig and those guys as Tolkien being their mutual friend. Just like them, they didn’t particularly change. Kevin is and isn’t really in their gang. Jimmy keeps being the funny one but now he is also getting all the girls. Clyde is the emotional but strong bear who is one of the popular guys. Tolkien is still the voice of reason or the ‘mama’ as Clyde says. Then there is their ‘chief’– Craig Tucker.
Tweek’s life is divided into big parts, probably because they are addiction: coffee, bakery, music, maybe sport.
And of course, one almost as big as coffee or at least as music: his Craig Tucker addiction.
Not the prettiest on his list. But he has no idea what to call that.
Craig was the guy Tweek had fought when they were ten, thanks to a dumb bet. After that he didn’t really hate him– his cheeks were just always burning in shame around him. But soon enough he started to admire him.
They are totally different.
Craig never showed any emotion, sometimes he would snort or just smirk, while Tweek was a pure emotional mess and could rarely control any of it. He also doesn’t give a shit about everything except a few exceptions; meanwhile Tweek would think about the war on the other side of the world or about a deadly disease even when he is vaccinated against it. Craig is smart and really logical, he rarely has a whole speech ready but if he has something to say it would always be useful. Everything that comes from Tweek’s mouth is rarely moderated and never proofread before the uncesserary ‘blabla’ came out.
Maybe that’s all of these differences that brought his hazel eyes to follow his figure since elementary school.
The trigger happened during the last year of middle school, as Tweek still looked for every news he could about Craig while trying it, when after a gym class he got hit by his t-shirt. Craig, or maybe someone else threw it and Tweek has walked at the right time to his locker to change his clothes.
The hit hadn’t been strong. It simply startled Tweek and he instinctively grabbed the shirt, but his body froze at the smell. Instead of panicking about a tissue - possibly a weapon for a killer - that blocked his sight, roared at the new powerful smell. Almost being close to the idea to inhale a deep breath in it. Now it’s not that Tweek likes to smell people or anything, but it’s a well-known fact that Craig loves to do laundry - even being mocked for it - and that’s how he immediately recognized him. It’s the realization that he was in a room with a Craig probably only in his boxer that rang Tweek’s hormones to wake the fuck up — ‘why are you acting so surprised? You stare at him and let’s be real, it’s not the brand of his pants you’re looking for.’
Before Tweek could find an argument against himself, Craig’s voice came forward to apologize and take back his shirt. Tweek naturally returned it, tongue dried up and maybe dead in his mouth, and stifly went to get his own clothes.
This small contact made his mind go into an infinite loop of new thoughts, new desires. At the opposite of his brain, Tweek wondered if he was crazy. He thought maybe it was this puberty growth spurt but it didn’t stick with his symptoms.
He never managed to find a proper answer that wouldn’t guilt him of unnecessary thoughts. Tweek busied himself with everything else and found himself lucky that his path and Craig actually doesn’t meet often. His mind didn’t enjoy learning to ignore his rabbiting heart and the messy sweat just at the slightest thought about Craig but he was managing!
Tweek hoped that his rush into a cabinet had been unnoticed until everything froze when for a moment he saw his whole mind splattered on the walls.
I love Craig.
If Tweek couldn’t see him at school, just to be sure that he is alive, his whole day suck. And it hitched, deep inside to text or ask around about him. He got the bad habit of eating up the gossip about Craig. Tweek would think back, all by himself, of that time he saw Craig talking with his gang– and, oh boy, the guilty pleasure when Craig had to do a presentation and Tweek could listen to his voice almost no-stop for ten minutes. He has considered breaking his guitar to just have a chance to work with Craig in a group project.
Tweek Tweak is an addict and he is the first one who realised it.
Addicted to the nasal voice which was more than a delightful tone.
Addicted to the blue chullo that was definitely a mix of laundry detergent and maybe shampoo.
Addicted to the calm aura around him as he wonders how soft his hair must be.
Addicted to the indifferent, cool but snarky dark green eyes.
If Tweek had kept this affirmation unsettled, it was for his own good - his own sanity. His thoughts were betraying him. His own words returning against himself. Tweek didn’t want any of that; love seems so complicated and painful. He didn’t hope to stand next to Craig in class. He didn’t beg some cosmic force to have a small talk with him. He didn’t pray for their shoulders to touch. He didn’t wait for P.E to watch his bare back. He didn’t want to imagine him at night.
But the moment his hands weren’t enough to satisfy himself without these fevery attractive ideas; he knew his soul had been sold.
He would have sold more than that to touch a lock of Craig’s hair.
And he couldn’t help any of that. It was a hypnotizing prison that made him want to leave and stay at the same time. It’s wild. The feeling, the envy, the eagerness.
Tweek Tweak is an addict.
An addict of coffee.
And a sucker addict for Craig Tucker.
Is he guilty? Yes.
He might have got the urge to steal one of Craig’s shirts after P.E. Maybe, he has punched a guy in his throat for saying that Craig is a smug asshole. Perhaps he never read the news board since his true intention was to hear what Craig was talking about with his friends. And his mind kind of threw away his innocence once he realised that masturbating needed his wild imagination as he always forgets about his remorses every single time he saw Craig’s tall figure.
Because for him that’s just a common thought.
He is guilty of transforming an admiration into something more needy. Tween can’t be judged for keeping these feelings with him because he would gladly put them away.
But here Tweek is, in the second week of his Junior year, waiting on a toilet for his boner to disappear.
Nothing even happened. He just walked in the locker room, full of the baseball team, searching for Stan who texted them that he has to talk with the football coach. And there was the sight that made Tweek’s throat go numb. Most of the members of the baseball team in nothing more than their briefs, Craig Tucker in the front of this image. The only part not blurry, because his muscles are a view that Tweek’s brain isn’t about to erase.
Of course it brought him back to when he realised that maybe Tweek was completely gay and hopeless in front of Craig–which doesn’t help his hormones.
His whole body had reacted before his mind could register the view in front of him. Tweek hasn’t even seen Craig clearly! He is worried he is the only one like that. Stan might throw up when he has feelings but at least he doesn’t have a raging boner. Maybe it’s the meth that fucked up Tweek’s body even more than his lack of sleep and twitches.
His nails have to dig in his arms and his eyes stay closed to conjure the worst things he could picture to make his boner disappear. He is pretty sure all his friends are assuming he has diarrhea or something to run that fast to the toilet but he is too tired to care as he steps out, luckily with no one in his path.
“You disappeared buddy! What happened?” Kenny exclaims once he sees him.
“Taking a shit,” he opts to say, replying to Kenny’s smile with a smaller one.
Tolkien glances at them before he returns to his phone, just like Kenny who he graciously spread back on the stage of the music room.
“What is it?”
“I sent a new draft, you should have got it,” Stan explains, his head popping from the back of the scene and disappearing behind it.
Tweek quickly takes his seat in a comfy chair not far from Tolkien to take a look at the new lyrics.
“Stan, not that’s my business but—” Tolkien pauses and lets out a long sigh, “when are you going to confess?”
The whole room falls into an awkward silence. Tweek’s eyes slowly widens, glancing at his classmate who appears to see Stan behind the scene while Kenny - still laying as a diva - makes his usual snarky and excited face for when there is drama.
“What does that mean?” Stan asks as he comes back into their view. He is so calm that Tweek rethinks Tolkien's tone.
“I mean that you wrote, again, a love song and at some point you have to do something about those feelings,” he points out while Tweek tries to scan the lyrics to know whose side he should follow - probably Tolkien -, “we can’t always be singing about your love Stan. Not that it’s not good, it’s just… well you can’t just write about it all the time..”
They all look at the writer when he freezes on his track and stares at the one complaining. Kenny silently sits up behind Stan and signs a series of ‘oh OH’ and ‘LOOK AT WHAT IS HAPPENING’, Tweek has to restrain his mouth to not smile goofily at it.
“I don’t love anyone. Just got inspired out of nowhere,” Stan finally says.
“I’m pretty sure that’s the same person you are talking about in all the others,” Tolkien comments and takes his phone to scroll before shushing Stan when he tries to cut him, “you don’t describe them but you use the same kind of adjectives all the time.”
“Stan, it’s okay,” Kenny adds after he perfectes a serious face, “it’s sweet but Tolkien is right. We can’t have 50% of love songs, especially if it’s the same person.”
Stan turns to glance at him who shot him a dubitative face that answers enough.
“I just write what passes through my mind!”
“Okay, but are you going to tell them about it or?”
“There isn’t anybody!” He almost whines and throws his arms up.
“Alright, alright,” Tolkien conceds with the voice of a tired mom, “I’m saying that for your own good. Do something.”
“Like masturbate more often.”
“Choke on a dick Kenny!”
Tweek tries to make himself disappear in his seat at the joke. It isn’t directed at him but it brings some guilty reminders that aren’t welcomed.
“What about you Tolkien?! You are just telling me that because you like someone and-and!”
Anybody at this point could understand that the subject finally made Stan uncomfortable.
“We are in high school, it’s normal Stan,” Kenny says before he turns toward him with an expression that makes him shut his mouth.
“But I’m not! Tolkien is!”
Kenny glances at the Tweek who just shrugs at him with an arched eyebrow. He is seriously wondering if it’s just a lie to change the focus or if Stan has some serious drama information.
“I do have a thing for someone but I honestly don’t need any help,” he admits with a steady voice that makes Tweek gasp in surprise. “You obviously want to tell them.”
“I’m not!”
“Wait wait wait!” Kenny exclaims as he joins their sides, “you’re into someone dude? You never talked about it!”
“I have no idea how Stan knows,” Tolkien admits with a bored tone, which definitely hides something else.
“Well,” Stan clears his throat, “that was easy to guess.”
Tweek could see that it was only his luck that gave him this escaping door. In a smart way, the gossipy mood has moved to Tolkien's love life who has already a tired face on. The one that he uses to give the vivid signal that he isn’t going to talk.
“Share with us,” Kenny pleads with his smoothest tone as he joins his side at the front of the canape on the ground, “maybe Stan can’t help but at least me and Tweek can think of something.”
“Shouldn’t we repeat?” Tweek cuts in, after Stan gasps in offense, afraid to actually have to think about dating advice. If he could help he would, but he isn't sure if they were really friends or just two guys who play music together so he tried to not put his nose where he shouldn’t.
“Yeah, let’s repeat,” one of the singers quickly agrees as he takes off his blue and red hat to throw it on his backpack against the scene. “We already lost time.”
The drummer clearly feels betrayed about his intervention. Tweek knows that Kenny is a sucker for drama, and well a little himself, but also that he must already be planning something to have the details.
Tolkien is about to follow the movement when the flapper doors open with a violent impact. Tweek startles in his chair, almost slipping off of it as he turns to catch Clyde proudly walking in as he sings ‘somebody once told me the world is gonna roll’ under his breath with a big smile, quietly followed by Craig and Jimmy.
“You have to stop doing that,” Stan warns as he plugs in the last cord in his guitare, “I’m not going to cover your ass if a teacher thinks we are the one kicking those doors.”
Clyde gasps, almost indignantly before he jumps next to Tolkien on the couch with a smile.
“It’s cooler that way!”
“That’s how you broke your bedroom’s door,” Jimmy recalls, earning a scoff from him and a chuckle from Tolkien.
Tweek slowly sinks in his chair when he recognizes the laundry’s smell and faint cologn coming closer. Craig started to use it around last year but he probably doesn’t realise it’s minor compared to the laundry detergent smell he always uses. He sits on the arm of the couch after glancing at Tweek, the one right next to his own seat. His foot could easily brush against Craig’s side but he isn’t that desperate. The image that Tweek must be acting like a dog right now, recognizing him by smell alone, is helpfully brought up by his brain to torture him. He eats on the squeak and hopes that the foam of his chair would engulfe him.
His eyes meet Craig’s, again, he desperately hopes his small is normal for a small greeting but Craig returns to his phone after a second or two. Tweek realises they already greeted each other this morning which would make it weird to do it again. He loves Craig’s voice though–maybe he can find something to say so he can hear it again.
Slowly hammering his head with his phone, Tweek tries to think of something else. Maybe digging a hole in his brain to take out all of his thoughts about Craig to finally be free with a straw or something like that. But this might need a second pair of hands and Tweek doesn’t want anyone to know about it even years after he throws all of it in a box into the ocean. His head snaps up when he hears Kenny mentioning his name.
“What?” Tweek croaks out and this earns almost everyone’s eyes.
“I was telling them about what Bebe told us - her party,” he repeats, balancing his legs at the edge of the platform.
“Right.”
“That will be the best party ever if you guys play,” Clyde agrees. “All thanks to me if you remember.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Tolkien almost whispers, startling when Clyde elbows him in the ribs.
Clyde actually did make their band happen in a way, or at least sealed their identity around the school. He officialized their band by sending a demo to everyone before Tolkien had the time to remind him the definition of a ‘demo’.
Tweek can’t help but thank him in his head since he doubts he would have brought himself to share any of their music himself. It’s how the music teacher offered them the music room two times during a week which is better than any of their houses. Tolkien’s parents aren’t too curious but Tweek has caught them from time to time taking a glimpse at what they are doing. Stan’s house is a nightmare because Randy seems convinced that it’s his band and keeps pestering them with advice; just for that Tweek offered Clyde some free pastries at the coffee shop.
Tolkien hadn’t talked to Clyde the whole day when he sent the demo to everyone, and he was probably aiming for longer but Clyde pestered him until he got a laugh out of Tolkien. It hasn’t been that bad actually, just a bit embarrassing as the demo was pretty low-quality.
Tweek thankfully realises that he lost himself in his thought when Kenny bursts out laughing.
“I seriously think I’m the secret child of some hot singers– like my beautiful shape comes from somewhere right?”
“You are a dramatic bitch, that’s true.”
“That’s the best compliment you ever told me Craig,” he exclaims with a sly smile.
“It wasn’t one,” he retorts, Jimmy chuckles with Kenny, as he keeps scrolling on his phone. “At least you aren’t a crybaby, that’s a compliment.”
“I can hear you, asshole!” Clyde hisses, leaving whatever he was reading over Tolkien’s shoulder alone to glare at him.
Tweek chokes on a small laugh when Craig shoots his middle finger at his friend. He is surprised when he looks over after doing it and his body immediately ticks with anxiety.
The faint music Stan had opened on his computer is discreet but Tweek can still catch the small modifications here and there to not completely get caught by his nerves.
“GIRL FIGHT!” Someone screams from afar but loud enough to catch their attention.
A student runs in the room, out of breath, with one of the doors smashing the wall again. “Two cheerleaders are fighting in front of the lockers!”
None of them think twice before rushing out to see the fight.
Since South Park’s highschool takes more than just its kids, most of the girls had to fight for their old popularity; which apparently isn’t that big of a deal but a matter of pride that boys can’t understand. Bebe had soon put her foot on the cheerleader team, once again becoming the captain after getting into an intense fight with another girl.
Tweek doesn’t exactly understand the mafia between the girls but he knows better than asking. It’s better to not mix with kids from other cities, mostly because South Park has a bad reputation and this causes. But apparently the girls of South Park have a major conflict of interest with the other girls and they better not show any sign of fraternity or they will skin them up - that’s the official message from the girl community.
Girls are always bitches. That’s what Bebe told Tweek, as she forced nail polish on him, which is what makes them so great. The boys fought a lot when they were kids but nowadays they barely punch someone who isn’t Cartman.
“YOU BITCH!” A loud metallic thud echoes in the corridor full of students.
Tweek slows his pace when he realises the size of the crowd, leaving the other guys to walk up to find a good place to watch. There are some people filming with their phone above their heads and someone lets out a loud ‘huff’ when something hits the ground; His thin frame allows him to slip between students and he stops once he has a view.
“You are just a fucking ass kisser!” The girl, who screamed, shouts.
He thinks she might be younger than him because he has no memories of him. Her dark hair is a mess, one of her forearms red but her nails managed to leave a scratch on Red’s face. Tweek gulps when he recognizes her, Red is rarely into fights because she has a cool head, which means that this fight might not stop until someone grabs her. She calmly swipes her cheek with a sharp glare at the other girl; reminding Tweek again that the Tuckers are scary because they look deadly cool.
If one of them is in a fight then it must be something big.
“What the fuck is she doing,” Craig flatly judges as if it isn’t a surprise.
Tweek is slightly pushed because the crowd becomes more agitated and he realises that Jimmy is the only thing separating him from Craig.
“What happened?” Stan asks around which, of course, brings Cartman’s attention who turns his head from the front row to look at him.
“Cheerleaders fight, dumbass,” he explains and points at the girls in their cheerleading uniforms. “That one said that Red shouldn’t be in the cheerleaders team because she and her boyfriend are two stupid nerds.”
Tweek slightly winces as he pictures how fast Red must have attacked her. Nobody was ready to make Red angry and especially not by trash-talking her boyfriend.
“Right– the selection for the new cheerleaders was today,” Tolkien realises and tries to push back the crowd to not be crushed.
“KICK HER ASS RED!” Clyde shouts.
“She is just a jealous bitch who can’t accept that she didn’t get in the team because she is ugly,” Cartman snootily comments.
They are trying to tear apart their tops until Red decides to tackle her against the lockers before being swapped around.
“Damn, why is there no mud?”
“Keep your pants on, Kenny.”
“YOU ARE A STUPID WHORE!” The girl yells at Red’s growl
“HIT THE BITCH ROSA!” Someone cheers and Tweek hears another girl telling her to shut up.
The crowd becomes a tidal wave as everyone starts to argue and cheer at the same time. Tweek doubts so many people are for Rosa, probably just here to see a younger year fighting an older one.
Clyde is loudly cheering for Red who almost put Rosa’s ass on the ground until another guy yells louder for the youngest girl. Tweek clearly sees that it triggers Clyde, making him scream even louder before they start a nonsense argument over the fight. Tolkin stops him from making his way to reach the guy.
The resonating crash of two bodies freezes the cheering for a beat before it restarts with the same intensity.
“Hey, did someone call for a teacher?”
They are rolling on the floor, sometimes revealing the small shorts they wear under the skirts as some guys whistle. Red is arching her fingers toward Rosa’s face, looking ready to claw her eyes out. Tweek barely hears the voice asking to come through and it’s only by chance that he catches Kevin rushing through the crowd. He has to push most people but he quickly has clear access when people recognize him.
“Rebecca!” Kevin gasps out at his girlfriend who almost managed to bite the girl but Rosa stopped her by grabbing her long hair. “What the fuck are you doing?!”
He rushes to grab her by her arms and they easily let go of each other but keeps their glares on. Some students booes at him for stopping the fight, Red does too before she meets Kevin’s eyes to play the innocent.
“Just hanging out,” she articulates, swishing her hair out of her hair with her typical blank face, decorated by small scratches.
“Why are you fighting?” He spits out in a hurry when he sees the state of her face, softly cupping her head.
More people start to complain but they are already in their bubble.
“I’m okay. Don’t be so dramatic,” Red scoffs.
“Go play somewhere else, nerds,” Rosa spits after she brushes her clothes, trying to keep her composure. “Not that your stupid boyfriend can even have a boner without some dumb Star Whatever.”
Tweek grimaces at her words, aware that she just poked at a wild animal. Red almost throws herself at her, Kevin unsuccessful in his attempt to hold her back. A good punch hits Rosa’s cheek and she falls on her friends. She would have been hammered if Red hadn’t been lifted by her boyfriend.
“I’m going to feast in your blood bitch!” She snarls as she tries to fight her way out of his arms.
Kevin struggles but turns her around so she can stop glaring at Rosa who is surrounded by people trying to calm her down. By the colourful look of her cheek, it seems enough to not add something else to the fight.
“SHUT UP YOU WHORE!” She snaps after Red manages to flip her off.
“What’s going on here?!” A teacher shouts and everyone turns around to see her jogging over here.
A lot of students rush away, trying to play it cool while the two fighters keep glaring at each other despite the teacher stepping between them.
“At the parking lot of the mall,” Red spits with a sharp tone, clearly intending to continue the fight. Rosa agrees with a severe nod.
“Were you two fighting?!” The teacher exclaims with a gasp when she sees their faces.
Soon everyone is ordered to go away and for the two troublemakers to come with her. Tweek follows his friends, glancing at their teacher going on her speech despite the two girls and Kevin not listening. A lot of students whisper between themselves, warning about a possible rematch.
“We can catch a bus in eight minutes for the mall,” Clyde cheers, casually grabbing Tweek’s shoulder, maybe to make sure that he doesn’t leave.
“Awesome. Do we keep you guys se-seats?” Jimmy wonders, not even looking at Craig who seems to be too eager to see the fight to wait on his friends as he walks away with his long legs.
“Huh-“
“Hell yeah, we are coming!” Kenny exclaims.“We should bet on them.”
Tolkien scoffs at that, “Craig must already be on that. We have to take care of our stuff so we should take the next bus.”
Clyde doesn’t look happy at the prospect but Stan cuts in with an agreement.
“Tweek, you coming?” He asks.
“I– Hum, I have to tell my parents then… I don’t think I can start my shift in time with that,” he muses and quickly takes his phone out to text his mother.
He explains to her that he has a group project which is why he will arrive thirty minutes late for his shift at the coffee shop; that should be enough for him to see some of the fight. Kenny has replaced Clyde’s arm around his shoulder, which makes him feel a bit better at his contact since he is closer to him. Tweek isn’t a big fan of being touched in general.
Tweek turns his phone off when his mother replies with a thumb up. His father might try to call him when his wife gives him the message.
The music band is lucky enough to not miss the first bus with enough time to cautiously clean their materials and lock the room. Kenny is the first one read, telling them to hurry before he actually helps; he even proposes to call for Kyle but Stan replies right back that he already proposed and that Kyle is already on his way home.
Cartman is certainly already at the scene to have the best spot to watch the fight. Tweek highly doubts that a round two will happen since Kevin knows about it and doesn’t enjoy seeing his girlfriend in fights but maybe the girls will have the time to punch each other once or twice.
Tweek enjoys the chemistry between Red and Kevin, maybe with a small touch of jealousy, since he has seen it ever since they were kids. He has no idea how they even got together but amongst their long relationship they had two or three breaks during middle school before they came back together for what seemed to be forever. They are probably the strongest couple around here, not only because it’s been a long time; Wendy and Stan were also great for a moment but they drifted apart with time to just be friends.
As he expects, the bus is full of students and there is no seat left so Tweek has to hold onto his bags. Stan is larger and slightly taller than him so he sticks close to him to not be bothered by other people. Tweek can’t help but wonder if his father will make him work thirty more minutes when he gets back so he tries to distract himself.
A lot of people are talking about the bets for the fight; Craig seems to be the one dealing with it as a lot of money is passed to him despite the crowd in the bus. Tweek watches him talking with a student who just handed him a five dollar bill. He can’t say if Craig is honestly that confident about Red’s win or just wants to get money one way or another.
Tweek feels a bit feverish as he wonders if he could somehow get Craig’s jacket through a bet or some other way– maybe if he gives him the coffee shop in exchange.
When they arrive at the parking lot, there is already a lot of students gathered on one side of the parking lot. Some of the older years came with their car, even sitting against or on the top of it, with food and drink. Tweek’s eyes easily catch the sight of Craig’s blue chullo hat heading toward them, probably to get them in the bet.
Kenny brings him and Stan to a spot whilst the rest of Craig’s friends more or less walk toward Craig before stopping to talk. Tweek almost considers trying to slip in their group to try to join the conversation and stay with Craig whilst he can stay but he shakes off the thought when he hears Kenny whistle at him.
Cartman is already sitting on the bench when they get to it. Tweek doesn’t know how he got here as not many people would like to give him a ride - he is a little popular in a weird twisty way but he hasn’t changed at all. Still, Tweek couldn’t stand him for long despite all the years so he prefers to stay a foot away from the group at this time. Cartman was too much of an unpredictable spirit for Tweek to be comfortable, especially when he knows how far he can go. Stan and Kenny sit next to him and to avoid their looks, Tweek says he has to stop by the toilet.
“Buy some chips on your way,” Cartman orders without even looking at him
“Go yourself,” Tweek argues, putting his bag next to Stan.
“Actually, I’m also hungry– let’s do rock-paper-scissors. The losers have to go buy food while one stays here to keep the bench. We can get a bunch of stuff like that,” Kenny says, already putting his hand behind his back.
“Do we have the time?” Stan asks but follows his direction with the two others.
“You three will just run,” Cartman replies, all confident.
Somehow Tweek gets to happily sit on the bench by himself; he is worried his luck will turn against him and he actually starts to really feel the urge to go to the toilet. The silence isn’t so bad even if he can hear other students loudly talking there and here but it’s not enough to stop Tweek from humming a song under his breath. His fingers tap against his thighs once he properly decides on the rhythm in his head. He settles his head against his other leg once he folds it to lazily watch the parking lot. The fight better be worth it because Tweek really wanted to play today.
“There you are, Tweeker,” someone flatly calls behind him before he turns to see Red jump over the bench to sit next to him. “I need something from you,” Red says, wearing her usual clothes.
He needs one breath to understand that she really cameto him for what seems to be a friendly conversation. Still, he has no idea what she could need from him.
“Sure,” Tweek says and hopes his tone stays steady, which fails miserably so he clears his throat. “Shouldn’t you be with Kevin?”
“He thinks I’m talking to the teacher. He must still be waiting back at the school,” she says without a care, as if she hasn’t ditched her worried boyfriend. “He made a whole speech about not kicking that girl’s ass so I came before he couldn't try to stop me. She is a real bitch, you know.”
“Uh-huh, sure.”
“So I need you to tell me how I can make her bleed with one hit?”
Tweek almost chokes on his saliva and stares at her, incredulous.
“What?! Why? Why would I know that?” He clarifies, panicked that she would think of him for something like this. “Why do you even want to make her bleed?” He is seriously praying that she won’t feast on her blood like she said earlier.
“Aren’t you into all of this murdering stuff? You made a whole presentation about these kinds of books, something like that,” she explains, settling one of her arms on the back of the bench. “I’m pretty sure she is going to freak out if she bleeds.”
Tweek remembers what she is talking about but it has been merely a study for him to have good survival instincts in case he is attacked by a serial killer or an apocalypse starts.
“Huh, yeah,” a small twitch cuts him and he curses himself under his nose. “Just punch her nose or mouth.”
“What about– hitting her in the throat?”
“That’s really painful!” Tweek exclaims in a hurry because she might definitely do it. “That could be worse.”
“Okay, so I can do that,” she says and stands up before he can stop her to change her plan. “Also I need the recipe of that lemon and vanilla cake you make at your coffee shop, so Kevin doesn’t sulk too much. He likes it.”
“Uh sure.”
“Thanks, and also thank you for the tip about hitting her in the throat.”
“That’s— not what I said..,” Tweek whispers to himself as she rushes away.
“Hey, did you just explain to my cousin how to kill someone?”
Tweek’s blood erupts and tries to freeze itself in one second when he recognizes Craig’s voice just on his right. It’s perfectly soothing but Tweek is set on auto-destruction if they get too close. Sadly his eyes are also betraying him because they fly to admire Craig as he steps closer as his heart tries to claw out in hunger.
He tries to breathe and not wheeze as Craig sits down and hands him a can of soda. His hands are like water but they manage to crush around the can to not make it fall and thankfully he manages to squeak a thank you before losing his mind.
“She -ngh- thought about that herself,” he explains as his twitchings restart.
Craig seems to ignore that or Tweek doesn’t speak loud enough since he can’t even feel his throat anymore.
“I texted you to know what you wanted to drink but you didn’t answer,” he says with his usual flat tone and opens his own can of iced tea.
“Shit I—“ Tweek realises that he hasn’t turned it on and would rather continu to avoid any of his father’s texts. “I turned it off for battery.”
“I took the closest thing to coffee since you like it,” he says before taking a sip of his can.
Tweek offers a shaky smile when their eyes meet and he quickly glances at the soda’s label.
“Well– not really,” he admits without thinking, “it’s not bad but I prefer iced teas or something fruity if it’s cold. I mean -argh- I don’t hate it, I can drink -ngh- it! So—“ His words stumble into each other when Craig reaches for the soda, softly taking it away as if it doesn’t make Tweek’s hands melt and shake, and simply replaces it with his own.
“I almost drank nothing.” Craig comments after a second or two, probably because Tweek’s wide eyes are dumbly staring at the new drink.
“Ah,” he lets out as he realises that it could be an indirect kiss if he drinks of it– Craig drank it from the front and Tweek isn’t a freak so he would take the easiest way to but that would mean getting their salivas mixed, which he might not be ready for because he is this close to shit a ton of butterflies screaming in his stomach.
Craig clears his throat in silence. “What do you usually drink?” He asks and casually opens the soda can to drink. “Apart from coffee.”
Tweek can’t help but stare at the opening of his new can, pretty sure that he could stare at the Craig’s molecules there but not enough to burn them away to not be a pervert. The question reboots his mind and he glances up to see Craig staring back. It’s his first and last attempt at drinking a can in one shot but at least he doesn’t throw up. He coughs a bit and tries to discreetly wipe his lips on the back of his hand but he can feel Craig still staring at him.
“I guess -ngh- I can drink everything.”
Thankfully, they are joined in the bench by the rest of Craig’s band. Tweek asks himself if he should just leaves the spot to them but he can’t move his legs.
“I got these for you.” Clyde throws a small bag of chips at Craig before he smiles down at Tweek, “you guys can share.”
Tweek is pretty sure everyone can see that his blood is this close to leaking out from his pores.
Craig doesn’t say anything, only opening the bag of chips to settle it between his and Tweek’s thigh; while Tolkien and Jimmy chat next to them and Clyde is still standing and texting while checking the parking lot for the fight to start. Tweek can only focus on the laundry detergent’s smell, with some cologn here and there, to not recognize that he is shoulder to shoulder with Craig to make space for others.
Tweek can’t even pay attention to the ruckus when someone spots Rosa arriving in the parking lot or even that the fight has started with Red jumping at her. Stan, Kenny and Cartman also came back right in time but he only notices it when they whistle and cheer. What he does manage to do is to control himself from curling against Craig’s side even if he is an addict.