Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/4180647.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      F/M, M/M
  Fandom:
      South_Park
  Relationship:
      Clyde_Donovan/Craig_Tucker, Clyde_Donovan/Bebe_Stevens, Craig_Tucker/
      Tweek_Tweak, Kyle_Broflovski/Kenny_McCormick
  Character:
      Clyde_Donovan, Craig_Tucker, Bebe_Stevens, Tweek_Tweak, Kyle_Broflovski,
      Kenny_McCormick, Wendy_Testaburger, Stan_Marsh
  Additional Tags:
      Slice_of_Life, Romance, Friendship, Drama, in_which_craig_never_realized
      what_he_had_until_he_lost_it, and_clyde_being_an_asshole
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-06-21 Chapters: 7/? Words: 44534
****** One More Year ******
by llexxii
Summary
     "Shut the fuck up." Craig growls at him, his voice rising as his
     anger starts to build up within him. "What the fuck did I ever do to
     you, huh? What did I do to deserve all this shit from you? You
     weren't like this before. We were the best of fucking friends! Since
     kindergarten, Clyde! Kinder-fucking-garten! What did I do to make you
     hate me so much, huh?! Tell me!"
     can also be summarized as: Clyde leaves his best friend in the midst
     of their sophomore year after realizing that Craig's unwillingness to
     socialize with other people is dragging him down.
Notes
     Yep, decided to put this poor excuse of a fanfiction in AO3 as highly
     suggested by a friend. Enjoy!
***** Their Distance *****
"What the fuck are you doing?"
A ten-year old Craig Tucker stands in the doorway, a backpack slung over his
shoulder and his delicate fingers resting against the door frame. His blue eyes
are focusing down on whatever it is his brunet companion is doing on the floor.
"I'm making a scrapbook!" Clyde looks up from his work and grins at his best
friend, his chestnut eyes glimmering with excitement before picking up a photo
from a pile and showing it to the taller kid. "It's about all the adventures
we've had together as the trio! See? This is when we went to that safari
together and the tiger nearly ripped Token's head off." Craig cocks a brow
before taking a few steps forward to take the photo. No doubt it's a photo of
Token crying his eyes out while Craig and Clyde were laughing at him; a photo
taken when they were eight. The dark-haired boy feels the corners of his lips
tug up a bit in a smile at the memory before handing the photo back to him.
"Are you saying you invited me here just to help you out?" He asks, his stoic
look fading back in. "I thought you said we'll be doing something
'motherfucking fun'?" He shakes his head in disapproval and crosses his arms,
still cocking a brow at the brunet before him. Clyde still maintains his grin
as he continues on with his work.
"This  is  fun! We get to reminisce about stuff!"
Craig sighs at his friend's words, knowing that even if he disagrees to this
activity, it would be pointless considering how persistent Clyde can get. He
sits down beside him and decides to check out a few of the photos the other
male has laid out around. They are all mostly photos of the three of them;
Token, Clyde and him, having the time of their lives. The one who's usually
behind the camera is Clyde's mother but as he continues to look from picture to
picture, he can tell that some are taken by themselves ever since the nice lady
passed away. Selfies, as what others may call it.
However, one particular picture catches his attention and he blinks for a few
times before reaching for it to get a better look.
It's a picture of him and Clyde; probably when they were still at kindergarten.
They were both wearing matching Red Racer shirts, their arms both slung over
each other's shoulders. Clyde had his usual bright grin evident while Craig's
was a tad bit awkward though his blue braces could easily be seen. He instantly
recalls that the photo was taken the second day they became best friends. Clyde
was never into Red Racer but when Craig had mentioned his great passion for it,
the brunet had his mother buy them matching shirts and brought them with him to
school the next day.
Seeing it now gets Craig feeling ridiculous. Matching shirts? How gay was that?
But that was the day he had decided that Clyde was his best friend. It was the
day they decided to stick by each other's side no matter what happens. Glancing
at his friend now who looks so focused with his scrapbook, Craig realizes how
strong their bond is. Of course, he would not admit this out loud but he's glad
that he met Clyde. He's the only dude who he can actually feel comfortable
around with because Clyde doesn't judge people. He never did.
As if feeling the stare boring through him, the brunet looks up from his work
to give Craig a puzzling look. Craig instantaneously looks back down at the
photo, pretending that he had just unintentionally glanced at him.
"Oh! You remember that, huh?" Craig finally looks up to see Clyde leaning
closer to him to take a better look of the photo. "I still have that shirt, you
know. Do you still have yours?"
"Uh..." Craig blinks, not exactly sure how to say it. "I kinda sold mine at a
garage sale."
Clyde frowns at him. "Man, you suck." He gives him a nudge before snatching the
photo from his hands to include it on the scrapbook. "Ya know, you really
should learn how to treasure the necessary things in your life."
Craig scoffs at this as he picks up another photo, lazily scrutinizing it.
"What's the point? They're all in my mind now. I can just remind myself of
those memories anytime I want."
Clyde could only grunt in response, obviously infuriated with his reply.
Craig chuckles. "Oh lighten up, Clyde." He says, tossing the photo then picking
up another one. "If it makes you feel better, I'll describe the very first day
we met." And just like that, Clyde immediately looks at him with hopeful baby-
like eyes, his smile looking ever so excitedly innocent. Craig smirks at his
reaction before casually looking back at the photo he's holding which is a
photo of Clyde trying out Token's bass guitar and failing miserably.
"We were in kindergarten." He begins, pretending to be more interested in the
photo than the words he's slipping out. "I was the new kid and was always
alone. I didn't mind though. I always liked to be alone. Then there was you,
all goofy and smiling and shit. You were always surrounded by kids, laughing
and making a fool of yourself; it's just downright embarrassing."
"Hey now..." Clyde frowns but Craig just continues on.
"But then one day, when it was time to go home, my dad-" He nearly chokes at
the word, shaking his head and rephrasing it. " James  forgot to pick me up. I
was left alone in the school playground, watching the other kids get picked up
by their parents. You, for some reason, walk home by yourself but when you were
just about to get to the gates, you looked at my direction. It felt weird
seeing you making your way towards me. I wasn't used to seeing anyone
approaching me. I think I remember scowling at you when you reached me with
that stupid grin on your face."
"You like my grin." Clyde interjects with a teasing smile.
"Don't interrupt me." Craig cocks a brow at him before picking up another
photo. "Anyway, you greeted me for the first time and asked me about the
whereabouts of my parents. I told you to fuck off and you gasped at my choice
of vocabulary. Surprisingly though, you didn't threaten me to tell the teacher
about what I said like what the other kids had done before."
"Because I'm nice!"
"Goddammit, Clyde. Shut the fuck up."
"Sorry. Proceed."
"As I was saying, I was surprised that you just gasped then laughed it off. You
then asked me if you could keep me company and I said no. But for some weird
ass reason, you still stayed anyway and started talking about your collection
of comic books that I didn't give a damn before. Slowly, I found myself
contributing to the conversation then one thing lead to another. Then the next
day, you bought us matching Red Racer shirts even though you said you hated
that show. As you handed me my own share of the shirt, you explained how
friends should try and watch their friends' favorite shows so that they can
relate to their interests. And then there... we're friends."
Silence.
"You can speak now, assfuck."
"Wow!" Clyde exclaims happily, clapping his hands enthusiastically. "You have a
clearer memory than I have and I'm impressed!"
Craig shrugs in response, handing the photo to the brunet who gladly took it.
"Which is why I don't have to keep things for memories. I remember every single
fucking detail about everything."
"Yeah, yeah." Clyde chuckles as he resumes back to his work. "Do you think
you'll remember this very moment though? Like the way I'm pasting these photos
on the scrapbook? Or the way your hat is sorta tilted to the side at the
moment?"
Craig frowns at him before quickly adjusting his hat, mentally cursing himself
for looking like an idiot while his friend just laughs it off. To answer his
question, the taller boy rolls his eyes. "No, I doubt I will remember this day
because it's not exactly that memorable. It's just any other ordinary day, me
chilling with you in the room, doing something shitty like we always do." Clyde
remains silent at his words, his lips slightly pursed in thought. Craig takes
notice of this and raises a brow at him, somehow weirden out by the other's
lack of response which is something that Clyde rarely does. Then suddenly,
Clyde's eyes meet Craig's blue ones and he leans closer while Craig
instinctively leans back; getting a bit uncomfortable with the lack of space
between them.
The taller boy scowls at him. "Dude, what the hell are you doing?" There is a
hint of evident nervousness lacing in his tone as he stares back at Clyde who
appears to be determined about something. And out of nowhere, the shorter boy
leans up and plants a soft kiss on his friend's forehead; over his fringes.
Craig closes his eyes and stiffens at the unexpected kiss, his body freezing in
shock. When he felt the absence of his best friend's lips, he slowly opens his
eyes to see Clyde finally leaning away from him with a contented smile.
"There! I bet you'll remember that!" He grins ever so boyishly.
Craig's scowl deepens at his words and he flips him off out of pure
infuriation. "Do that again and I swear, I'll rip your head off."
Clyde laughs. "You liiiike it~"
"Will you shut the fuck up and just do that shitty scrapbook?"
===============================================================================
"Craig? Craig!"
Craig jolts up awake at the voice calling out to him and he moves his head and
his arms up from his desk to see Stan and Token looking down at him with looks
of disbelief implied on their expressions. Craig takes a gander of his
surroundings and realizes that he had fallen asleep in class and considering
the way the students are slowly filing out of the classroom, he assumes that
the bell has finally rung. He lets out a small yawn before looking back up at
the two boys before him, his expression unsurprisingly bored. "What did I
miss?" He asks, as if sleeping in class has already been a day-to-day basis for
him. Stan and Token share a glance at each other before looking back down at
the dark-haired boy.
"Everything." Stan frowns at him in disapproval. "Now get your ass up. Our
coach will be pissed if we don't get to the pool in fifteen minutes."
Craig says nothing as he picks up his backpack and slings it over his shoulder,
following the two teens out of the classroom. He doesn't even know why he
joined the swimming team when he always finds sports to be a waste of time. Why
spend your hours moving around so much when you can just stay in your room,
blog about shit and eat?
"If you're regretting the decision about joining the team, then may I remind
you that you joined because you figured you'll get the good side of our coach
and give you a high grade in Physical Education considering how bad you are at
basketball." Token's words snaps him out of his reverie and Craig could only
grunt, a bit annoyed at how his friend can easily read him.
"We'll be just doing some laps, right?" Stan asks, nudging Token's shoulder.
"No swimming races and all that stuff?"
"Hopefully." Token shakes his head with a sigh. "Coach gets unnecessarily mean
when practice gets serious."
"Except towards Craig." Stan looks back over his shoulder to grin at the taller
teen. "Being the coach's favorite must be such an advantage for you, huh? I
still don't know how you do it. Staying all day in your room, not even owning a
pool of your own, but once the race starts, you're a goddamn mermaid."
Craig scowls at his choice of words and before he could say anything, Token
cuts him off.
"Merman would be the right word but yeah, I guess you can say Craig is
naturally talented in the sport."
Craig chooses the decision to remain silent. He's never really well-informed in
how to accept flattery anyway so he stays quiet. He knows he's the best in
their team and it's not a choice for him if he wants to leave or not. As long
as he remains as the coach's favorite, he'll definitely graduate from high
school soon.
Just one more year. One more year.
"STAN!"
Craig looks up to see Clyde rushing towards Stan's way, grinning from ear to
ear. His once pale skin had gotten slightly tan as the years had gone by and
considering that he's the star basketball player in their school, any evidence
of his chubby childhood had faded away. Even after discovering the fact that
he's ranked quite low in the girls' "Cutest to Ugliest" list back in the fourth
grade, Clyde has definitely gotten more handsome; as how most of the girls
would say. Craig would never say that.
"Oh, hi man." Stan greets the brunet upon reaching him.
"Are you going to Bebe's party tonight?" Clyde asks, his childish grin never
leaving.
"Oh shit, I forgot about that." Stan rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "I'm
not really sure but I guess I'll try to make an appearance. I've been trying to
lay it off the alcohol for the mean time ever since Wendy and Kyle gave me this
dramatic intervention."
Clyde scoffs, waving his hand dismissively. "Why do you have such kill-joys for
a best friend and a girlfriend?"
"At least I have a girlfriend who cares, shithead." Stan teasingly grins at
him.
"Yeah, yeah, sure. Bebe cares too, just to let you know." Clyde chuckles. "But
really, I'll be expecting you there." As he's about to leave, he finally takes
notice of Token and Craig. "Oh hey dudes." He greets them briefly, as if he's
only obligated to before finally leaving, waving at Stan then resuming back to
his group of friends.
"Well then." Token shrugs. "That was brief and awkward."
The two then glance back at Craig who appears to be staring at Clyde with an
unreadable expression. But when the tall teen noticed their stare, he shoots
them a glare. "What?" He asks sharply, causing the two to flinch in surprise.
"Nothing." Token quickly says. "Let's just get to practice."
They all nod together and continue on their way with Craig briefly glancing at
the oblivious Clyde as they pass by. He couldn't remember the last time he
talked to him. It was probably years ago, all the way back before Clyde had
started being more sociable than he already was and was dragged in with the
party kids. Their sudden distance from each other was unintentional. It
happened step by step that Craig is positive that Clyde didn't even realize
that they rarely hang out anymore.
Before, the two of them would usually skip out the parties and just hang around
together somewhere else. As much as Clyde had always wanted to party with the
others, he had understood how Craig was never really a people-person and would
usually tell him that he would rather hang out with him than get drunk like a
big buffoon with other people. Craig appreciated his company. In fact, he loved
it. No one could ever tolerate his attitude but Clyde. They used to do a lot of
entertaining stuff together while the others would be out partying. But when
Craig started feeling a bit uncertain at the possible fact that he was holding
Clyde back from possibly the greatest nights of his high school life, he
finally gave him a night off, telling him that he can go party with Kenny and
the others because he will be busy for the night studying for their finals.
Craig was never a slacker when it comes to studies so Clyde had believed him
and joined the party.
However, that was the night when people had realized how fun Clyde could be and
they started dragging him more to parties as the nights had gone by. Clyde
would then cancel his hang outs with Craig, apologizing and telling him that he
had already promised Stan and the others that he'll be attending their party.
Craig didn't mind at first. He didn't want Clyde to think that he couldn't live
without him. But when Clyde started making lame excuses as to how he couldn't
make it to their hang outs, Craig knew they were drifting off from each other.
He never bothered to try and fix it. He didn't even know if he wanted to.
The very moment he realized that they were drifting away from each other, he
thought of the possibility that Clyde had only hung out with him-had only
approached him when they were kids-was because he felt sorry for him. And Craig
didn't want his pity. He doesn't want anyone's pity. And that's when he thought
that maybe he and Clyde not being friends was for the best. They were far too
different from each other. Clyde is liked by everyone, Craig isn't. Clyde knows
how to get along with others, Craig prefers to keep to himself. Clyde likes to
go out a lot while Craig stays in his room and just update his blog about
hamsters and other fandoms he's currently into.
He doesn't need Clyde anyway. He still has friends like Token. They don't hang
out as much but Token would sometimes pay him a visit at his place and play
with his Xbox while at the same time, have an intelligent conversation about
school and such. Then there's Tweek. Craig didn't like him at first because
he's far too jumpy and alert but he had slowly grown fond of him for some weird
reason. Though, Tweek has never been to his place and he wonders why he hasn't
invited him to.
"You forgot your uniform again?" Craig nearly jumps in surprise at how close
Token's voice sounded in his ear but he just shakes his head and closes his
locker after realizing that it's pretty empty.
"I guess I'll be skipping practice today." He says, going over to the bench to
reach for his backpack but Stan immediately stops him from doing so by gripping
his arm.
"No way." He says, a frown curving his lips. "There's no way I'm facing the
coach's wrath just because you decided not to show up. I have an extra pair.
You can use it."
Craig rips his arm away from his grip, not liking the fact that he's being
touched by his supposed-to-be enemy. Stan is considered the second best in
their team and Craig doesn't really see him as a threat. However, he'd be an
idiot not to notice how Stan looks so determined to beat him and steal his
position as their coach's favorite. Craig only shrugs his competitive attitude
off though, not really caring if Stan beats him or not just as long as he gets
a decent grade in Physical Education.
As Stan tosses him his extra pair, Craig easily catches it.
"So Stan," Token begins as he starts undressing himself. "are you really going
to Bebe's party?"
"Well, I just texted Wendy earlier and she said that she's going." Stan sighs,
obviously not in the mood to party at all. "So I don't really have much of a
choice. Plus, Kyle's going too anyway."
"Let me guess," Token grins knowingly. "he doesn't have a choice either?"
"With Kenny's pleadings and puppy blue eyes? Yeah, he's pretty much obligated
to go. Are you going?"
"Well, Nichole is going so why not?"
The two then turn to look at Craig who is already in his swimming trunks,
barely paying attention to their conversation and having no intention in
participating in it. But Token wants him to so he decides to ask, "What about
you, Craig? Are you going to Bebe's party tonight?"
Craig doesn't answer. Stan chuckles at this. "Was that a rhetorical question,
man? Since when have you actually seen Craig in parties?"
"Uhh... When Clyde turned thirteen?"
Silence.
"Dude." Stan narrows his eyes at Token, giving him a 'that-wasn't-cool' look
and Token flinches in realization, mouthing an apology to him. Craig remains
quiet, however, as he folds his clothes and slips them into his locker as if he
hadn't heard a word they just said. Token sighs and decides to drop the topic
off. Despite the distance that had grown between his two friends, Token is
still in decent contact with Clyde. They would even sometimes go on double
dates along with Bebe and Nichole but... he has to admit that Clyde has
changed. And not for the better.
He figures that it's also for the best that he and Craig aren't friends
anymore. He couldn't imagine how Craig would feel if he sees how Clyde behaves
now. He's no longer the goofy innocent kid they had all used to love and make
fun of.
No, Clyde's different.
He became so infuriatingly arrogant. He's like the most arrogant person in
school second to Cartman and that's fucking saying something.
"Let's get to practice." Craig finally breaks the silence as he heads for the
door, not giving any of his team mates a look.
===============================================================================
"Hey, Craig!"
Craig runs his fingers through his drenching wet hair as he turns around to see
Token casually swimming his way towards him before nodding over to the benches.
"Tweek's over there to cheer you on." Craig cocks a brow at him before
following his friend's gaze to see the jumpy blond seated on the benches. When
his blue eyes met his light green ones, Craig gives him a lazy wave in which
got Tweek flinching harshly in surprise before nervously waving back.
"I told him to just wait for me outside." Craig mutters though Token manages to
hear him.
"Don't you want your friend to see you race?"
"Race?" Craig frowns.
"Yeah, the coach just decided that you and Stan will be having another 3-lap
race."
Craig couldn't help but roll his eyes in annoyance at this. What is it with
everyone and their determination to challenge him and Stan with each other?
He's going to win anyway. He doesn't even feel all nervous about it compared to
Stan who has been swimming from lap to lap for the past fifteen minutes even
though their coach has given them a 30-minute break.
"I don't feel like it." He says, swaying his arms lazily against the water.
"Well, whether you feel like it or not, you're doing it." Token purses his
lips, displeased by his words. "Besides, Tweek won't be the only one watching."
As if on cue, a bunch of other students start filing in the swimming area, all
shouting and cheering obnoxiously. Craig scowls at them before realizing that
they are all cheering Stan's name. Stan resurfaces from the water and shakes
the water out of his hair before glancing at the crowd that had climbed up the
benches, causing Tweek to yelp and corner himself at the far end. Stan looks
genuinely surprised while Token chuckles and nudges Craig.
"It was Wendy's idea." He says, nodding at Wendy who's seated at the lowest
bench where it's the closest to the pool.
"Great." Craig responds sarcastically. "I feel much better to know that
everyone will be pissed at me the very moment I win."
"Not everyone." Token points out, nodding at Tweek. "You have him."
Tweek glances at their direction, shaking and obviously looking uncomfortable
at the crowd nearby. Craig couldn't help himself but hate those obnoxious teens
who are scaring his friend and that's when he decides that he doesn't care if
he pisses them off when he wins. At least they'll shut up and let Tweek have
some space. He shakes his head and turns around to swim two more laps for
practice.
"Stan! If you win, I'll buy you a buttload of beer!"
The voice stops all his movements, his body stiffening at the familiar tone. He
looks over his shoulder to see Clyde sitting down beside Wendy and having the
back of his head whacked by the girl. The brunet grins at her and says an
apology, placing both of his hands together and jokingly bowing to her twice; a
gesture he used to do whenever Craig snaps at him for being an idiot. Seeing
him like that made Craig's stomach twist and he turns away, not realizing that
he has been clenching his fists out of... he's not even sure what he's feeling
but he's sure that it's not a positive one.
"You okay, man?" Token snaps him out of his thoughts.
Craig just nods before beginning his practice.
===============================================================================
"Chill out, man. Just pick any toppings." Craig says, his blue eyes
scrutinizing the assorted frozen yogurt toppings displayed before them. Tweek
has been staring at it for a few minutes now, muttering stuff to himself and
considering that his fingers are twitching, Craig knows that he's freaking out
about which toppings to use.
"Oh god, but what if I choose the wrong topping?" Tweek says, biting his
fingernails while his other hand holds his cup. "What if I chose the wrong
combination and didn't like the taste? This is too much pressure for me to
handle!" Craig sighs at his friend's overreaction before reaching over and
placing a few M&M's and a small amount of chocolate syrup into Tweek's yogurt.
"There, now we're all happy." He takes the same toppings before guiding Tweek
to the counter.
"T-Thank you." Tweek says, still shaking up a bit but has eventually calmed
down. As Craig paid for their snacks, they step out of the small building to
head for Tweek's place.
"A-Are you going to Bebe's party?" Tweek asks, swirling his spoon in his yogurt
though not really taking a bite, afraid that he might finish it first and leave
Craig eating by himself. Craig notices this and begins to eat his own, noticing
how Tweek looked at him and began to eat too, syncing their scoops together.
"Is that the talk of the school right now?" Craig asks, his tone remaining
unreadable.
"Sorry!" Tweek suddenly apologizes. "If you don't want to talk about it, we can
talk about something else! Oh god, why did I even ask you when everyone knows
you never attend such events! It was really stupid of me to ask and I wish
you'd just erase that from your mind and-"
"It's erased."
"Thank you! But Jesus flipping Christ, I should be more careful with my words
next time. I swear, if I blabber on and on again, I know you'd-"
"Hey Tweek!"
Tweek screams in surprise at the sound of his name as the two boys look up to
see Bebe happily approaching them with a radiant smile. Craig notices Clyde
following behind which is not really surprising considering the two have been
dating for almost four months now. Bebe giggles at Tweek's reaction. "So will
you be attending my party tonight?" She asks curiously.
"O-Oh, gee, I don't know..."
"He'll come." Clyde butts in, now standing beside Bebe and grinning at the
shorter male. "Because I'll be bringing lots of iced coffee there, just for
you, man." Surprisingly, Tweek twitches a smile at his words before slowly
nodding his head.
"Okay, I guess. It wouldn't hurt, right?"
"Of course it wouldn't!" Bebe laughs, clapping a soft hand on the twitchy
blond's shoulder who yelps in response.
Clyde grins at Tweek before settling his gaze on Craig who's just watching the
scene. "Hey Craig! Didn't see you there!" Craig lightly scowls at his words but
doesn't blame him anyway. He's really hard to notice considering his silence
and despite his tall height. Bebe, as if also only noticing him, glances at his
way and smiles.
"What about you, Craig? Are you going?" She asks but before Craig could reply,
Clyde cuts him off by laughing obnoxiously.
"Bebe, are you seriously asking him that?" He asks, his chuckles coming off
annoying to the taller male. "When's the last time you've actually seen Craig
in a party? Right, never. He'll say he'll go but then chicken out later on.
Besides, he'll probably be too busy working on his blog, right?" The brunet
then glances at Craig's direction, as if expecting him to agree with him but
Craig's scowl only grows deeper, not breaking his stare on his former friend.
"Chicken out?" He finally says, nearly crushing the paper cup in his hand. "You
fucking think I'll actually chicken out from a ridiculous retarded party?" At
his tone, Bebe and Tweek stare at him with uneasy looks but Clyde just smiles
at him. Or is that a smirk? A challenging one? Craig couldn't tell.
"What, are you saying you'll actually be at Bebe's party tonight?" Clyde raises
an amused brow at him. "You'll actually surround yourself with people who
barely acknowledge your existence?"
"Clyde." Bebe hisses him a warning but the two boys ignore her.
Craig grits his teeth, trying to keep his temper in no matter how much he wants
to smack the brunet for being such an asshole. Never once did Clyde made fun of
him for being unnoticeable until now. His popularity is surely getting to his
head and Craig's not even sure if he really misses this douchebag being his
friend.
"Fuck off, Donovan." He says. "I'll be at the party."
"Pssh." Clyde scoffs as he takes Bebe's hand, tugging her away. "We'll see,
man. We'll see. See ya later!" As if the tension between them was never there,
he grins at him and Tweek before walking off with his girlfriend who obviously
starts reprimanding him about his behavior. Once the two are out of sight,
Tweek lets out a loud relieved sigh.
"Thank god, I thought the tension will cause us to explode out of nowhere!" He
says but after realizing what he just said made no sense, he shakes his head
and adds. "Gee, Clyde sure became a total asshole.."
Craig shakes his head as he dumps his snack into the trash bin. "I'll see you
later, Tweek."
"H-Huh? Where are you going?"
"School."
"...What?"
===============================================================================
Craig gasps for air as soon as he manages to resurface from the water, his
heart pounding. He swims close to the wall and leans his back against it, his
breath finally evening out as he stares into the water. Maybe the only benefit
he gets for being the best swimmer in the team is that he has the privilege to
go to the pool area whenever he wants to and right now, that benefit is quite
beneficial to him. Swimming is something that he can actually do to take his
mind off things. His first thought was to just watch a bunch of hamster videos
but fuck, he's not a little kid anymore.
He wipes the beads of water rolling from his forehead as he sighs. What the
hell is wrong with Clyde? Since when did he become so much of a dick lately?
He's totally okay that the brunet barely talks to him anymore but the fact that
he's making him look like a fool in front of other people just for his
amusement? It just isn't something Clyde would do.
Why is he even letting this bother him anyway? It's been two years since
they've last talked to each other and he knows that he shouldn't even care
about how Clyde sees him anymore; just like how he doesn't care what others
think about him. He gazes up at the benches, remembering how Clyde was cheering
for Stan earlier and something inside him pricked. Before, he was the one Clyde
would cheer for; even when the others would cheer for Stan, he'd be the one
standing out in the crowd, holding out a very lame banner and cheering his name
out. But just earlier, the way Clyde had frowned and said how boring the idea
of swimming was getting because the taller teen kept on winning, Craig couldn't
help but clench his fists again out of anger.
Yes, he's angry.
Angry at Clyde for being such an asshole.
Angry at Stan for receiving the attention he once used to have from the
brunet. 
Angry at himself for letting Clyde drift away from him so easily.
Craig's eyes soften as he looks down at the water, lazily letting his hand draw
circles as his mind wanders off to a very clear memory.
"For the last damn time, control your breathing!"
A seven-year old Clyde heaves and pants as he tries to wipe the water off his
face, his other hand clutching on the inflatable toy dinosaur nearby while
Craig goes on reprimanding him about his lack of control in breathing. Once
Craig was done rambling his ear off, Clyde pouts before splashing water towards
his friend.
"Be easy on me!" He whines childishly. "This is my first time in a pool and
this is so hard!"
"It wouldn't be so hard if you quit flapping your arms like a damn penguin
trying to fucking fly." Craig splashes back at him, a displeased frown evident
on his features. Clyde whines again before splashing another large amount of
water towards the other.
"This is stupid!"
Craig splashes back. "Are you saying the only sport I like is stupid?"
Clyde yelps and splashes back. "No! I'm saying the idea of me swimming is
stupid!"
Splash. "Maybe you're the one being stupid."
Splash. "No! You're being stupid for being a stupid teacher!"
Splash. Splash. "You're just really a stupid student...!"
Splash. Splash. Splash. "If I'm a stupid student, then you're more stupid and
that's saying something!"
SPLASH.
SPLASH.
SPLASH.
And just like that, the two engage themselves in a splashing battle with Clyde
making larger splashes considering his better strength than Craig. After a few
more minutes of the battle, the two finally grow tired and end up panting,
staring at each other with still-challenging eyes. But after a few seconds or
so, their glares broke to smiles and Clyde starts laughing hysterically while
Craig chuckles at how ridiculous they probably looked splashing each other so
angrily.
"Look, if you don't want to swim," Craig says as he swims closer to his friend.
"then why the hell did you ask me to teach you how to?"
He then notices the obvious red hue that flushes up the brunet s cheeks at the
sound of the question. This just makes Craig more curious now and he just
stares at his friend with a slight tilt of his head, silently urging him to
answer. Clyde clears his throat uncertainly as he rubs the back of his neck; a
habit he does when he's nervous about something.
"I uh... well..."
"Spit it out, Clyde."
"W-Well...!" Clyde's face is definitely more flushed up than before. "You look
so happy and contented whenever you go swimming. It's the kind of expression
you rarely show at all unless we're watching Red Racer. When I saw you swim for
the first time and how people had said that you are naturally talented at it,
your smile looked so... I don't know, real? You were so happy about the
attention people were giving you... all the praises and stuff. And I sorta
wanted to see more of that from you. Since I'm sorta like the only kid in
school who actually makes you smile, I thought that what if I joined you in
this swimming thing? Would you smile wider? I want to swim with you because I
really want to see you grin for once."
Craig couldn't help the appalled look that is expressed on his features as he
stares at his friend's flushed face. As if taking his silence as disgust, Clyde
buries his face in his hand out of embarrassment and groans. "Oh fuck, I knew I
shouldn't have told you that! That was like... eugh, so gay. Gayness to the
max. I bet you find me so weird now!" His words are actually muffled through
his hand so Craig couldn't exactly comprehend a word he just said but the
brunet looks up at him with worried eyes. "W-We're still friends, right? I
mean, this isn't making you awkward or anything? Shit, did I just make things
awkward between us? Please don't be awkward! I won't say anything that shitty
again, I promise! Pinky swear!"
Craig cocks a brow at Clyde who immediately pokes out his pinky, his lips
formed into a pout and his brown pleading eyes staring right back at his blue
ones.
Craig smiles a bit before gently batting his friend's hand away. "Whatever,
man." He says, slowly swimming away from him. "You can talk to me in any way
you want. Gay or not, just make sure it doesn't piss me off."
Clyde just stares at him, obviously surprised at his reaction but then he beams
and nods his head. "All right then!"
===============================================================================
"Where the hell are you going?"
Craig glances at the doorway of his room to see his little sister giving him an
incredulous look while sucking on her lollipop. Craig doesn't say anything at
first as he continues to dry his hair with a towel, standing up and going to
his closet to get a decent shirt for the party. "To Bebe's." He answers, not
even sure why Ruby cares about where he's going. She never really asks him
about his personal life because, as she had said, she doesn't give a fuck. But
maybe seeing him getting ready for a party is something that the young girl has
never seen before.
"Bebe...?" Ruby raises a brow. "Who's that?"
"She's my... uh... I don't know what the hell she is." Craig admits as he
tosses his towel on the bed and grabs a shirt from his closet.
"Girlfriend?"
"Fuck no."
"Right, right. You're a fag." Ruby rolls her eyes as she leans her shoulder
against the door frame, watching her brother roam about his room.
Craig scowls at her. "I'm not a fag, Ruby. I just don't fucking believe in
labels."
"Riiight." The girl drawls before taking her leave. Craig sighs in disbelief
before glancing at his reflection in the mirror. What do people wear in parties
anyway? As he is seeing himself right now, he's not sure if a plain old blue
shirt and a pair of old jeans are decent enough for a party. Eh, fuck it. It's
not like he's planning on staying there for long anyway. He'll just make an
appearance to prove Clyde that he's just fucking wrong and then he'll be on his
way back home. Maybe even drag Tweek with him to his place for once because
he's sure the blond is never comfortable with large crowds. His frown deepens a
bit when he realizes that his dark hair has gotten longer and he doesn't have a
hat to hide it. He had grown out of his blue chullo hat. Well shit, he needs a
haircut. He'll worry about that later. Grabbing a jacket from his closet, he
immediately leaves through the window. He knows that telling his parents about
the party will become a huge unnecessary fuss and he's not in the mood for
that.
The walk to Bebe's place wasn't exactly long and when Craig finally reached his
destination, he realizes that the house is already loud and open to anyone. He
feels his stomach twist at the sight of it. He could hear the loud laughter of
the crowd inside and he feels sick. What if the music suddenly stops the very
moment he steps in? What if everyone stops whatever they're doing and just
stare at him, surprised that he actually attended a party? Fuck, is this even a
good idea? Maybe he should just head back home and save himself from the
embarrassment he's so certain he's about to face and- no, wait. He doesn't
care. He shouldn't care. Just as long as he gets to wipe that smug grin off
Clyde's face, he's willing to do anything. There are already a few people at
the front yard, taking shots on the grass or making out in the dark areas.
Craig wrinkles his nose in disgust at the sight before making his way to the
door which is already wide open as ever.
He suddenly feels his fingers twitching anxiously at his sides as he enters the
house. There are a few people dancing to the music, some are just drinking and
chatting while some are yelling obnoxiously about some beer pong or whatever it
is. Craig doesn't want to know.
He tries to brush through the crowd, pleased that he's unnoticeable as ever. He
prefers it that way. Now all he needs is to look for Clyde, flip him off, tell
him how wrong he is, then he can just go home. Where does Clyde usually hang
around anyway during parties? He remembers how he used to picture what kind of
drunk Clyde is. He never really witnessed it but he could tell that he was the
funny kind of drunk; the kind where he would just do anything absolutely
ridiculous just to get a laugh from the people around him. If that's the case,
then Clyde would probably be somewhere where most of the people are.
"Craig?"
Well, it appears like looking for the brunet wouldn't be a problem anymore
because as Craig looks up, he finds Clyde walking down the stairs with a drink
in hand and a genuine surprised look on his face. Craig can't help but smirk in
victory at his reaction as he slips his hands into the pockets of his jacket.
"Hey Clyde." He greets him lazily.
"You're actually here." Clyde points out the obvious once he's standing in
front of the dark-haired boy. "Whoa, holy shit... like, wow... fuck."
Craig grimaces a bit in annoyance. "Yeah, I get it. You're surprised."
"More than that, man!" Clyde grins at him and Craig's grimace falters at the
sight.
Clyde's grinning at him. Grinning at him and only him. For once in two years.
"I really thought you'd chicken out on this!" The brunet continues, slapping a
hand on the other boy's shoulder. "What motivated you, huh? I doubt it's
because I challenged you to. I did that once before and you still chickened
out. So why the change of heart, huh? Finally realized that you're actually
missing out the time of your friendless life? That's understandable. I mean,
anyone who's as friendless as you are would be desperate enough to attend a
party just to earn a few peers. Just remember to be picky, man. Some are really
bad influence and-"
"Will you shut the fuck up?" Craig growls, harshly pushing the other boy's hand
away from his shoulder. "I only came here because I..." Shit, he can't tell him
that he only came to the party to prove a point. It would mean that if Clyde
didn't challenge him, he would end up chickening out anyway and not attend the
party. "...I only came here because I wanna see how retarded of a party your
girlfriend can set. And to be honest, this is the most retarded party I have
ever been into."
Clyde smiles at him as he swirls his drink. "Uh huh, and how many parties have
you been into?"
Goddammit.
"Whatever." Craig grumbles, looking away; pride slightly damaged. "This is
stupid. I'm leaving."
"Are you saying the only thing that gets me happily drunk is stupid?" Clyde
asks teasingly though he doesn't let Craig respond for he continues on. "And
don't leave, dude. You just got here! Come on, let's get you a drink! I heard
you've never tried any alcohol before and well, consider this as your first and
best experience!" He then reaches to grab a hold of Craig's wrist but the
taller boy takes a step away from him, scowling at him.
"Fuck no." He says, his tone sharp. "I won't be dragged into your lame pathetic
shenanigans, Clyde. You can party like a disgusting douchebag all you want, I
won't do it."
Clyde rolls his eyes and tugs Craig's sleeve anyway. "Don't be such a pansy.
Just one drink."
"I said no, Clyde." Craig growls, keeping his stand firm. This time, Clyde's
smile falters to a serious frown and just when he opens his mouth to say
something, a voice interrupts him.
"H-Hey, Craig! Clyde!"
The two boys stop their bickering and glance at their side to see Tweek
advancing towards them with a cup of iced coffee in hand. But when the blond
notices Clyde's grip on Craig's sleeve and the annoyed scowl on Craig's
features, he harshly flinches in surprise, nearly spilling his drink to
himself. "O-Oh! Am I interrupting something? Shit, bad timing! Bad timing!
Sorry! Go on and continue your business! Unless you two are getting into a
fight then I guess maybe it is a good time for me to butt in. Or maybe you two
are getting back together as best friends? Then oh Jesus, I guess this is a bad
timing! I don't even know why I keep on ruining moments like these and-"
"Best friends?" Clyde raises a brow in disbelief. "What are you talking-"
Craig holds his breath as he waits for Clyde to finish his sentence. But he
never did. Instead, the brunet sighs and jerks his thumb towards the taller
teen's way. "Tweek, can you like tell your gay-ass boyfriend here that he
should try and get a drink for once?"
Both Tweek and Craig flinch at his choice of words and the two exchange an
awkward look. How the hell did Clyde know about the both of them being into the
same gender? Well, everyone knows about Tweek but Craig... Craig never told
anyone other than Token and Tweek that he's into any gender. As if noticing
their reactions, Clyde blinks confusedly before raising his index finger
thoughtfully. "Oh, did I just made a lucky guess? Are you two really butt-
buddies?"
"N-No!"
"Fuck no."
The two other teens respond in unison and they both share another look before
quickly looking away from each other. Tweek is adorable, Craig never had any
trouble admitting that and the thought of dating him actually crossed his mind
once. But, he just thinks that it's not gonna work. In fact, he doubts any
relationship with him would work and he knows it's for the best if he saves
Tweek from any heartaches. Clyde grins at their awkwardness before slinging his
arms over their shoulders, his drink spilling a bit over Tweek's shoulder.
Tweek yelps at that.
"Looks like you two could use a drink." He finally says before pushing them to
the kitchen. Craig doesn't even bother to argue anymore because he knows how
persistent Clyde can get.
Upon reaching the kitchen, Craig catches sight of a few familiar faces. He sees
Kyle chatting with Stan and Wendy near the counter while Kenny stands by his
side, an arm around the shorter boy's shoulders while lovingly kissing his
hair; already drunk. Kyle frowns at him and nudges him away, stating that he
stinks of alcohol but Kenny just laughs and presses closer to the red head,
happily humming and ignoring the other's early protest. Token and Cartman
appear to be having an argument at the corner and Craig isn't exactly sure what
the hell they're arguing about but he manages to hear the words "lubricant",
"banana", and "my little pony". What the fuck are they going on about?
"Here's the grand treasure." Clyde steps away from the two to get them each a
drink from the counter, casually greeting Stan and the others.
Stan grins at Clyde but when his eyes passed over at Craig, his jaw drops in
astonishment before he starts nudging Wendy and nodding towards the tall teen's
direction. Wendy cuts her conversation with Kyle off to follow his gaze and her
expression mirrors her boyfriend's. Kyle, obviously annoyed at the disturbance,
turns and his reaction is already expected.
"Well look what the cat dragged in~" Kenny says in a sing-song voice, stepping
away from Kyle to clumsily stumble towards Craig and Tweek though his blue eyes
are only focused on Craig's darker ones. "Whatcha doin' here, Tucker? I thought
you're planning on spending the whole night updating your blog about anime and
shit?" His grin widens when he sees Tweek twitching a bit at Craig's side. "Oh.
Ohhh, I see...! I see where this is going! You two decided to come out and
announce-"
"Leave'em alone, Ken." Kyle sighs, tugging his boyfriend's arm away while Stan
and Wendy make their way towards them. "Craig's not obviously in the mood to be
made fun of."
"He never is and never will." Clyde laughs, butting in as he hands Tweek and
Craig their drinks. Tweek accepts it with shaking hands but takes a few sips
from it more easily compared to Craig who just stares down at it. "And since
Kenny oh-so-kindly asked," Clyde goes on. "Craig came here because he said he
wanted to see how retarded of a party Bebe can throw. And I was like, yeah
riiiight. And he was all like, this is the most retarded party ever. And I was
like, and how many parties have you been in? And he was all like, uhhhh..."
Wendy rolls her eyes at Clyde's poor way of telling a story before smiling
gently at Craig. "Well it's good to see you here for once. I hope you'll enjoy
your time here."
"Yeah, hopefully." Craig shrugs.
"He'll enjoy his time." Kenny grins, his free hand clutching Kyle's while the
other clutches his own cup of drink. "He has his little boyfriend here, right,
Tweekers?"
"A-Ack! Oh Jesus, I'm not his boyfriend!" Tweek jolts, now spilling his drink
all over Stan.
"Aww fuck! Tweek!"
"Oh God! I'm so sorry! L-Let me help-"
"Don't worry." Wendy sighs, taking Stan's hand and pulling him away. "Let's get
some paper towels or something."
"Hold on! I-I should help!"
Clyde steps aside to let Tweek follow the couple, rolling his eyes and mouthing
a few words at Kenny who chuckles knowingly. Craig frowns at the inside joke
the two are obviously sharing about Tweek and it appears like Kyle isn't
exactly pleased about it too for he excuses himself from them and walks to the
living room to chat with someone else. Kenny pouts at this before giving the
remaining two a casual wave as he follows his boyfriend, childishly calling out
to his name. And just like that, Craig and Clyde are left alone. Neither of
them said anything. Craig purses his lips as he stares down at his drink,
swirling it around and wrinkling his nose a bit at the strong scent.
"Aren't you going to drink that, dude?"
Craig looks up to see Clyde taking a sip from his own beverage. "What?"
"I said aren't you going to drink that? I got it just for you and the least you
can do is take a sip from it."
Craig sighs and shakes his head, pushing the cup back to the brunet. "Clyde,
you know perfectly well that I don't drink and I never plan to."
"Still?" Clyde purses one corner of his lips as he gestures to refusing in
taking his drink back. "Nah, man. You're in a party now and you should behave
properly. And by properly, I mean drinking your ass off, waving your hands up
in the air and laughing as loud as you can like a fucking pothead. Wait, is
that how potheads act? Well whatever, just take a sip, Craig. You'll like it.
Live your life for once. Do you even know this is the reason why most people
are so intimidated around you? You keep to yourself too much. And if you want
to have at least one friend, you've got to lighten up and be llikable I mean, I
lightened up and look at me now."
Silence.
"I'm leaving." Craig brushes past the shorter male to place his untouched cup
on the counter before making his way out of the kitchen. But before he does so,
he feels Clyde's familiar grip around his wrist and he turns to scowl at him,
trying to rip his hand away but Clyde only tightens his hold.
"Let. Go. Of me." Craig says through gritted teeth, emphasizing each word.
Clyde could only give him a displeased look. "Seriously man, you've gotten
lamer. I'm surprised that's even possible."
He finally lets go of him and turns around to join Stan and the others, waving
him off. Craig glares at his back, his breaths slowly coming out short and the
evident anger he's feeling is radiating from him that people actually try to
keep away from him in case he snaps. He feels something painful burning inside
him as he watches Clyde laugh along with Stan and Wendy, his arm casually
resting around Tweek's shoulders; as if the last words he had just told him is
something he didn't mind saying even if it offended his former best friend.
Craig's normally calm demeanor has slowly changed into something dangerously
dark as he turns to head out. Going to the party was the biggest mistake he has
ever done.
No, fuck, scratch that. Being friends with Clyde was the biggest mistake he has
ever done and he wishes that he didn't let him talk to him back in
kindergarten. He wishes that he had never accepted that matching Red Racer
shirt. He wishes that he had never asked him to be his best friend. He wishes
that he had never let the brunet make him care. He could feel his fists shaking
at his sides as he pushed through the crowd, his eyes focused on the door and
upon reaching it, he shoves some dude, who was just about to enter the party,
away before making his way back home; ignoring the the strange looks he's
receiving from the people around him.
But before he could reach the sidewalk, Token's voice stops him from his steps.
"Craig, dude! Wait up!"
Craig takes a deep shaky breath as he turns around to face Token who finally
manages to reach him. "What do you want?" He asks, his tone bitter.
Token arches a brow at him. "Whoa, what's shoved up in your ass?" He asks but
after noticing that Craig is in no mood, he quickly adds. "Did you just walk
out of Bebe's house? Were you just seriously inside there?"
"Unfortunately."
"Whoa. That's new. Where are you going?"
"Home."
Token frowns at this. "What? Why?" When Craig refuses to answer and had just
glanced at Bebe's house, Token's mouth forms an "O" in realization before
nodding his head. "I see. So you and Clyde finally talked, huh? How did that
work out for you?"
"I don't wanna talk about it." Just when Craig is just about to turn and leave,
Token quickly holds his shoulder to prevent him from doing so. Goddammit, what
is it with people and stopping him from leaving?
"Maybe you need a drink, Craig."
"I don't drink."
"Come on."
Token tugs his friend's wrist, dragging him to the circle of people who are
sharing some shots at the grass. Craig wrinkles his nose in disgust as he pulls
away from Token's hold. "Dude, I'm serious. I don't want to drink."
"You're angry, aren't you?" His friend asks him with a slight tilt of his head.
"Trust me, just one drink will make you feel a bit better. Probably even make
you nicer. Okay, that was a joke but seriously, a drink will get your mind off
things. I'm not gonna get you drunk, I promise."
Craig hesitates for a moment, his eyes darting to the circle of people that
consists of Kevin, Red, Nichole and Butters who all appear to be oblivious of
the two teens. Finally, the dark-haired boy sighs as he looks back at his
friend.
"Fine. Just one drink."
Token smiles at him before leading him to the group. And as they sat down on
the grass, the other teens greet Craig while at the same time, looking a bit
out of place seeing the tall teen present. Token picks up an untouched glass
from the grass and hands it to his friend, giving him a friendly wink before
grabbing the bottle of... whatever the hell it is, Craig's not sure, from Red's
hand. Once his glass is filled, Craig moves it closer to his nose to take a
sniff and in a split second, he grimaces in disgust; earning a few chuckles
from the others.
"Let me guess," Red smirks. "you've never had a drink before?"
"Great observation, Einstein." Craig says, his eyes still focused on his drink.
"Just drink it in one go." Kevin nods, an amused smile curved across his lips.
"Tonight was Butters' first time too and look at him now. He hasn't said a word
ever since." Craig looks up from his own drink to see the short blond staring
down at the grass with half lidded eyes, his fingers wrapped around an empty
glass and Craig wonders how many shots the dude already had. So Butters is the
silent kind of drunk? He wonders what kind of drunk he would be. At that
thought, he stares back at his own glass.
'Well, here goes nothing.'
===============================================================================
"How are you feeling, Craig?"
Craig can't really tell who asked him that but he's pretty sure it was a chick.
Or was it Butters? He licks his lips as he looks down at his empty glass with
half-lidded eyes, frowning at the lack of alcohol in it. He looks back at the
people he's drinking with, noticing that some are already missing. Since when
did Nichole, Token and Butters leave? Why the hell are Kevin and Red grinning
at him like that? Holy hell, why is his vision going hazy? He tightly closes
his eyes and shakes his head before pushing his glass forward. "More. I'm going
fucking blind as hell and I need the antidote." Kevin and Red laugh at this
before refilling his glass.
"Geez, Craig." Kevin chuckles. "Just a few shots and you're already this
drunk?"
"I think I like him better when he's drunk." Red rubs her chin thoughtfully.
"He's way nice and talks more."
Craig just flips them off in response before drinking up his beverage in one go
then letting out a desperate hiss afterwards. "That is some strong shit." He
says, pointing at the bottle. "Potions are the bomb. I can't believe I only
started trying this out now, man. Or woman."
"What made you suddenly want to drink anyway?"
Red's question brings Craig to dwell in his thoughts. What really got him to
drinking? What is he even doing here? Where is he? Oh fuck, right, Bebe's
party. Then he looked for Clyde... that asshole, Clyde Donovan. Right, he was
mad at him. Completely infuriated with him and Token had told him that drinking
will make him feel better. In fact, it did. He feels bolder for some reason as
he stares at his hand, weakly moving his fingers then grinning madly at them.
"He's lost it." Kevin says as Red nods in agreement.
"I'm gonna look for... Clyde." Craig stands up, nearly losing his balance when
it wasn't for Red who quickly gently pushes him back to his standing position.
Craig lazily grins at her and gives her a casual salute before stumbling his
way into the house. He notices that the music has turned up louder and a larger
amount of people can be seen inside but Craig knows it's not gonna be difficult
looking for Clyde. He always shows up whenever he's looking for him. After a
few minutes, the dark-haired teen ends up stumbling at the backyard where there
are a few people also drinking and making barbeque. Is that safe when drunken
people are everywhere? Craig shrugs that thought off as he looks around, trying
to spot a particular brunet.
As if on cue, he spots Clyde near the pool chatting with Bebe, a different cup
of drink in hand. He doesn't appear to be drunk at all and Craig assumes that
the guy probably has high tolerance in alcohol. What a lucky son of a bitch.
Craig tries to make his way towards him without bumping into anyone, his eyes
firmly fixated on the brunet who appears to oblivious of his presence for never
once did he take his eyes off the blonde before him. But when Craig finally
reached him, the two teens cut their conversation short and glance at his way.
"O-Oh, hello Craig!" Bebe smiles cheerfully at him but Craig doesn't bother to
spare her a glance.
"Dude, what the hell are you still doing here?" Clyde frowns, obviously not
pleased that he still hadn't gone home yet. But he blinks a few times before
his frown fades to an amused smile. "Wait, are you drunk?"
"Shut up." Craig tugs the brunet's wrist. "Hey boobie... I mean Bebe, can I
borrow your dude for a bit?"
Bebe appears to be befuddled but nods her head anyway before looking around and
joining a group of girls. Clyde sighs and lets the taller teen drag him away
from the crowd, heading for the other side of the house where there are
surprisingly no sight of a single soul. Once they're alone, Clyde pulls his
wrist away from Craig's grip and crushes his empty cup before tossing it
somewhere. "So what's up?" he asks, amusement still lingering in his tone at
the sight of Craig drunk. Craig doesn't anything at first. He's too busy
staring at Clyde, his eyelids growing heavy and his lips slightly parted as he
breathes a bit heavily. Clyde evidently looks weirden out by this for he shifts
his eyes around, as if hoping no one is seeing this to save themselves from any
kind of embarrassment.
"Clyde..." Craig finally begins, taking a step closer while Clyde takes a step
back.
"Uh, yeah?"
"What the fuck is wrong with you?"
Clyde's normally pleased look turns into a scowl as he stares back at the
taller male. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You're a fucking dick." Craig continues, trying his very best not to let his
eyelids grow any heavier as he shakes his head a bit. "What the hell happened
to you? You've been treating me like I'm a fucking outcast."
"Because you are."
"Shut the fuck up." Craig growls at him, his voice rising as his anger starts
to build up inside him. "What the fuck did I ever do to you, huh? What did I do
to deserve all this shit from you? You weren't like this before. We were the
best of fucking friends! Since kindergarten, Clyde! Kinder-fucking-garten! What
did I do to make you hate me so much, huh?! Tell me! Tell me now or I swear to
the fucking-"
"Craig, you're seriously drunk and-"
"Tell me!" Craig snaps, grabbing Clyde's collar and pushing him against the
wall. Clyde nearly yelps at the sudden impact, his head hitting the wall and he
lets out a small groan, looking back at Craig who's still glaring at him.
The brunet definitely looks taken aback and Craig couldn't blame him. Never in
his life had he hurt Clyde out of anger. Sure, Clyde used to annoy him a lot
but never to the point that he made him want to knock his teeth out. As they
stare at each other for a moment, Clyde's expression turns sour and he sighs.
"Fine, Craig. You want to know why? Here it is: You are the lamest dude I have
ever met. It is absolutely downright embarrassing to be seen with you."
His answer was short but it's still enough to get a rise out of Craig. Craig
grits his teeth and raises his fist, ready to hit him but Clyde doesn't even so
much as move a muscle at the gesture. Instead, he just stares back at Craig,
his brows slightly furrowed as if he's convinced about something. "You're going
to hit me?" He asks, his tone almost in disbelief. "Fine, go ahead. Hit me as
hard as you can." Craig tightens his fist and his hold on the brunet's collar,
shaking a bit. But just as he's about to do what he's been dying to do all
night, an image of a crying beaten-up 8-year-old Clyde flashes in his mind.
"Stop it! He's had enough!" Clyde wails, falling to his knees and wiping his
tears furiously. But the group of boys before him just laugh out louder as they
continue to kick Craig who has already collapsed on the ground, barely moving.
After a couple more taunts, kicks and hits, they finally decide to leave him
alone and run off; purposely stepping on the red toy cars that belong to Craig
in the process. Once they're all gone, Clyde quickly rushes to Craig's side,
his cheeks stained with tears and bruises.
"Craig! Are you okay?"
Craig sits up and rubs his head, blood dripping down from the corner of his
lips. "Oh, I'm fucking dandy, thanks for asking."
"Y-You didn't have to save me, you know!" Clyde says, crying out loud again.
"They wanted to beat  me  up! Not you!"
Craig just grimaces in pain when he touches his wounds before looking at Clyde
who's still wailing out loud. He rolls his eyes at this before patting the
brunet's head, hoping to calm him down. "Quit crying, you big baby." He says,
his eyes softening a bit. When he saw those large kids picking on Clyde at the
park, something inside him had snapped. The sight of his friend all bruised up
and crying had gotten him moving without thinking and before he knew it, he had
abandoned his Red Racer collectibles on the ground and landed a huge blow to
one of the large kids' face.
"B-B-But... But..." Clyde sobs heavily, still trying his best to wipe his
tears. "They broke your toys..."
Craig blinks and glances at his collectibles, nearly gasping at the sight of
them all being damaged. Okay, he has to admit that he feels his heart twist at
the scene but he shakes his head and looks back at his friend, shrugging his
shoulders. "I can always buy new ones, dude. And besides, those kids better
know who not to mess with. Did you see them running away in fear after they
beat the shit out of me?"
Clyde looks up from his hands to stare at the taller boy who's actually making
an effort in smiling at him. "Why did you save me? You knew that you're nothing
agasint kids as big as they are but..."
"Because I find you too cool to deserve that kind of treatment, Clyde." Craig
frowns, a bit surprised that Clyde is still even asking why he actually risked
himself to save him. "No one should ever hurt you. Not even the pathetic evil
lord himself. If someone actually tries to hurt you, then they have to go
through me and I'm serious about that. Hell, if I ever thought of hurting you,
I would fucking hurt myself instead."
"C-Craig..." Clyde is obviously loss for words and after a few seconds, he
starts to cry again though it's quite obvious that it is out of happiness this
time.
Craig groans at this. "Oh come on! I told you that so that you'd stop crying!"
Craig feels his clenched fist weakening and he immediately lets Clyde go,
stumbling a bit away from him. No wonder Clyde doesn't look like he's troubled
about getting hit by him. Because he knows. He knows Craig could never hurt
him; even if they are in this kind of situation. No matter how much of an
asshole Clyde has become, Craig still sees him as that guy who liked him and
looked up to him. The very same guy who knows everything about him and would
often be there for him when no one was.
"I thought so." Clyde scowls at him as he fixes the collar of his shirt.
"There you are!" Token voice breaks in and their friend quickly makes his way
towards Craig who nearly loses his balance. Luckily, Token manages to catch him
before he could hit the grass. "Dude, I've been looking everywhere for you. Red
said that you got drunk and I got really worried."
"Take him home." Clyde says, already walking away.
Token throws Craig's arm over his shoulders as Craig glances at Clyde's way.
Yeah, there's no way they'll be friends again. That much is positive.
He shouldn't even care.
They only have one more year left.
***** Their Confusion *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Craig is not exactly certain how long he has been asleep but the very moment he
feels something warm and bright against his face, he slowly opens his eyes to
see that the blinds of his window has been pulled up, causing the oh-so-bright
sunshine to touch his face. He groans at this in frustration, immediately
getting up to close the blinds. Who the fuck opened them anyway? Everyone in
the family knows that there are only two rules that Craig Tucker has put up: 1)
Never enter his room without knocking and 2) don't touch the blinds. Having a
window in a bedroom is an idea Craig is never fond of anyway and he curses
under his breath for letting his mother insist him on having one. The very
moment he drowsily swings his legs over the edge of his bed, a sudden sharp
pain shoots through his head.
"F-Fuck." He groans, clutching the side of his head as he bends down a bit, his
eyes tightly closed. What the hell? What's the cause of this sudden headache?
"Oh good, you're up." Craig doesn't bother to look up to know who's standing in
the doorway (why the fuck is the door wide open?) as Ruby's familiar green
apple scent grows nearer. He sees a glass of water thrusted in his way and he
takes it from his sister's hand, gulping every last drop of it desperately
while Ruby just watches him.
"I don't feel good." He finally says, carelessly dropping the empty glass on
his bed.
"I can see that." Ruby says, the tone of amusement lacing in her voice
completely evident that Craig couldn't help but scowl at her.
"What's so funny?"
Ruby stifles a laugh as she crosses her arms, her bright green eyes glimmering
with amusement. "So you went to a party last night, huh?" She asks, raising a
brow to emphasize her interest in the topic. "Danced around... surrounded by
girls... goofing off with Token..." Craig just looks at her with an annoyed
befuddled look, not knowing where she's going with this. The short girl's smile
then fades into a smirk as she traces her finger across her chin, fascinated.
"...and drinking your ass off?"
And just by the sound of those words, Craig's eyes widen in realization as he
recalls the events he had met last night. He remembers going to Bebe's party to
prove a point but for some reason, he had ended up getting all pissed at Clyde
for a reason he still couldn't remember. Token dragged him along with some
other people for a few drinks. He then started acting like somebody else,
stumbling around and shit. Then, what happened after that?
"Did you get into an argument with someone?" Ruby breaks his train of thoughts
as she sits down beside him, the amused look on her face being replaced by a
curious concerned one. Craig looks back at her, a bit surprised at her question
in view of how Ruby never really shows any concern about his life. Before he
could say anything, the sharp pain rushes back to his head and he grunts as he
quickly looks away, clutching his head and tightly closing his eyes in attempt
to ease the pain away.
"Ugh... shit..." He groans under his breath, completely regretting his decision
of letting Token drag him with his drinking buddies. "Ruby... Can you just
leave me alone for now?"
Ruby remains silent, as if contemplating at that thought. Craig opens his eyes
and glances at her, confused that she hasn't said anything despite her great
talent in coming up of relevant sassy things to say in every situation. Ruby
just stares back at him and the dark-haired boy feels like he's being strictly
scrutinized. After a brief moment, the girl sighs and nods her head as she
carefully stands up from his bed and straightens her skirt.
"You know..." She finally says, looking down at him with an unreadable
expression. "If something or someone is bothering you, you can tell me."
Without giving her brother a chance to respond, she picks up the empty glass
from his bed and steps out of his room, not forgetting to close the door. Craig
blinks a few times in confusion, his eyes still staring at the door. What was
that all about? Did he do something last night that got Ruby unusually concern?
Who walked him home? And more importantly, what happened at the party? As these
questions circle through his mind, the pain shoots right back in and he groans
as he drops himself down on his bed; burying his face on to the pillow. Shit,
there's no way he's stepping out of his room with this headache.
But Clyde's game is today.
Craig scowls at the thought and shakes his head, mentally cursing himself for
even worrying about that. Who was he fooling anyway? Whenever Clyde's
basketball competition comes up, he always tries to convince himself that he
doesn't give a damn about it and that it'd be for the best if the brunet's team
loses. But even with those hostile thoughts, Craig would always find himself
watching the game anyway while at the same time anticipating for Clyde's win.
And soon after the game, he would just slip out, not surprisingly unnoticed.
It was so stupid.
And pathetic.
No, this time, he is definitely not going.
Craig scratches his head and decides to take a bath considering that he reeks
of alcohol. If his parents find out about last night, he will really have to
pay for it. He just hopes it was Ruby who opened the door last night and not
one of his parents. Sluggishly standing up, the teen heads for his bathroom.
===============================================================================
The bath had taken him longer than he thought but only because the water felt
so strangely comforting against his skin for some reason. As Craig dries his
hair with a towel, he steps out of his room only in his sweatpants to grab a
quick afternoon snack (he just realized that he had slept almost half of the
day away). The bath had somehow eased the pain in his head a bit and he is
quite thankful of that. At least the pain is tolerable enough for him to spend
the entire day blogging about some stuff. As he walks downstairs, a mouth-
watering aroma welcomes him and he quickens his steps to the kitchen to see
Ruby making pancakes while tunelessly humming to herself.
Ruby making pancakes? Out of the blue? Now this is something.
"Where's mom?" Craig asks as he sits down on the stool near the counter,
noticing how his sister flinched at the sound of his voice.
Ruby gives him a brief glare just to emphasize her displeasure at his sudden
unannounced presence before settling her focus down at her work. "She went to
the grocery. Daddy went to work earlier than usual because I heard, yes, not
eavesdropped, I heard that he'll be getting a promotion."
Craig could only shrug in response as he hangs his towel over his shoulder
while noticing the prepared plates on the counter. He raises a brow when he
realizes that there are three plates displayed before him and he wonders if his
sister is having company over. He doesn't bother to ask though because personal
questions such as their plans for the day are quite off-limits between them.
"Why don't you go wear a shirt before you catch a cold, dipshit." Ruby says as
she places two pieces of pancakes on her brother's plate.
"I don't mind catching a cold." Craig scoffs lightly while grabbing his fork
and lazily stabbing it through his food. "It would give me an excuse not to go
to school."
"Well, wear a shirt nonetheless." Ruby frowns at him. "I don't want you giving
my friend a heart-attack."
Craig blinks a few times before glancing at his sister. "You mean Karen's
coming over?"
As if on cue, a familiar voice enters the room. "Wow! That smells good, Ruby!
Oh, and umm, h-hi Craig!" Craig glances over at the doorway to see his sister's
best friend, Karen McCormick making her way over to them while smiling ever so
brightly. Her eyes dart over to him with flushed cheeks before she quickly
averts her gaze on her friend. Craig notices that her brother, Kenny, is
standing behind her. He frowns at the sight of him.
"What the hell are you doing here, McCormick? We're not allowed to have pests
here."
Kenny smirks at him, placing a hand on his sister's shoulder. "That's not nice,
Craig. Karen is too pretty to be a pest."
Karen just playfully rolls her eyes at her brother before eagerly going over to
Ruby to talk about some shit Craig never really cares about. Kenny grins at the
dark-haired teen before making his way towards him, his hands casually slipped
into the pockets of his orange parka. "Geez Tucker, going around your house
topless like that is like you're openly inviting me to join you and make
hot 'yaoi' together. Did I use the term right? You're into that kind of shit or
so I've heard." Just as he was about to reach for a pancake, Craig slaps his
hand away.
"What do you want, Kenny?" He sighs, not in the mood for the blond's bullshit.
"Food." Kenny frowns at him before snatching the remaining pancake from the
plate and taking an unnecessarily large bite before Craig could steal it away
from his hand. "But also," He continues between clumsy chews. "I came to chalk
to you aboutsh shome sherioush shit."
Craig grimaces at the other's barbaric behavior and wonders what on earth Kyle
sees in him. "Serious shit? Like what?"
Kenny swallows his food before sneaking a glance at their two sisters then
nodding his head as he leans closer to Craig to whisper, "About Clyde and what
happened last night."
Craig feels his heart skip a beat at the mention of the brunet and he takes
notice of the smirk Kenny shows him which pisses him off. The blond had
expected his surprise reaction and Craig starts hating himself for being so
easy to read. Before, people used to whine a lot about how they can barely know
what he's thinking because he's just so good at keeping his expression
pleasantly calm. Only Clyde was the one who could read him so easily but things
changed and Craig, for some reason, has started losing his calm demeanor more
often than he likes.
He looks up at Kenny who casually jerks his thumb to the living room.
With a last look at the two girls, Craig gets off the stool and follows the
blond to the couch. Once they're both settled on it, Craig glances at Kenny who
appears to be more focused in finishing the pancake in his hand than the so-
called 'serious shit' he's supposed to tell him. Craig lets out an impatient
sigh as he waits for the other to finish.
"Can I have a glass of water?" Kenny requests after finishing his snack and
judging by how he flinched at Craig's scowl, he quickly nods his head. "Right,
right, straight to business. Anyways, you were pretty hammered last night."
"I know that, shithead." Craig sighs. "Tell me something new."
"Let me finish, dude." Kenny frowns at him with a nudge on his shoulder. He
sighs and he runs his fingers through his messy hair, somehow looking troubled
as to how to open the topic. This just gets Craig more curious than ever. "You
uh, sorta confronted Clyde during your drunken state." Craig feels himself
stiffen at the statement as he looks away, trying to recall the events last
night. He does remember getting all pissed off at the brunet... and then
demanding for some alone time with him. Suddenly, the sharp pain shoots right
back in his head and he groans louder than intended as he bends down and
clutches the side of his head.
"Whoa, you okay, man?" Kenny quickly asks, evidently worried.
Craig grits his teeth as he tries to ease the pain away. This is no time to be
experiencing this! He needs to know what happened last night! After a few more
deep breaths, he finally leans back and closes his eyes for a few seconds as he
tries his very best to tolerate the pain. Finally opening his eyes, he looks
back at Kenny to see the blond staring at him with concern reflecting in his
bright blue eyes.
"What happened?" Craig decides to ask as if what just happened didn't occur.
"What did I tell Clyde?"
"O-Oh." Kenny blinks, somehow looking a bit surprised. "Well..." He crosses his
arms and looks away, looking rather hesitant. "You seemed really upset that you
two aren't friends anymore."
"Fuck." Craig slaps his own forehead out of frustration. He's been trying his
best to make it appear like he doesn't give a fuck now that he and Clyde had
grown apart, figuring that the thought might become real soon and that he
really wouldn't give a fuck anymore. "I told him that?"
"Not directly." Kenny shrugs. "Though it was heavily implied. I don't think you
guys noticed me there though considering I'm a good eavesdropper but I do know
that Clyde was pretty pissed at you. Well, you two were pretty much pissed at
each other and I thought you guys were going to engage yourselves in some
brutal fist fight or something then ruin the whole party. I mean, you looked so
fucking angry, even I got scared. I'm surprised Clyde didn't even cower in
fear, especially when you raised your fist at him."
Craig's eyes widen at this. "Shit, did I hit him?" He suddenly feels something
prick inside him at the thought of hurting Clyde. No, he couldn't have done
that. There was no way he'd ever hurt him even when he's now being an
incredible douchebag. Hurting Clyde is something he had never dreamt of doing.
"Nah and that got me confused." Kenny purses his lips thoughtfully while
tapping his finger on his chin. "Clyde was challenging you to hit him but you
just stared at him with a raised fist. You looked like you were having a silent
debate with yourself before you changed your mind and let him go. Luckily,
Token came to the rescue and dragged you home." As Kenny says this, Craig finds
himself slowly remembering the events though they are all still quite hazy in
his mind which is something that's starting to annoy him considering he's quite
proud of how he easily remembers things.
"I tried talking to Clyde after that." Kenny continues. "But he wouldn't talk
to anyone. I dunno, man, but he looked so... defeated...? He just went straight
home. Didn't even get hammered drunk at the very least."
"Why are you telling me this?" Craig decides to ask, looking at the blond with
a raised brow. "Are you expecting something in return? Food? Money?"
Kenny frowns at his expectations, obviously not pleased. "You should know by
now that I'm not that desperate for food or money anymore. I have a part-time
job so I don't need anyone's charity." He is saying the truth, Craig is quite
impressed about that. Ever since Kenny and Kyle started dating, Kenny has been
taking his life more seriously than before thanks to Kyle. He's heading off to
the right direction and Craig is a tad bit jealous at how sure the blond is
about his future.
"Then why the hell are you telling me this?" The taller teen repeats his
question.
Kenny fiddles with his fingers as he looks down, chewing on his bottom lip
before finally responding. "Well, I heard some stuff from Karen... about last
night. Ruby told her about it and Karen told me so yeah, I figured that-"
"What is this 'stuff' then?" Craig asks, not exactly satisfied at the other's
stalling.
"When Token dragged you home," Kenny goes straight to the point. "Ruby's the
one who opened the door and Token let her take care of you from there. When she
lead you to your bedroom, she helped you change and all that stuff but what
really surprised me was that... uh... you erm... started... crying."
"You're fucking with me." Craig instantly says, a scowl slowly creeping on his
features.
"That's a tempting thought but no." Kenny shakes his head. "You wouldn't
immediately lie down on your bed and you wouldn't let Ruby leave. You just held
her hand, started crying and asking her stuff like 'what's wrong with me' and
all that. So yeah, I'm here right now, worried as shit."
Craig inwardly groans to himself as he rests his elbow on his knee and buries
his forehead on his palm, trying to remember how he behaved around Ruby last
night. Well that explains how she seems to be strangely nice earlier, telling
him that he can tell her anything if something or someone's bothering him. So
much for 'no personal information between each other'. Thinking about Kenny's
words more, the dark-haired teen looks back up at him and raises a brow.
"Are you sure you're really worried or are you only here because Kyle told you
to since he's too busy with homework bullshit to try and check me up?"
Kenny flinches at his words and grins sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Err... 50/50, I guess?"
Craig rolls his eyes. "Get out, dude. I don't need anyone's pity."
"Well okay, but are you okay?"
"Get out, McCormick."
"Are you still going to Clyde's game?"
Craig remains silent at this as he contemplates on the thought. Maybe he owes
Clyde an apology for last night? Wait, why the fuck should he be apologizing?
If anything, Clyde should be the one apologizing for being such a crappy human
being. He shakes his head. "No, I'm not going."
"Yeah, okay." Kenny scoffs, evidently showing that he doesn't believe him as he
stands up. "I'll see you later."
===============================================================================
"Dude, what the hell are you still doing here?" Clyde frowns, obviously not
pleased that he still hadn't gone home yet. But he blinks a few times before
his frown fades to an amused smile. "Wait, are you drunk?"
"Shut up." Craig tugs the brunet's wrist. "Hey boobie... I mean Bebe, can I
borrow your dude for a bit?"
Bebe appears to be befuddled but nods her head anyway before looking around and
joining a group of girls. Clyde sighs and lets the taller teen drag him away
from the crowd, heading for the other side of the house where there are
surprisingly no sight of a single soul. Once they're alone, Clyde pulls his
wrist away from Craig's grip and crushes his empty cup before tossing it
somewhere. "So what's up?" he asks, amusement still lingering in his tone at
the sight of Craig drunk. Craig just stares at him, his eyelids growing heavy
and his lips slightly parted as he breathes a bit heavily.
"Clyde..." Craig finally begins, taking a step closer while Clyde takes a step
back.
"Uh, yeah?"
Without another word, he tugs Clyde's wrist again and pushes their lips
together, pulling the brunet close against him as he wraps one arm around his
waist; feeling Clyde tense up under his touch. The taller teen eagerly pushes
him back against the wall, causing Clyde to gasp in surprise and he quickly
takes this opportunity to slip his tongue in. With his hand still holding
Clyde's wrist up, he slips his other hand down under the other's shirt, tracing
his fingertips delicately against his back and he feels Clyde slightly writhe
under him. Surprisingly enough, Craig finds the brunet responding to the kiss.
Their tongues swirl around each other hungrily and desperately as Craig feels
Clyde's hand clutch the front of his shirt, pulling him closer until they're
pretty much pressed up against each other; giving the dark-haired teen the
chance to feel Clyde's arousal. Clyde lets out a surprised breath of moan the
very moment Craig thrusts his hips, grinding their groins together. Craig,
satisfied by the sound the other had slipped out, breaks the kiss to trail his
lips down the brunet's neck; sucking and biting while Clyde clings to him,
carefully tilting his head to the side for more access as he lets out small
moans.
"You want this, don't you?" Craig growls against the shorter teen's neck,
grinding harsher against him as Clyde bites down his lower lip to keep himself
from making any more noises. "You want this as much as I want it, don't you,
Clyde?" Craig lets his wrist go and trails his hand down between them, reaching
down into the brunet's jeans and squeezing him teasingly over his boxers. Clyde
lets out a soft gasp at the sudden contact as Craig chuckles huskily against
his neck before reaching up to flick his tongue against his earlobe, feeling
the other shudder under his touch.
"C-Craig..." Clyde says with shaky breaths. "T-This is..."
"Wrong?" Craig squeezes him harder, causing Clyde to moan louder than intended.
"But you seem to fucking love it when you're being touched like this."
"Oh God..." Clyde breathes heavily, thrusting his hips up against Craig's hand.
"You love it." Craig smirks down at him, palming him harshly over his boxers,
loving how Clyde's face twist a bit in pleasure. "And the fact that we're doing
this out here in public is making you hornier, am I right, Clyde? Say it. You
want this. You fucking want this." Clyde finally looks up at him with half-
lidded eyes and Craig feels himself getting harder just by the sight of his
lustful look.
"Shut up." Clyde growls at him before tugging him close to press their lips
together. Craig slips his hand out of his jeans and wraps his arms around the
shorter male's waist, pressing him fully against the wall as he grinds against
him harder. He loves the little moans Clyde is letting out. He loves how Clyde
feels so desperate against him. And he especially loves how Clyde is thrusting
against him, as if he needs more of his touch. Feeling their hard members
desperately rubbing against each other is already enough to make Craig insane.
The brunet finally breaks the kiss and Craig leans his forehead against his,
their lust-filled eyes staring at each other.
And that's when Clyde decides to break the silence.
"Just fuck me already. Please."
"CRAIG! WAKE THE FUCK UP!"
Craig's eyes instantly open at the loud banging on the door and it takes him a
few seconds to realize where he is. Immediately sitting up on his bed, he
glances at the door where the bangs still continued and he scowls at it. "What
the fuck do you want, Ruby?" He asks, making sure his voice is loud enough for
the girl to hear behind all her loud knocks.
"Your boyfriend's here!"
The sudden image of Clyde flashes in his mind and his heart starts racing at
the thought of him and his dream. Shit, was he really just dreaming
about... that? That is so fucked up. Since when the hell did he start dreaming
about fucking Clyde? He remembers that the dream had taken place at Bebe's
party last night, where the supposed-be-argument was replaced by two hormonal
driven teens feeling up each other. Was that his real intention why he dragged
Clyde away from the crowd while intoxicated?
No. His intention was to demand Clyde why he has been acting like such an
asshole to him and absolutely nothing else.
Having that dream is... normal. Yeah, it's normal. Nothing that should be
thought about.
Suddenly, a soft knock on the door snaps him out of his thoughts and he knows
that there's no way the person behind the door is his sister.
"Craig?" Tweek's voice enters his ears and he sighs out of relief.
"Yeah, come i-" He stops in mid-sentence when he looks down to see that he's
still definitely fully aroused from the dream.
Shit.
"Just wait downstairs, Tweek. I'll be right down."
"O-Oh, okay."
===============================================================================
"What are you doing here?" Craig says as he walks down the stairs, slipping a
shirt on and not noticing how Tweek's cheeks immediately faded to a rosy hue at
the sight of his bare torso. Once he straightens out his shirt, Craig then
glances at the blond to see that he's standing by himself in the living room,
fidgeting with the edge of his shirt. He raises a brow at the other's lack of
response so he decides to ask again. "Tweek, what are you doing here?" Now that
he thinks about it, this is the first time Tweek has ever paid his home a visit
and he wonders if his purpose is important enough for him to invite himself to
his house.
"U-Um..." Tweek mumbles, his eyes focused down on the floor. "I uh... I was
just wondering if you'll be coming to Clyde's game."
"What?" Craig scowls at the question. "Okay, who forced you to come here and
ask me that?"
"Nobody!" Tweek defensively says, looking up at him but then nearly jumping in
surprise when he realizes that Craig is already standing in front of him. "I-
I mean... well... Clyde said that he'll be expecting me to watch his game
and... a-and... oh God, I don't even know what I'm doing here. Sorry to bother
you, Craig! I knew this was a bad idea but I still went with it. I'm so sorry!
I should just go." And just when Tweek tries to brush past the taller male,
Craig sighs and holds his wrist before he can step away any further.
"You want someone to go with you, right?" He asks. He knows that Tweek is never
comfortable with large crowds and the blond had once admitted that he feels at
ease around other people when he's nearby. Craig couldn't blame him for wanting
him to come along. "Fine, I'll go with you. We wouldn't want you freaking out
then making a scene again, would we?"
And with that, Tweek slowly beams at him and nods his head in agreement. "R-
Right! Thanks!"
===============================================================================
Craig feels Tweek suddenly clutch his sleeve the very moment they finally
reached their destination; North Park High's basketball court. As expected, the
place is already packed with loudly cheering teenagers, calling out the names
of the players in attempt to motivate them even though Craig has no idea how
the players would even fucking understand them when they're yelling all at the
same time. He looks around for a place to sit, preferably somewhere where the
people nearby aren't screaming faggots.
"Craig! Tweek!"
The two teens instinctively turn their heads at the sound of their names to see
Kenny and Kyle waving over at them, gesturing that they should sit down beside
them. There's some space beside Kenny large enough for two people while the
others who are seated by Kyle are not-so-surprisingly Stan and Cartman. Craig
frowns at the sight and ignores them, looking around for a better spot until
Tweek softly tugs his sleeve, causing him to glance down at him to see that
he's looking back at him with those round pleading emerald eyes.
"D-Don't you want to join our friends?" The blond asks, shaking a bit.
'Don't you mean your friends?' Craig thinks bitterly as he glances back at the
others to see that Kenny is still watching them with an expectant grin while
Kyle has already focused back at the game while talking to Stan. The people
near them are all obnoxiously loud and Craig isn't exactly sure if Tweek would
even be comfortable with that.
"It would be rude to ignore them." Tweek adds, tilting his head to Kenny's way.
"Yeah, but I don't really want to-" Craig sighs but when Tweek furrows his
brows and gives him that fucking pout that Craig can never say no to, the
taller teen sighs and finally nods his head. Tweek beams up at him before
wrapping his soft fingers around his wrist and dragging him along to their
friends.
"H-Hi guys!" Tweek squeaks a greeting to the others as he sits down beside
Kenny who grins at him and gives him a soft nudge on the shoulder as a casual
greeting. The others greet the two newcomers as well but Craig doesn't even
bother to give them a glance as he stares at the court, slipping his hands into
the pockets of his jacket. He and Tweek had arrived pretty late considering
that the game has already started and Craig instantly catches sight of Clyde
passing the ball to Token. Judging by how much the players are perspiring,
Craig realizes that he and Tweek had arrived later than he thought.
"Who's winning?" He hears Tweek ask Kenny in spite of all the noises the people
around them are making.
"Was that a rhetorical question, dude?" Kenny laughs, nudging Tweek again. "Our
team, of course. Clyde is being the hero, like always."
"I-I see..."
And the game goes on with everyone unnecessarily (as Craig thinks) fired up,
screaming and pumping their fists in the air. No doubt that Clyde's team is
winning and seeing that proud grin Clyde has flashed at the audience, Craig
holds his breath and takes the very scene in. Back then, Clyde never liked his
own smile. Being a slightly chubby little boy, he thinks that when he smiles,
his cheeks would get ridiculously rounder and make him seem fatter than he
already was. Craig never saw his smile that way though. In fact, he was fond of
his bright smile. Maybe he still is judging by how he just held his breath at
the sight of Clyde's smile.
It doesn't matter if he likes his smile or not anyway. Craig can tell the
brunet had already gotten cocky and finally realized that he has an attractive
smile.
At the corner of his eye, Craig notices that Tweek is shaking more than usual
and he glances at him to see that the blond is biting down on his nail while
his eyes dart around. He doesn't even need to ask what was wrong as he reaches
down to take his friend's wrist. Strangely though, he accidentally takes his
hand instead and he suddenly feels Tweek tense up at the touch. Fuck. As
awkward as this is now, Craig knows that quickly letting him go would be far
more awkward so he just keeps it there and gently tugs him closer to whisper to
his ear.
"Wanna get outta here?"
"W-WHAT?!" Tweek looks at him with wide eyes full of shock.
Craig blinks confusedly at his reaction before rolling his eyes, realizing that
the other had gotten the wrong message. "I mean, get some air. You're obviously
not comfortable with the crowd."
"O-Oh." By this time, Tweek has gotten red and Craig finds it slightly
endearing. Taking this as a yes, he squeezes his hand before leading him out of
the court while at the same time ignoring the string of questions Kenny had
thrown at them, obviously curious as to where they're heading. The two teens
hurriedly leave the place, not noticing the pair of chestnut eyes that have
taken notice of their leave together.
Once they're finally outside, Tweek immediately takes a deep breath.
"You feeling okay?" Craig asks him, raising a brow.
"A... A bit..." Tweek sighs, closing his eyes and focusing more on his
breathing.
Craig looks away from him and takes a glance around them, wondering if there's
a place nearby where they can grab some snacks. However, he's having a hard
time taking a good observation thanks to the dark night sky that he has to
squint a bit. Having bad eyesight really fucking sucks.
"Wanna eat at Denny's?" Tweek asks him.
"Don't you want to finish the game?" Craig looks down at him, raising his
eyebrows in slight surprise.
Tweek gulps before responding. "I-I can't really focus on what's going when
people are screaming at each other."
Craig couldn't help but chuckle a bit loudly at this, causing the blond to
flinch in surprise. Realizing that that was his first time giving a good laugh
at what the other just said, Craig quickly clears his throat as he tries to
ignore the heat rushing up his cheeks in embarrassment. "F-Fine. Let's go to
Denny's. I'm pretty hungry anyway." Trying to hide his embarrassment, he zips
his jacket up out of lack of anything better to do before quickly walking up
ahead, hearing Tweek immediately try to catch up with him.
Now that he thinks about it, Craig realizes that this is actually the first
time he's leaving Clyde's game without the bother to know who will win and
somehow, he feels a bit proud of himself. That's good news for him. One
pathetic habit from Craig Tucker removed, check.
Will Clyde notice?
He frowns at the thought and shakes his head. Why the fuck was he even asking
himself that? He knows perfectly well Clyde never noticed him in his games, not
even once. Craig would always keep his focus on him and never did the brunet's
eyes pass by his way. Leaving in the middle of the game is definitely a good
idea for the tall teen. At least it's helping him move on from that douchebag.
Fuck, he shouldn't even be thinking about him at the moment. The more he thinks
about him, the more he'll find difficulty in forgetting about what they had.
"What are you getting?"
Craig blinks and looks down at the menu settled in his hands, coming to
realization that they are already seated on a booth at Denny's. Shit, another
reason why he shouldn't be thinking about Clyde much; he always ends up
forgetting about where the hell he is or what the fuck he's doing. He notices
Tweek, who's seated across from him, giving him a concerned look and Craig
clears his throat before settling his gaze on the menu.
"Are you okay, Craig?" Tweek asks him from behind the menu in his hands.
"I'm fine." He mutters, distracting himself with the list of dishes before him.
"What are you having? I can't really decide here."
"Hmm..." He hears Tweek hum thoughtfully. "I'll um probably just have the
cranberry apple chicken salad... w-without the chicken."
Without the chicken? Craig puts his menu down and looks at Tweek with a raised
questioning brow. Before he can ask though, Tweek immediately beats him to it.
"O-Oh, I'm not on a diet or anything!" He says, shaking his head quicker than
intended. "It's just that my parents sorta want to try being vegans for once
and... my d-dad said that if they're going vegan, I'm pretty much obligated to
go vegan too."
"Obligated?" Craig frowns.
"Y-Yeah..."
"That sucks." Craig sighs as he brings his menu up again. "What a fucked up
time to be thinking about going vegan when all you need is some meat inside
you. I swear, if you get any more skinnier, I wouldn't be surprised to see you
using a fucking cheerio as a hula hoop."
Tweek chuckles at this and says something but Craig's mind has already wandered
off to somewhere as his eyes mindlessly scrutinize the list of dishes on the
menu.
"I'm tiiiired..." A ten-year old Clyde whines childishly as he turns the video
camera off, his eyes fixated on the dark-haired boy before him who's busy
placing an adorable hat on some dog. "Can I go home now? What's the point of
being the camera man for this new show of yours if I'm not even gonna get
paid?"
"I said I'll pay you." Craig says with a tired sigh, having a hard time keeping
the hat balanced. "With my everlasting love, I mean."
Clyde grimaces at this and nudges his friend's back with the tip of his boot.
"But I already have that!"
"How the hell are you so sure?"
"Fuck you." Clyde grumbles in defeat before fiddling with Craig's camera again,
muttering a few obscenities here and there. "Why are you so desperate in
beating Stan and those guys anyway? It's just a dumb show."
"What makes you think I'm doing this just to beat those assholes?" Craig scowls
at him once he finally manages to fix the hat. He stands up and turns around to
face the brunet, crossing his arms. "Haven't you thought that maybe I'm only
doing this because I absolutely love animals? I mean, animals are great and you
should think so too."
"You don't love animals." Clyde scowls back at him though his came off
evidently fake. "You  eat  animals."
"Who doesn't?"
"People who actually love animals! Vegans!"
"Yuck." Craig shakes his head before snatching his camera from Clyde's hands,
going over to the settings. "So what, in order to prove that I actually love
animals, I need to go vegan? Clyde, your way of thinking is so messed up and I
wonder what the hell I see in you. Why are you my best friend again?"
"Because I have your everlasting love." Clyde grins as he gives the other a
playful nudge. "But kidding aside, have you ever thought of going vegan? I
mean, you love animals and you know animals get killed just to be eaten. Don't
you find that sad?"
"I don't like pigs, chicken, cows, etc. They're all ugly animals. They deserve
to be eaten."
"CRAIG!"
"Done." Craig then hands the camera back to his friend, his scowl fading to
something more serious; his usual stoic look. "Now hurry and film this adorable
puppy up-close. I know you'll do well. You're great with your hands."
"Gay." Clyde frowns before pushing the record button and going over to the
puppy who's surprisingly well-behaved. "But really, we should try going vegan
for once. Like, let's see who can actually last longer without eating any meat
or dairy products."
"You would't last a day, Clyde."
"Blasphemy! I bet I can last longer than you!"
"Are you seriously challenging me?"
Once Clyde finally manages to get the clip, he stops the camera and straightens
up to face his friend; a proud grin curving up his lips. "Are you in or not?"
Craig purses his lips thoughtfully before sighing. "Fuck it."
===============================================================================
"WOHOO! DONOVAN'S THE MAN!"
Tweek nearly jumps in surprise and stops in the middle of a story he's telling
Craig about his dad getting stuck in the bathtub when loud cheering enter the
diner. The two teens look up to see familiar faces eagerly and obnoxiously
making their way towards the tables and judging by how happy they look, Craig
knows that Clyde's team won again. No surprise there. As a few more of the
basketball players and cheerleaders pile in, Stan's group finally enter with
Kenny resting an arm around the shoulders of a proud yet sheepish-looking
Clyde.
"You were pretty awesome, man!" Stan laughs. "I thought for a minute there that
you guys will lose your championship for sure!"
"Yeah well, I still got the moves, Marsh." Clyde grins cockily with a shrug.
"Every player's dream is to have Clyde Donovan on his team."
"Ha! That is so lame." Kenny scoffs playfully as they pass by Craig and Tweek.
Much to Craig's surprise though, he catches Clyde glancing over at them before
quickly looking away and he couldn't help but frown at this. Wait, why the fuck
is he getting worked up about it? Having Clyde greet him is something that
rarely happens anymore and he doesn't know what the hell he was even expecting.
He focuses back to his dish, pushing the remaining pieces with his fork
thoughtlessly as he unintentionally listens more to the others' conversation.
Strangely enough, they have decided to sit on the booth near their's.
"You know Clyde," Craig hears Kenny chuckle. "you were so fucking amazing in
that game, I would definitely be honored if you give me the responsibility for
your next orgasm later."
"Oh god, fuck off, Kenny." Clyde says though considering the hint of chuckles
between his words, it's obvious that he isn't taking the blond seriously.
"And I heard that." Appears Kyle's voice.
"I was just kidding!" Craig could already imagine Kenny holding up both of his
hands in defense while grinning at his red-headed boyfriend. "The only orgasm I
will always be responsible for is my little kosher boy over here." Judging by
the loud smack that followed those words, Craig assumes that the blond had
attempted to hug Kyle to emphasize his adoration for him but got smacked at the
back of the head instead.
"Craig, are you okay?" Tweek asks, not really paying attention to the others.
"You've been playing with your food this whole time."
"Huh? Oh, sorry. Uh..." Craig drops his fork and runs his fingers through his
hair, not exactly comfortable with how close Clyde and the others are. More
particularly Clyde. He can't really face him right now. Especially after the
embarrassing scene he made last night... and that embarrassing dream he just
had earlier. "Hey uh, do you wanna go-"
"Craig! Tweekers!"
Token's voice cuts him off and Craig feels himself stiffen at this.
Tweek looks over at them and smiles, giving them a shy wave. "U-Um, hi guys!
Did we win?"
"Fuck yeah!" Token grins at him proudly. "What are you guys doing over there?
Come and join us!"
Craig couldn't find it in him to turn around and look at them because for some
reason, he can feel a familiar pair of eyes staring at him and he doesn't have
to turn to see whose eyes are those. Before Tweek could say anything else
though, Cartman cuts him off.
"Are you fags going to keep yapping all night or are we going straight down to
the fucking business and actually order something?"
"Uh you guys." Clyde's voice comes up. "I think I'll just join Bebe's table
over there. I mean, I kinda want to spend some time with her and all." Liar.
Clyde's using the kind of tone that only Craig can recognize. It's hard to
explain how he can actually tell if the brunet is lying but considering the
years they had spent together as best friends, Craig could easily read him just
as Clyde could to him. He knows why he wants to move to another table. It's so
damn obvious. Clyde knows that Tweek will agree to join them and he doesn't
want to face the taller teen either.
'Well I'm fucking glad the feeling's mutual.'
"I'm going." Craig tells Tweek, immediately standing up. "I forgot I got some
stuff to do. You can go ahead and join Kenny and the others."
"O-Oh, already?"
"Yeah, sorry, Tweek. I'll see you at school."
"But-"
Craig pays no more attention as he leaves a few bills on the table before
hurriedly leaving the place, nervously shoving his hands into the pockets of
his jacket. Fuck, making a quick leave just like that shows just how weak he is
in facing Clyde. Why does he keep doing so many pathetic things anyway? He
thought he was better than that! He sighs to himself in humiliated defeat. It
shouldn't even matter how weak he just came off to the others. It's not like he
ever cared about what they think of him anyway.
Yeah, he prefers it if he keeps on thinking that way.
===============================================================================
The day after tomorrow finally arrives but unfortunately for Craig, nothing out
of the ordinary happened in any of his classes today.
Well, maybe saved for the awkward glances Clyde has been giving him from time
to time which is starting to weirden him out. Since when the hell did this
brunet start showing his attention on him again? Maybe he was thinking about
what happened at the party. Craig groans in frustration at that thought as he
leans his back against the wall of the school's pool, trying his best to relax
under the feel of the water. Classes are already long over but taking his
trouble thoughts in account, Craig isn't in the mood to head straight back home
yet.
He just desperately needs to take his mind off things.
And that's where having swimming laps take place.
Pulling his swimming goggles down, Craig immediately restarts his laps. He's
not even sure why this helps him get his mind off things. Tiring himself out is
something he's never fond of experiencing but for some reason, the more he gets
tired, the more he's focused on his energy than his troubles. It's relaxing and
it really helps, strangely. After taking a few more laps, the dark-haired boy
could feel his energy draining out and he decides to take a quick break before
he could do a few more. He gasps for air the very moment he resurfaces from the
water, pulling his goggles away and shaking the water out of his hair.
"I figured you'd be here."
Craig's gaze immediately shoots up from the water to see Clyde standing near
the benches with one strap of his bag slung over his shoulder. Seeing that his
brown hair is slightly wet and that he's wearing his South Park High varsity
jacket, Craig can tell that the shorter male has just gone back from practice
and had hit the showers before making his way to the pool area. In spite of his
surprise at the sight of the brunet, Craig successfully manages to keep a
straight face as he casually swims closer to the edge of the pool.
"What are you doing here, Donovan?" He asks before pulling himself up from the
pool and running his fingers through his drenched hair. "Anyone outside the
swimming team shouldn't be here."
"I want to talk to you." Clyde says, his tone unusually unreadable.
"About what?" Craig makes his way to the benches to grab his towel but Clyde
beats him to it by picking it up first then handing it to him. Craig couldn't
help the surprised yet suspicious look he gives the brunet before taking the
towel from his hand then drying his hair with it. Clyde is silent for a moment
which is just making the air around them heavier than Craig likes so he glances
at him to see that his eyes are focused somewhere else.
Wait.
Is he staring... at his bare torso?
Craig blinks confusedly before looking down at himself, wondering if he got
dirt on himself or something.
"A-About what happened." Clyde's stutter brings his attention back to the
shorter male who is now looking back up at him. "At Bebe's party, I mean."
Craig frowns. "I was fucking drunk. I had no idea what I was doing so forget
about how I touched you that night."
Silence.
"Um... how you touched me?" Clyde repeats with a questioning look, curiously
tilting his head to the side.
Craig feels himself tense up upon realizing what he just said. Shit, he was
thinking about that damn dream instead of the actual scenario.
"I mean," He clears his throat, hanging the towel loosely around the back of
his neck. "you know, how I almost fucking punched you. That wasn't cool."
"Oh."
Another round of silence.
"Look Clyde, if you're not going to say anything, then you should take your
leave already because I still-"
"You're mad at me, aren't you?"
Craig stops in mid-sentence at the unexpected question Clyde has suddenly
thrown out on him. Oh so what, they're going to have a confrontation now? At
the pool area? With him only in his navy blue swimming trunks and feeling like
he's about to freeze to death unless he dives right back into the pool? Clyde
sure knows how to choose the right timing.
"I'm not." Craig lies, pulling the towel off his neck and tossing it to the
benches as he diverts his gaze anywhere but the shorter male. "Is that all?
Then you should leave now."
"You're lying, man." Clyde frowns at him, slipping one hand into the pocket of
his jeans. "It's so obvious."
"I'm not." Craig scowls at him. "I'm not mad at you. I'm fucking confirming it
right now so you can just fucking leave. I don't have time for this nonsense."
"Dude, you actually think you can fool me?" Clyde asks and Craig notices the
slight hostility lacing in the brunet's tone as Clyde takes a step closer to
him. "I've known you since kindergarten. I think we both know how I can easily
read you."
"Clyde," Craig gives him an unimpressed look. "we stopped talking for God knows
how long. What makes you think you can still easily read me?"
"Because I know you can't look at me when you're telling me a lie."
Craig's unimpressed look changes into a scowl. "Fuck off, Clyde. I don't have
time for this. Get out before someone sees you here."
"I'm not leaving until you tell me the truth!"
"Goddammit Clyde! What the hell do you want me to say?!"
"The fucking truth!"
"I'm not mad at you!"
"You sound like you are!"
Craig can feel his temper once again building up inside him as he clenches his
fists on both of his sides, his glare locking with Clyde's. No, he can't lose
his temper in this situation. It'll just prove that he is indeed pissed off at
the brunet and having himself proven wrong is something he'd rather not face at
the moment. Instead of talking back at the other, he decides to turn around to
continue his swimming laps as if the brunet  isn't even there.
However, this just pissed Clyde off for he quickly drops his bag and grabs
Craig's wrist. "We're not done talki-"
"Let go of me!" Craig snaps, turning around to pull his wrist away but Clyde's
grip is far too tight that he just ends up pulling the shorter male closer to
him and before they know it, the two go crashing down into the pool together.
Before a few more seconds can pass, the two teens quickly resurface with gasps
for air. In spite of what just happened though, Clyde is still stubborn enough
to actually continue their argument as he holds onto the edge of the pool,
glaring at Craig who's wiping the beads of water off his face.
"Why are you being so damn stubborn, Craig?" Clyde sneers at him. "Why is it so
hard for you to just admit that you're mad at me? It's so obvious, a blind man
can see it!"
"Are you being fucking serious here?" Craig growls at him angrily. "Why the
hell do you want me to say that I'm mad at you, huh?"
"So we can fix this!"
"There's nothing to fix!"
"Then fuck it!" Clyde angrily snaps. "If you don't want to fix this, then fine!
That's your damn problem! Just quit going around the school, making people feel
sorry for you just so they can think of me as such an asshole! If you're really
desperate to have friends, then try not looking so goddamn pitiful and making
me look bad! Trying to make me come off as a heartless friend just proves how
lame and pathetic you are! You're just embarrassing yourself!"
Craig didn't even know what came to him. Just by hearing those words, he
suddenly finds him harshly pushing Clyde's back against the wall with his hands
roughly gripping his shoulders. He can see red spots at the corners of his
sight as he glares down at the brunet who just glares back at him, any hint of
fear clearly not seen.
"What?" Clyde asks him through gritted teeth. "Are you going to punch me now?"
"Shut the fuck up."
"Are you mad at me because I actually have more friends than you now? That I
have decided to leave all our lame activities and actually get a life?"
"Clyde."
"If you hate me so much, just hit me. Just fucking hit me!"
Without another word or at the very least a train of thought, Craig immediately
lunges forward and roughly pushes his lips against his. He can see the brunet's
chestnut eyes staring right back at him, surprised and confused but Craig pays
no attention to that expression as he closes his eyes and leans more into the
kiss. He feels Clyde suddenly grip his bare shoulders, as if to push him away,
but instead, he feels his hands squeeze his shoulders instead. This certainly
confuses the taller male. He would have expected Clyde to push him away by now
but instead, he just stays there.
Immediately, Craig breaks the kiss and stares down at him, his lips slightly
parted as he breathes a bit heavily. Clyde stares back at him with his face
flushed and his lips slightly parted for heavy breaths.
Neither of them said anything at first until Craig decides to break the
silence.
"Fuck." He hisses before quickly moving away from the shorter male and pulling
himself up from the pool.
"C-Craig?"
"Just get the hell out of here, Clyde." The taller teen says as he grabs his
towel and hurriedly heads for the lockers.
"B-But-"
"Leave." Craig tells him sternly before stepping into the locker room.
Chapter End Notes
     There you go.
     I hope you guys don't mind the Creek moments but come on, a jealous
     Clyde is a cute Clyde. Anyways, comments and kudos are very much
     appreciated. I mean, really, they motivate me to write more.
***** Their Hesitance *****
Craig has been avoiding him. It's far too evident for Clyde not to notice. A
week has passed ever since the incident at the pool area and Craig has been
doing nothing but avoid confrontation with the brunet. Every attempt Clyde has
made to talk to him about it has been unfortunately futile. Craig consistently
leaves the scene swiftly whenever he sees the jock nearby. Clyde even tried
paying him a visit at his place but for some reason, Ruby is the one who only
answers the door and keeps on making excuses about how Craig's not home.
"What a mess." Clyde sighs as he lazily leans back against the couch. Kenny,
who's seated beside him with his boots resting on the wooden coffee table,
shoots him a puzzled glance before his expression switches to a displeased one.
"Well I'm sorry that my parents never really learned how to keep our house
clean." The blond frowns, fishing out a potato chip from the bag and tossing it
to the jock's direction. "No matter what Karen and I do, our parents and my
brother still end up trashing this place up."
"I'm not talking about your house, man." Clyde sighs exasperatedly whilst
picking up the potato chip that has been thrown at him and tossing it into his
mouth. "I was talking about something else."
"Care to elaborate?"
Clyde heaves another sigh before shaking his head as his response in which
Kenny rolls his eyes, taking another swig from the can of beer in his hand.
"You know, Donovan. If you're suddenly going to blurt out something random, the
least you could do is tell me what the hell you're talking about. Seriously,
you've been acting strange lately." Silence follows the blond's words which is
quite out of the ordinary seeing as Clyde always has a goofy response to almost
everything. A tad bit astonished by this, Kenny looks at the brunet with a
cocked brow. Clyde appears to be lost in his own thoughts- as if he never heard
a word his friend had just told him. Kenny purses his lips thoughtfully,
somehow realizing what is in the other's mind.
He feels genuinely sorry for the two boys. Kenny has always considered himself
to be an immensely observant person. Spending most of his life reticent
compared to his friends, he had observed every kid's attitude which results to
how he can easily read people's future actions. Based on what he knows, Clyde
is a goofball who enjoys being surrounded by his peers. He has always been like
that even when he was still in good terms with Craig. His friendship with the
tall cobalt-eyed boy is what confuses Kenny from the very beginning.
It's almost astounding to see how these two used to get along in spite of their
vast differences. Clyde gets along with everyone while Craig does not. Clyde
somewhat cares too much and tends to get himself tangled in Cartman's
shenanigans while Craig tries his best to stray away from the four boys.
(Though, Clyde had somehow ended up straying away from them too after the whole
coon and friends incident). They are the exact opposite of each other but for
some reason, they still got along really well. Most people would have thought
that two different boys like Clyde and Craig will hardly get along at all like
water and oil. But they somehow manage to mesh well together.
"Dude. Don't tell me you're falling for me too."
Kenny blinks away from his thoughts after realizing that Clyde has caught him
staring. Though, instead of embarrassment filling him up, genuine curiosity
takes over the blond as he tilts his head slightly to the side. "Too? Whaddya
mean by that?"
And just like that, Clyde's face is suddenly bursting with the familiar shade
of crimson as he averts his fixed stare away from his friend. This does nothing
but pique Kenny's interest.
"Clyde, seriously, what's up with you?"
Clyde fiddles with the cuff of his jacket, his eyes shifting from left to right
out of hasty hesitation. "A-All right... I have something to tell you because I
really... really need to tell someone about this. But p-promise me you will
keep your trap shut, got it?"
"You have my word." Kenny lazily raises his hand as a sign of promise.
Clyde swallows thickly, still somehow avoiding to make eye contact with the
blond- feeling far too embarrassed about the story he's about to tell but he
couldn't help himself. He needs to tell someone about it. And knowing Kenny, he
highly doubts that the blond will make fun of him for being kissed by a dude
since he most likely had done it with Kyle a number of times.
"Okay... here goes..."
===============================================================================
"Nng... This is too much pressure..."
Craig couldn't help but roll his eyes upon hearing his friend say that for
probably the hundredth time already. He came over to the twitchy blond's house
so that they could work on their homework together but for the past two hours,
Tweek has been doing nothing but nibble on his pencil and point out how much
pressure he's going through into solving one math problem. The taller of the
two averts his azure gaze away from his notebook and decides to take a look of
what his friend has done so far.
"Are you kidding me." He says in a heavy incredulous tone. "Tweek, I'm almost
done with mine and you still haven't finished the third problem? I thought you
said you understand what I just taught you?"
"I-I do understand!" Tweek promptly comes to his own defense in a far too loud
tone. Realizing that he had just spoken loud enough for his parents to hear him
downstairs, he chews on his bottom lip before glancing over at Craig. "I
just... I just... what if I get it wrong?"
Craig sighs in disbelief. "You're using a pencil. You can just easily erase
your mistakes."
Tweek blinks for a brief moment then looks down at the pencil in his hand- the
previously nervous look composing on his pale features gradually subsiding to
innocent realization. "O-Oh... Right."
"Do you need me to explain the lesson again?"
"N-No! I'm good, Craig!"
Craig, already used to the blond's jumpy demeanor, only shrugs in response
before focusing back on his homework. Tweek purses his lips as he maintains his
stare at the taller boy, not even realizing that he's staring. Having Craig as
a visitor in his room has been a common occurrence to him and his company feels
really nice. He appreciatively takes notice of how the two of them are seated
closely side by side before his coffee table, giving him the pleasant fact that
they have gotten closer for the past few years. It's true that they didn't
exactly get along back when they were kids. They used to argue and fight a lot
thanks to Stan and his friends. And even after they found out that the four
kids were only trying to prove a point, it didn't stop them from getting into
heated arguments.
Tweek had hated Craig. And obviously, Craig had hated him back but as they sit
here now side by side, Tweek couldn't remember how or when they actually
started getting along.
Was it after Clyde started straying away from Craig?
No, that can't be it. Tweek's certain that he had gotten closer to Craig way
before that. As he stares at his friend, he also comes to realization just
how... nice Craig's scent is. It may sound creepy but it's most definitely
true. It's rare to find a boy who smells daintily nice and when they do, it's
usually because they're covered in heavy masculine perfume which always brings
Tweek to a wave nausea. But Craig's scent is different. He's not wearing any
perfume and yet he smells really nice- somewhat like the scent of green apple.
He furthermore perceives how the dark-haired boy would intermittently purse his
lips in thought whenever he comes across a difficult formula or how he would
furrow his brows whenever he fails to comprehend a particular part of the
lesson.
His skin is paler than Tweek's; making it logically apparent of the fact that
he rarely hangs around outside. He almost looks so delicate.
Almost.
Anyone would have mistaken him for someone fragile but Tweek's sure they would
get a shock of their life if they actually tell that to Craig.
"You should know that your stare is making me uncomfortable."
Tweek's body stiffens at the sudden statement the boy of his thoughts
unexpectedly said and he promptly alters his stare back at his homework, his
heart racing and heat rushing up to his cheeks. He swiftly begins to erase the
writings on his notebook, as if the words Craig had just said failed to process
in his mind. Much to his luck, Craig decides not to question anything and that
gives the blond a sense of relief in spite of the evident blush forming in his
cheeks.
"I'm going home." Craig says, closing his notebook and his textbook before
reaching for his backpack.
Tweek immediately shoots his attention to his friend, eyes widening in fright.
"W-What...?! I-I didn't mean to creep you out! I wasn't staring or anything...!
I just-"
"It's not that." Craig gives him an skeptical look as he slips his things into
his bag. "It's nearly seven now. Mom's gonna look for me." Tweek blinks in
response and gazes up at his wall clock, realizing that his friend is right
which only brings more regrettable humiliation on his part.
"R-Right..." He replies in defeat, looking down at his notebook. He doesn't
really want Craig to go but he has no say in it.
"I'll see you tomorrow. Work better on that homework."
"All right."
Tweek refuses to watch the retreating back of his friend and the moment he
hears the door closed, he lets out a soft sigh as he mindlessly fiddles with
his pencil. Their farewells are often so blunt that it gets him wishing that
maybe one day, their exchange of goodbyes would be soft kisses and caresses. He
desires for Craig to actually give him that rare radiant smile of his, give him
a soft peck on the lips and tell him that he'll text him once he gets home. But
dreaming something like that is downright ridiculous and Tweek is highly aware
of that. Craig, even if he does have a significant other, would never show such
affection. He would never waste a second of his time giving someone a kiss or a
smile because...
...well, because he's Craig fucking Tucker and he doesn't do sappy things.
Especially to someone like Tweek.
However, if Craig actually spends a minute of his time giving someone a kiss...
then that someone should consider themselves a damn lucky person.
===============================================================================
"Whoa."
"Yeah..."
"So he really..."
"Uh huh."
"And he just stormed off?"
"Yep."
Kenny stares blankly at the TV for half a minute, trying to process everything
Clyde had just told him in his mind. In all honesty, he finds it hard to
believe that Craig actually initiated such an act on the brunet but at the same
time, he's not at all surprised. In fact, it's about time the tall boy finally
made a move on the jock. Some people might disagree or are just far too blind
but Kenny had noticed the lingering- and obviously meaningful- glances Craig
has been giving Clyde; even back when they were still kids and that much has
proven the fact that he somewhat likes the brunet in some way. Clyde had always
been oblivious about it which amused Kenny before. There were times in the
boys' locker room where the blond would see Craig staring at a topless Clyde
through the mirror or how he would momentarily blush whenever Clyde would
playfully nudge his bare shoulder with his. Just that kind of simple skin
contact always makes the dark-haired boy's face drowning in the shade of red
and yet Clyde never sees it.
Until now, though.
"So what do you think?" Clyde breaks the silence as he runs his fingers through
his hair, looking quite troubled. "What should I do? He's been avoiding me ever
since that incident."
"I honestly don't know, man." Kenny sighs, crossing his arms and leaning back
against the couch. "There are two possible reasons as to why he's avoiding you.
Reason number one, he regrets what he did. Or reason number two, he actually
realizes that he really likes you and is in the state of denial."
"He likes me?" Clyde skeptically looks at the taller boy. "That can't be it."
Kenny rolls his eyes in return. "Why else would he press his lips against
yours?"
"Well that's a natural reaction of every human being whenever they see the
Donoman drenching wet." Clyde shrugs, as though he's stating a scientific fact
in which Kenny begins to wonder just how huge the brunet's ego is. "I mean, I
am pretty hot if I do say so myself and people just can't keep their hands off
of me. I'd tone down my hotness but I just don't know how." A chuckle slips out
of Clyde's lips, indicating that he's not really serious about what he just
said while Kenny just scoffs at him and lightly pushes his shoulder.
"You're impossible." The blond gives him a one-sided smile. "But seriously
though, I don't have any useful advice for you."
Clyde puffs his cheeks in disappointment at this as he switches his attention
to the screen of TV, giving him a scene of some chick bawling her eyes out
after her douchebag of a boyfriend dumped her. Clyde's surprised that he's even
aware of what's happening in the movie when his conversation with Kenny is far
more interesting. "Well, what did you do when you had your... err, first kiss
with a dude?"
"What did I do?" Kenny lazily drawls, his eyes staring up above the television
as he rests his boots back on the coffee table. "I kissed him harder like I've
never fucking kissed anyone before because my little jew likes it rough."
"I did not need to know that." Clyde wrinkles his nose in disgust. "And be
serious!"
Kenny grins in return before settling his gaze at the brunet. "My first kiss
with a guy is in no form similar to yours with Tucker. I had to wait for my
relationship with Kyle to last for two months before I get to kiss those soft
lips of his. So yeah, Kyle and I were already dating before we even shared our
first kiss."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. He likes it slow that way. Not that I'm complaining. Okay, maybe I like
to rush things a bit but hey, I should just might as well enjoy what I have. I
don't think I can do better than Kyle."
Clyde purses one corner of his lips as he lets out an inward somewhat
frustrated sigh. He had actually hoped that Kenny would be able to say
something useful after telling him everything but unexpectedly, he's still as
confused and troubled as before. He wants to confront Craig but now that he's
thinking about it... what the hell would he say? Picturing himself approaching
Craig somehow gets him feeling really nervous. Perhaps he doesn't want to know
if that kiss means something or not.
If it doesn't mean anything, then maybe they could just shrug it off and forget
it ever happened. Though, Clyde doubts he'd ever forget about that.
But if it actually means something...
...Clyde doesn't want to know why his heart is suddenly racing at the thought.
===============================================================================
"And I'll put you in my puppy folder." Craig mutters to himself with his usual
stoic look as he drags the video he just downloaded with his cursor and moves
it to the new folder, somewhat pleased that he had happened to find one of the
cutest puppy videos on Youtube. It's nearly midnight and the boy is positive
that he's the only one conscious in the house which is something he's already
used to. As he sits there, comfortably bundled in blankets with his laptop on
his lap, a small smile of content tugs the corners of his lips as re-watches
the video again. Animal videos always make him feel better and he needs them
now more than ever- especially after what he just did to Clyde last week.
Remembering it now brings a frown on the boy's lips, his eyes just mindlessly
staring at the puppy in his screen. He knows that he can't stay avoiding Clyde
forever. In one way or another, what he did is something the two of them should
talk about and yet, the raven-haired boy couldn't find it in himself to
confront the jock about it. Not only did he somehow reveal his sexuality, but
he actually gave away the thought that he likes him.
Do I?
"Shit." He mumbles under his breath as he closes the video down, not in the
mood for it anymore. And just when he's about to call it a day, a soft tap on
the window steals his attention. Looking up from the screen of his laptop, he
catches sight of an unfamiliar silhouette behind his navy blue curtains. A
displeased frown graces his lips as he gets up from his bed, hearing the
tapping continue on- as if the person at the other side of the window is
getting more impatient than ever.
Finally, Craig pulls his curtains apart and his heart suddenly skips a beat at
the sight of a particular figure.
"Open up." Clyde grins sheepishly at him, pointing down at the lock of the
window.
 
***** Their Agreement *****
The precipitous scowl that graces Craig's lips is a definite indication of his
displeasure at the sight of his friend standing just before him with the window
being the only barrier in preventing the two of them from getting any closer.
He hesitates whether or not he should actually let the brunet in. It has
been years since Clyde had last visited him this way and as much as Craig has
been hoping for this to happen- with the current predicament they're in- he
doesn't think this is exactly the right time to be rejoicing over the fact that
Clyde had done what he used to do when they were younger. The jock still
maintains his sheepish smile and Craig knows that he couldn't just let him
freeze out there. With a heavy sigh, he reaches down and unlocks his window.
"I thought you were going to leave me out here." Clyde grins at him as Craig
steps aside to let him take a step into his room.
"What are you doing here?" The taller of the two impatiently goes straight to
the point whilst he crosses his arms over his chest, the scowl still evident on
his pale facial lineaments. Clyde gives him a surprised befuddled look before
nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders and taking a good look of his room.
"Just decided to pay my friend a visit." He states and Craig tries his best not
to cringe at how he referred to him. "Is there a problem with that?"
Why couldn't he just go straight to the point? Craig is never one for small
talks; especially with the person who he had just one of the most uncomfortable
scenes with. He's quite aware of how Clyde had been trying to confront him
about what happened but Craig had been successfully avoiding him... until now.
He has to inwardly admit though, it is quite clever for Clyde to climb the tree
near his bedroom window and visit him in the middle of the night where the
taller boy absolutely has no way of lying himself out.
"Clyde, go home." He finally sighs, going over to his bed and shutting his
laptop down. "If you have no particular intention here, then don't waste my
time."
"Wow, that hurts." The brunet pouts at him, lazily taking a seat on the dark-
haired boy's bed as if he's done that a lot of times lately. Craig gives him a
look of disapproval but Clyde remains oblivious as he continues to look around
the taller boy's room. "So what are you doing still up in this late of night?"
He decides to ask, finally giving the other a glance.
"What do you want?"
"Will you quit being so suspicious?"
"I have every right to be suspicious. We're not even friends so who the hell
knows what you're planning on doing?"
Clyde cocks a brow at him, a mixture of disbelief and curiosity composed on his
face. "Shouldn't that be my line?"
Craig clenches his teeth at the sound of the other's response, knowing fully
well that Clyde is referring to what happened at the school's pool area. He's
here to discuss about that. It's obvious. A man with half a brain could easily
predict that. However, Craig is not in the mood nor is he ready to confront the
brunet about it so he tries to maintain his signature stoic look- trying his
best to look unfazed by Clyde's attempt to switch the topic.
"I'm tired. Get out." He places his laptop on his desk before moving to his bed
and nudging the shorter boy away. "I'm serious. We have a test tomorrow and-"
"Man, you can't use that lame-ass excuse again like you always do." Clyde
frowns back at him as he refuses to move away from his bed. "You know we need
to talk about this."
'Psh, women. They always want to talk.' Craig thinks to himself, not daring to
take a seat on his own bed. However, Clyde somehow notices this and smiles at
him again before patting on the space beside him. "Come on, man. Let's talk
about this." Why is he even acting so casual about the topic? Isn't he at all
uncomfortable about what had happened between them? When the taller of the two
still refuses to move, Clyde rolls his eyes before kicking his shoes off and
crossing his legs over the bed- still giving the other a patient look. Craig
sighs, knowing fully well that the gestures Clyde had presented to him clearly
show that he isn't going anywhere until he gets what he wants.
Mentally cursing himself, the taller boy sits on his bed but keeps a safe
distance between them. As difficult as it is for him, he tries settling his
azure gaze straight to Clyde's auburn ones.
"What?" He asks, now looking somewhat impatient.
Clyde stares at him for a fleeting moment and Craig somehow notices the light
shade of red pooling in the brunet's cheeks in spite of how much Clyde's trying
his best to look very casual about their topic. Huh, so he really is
uncomfortable but refuses to show it. Amused by this, Craig cocks a brow at him
and tilts his head slightly to one side. "Clyde? I'm waiting."
"O-Oh, right." Clyde, as if breaking from a trance, quickly nods his head- the
blush in his cheeks getting more evident than ever. "Well... Like I said, we
should talk about what happened. At the pool area." Craig remains quiet, as
though urging him to go on and for some reason, this just gets the jock looking
more flustered. "And... And I just want to know the reason why-"
"-I kissed you?" Craig asks in a sucessfully monotonous tone despite the heavy
racing of his heart.
Clyde stiffens at his words and gives him an embarrassed glare. "D-Don't say it
like that!"
"What?" Craig frowns at him in confusion. "How else do you want me to say it?"
"I... Well... You... Uh..."
Craig patiently waits for the other to find his words but after realizing that
there's no way Clyde would be able to form a proper sentence, he sighs before
casually running his fingers through his dark hair. "Do you want to know the
reason why I kissed you or not?" He's genuinely surprised at how he's managing
to handle this so lightly no matter how much he's freaking out inside. He
actually still has no idea why he had kissed Clyde and as he had asked that
question, his mind begins to desperately scramble for a decent reason. Any
reason that can seem believable to the jock and get him to leave him alone.
"Yes, I-I do." Clyde immediately nods his head, his posture stiff compared to
Craig's lethargic one.
Craig looks away for a moment, casually leaning his hands behind him on the
bed- successfully maintaining his stoic look. "There were rumors about how much
of a good kisser you are." He finally says, sliding his gaze over at his
classmate. "I was pretty skeptic about it because...well, you're Clyde
Donovan and you're clumsy as fuck. I couldn't believe it for a minute but since
everyone kept on talking about how lucky Bebe is, I wanted to see for myself."
Silence.
Clyde stares back at Craig's cold gaze, his lips slightly parted in awe before
he diverts his stare away from him and down to his lap- his face now an utterly
blushing mess. "S-So... that's it?"
"Were you expecting something else?"
Clyde flinches at Craig's response. "Of course not!" He quickly defends
himself, looking back at the taller boy who still appears to be very casual
about this whole situation. Realizing how unnecessarily loud his tone was,
Clyde purses his lips before looking away again. "Well then... umm... now t-
that your curiosity has been... fulfilled... what do you think?"
"Huh?"
Clyde nervously looks back at the other, his face embarrassed yet determined as
he repeats his question. "What do you think... about the kiss...?"
Craig stares right back at him, pushing away the weird thought about how cute
Clyde actually looks when he's embarrassed. He shrugs. "Disappointing, I
guess."
"W-What...?!"
"It's disappointing." Craig tries his best not to grin at how astonished Clyde
appears to be after hearing his answer. It's true that Craig had heard from
people about how Clyde's a good kisser so he's positively sure his response is
something the brunet has never heard before. Craig's actually surprised at how
good he is at lying and figures that he should do it more often. "But I'm not
surprised." He goes on. "I wasn't expecting much considering I know you well
enough to know that you're still that dorky chubby kid back in fourth grade."
"Can you please never mention my baby fat ever again?" A serious frown pinches
the brunet's brows, his cheeks still heating up. "My childhood is something I
want to entirely forget."
Something pinches in Craig's chest after hearing those words and he frowns back
at him. He doesn't want Clyde to know that his words bother him so he just
shakes his head. "Whatever. I'm going to bed. Show yourself out."
Clyde sighs, appearing to be unsatisfied by the results of their conversation
as he finally gets up from the bed. "I know you're only trying to piss me off."
He says once he's standing on his feet, looking down at Craig who's already
comfortably settled on his bed.
"Hmm?" Craig gives him a befuddled look but Clyde refuses to say anything else
as he rests one knee on the bed, his expression strangely serious though his
cheeks are still flushed with the shade of red. Craig doesn't move from his
spot, as though curious as to what the brunet is about to do. Clyde appears to
be hesitant but he moves closer to the taller boy, leaning over him and resting
his palms on each side of his companion. Craig's heart skips a beat at the
gesture, his body stiffening up while his eyes continue to watch the brunet.
Clyde looks so nervous yet determined at the same time and before Craig could
even predict it, he leans down and captures his lips with his.
Craig finds himself holding his breath at the unexpected movement as his eyes
stare straight to Clyde's closed ones. Not giving the taller boy a chance to
process what just happened, Clyde slips his tongue into his mouth swiftly.
Craig, who is not at all processing what is going on his mind, finally closes
his eyes before he softly tangles his long pale fingers through Clyde's auburn
locks and sighs against him- somewhat eagerly kissing him back. Clyde
completely towers over him and settles himself between the other's legs, their
tongues hungrily tangling around each other. Craig softly lets out a breath of
moan upon feeling Clyde's fingertips softly tracing his side under his shirt,
granting him a shiver down his spine. Clyde then breaks the kiss for a breath
of air but Craig could only grow desperate for he pulls the brunet back to
another heated kiss, his hand gripping the boy's auburn locks while the other
grips the front of his shirt.
He feels Clyde smile against the kiss but he pays no attention to it as the
locking of their lips gets more heated and passionate. Craig could already feel
the familiar heat rushing south and he thoughtlessly bucks his hips up against
Clyde. But the moment he did so, the jock flinches before quickly breaking the
kiss and pulling away. Craig opens his eyes and looks up at the other male, his
dazed azure hues staring right back at Clyde with his lips slightly parted for
short heavy breaths. Clyde looks somewhat more flustered than he is; his face
utterly flushed and his lips also parted for breaths. He wipes his lips with
the back of his hand before standing up from the bed, still in the midst of
catching his breath.
After a second or so, he looks at Craig and offers him his signature boyish
grin.
"Not so disappointing now, huh?" He asks, the flustered look that was
previously composed on his face is replaced by a smug one. Craig furrows his
brows in confusion but Clyde decides not to wait for a response as he makes his
way for the window. As soon as the brunet is no longer in sight, Craig drops
himself back on the bed and stares up at the ceiling- completely confused.
Clyde... you fucking asshole.
===============================================================================
"C-Craig!"
"Whoa...!" Craig nearly jumps in surprise the very second a familiar twitchy
blond jumps out of the bushes with an armful of textbooks. "What the hell,
Tweek? Have you been waiting for me to pass by to specifically scare the shit
out of me?" This is new. Usually, Tweek would wait for him by the entrance of
the school building.
"Sorry..." Tweek clears his throat before pushing one textbook to his friend's
hand. "I-I have been... ngh... working on my homework all night last night...
and I don't know if I got it right s-so please re-check it! Oh god, I don't
think I can handle our teacher's glare of immense rejection if she sees how
pathetic my work is!" Craig doesn't respond to his friend's concerns as he
takes the textbook and lazily shoves it into his backpack.
"I'll check it out later." He slings his bag over his shoulder once again as
they begin setting out for their homeroom class. "We've got all the time we
need."
"Are you sure...?! H-How are you sure...?!"
"Tweek, listen-"
"Hey Tucker!" Craig fails to finish his sentence as soon as a familiar voice
interrupts him and before he and Tweek could even turn to see who the newcomer
is, an arm is suddenly heavily slung over Craig's shoulders and a scowl graces
the tall boy's features upon being apprised of the sight of a grinning Kenny.
Kenny doesn't seem to be fazed by the hardly welcoming glance. "So, did you get
a good rest last night?" At the sound of the question, images of that one
particular scenario with Clyde that happened last night overcasts the blue-eyed
teen's mind and with that, he gives Kenny a look of genuine suspicion-
unintentionally disregarding Tweek's presence.
"Why?" That grin plastered on Kenny's face looks far too knowing.
"Just asking, really." Kenny chuckles with a shrug. "I mean, something
interesting might have happened to you last night and I just wanna know what
that was."
"Have you ever thought of minding your own business?"
"Nah, not really."
Thoroughly annoyed, Craig shrugs the blond's arm off of his shoulder with a
grunt though Kenny could only respond to that gesture with a laugh- both
unaware of how out of place Tweek is feeling at this point as they finally step
into their classroom. Considering there are only a few minutes left before
their homeroom teacher enters, the room is already packed by loud chattering
students. And as expected, Craig catches sight of Clyde along with Bebe, Wendy
and Stan, laughing at the far back of the room. Just when Craig is supposed to
avert his gaze away, his cerulean hues connect with Clyde's auburn ones and the
next scene that followed after that nearly sends a racing beat to his heart:
Clyde has smiled at him.
"C-Craig...!" Tweek's voice steals his attention away and Craig immediately
diverts his focal point on the twitching blond who's tugging the cuff of his
sleeve. "N-Ngh... Can we... Can we check my homework now...?"
Craig sighs. "Fine." As he lets his friend tug him to their desks, he shoots a
glance over at Clyde's direction again only to see the brunet already focused
back on his friends with his back turned to him.
And with that, the rest of the school day is spent without a single interaction
between the two of them. Glances are exchanged but other than that, Clyde never
approached Craig and vice versa. Craig never really expected him to in the
first place but that doesn't change the fact that he had hoped for something to
change between them. And for a brief moment, he had assumed that the smile the
brunet offered to him earlier wasn't really directed at him but at someone
else.
Until now, of course.
"Hey, you have a visitor."
Craig looks up from the screen of his laptop the second he heard his sister's
voice at the other side of the door. A frown graces his lips at the thought of
having a visitor personally for him as he glances down to the clock on his
screen. 8 PM. Who the hell would visit him at this time of night? A knock on
the door breaks into his pondering and before he could allow the newcomer to
enter, the door is unexpectedly pushed open to reveal a certain grinning
brunet.
"Clyde?" Craig fails to conceal the somewhat astonished look that blossomed on
his pale features. "What are you doing here?"
"Can I consider that a rhetorical question because, why not?" Clyde chuckles as
he shuts the door behind him before making his way towards the other male who
refuses to move from his position on the bed.
Craig offers him an incredulous look. What is this guy up to this time? The
last time he checked, they're still not technically friends even after what
happened last night- although, he absolutely has no idea why he even expected
to earn some kind of friendship out of that. As Clyde settles down on the bed
beside him while kicking his shoes off, the taller of the two resumes his focus
back on the screen of his laptop. "What do you want, Clyde? Just get on with
it." He doesn't even have to look to know that Clyde is rolling his eyes in
response.
"Well, aren't you too suspicious of me?" The brunet scoots closer to which
Craig shifts a bit away from him, his cerulean hues still concentrated on his
blog. "At this point, I thought you'd be thrilled to see me after I graced you
with my presence last night."
"Wow. You are certainly way over your head."
"What was that? Did you just say you want to give me head?"
Clyde laughs at the sudden hurling of a pillow at his direction given by no
other than the somewhat ill-tempered Craig Tucker. He grabs the pillow and
wraps his arms around it instead as he watches his companion barely spare him a
glance from his laptop. "Say Craig, what do you do for fun nowadays? I mean,
we've barely hung out lately so I'm assuming your interests have changed."
"Hm."
Clyde frowns before reaching to close his companion's laptop. But that only
earns him a scowl of disapproval from the other.
"Clyde."
"Craig."
A glaring battle has been initiated at this point but Craig knows better than
to insist Clyde to leave his room. That kind of attempt had already been proven
futile last time after all. "Fine. This is what I do for fun nowadays." As if
to emphasize his point, he opens his laptop and directs his attention back on
it again. "And nothing else. This is hardly your interest, right? So I suggest
you just leave now before you perish from sheer boredom."
"Hah! You think you can get rid of me that easily?" A mischievous half-smile
curls one side of Clyde's mouth- like the smile of someone who has recently
made a terrible prank call and after Craig had offered him a glance, the older
of the two knows for a fact that his visitor is up to no good. Given how
insisting him to leave doesn't seem to work, he fixes upon ignoring him.
Perhaps that will frustrate Clyde enough to leave, hopefully. However, the
brunet just moves closer to his side to give the screen of his laptop a peek.
"Guinea pigs? You're still into that?"
"..."
"Guinea pigs with hats... Haha, that's pretty funny."
"..."
"Oh wait, don't click the next page yet! I haven't seen-"
"Too late."
"..." Clyde grants him a look of suspicion. "...you're trying to annoy me,
aren't you? To get me to leave?"
"..."
"Fine." Craig nearly releases a sigh of relief at the sound of his classmate's
response, assuming that he had finally given up... until the laptop is snatched
away from his grip. Before he could snag the opportunity to protest, Clyde is
already on his feet, walking over to the desk to carefully place the laptop on
it. Just what is this guy up to? Doesn't he have friends to bother? Why is
Clyde Donovan, an immensely sought-after jock who is always the center of
everyone's attention, this desperate for his attention? For Craig
Tucker's attention- that one pale dude who refuses to make eye contact with
anyone while walking down the hallway and prefers to spend his day blogging
about his interests than going out with his peers? Their differences are so
notable, they shouldn't even be in the same room together. The very idea of the
two of them being best friends before could even be brought up as a ridiculous
joke, if anything. Craig glares at the jock as he watches him saunter back to
the bed.
"I will ask you again," He begins with his patience running thin. "what do you
want, Clyde? Why do you suddenly want my attention?"
Clyde appears to be unfazed by his glare as he sits down in front of the other
male with his legs criss-crossed. A look of determination breezes in on his
slightly tanned semblance but Craig notices the very light tinge of blush
forming in his cheeks. His curiosity is piqued at this extent.
"I want to do it again." Clyde's voice is surprisingly firm that a long pause
is given during which Craig takes in his words.
"Do what?"
"You know what I'm talking about."
"Are you fucking with me?" A tired sigh slips past Craig's lips as he tilts his
head down and runs his fingers through his messy dark locks, an attempt to hide
the flushing of his cheeks at the sound of Clyde's suggestion. Clyde just
continues to grant him from one surprise to another and Craig isn't sure if
he's prepared for another one. He did not expect for him to confront him about
the pool scene by barging into his room through the window. He did not expect
for him to smile at him this morning. He did not expect for him to pay him a
spontaneous visit in the middle of the night. And he was most definitely not
expecting to hear him request for a round two of their make out session.
"I'm not." Clyde shakes his head. "I'm dead serious. See? This is my serious
face."
Craig slightly looks up through his fringes only to be apprised of the sight of
his classmate looking at him with a ridiculous look of conviction on his face
with cheeks as red as his varsity jacket. Craig couldn't stop the entertained
chuckle that escapes his lips. "Clyde, your serious face is really pathetic and
you have a girlfriend. If you want to make out with someone, why can't you just
go to Bebe? Isn't that what normal couples do?"
Clyde opens his mouth to protest but no words came out. He looks somewhat
hesitant, his eyes focused down on his lap but seemingly lost in thought. It
really doesn't make sense that Clyde would ask for someone- not his girlfriend-
to make out with him. And the fact that that someone is hardly noticed by
anyone in their class makes the very image of it more ridiculous.
"This is different." The jock breaks the reticence at long last. "I-I mean,
yeah sure, I can go to Bebe but... this is different."
Craig cocks a brow. "How so?"
"W-Well..." Clyde looks off to side while he fiddles with his fingers like a
small nervous child being interrogated whether or not he stole a cookie from
the cookie jar. "...Bebe is... and you're..."
"A guy?"
Clyde stiffens at the word and Craig narrows his eyes at him. "So," the taller
of the two brings his knee up to rest his arm on it in a rather nonchalant
manner. "you're saying I'm the first guy you ever kissed and you want to cheat
on Bebe with me? Because I don't-"
"I-I don't want to cheat on Bebe!" Clyde rushes in to his own defense. "This...
This isn't cheating at all...! It's more like... an experiment. You seem to
be... into guys after all."
"That's a nice observation, Sherlock. Did the fact that the two of us kissed
twice give it away?"
"Craig..." Clyde frowns though Craig deems it as an endearing childish pout.
Since Clyde doesn't it consider it as 'cheating on Bebe', the dark-haired teen
considers the suggestion. Clyde isn't particularly a bad kisser though Craig's
never really kissed anyone before so he doesn't have anyone to compare him to.
Now that he thought about it, Clyde's his first kiss... which he totally
shouldn't care about because that's just fucking lame. But doing this all of a
sudden seems to be an odd jump for their relationship. From childhood best
friends to classmates to strangers then to make-out partners? Is that even
considered normal?
As though noticing the look of doubt on Craig's face, Clyde clears his throat.
"And you know, Craig... You're not exactly a good kisser.'
Craig whips his attention back on the other. "What? Then what the hell makes
you think I'd agree to your idea if you-"
"But I can teach you." Clyde quickly cuts him off. "Instead of considering this
as a way of cheating on Bebe- which is seriously not, by the way- consider it
as private lessons. You know, just in case you meet someone you actually like.
At least when the time comes, you'll be more prepared, yeah?" Craig stares at
him for a moment. He knows Clyde is just making up an excuse so as to avert his
attention from the idea of being that one person who might ruin a couple's
supposedly strong relationship. Fortunately for Clyde, Craig takes the reason
as a good enough reason.
Fuck it.
"All right. Good enough for me."
***** Their Second Thoughts *****
The room is nearly brimming with silence saved for the lewd sounds coming from
between the pairs of lips of two hormonal teens that can be seen on the bed.
Craig is the one towering over Clyde this time as his hand ghosts its way up to
the brunet's hip, giving it a soft squeeze and earning a soft moan and a squirm
from the other. The dark-haired male couldn't help but smirk against their kiss
at this, already getting the knack of Clyde's weak spots at this point. It has
passed into a habitual pace for the two boys. After their mutual compliance in
regards to Clyde granting Craig 'lessons' in kissing, Clyde has more often than
not paid the swimmer a visit every night at the hour of mutual agreement. He
will always make sure to send Craig a text message first just in case tonight
is particularly a bad time but Craig has been giving him nothing but the nod so
far. And as for their interactions at school, nothing has improved at all but
both boys have expected that. Clyde stills remains within his respective circle
of friends while Craig continues to keep to himself and Tweek but the glances
he gives Clyde and vice versa are always left unmissed.
However, considering the fact that they've actually been doing this behind
Bebe's back, Craig had thought of stopping this at one point. Hell, he had even
rehearsed a couple of times on what to say to Clyde before the jock could get
to his room that night. Unfortunately, all of his intentions were instantly
thrown out the window the minute he saw Clyde stepping into his room with his
hair slightly dampened from his recent shower- auburn strands still sticking
out in a handsome mess with a boyish smile to top the charm off. While it
didn't feel right making out with someone who's been dating the head
cheerleader for nearly more than four months now, Craig could only push that
thought deep within the realms of his mind every time Clyde would so expertly
and sometimes eagerly pull him in for a kiss.
Clyde lets out a breath of moan once Craig has decided to break their kiss to
trail soft ones down his neck, reminding himself not to leave any marks unless
they want the jock's blonde of a girlfriend unleashing her wrath. He hears
Clyde murmur something in between breaths but he couldn't exactly pinpoint what
he's saying. Planting a peck on the brunet's lips, Craig pulls back a bit to
look down at him- taking notice of how cute he looks seeing how disheveled his
hair is with an endearing tint of crimson dusting his cheeks.
"Were you saying something?" Craig asks, almost out of breath from their
seemingly never ending make out session.
A sloppy smile curls Clyde's lips as he brushes Craig's fringes away from his
eyes. "I said you're getting damn good at this."
Craig couldn't resist rolling his eyes at the other male's statement. "Well,
we've been doing this for two weeks and a half now. You, of all people, should
know that I'm not exactly a slow learner."
"Yada yada yada," Clyde makes a face before tugging Craig closer by the collar
of his shirt. "Let's save the chitchat for later, hm? We still have half an
hour left before the alarm of my phone goes off."
Craig grimaces at the indication of how these sessions of theirs are neatly
scheduled. It seems rather odd now that he's thinking about it. But then again,
they're not technically a couple so they most certainly can't just make out
whenever they feel like it. In fact, Clyde had made it very clear that they
could only do it in Craig's bedroom and nowhere else. Craig had asked before
about why couldn't they do it in his room but Clyde had simply brushed his
question off, telling him that he has his reasons much to Craig's displeasure.
Maybe he has pictures of Bebe everywhere in his room and would feel too fucking
guilty to be making out with a dude while seeing her smiling so sweetly at him.
"Alright, princess." Craig mutters before leaning in to press his lips against
Clyde's, amused at how Clyde has instinctively opened his mouth to welcome his
tongue in. He feels the hand clutching the collar of his shirt tightening its
hold and pulling him in closer until their chests are flushed against each
other. The movement of Clyde's lips grows daring and desperate, his free hand
tangling within Craig's dark locks. Craig continues to trace circles on Clyde's
skin under his shirt as he feels the familiar heat rushing south which is
nothing but a normal occurrence to him every session. He has never talked to
Clyde about this simply because he knows it will put the brunet on an odd spot.
Besides, Clyde had literally jerked away from him the first time he had kissed
Craig and Craig had bucked his hips against his. He's not entirely sure what's
up in Clyde's mind but he could tell it has something to do about questioning
his sexuality and apparently, Craig is his little guinea pig for this peculiar
experiment of his. Not that Craig ever minded being a guinea pig but he has
decided to keep that thought to himself.
Surprisingly though, tonight has proven to be different compared to the other
nights they've made out.
Craig's eyes immediately shoot open when Clyde unintentionally- at least he
believes it was- thrust his hips up against his, making him aware of the boner
that is being restrained within his jeans. Clyde, who appears to have just
realized what he did, opens his eyes and hastily pushes the taller male off of
him. Craig is caught off-guard so he nearly bounces off the bed if it weren't
for his swift reflexes. Clyde sits up in a hasty manner, face completely
drowned in the hue of red as his wide astounded eyes remain fixated down on the
bed. Craig stares at him for a while, not entirely sure what to say. This is
the first time he actually felt Clyde's arousal considering Clyde had never
bucked his hips up against his until tonight. In fact, he's starting to think
that the brunet has been avoiding that in hopes of not taking their sessions to
the next level.
"Uh... do you wanna do something about that?" Craig finally decides to break
the silence though it does nothing in helping with Clyde's embarrassment for
the shorter male jerks his attention back on him, his face just burning with
heated uneasiness.
"W-What?! What do you mean?"
Craig arches a brow at the other's reaction before sighing and running his
fingers through his hair. "I mean, if you want, you can jerk off in my bathroom
over there. No shame in that, dude. We were making out after all. It's a
perfectly logical-"
"Oh God," Clyde cuts him off as he buries his face in his palms. "Don't even
start, Craig. Just... don't explain why because I already know why and you
pointing it out is just gonna make things even more uncomfortable."
Craig purses his lips and shrugs. "Fine, just do what you gotta do."
Clyde peeks at him through the gaps between his fingers and Craig couldn't help
it but find him endearing for doing so. Hesitance laces the jock's face before
saying, "W-What about you?"
Craig blinks. "Huh?"
The shorter of the two finally puts his hand down and clears his throat. "I-
I mean, you're uh... you're also..."
Oh. So he must have noticed it too when he had pressed his hips up against his.
Craig couldn't stop the small smirk that makes it across his lips. "Why? You
wanna help me with it?"
"Don't even joke about that!" This is the first time Craig has seen Clyde this
embarrassed before and it has got to be the fucking cutest sight he's ever
seen. And he has watched a clusterfuck of puppy videos so that's saying
something. Craig could only shrug in response at the other's outburst though as
he reaches down under his bed to get out the new bottle of lube he had just
recently purchased, still sealed in a plastic wrapper. He then tosses it to
Clyde's direction who manages to easily catch it with the flawless dexterity of
a basketball player.
"There, help yourself." He jerks his thumb towards the direction of his own
bathroom. "And don't worry about me. I can take care of my boner after you
leave."
Clyde frowns at his companion's bold choice of words as he stands up from the
bed with an evident apprehensive flow. Before he could take another step
though, he spares Craig a glance. "Um... who do you think about when you...
err, jerk off?"
"Tweek."
"Wait- what? Seriously?"
Craig rolls his eyes at how Clyde had failed to catch on the sarcasm that laced
his answer. Really, he just gave him a random inaccurate answer just so the
brunet could already go to the bathroom and do what he used to do best during
his younger teen years. "Can you just fucking jerk off, man? Quit stalling."
Clyde frowns and sticks his tongue out at the dark-haired male before hurrying
for the bathroom without sparing him another glance. Craig could only snort in
amusement. The guy can act tough as much as he wants, he still looks
ridiculously childish to him. Craig looks back down at the bed where Clyde was
previously lying on, taking notice of how wrinkled the bed sheets appear to be.
Images of what they've been doing for the past few days flash within his mind
and he can't still really tell how he feels about this. For one, he genuinely
takes delight in Clyde's company even though they rarely exchange any words at
all but at the same time, it bugs him to think that he's nothing but the
brunet's dirty little secret. There are moments where he'd see Clyde and Bebe
getting all mushy in the corridor. Now that he's thought about it, has Clyde
ever made out with Bebe ever since they started this thing? If he still does,
then that's just downright gross. It's almost as if he's sharing a toothbrush
with Bebe and that just brings a cringe down Craig's spine.
He spares a glance at the door to his bathroom before heaving a sigh and
standing up to get to his desk in pursuit of picking his laptop up. He should
might as well do something to pass the time, right?
However, just when he was about to reach for his laptop, a certain voice coming
from the bathroom plunders his attention away. His hand hovers over his laptop,
hesitation swirling up within him. He could hear Clyde's voice... his grunts...
his moans echoing in the bathroom and while he could tell that the brunet is
trying his very best to keep himself quiet, he's not exactly doing a very good
job. He moves from his desk and takes careful steps towards the bathroom,
leaning in closer to the door to see if he's hearing him right.
"A-Ah... shit..."
Craig catches his breath as the image of Clyde jerking off fills his mind. He
leans back against the wall beside the door, blindly staring up ahead and
focusing solely on the brunet's voice. He knows that he shouldn't be listening
to this, especially since Clyde is evidently thinking of a particular well-
endowed blonde while jacking off. Right. He should just grab his laptop and try
his very best to distract himself so he could-
"...hahh... fuck..."
Craig leans his head back against the wall, fingers idly reaching down
underneath his sweatpants. He shouldn't be doing this. It's fucking messed up
to be masturbating at the sound of his classmate's breathy moans from the other
room. What'll happen if Clyde catches him? Wait a minute, Craig is never the
type to care about the consequences. There is a reason why detention is an
ordinary episode to him after all. So with that, he runs his tongue over his
lips and tugs his waistband down a bit, pulling his semi-erect dick out. He
begins pumping his skin while he keeps his eyes fixated up at the ceiling,
letting out a long soft sigh of content at the long awaited touch of his
fingers on his cock. Clyde's moans transition to muffled ones, obviously
covering his mouth to keep himself quiet but this does nothing more but push
Craig in quickening his pace- the mere image of him fucking Clyde in a risky
place while pressing his hand on his mouth to keep him quiet nearly sending him
over the edge. He lets out a grunt under his breath as he diverts his gaze down
to his dick and thumbs over his slit, shooting down a shiver down his spine.
Goddammit, Clyde. If you just know what the fuck you've been doing to me.
"Mmf... G-Gah...!"
Clyde's near. He could tell. Craig bites his lip and pumps his skin harder, his
chest heaving in hasty breaths while he fixates his gaze on his dick- painfully
hard and red. He bucks his hips to meet the movements of his hand as he starts
to feel himself getting nearer. Oh fuck, Clyde. He leans his head back against
the wall again, slipping his eyes closed and focusing solely on Clyde's voice
and the jerking of his hand.
"Ah ah... hah... close... close... ahh fuck, C-Craig...!"
Craig's eyes shoot open and before he could even process the fact that Clyde
had called out his name, he jerks his hips up one last time and explodes into
his hand- staining his shirt. He lets out a few heavy breaths, slowly stepping
out of his high. He runs his fingers through his hair with his clean hand as he
stares down at his shirt. What a mess. But that's not something he's entirely
concerned about. He glances over at the door again, hearing Clyde still in the
midst of catching his breath. Did he really just... cry out his name? Or did he
just mishear him? That couldn't be the case considering the fact that Bebe
barely sounds like Craig. Then what the fuck is going on then? He just
literally listened to Clyde jerking off to the thought of him, not his damn
girlfriend. What the hell does that mean? Upon realizing that he's still in a
rather messy state, Craig briskly tucks himself in before reaching for a few
pieces of tissue from his desk to wipe his hand clean then proceeding to pull
his shirt off as swiftly as he could to change to a new one.
However, just as he's in the process of looking for a new shirt from his
drawer, he hears the door to the bathroom slowly creaking open. He pays no
attention to it as a way to avoid having Clyde see the look of guilt on his
face. While Craig knows that keeping a stoic face has always been his field of
expertise, Clyde still always ends up reading him no matter how long they've
stopped being friends. For some reason though, Clyde doesn't say anything and
if he could assume right, the jock is just standing still near the door. Craig
chooses not to say anything as he finally pulls out a navy blue shirt and puts
it on before turning around to look at the brunet only to find him flinching
and looking down on the carpet, still standing near the door just as Craig had
assumed. His cheeks are unmistakably flushed and Craig fights back the urge to
point out that he has just been jerking off to the thought of him. If he points
that out, then Clyde will no doubt realize that he's been listening to him
masturbating and that's not exactly the kind of subject you'd want to talk
about with your classmate.
"Feelin' better?" The taller of the two once again decides to break the silence
that is undeniably tensed but he chooses not to acknowledge it.
"Uh yeah..." Clyde looks distracted, Craig notices. "I think I should get home
now. Curfew, you know?"
Craig knows better than to corner him now. Obviously, Clyde needs a lot of time
to think about what happened today. He just shrugs his shoulders and nods his
head as he focuses on turning his laptop on. "Sure, dude. Say hi to Bebe for
me."
He sees Clyde stiffening at the corner of his sight but pretends not to notice
it.
"Haha, you know I can't do that." Clyde scratches the back of his neck while
making his way towards the window. "I mean, we're still technically 'strangers'
at school so it would be totally weird if I tell her that you said hi because
then she would be suspicious as to why I know you said hi and she'll start
asking questions and you know that I'm not a good liar and I can't think
properly under pressure-"
"Dude," Craig glances at his direction with a cocked brow. "you have a curfew.
Shut up and just get home before your dad shoots you."
"Right, right." Clyde grants him a sheepish grin before pushing the window
open. "See ya."
Craig waits for the brunet to leave before striding over to the window to close
and lock it, his dark cerulean hues fixated on Clyde's retreating figure. He
leans his forehead against the window, his mind filled with the jock's voice
crying out his name.
Really, what the fuck.
"Are you all right, Craig?"
Craig looks at his side after closing his locker, seeing Tweek looking up at
him with genuine concern reflecting within the bright emerald flecks of his
wide eyes. Does he look troubled to the blond? Or has Tweek already mastered
the art of seeing through his walls? Because if that's the case, then fuck, he
really needs to step up his game in keeping people out of his damn mind. True
to Tweek's speculation though, Craig has been doing nothing but think about
what happened yesterday. For fuck's sake, Clyde had cried out his name instead
of his girlfriend's in the midst of his orgasm. Plus, Craig had also jerked off
to his sounds so he's also not exactly a fucking saint in this predicament
either. Surprisingly though, Clyde doesn't seem to be as bothered as he was
yesterday when he entered the classroom earlier. He seemed perfectly normal,
goofing around with his friends and keeping a possessive arm around Bebe like
he always does. Well that's not fucking fair. He's the one who did something so
downright immensely baffling that it left Craig thinking about it all night, he
should at least be a little troubled too.
"I'm fine." He lies with a sigh. "Just didn't get enough sleep last night."
"Oh..." Tweek bites his lip and fiddles with the strap of his backpack; a habit
that Craig knows all too well.
"What is it, Tweek?" He asks as he slings his backpack over his shoulder and
nudging the blond to walk with him down the corridor.
"It's nothing!" Tweek shouts out his answer all too abruptly but after
garnering attention from the other students passing by, he winces and clears
his throat. "I-I mean, it's not nothing. But it's not a big thing either. It's
just... I-It's just that... well... I know you're coming over later but s-
something came up and I have to go to work earlier than my scheduled shift. You
see, t-there's this thing that Harbucks is celebrating and I have to wear this
ridiculous costume. I was just thinking that if it's okay with you... w-we
could postpone our movie night for tomorrow? I-I mean, if it's not okay with
you, then I can always tell my boss that I can't do it today! But I will get
double paid for this particular shift but if you want to continue our movie
night tonight, then I'm fine with that! I just wanna know how you'd feel
because we've never postponed any of our-"
"What's the shop celebrating?" Craig cuts him off, getting a bit irritated at
the fact that Tweek had to ask for his permission first. He could just simply
say that he needs to postpone their movie night instead of asking him if it's
okay with him, reminding him of how Clyde used to do something similar right
when they started drifting away from each other. Perhaps that's the sole reason
why he had gotten irked in the first place. It's not Tweek, it's that mere
memory of how that jock had avoided hanging out with him. But of course,
Tweek's different. He's not an asshole- far from it actually so Craig knows
that he shouldn't worry too much.
"O-Oh... umm... nothing special...!" Tweek shakes his head, his wild hair
swaying with the brisk movement.
Craig throws him a look of suspicion to which causes the blond to flinch and
avoid his gaze. But before Craig could further question him, a voice calling
his name interrupts him and the two boys halt their steps to look up ahead and
see Clyde and Bebe walking over to their direction.
"Here!" Bebe cheerfully hands Craig a familiar blue pen while showing off her
perfectly pearl white teeth in a captivating smile. She's clad in her green
cheerleading outfit, one hand holding onto a pair of pompoms. "Thanks for
lending this to me earlier. I wouldn't have been able to take the test without
your help!"
Craig takes the pen in a lethargic manner and shoves it into the pocket of his
jacket before shrugging his shoulders. "Yeah, sure. No problem." He flickers
his gaze to Clyde whose arm is comfortably resting on Bebe's shoulders but
Clyde doesn't take notice of his glance. Instead, he looks back down at his
girlfriend with a puzzled look adorning his features.
"Wait, you needed a pen earlier? Why didn't you ask me instead?"
Bebe rolls her eyes before granting the brunet a knowing one-sided smirk.
"Because knowing you, you would ask for something lewd and naughty in return
later."
"Oh, right!" Clyde laughs but Craig has no idea what's so funny. In fact, he
finds himself clenching his jaw at Bebe's response.
"O-Oh Jesus," Tweek tugs on his hair. "y-you guys didn't have to put that image
in my brain!"
The couple standing before them laugh as Bebe pats Tweek's shoulder. "Don't
worry, sweetie. Once you find your special someone, you won't be able to keep
your hands off each other." As if to emphasize her point, she glances over at
Craig's direction and offers him a tantalizing smirk. "And I have a feeling you
won't have to wait long."
Instead of returning her smile with a look of confusion which he should have
normally done to avoid suspicion, he just scowls at her direction. What the
fuck is she doing implying that he and Tweek will eventually become something
more? Does she have any idea that setting such an expectation on Tweek will
pressure the blond into doing it? Unfortunately, Bebe doesn't seem to take the
hint as she giggles again and gives him a wink. He could vaguely hear Tweek
muttering something incoherent to himself though Craig is more than certain it
has something to do about being pressured into doing this or that.
"Well, I'm off to practice." The cheerleader beams at them. Craig has no idea
why she's telling them this. She then faces Clyde- who has just been watching
all this with an amused smile on his face- before leaning up on the tips of her
toes to plant a soft peck on his lips. "I'll see you tonight, yes?" The glimmer
of excitement that had flashed within her blue orbs did not escape Craig's
notice.
"Yeah, of course." Clyde grins down at her.
"Great! I should go now then! Love you!"
Craig holds his breath, not even knowing why he's still standing here and
watching this. He stares at Clyde, not even knowing what he wants him to say.
Have these two already gone that far to the point that they've been saying
those words to each other more often than not? Then why the hell has Clyde been
sneaking around just to make out with him? What's the whole point of that? He
knows that regarding it as 'kissing lessons' is just total bullshit but the
fact that Clyde had jerked off to the thought of him says something. He's not
sure what but it has to be something, right? Fuck, what is he even hoping for?
He shouldn't be thinking about this too much. This is all just a clusterfuck of
a mess. Maybe what happened yesterday was just a one-time thing. Maybe Clyde
just got carried away with their session yesterday which explains why he had
thought of Craig instead of Bebe.
"...Love you too." Clyde returns Bebe's smile before giving her another last
peck on the lips.
Craig clenches his fist and Bebe finally takes her leave.
"Well," Clyde stretches his arms with a contented sigh, giving each of the two
a quick glance. "I should get going too. I promised Dad I'd help him repair the
car. See you guys around!" He waves to the two boys before also taking his
leave.
Tweek shakes a bit beside Craig but doesn't say anything, waiting for Craig to
take the first step so that they could walk in sync together. Craig doesn't pay
attention at this for a moment though, his mind still filled with the thought
of Clyde and how much the jock has been messing up with his head. If he didn't
know any better, he'd say Clyde's doing this on purpose just so he could tell
people how he easily convinced Craig to make out with him- that Craig is most
likely head over heels for him. Bebe could be into it too, encouraging her
boyfriend to do so for her own amusement. You can never know, that girl can be
into sick shit. Perhaps they have the motive of telling everyone how much of an
easy lay he is which probably wouldn't even be too much of a lie seeing how he
had easily complied with Clyde's suggestion of their so-called kissing lessons.
Realizing that he's getting too paranoid for his own taste, Craig clicks his
tongue in annoyance before finally heading for the exit of the school building
with Tweek tailing behind him.
"A-Are you and Clyde friends again?"
Craig frowns and merely shrugs his shoulders.
Tweek doesn't seem too impressed with his answer as he chews his bottom lip
before pushing on. "...he isn't taunting you anymore..."
"Am I supposed to thank him that he's decided to be a decent human being?"
Craig fails to conceal the tone of annoyance that laced his words and
immediately regrets it because he finds Tweek flinching violently again.
"I-I...! I didn't mean it like that! It's not that you owe him for treating you
nicely now and all. I just thought that you two are friends again and I... I
guess that would be nice." Craig takes notice of how there was a tinge of
something in Tweek's words, as though there is more to it than he had let on.
However, he decides not to question it for now. He already has a lot in his
mind at the moment and even though it probably isn't right not to ask if
there's something in the little blond's mind, he's just not really in the mood
for drama.
"I sure would like to lick that toned stomach of yours~"
Clyde rolls his eyes before tugging his shirt down after realizing that it had
been pulled up when he reached up to emend the mechanism of his dad's car, not
even bothering to slide down the skateboard he's lying on right now to know who
just walked into their opened garage.
"I'm busy, Ken." He says with what he hoped was a tone serious enough for the
blond to get the message that he's in no mood to have a distraction.
"We're just here to chat."
We? Clyde furrows his brows before finally deciding to slide the skateboard
down to see the newcomers. "Oh. Well, I don't mind Kyle's company. Kenny, show
yourself out." He sits up and wipes the bead of sweat that trails down his
temple, ignoring the laugh of amusement that escapes the blond's lips.
Kyle leans back against the door to the passenger seat and crosses his arms.
"You should know by now that there's nothing you can do to get Kenny to leave
you alone. God knows how muh I tried before." Clyde could only snort in
response, recalling how long Kenny had pursued Kyle who before seemed to be
genuinely uninterested in getting in a relationship with the poorest kid in
town. Though he's certain that his reason had nothing to do with the income of
Kenny's family but more with the fact that he wasn't into the idea of dating a
childhood friend. Apparently, Kenny had gotten through him and it sure was the
talk of the school- especially since Kenny couldn't keep his hands off the
redhead in the hallway. "Anyway," Kyle goes on. "how are you holding up?"
Clyde stands up from the skateboard and cocks a brow at his direction. "Huh?
What do you mean?"
Kenny walks over to the toolbox settled on the shelf nearby, inspecting every
instrument. "Ya know," he clarifies with a lazy wave of his hand. "you and
Craig."
Of course Kenny told Kyle about the kiss in the pool. Why wouldn't he? He sighs
as he cleans his hand with a rag before tossing it over to the nearest shelf.
He doesn't even bother to question why the two are so concerned over him since
it's not much of a surprise at all. They did show great support when his mom
passed away after all. "Same old boring shit, I guess." He grabs for his
bottled water before taking two chugs from it, somehow feeling the stares of
the two boring into him.
"Hm." Kyle hums in the most unimpressed manner. "Something happened after
that."
Clyde winces but shakes his head after settling the bottle down. He then offers
a good-natured smile to the redhead though it had only proven to be sheepish.
"W-Wha-? What could possibly happen after that?"
Kenny laughs. "Oh man! You're such a terrible liar, dude. Quit going around in
circles and tell us what happened. Maybe we can help."
Clyde could very much tell that his face is heating up at this point and he
doesn't even have to ask to know that the couple has also caught on it. He
really is never a good liar even when he was a little kid. But how could he
possibly tell these two what happened last night? It is true that they're not
the type to spread shit around school but it's the humiliation of having to
relive the memory is what he's mostly concerned about. Why he had suddenly
thought of Craig while jerking off is beyond him. Never in his life had he
thought of the guy in that way before, not even when they were the best of
friends. Hell, he never even had that kind of thought on any guy so why Craig
of all people? Oh gee, maybe it's because he's a fucking good kisser? A small
part of him snorts in derision. Kissing lessons? If anything, he's the one
teaching you how to move your tongue. Clyde shakes those thoughts off before
clearing his throat, remembering that his two friends are waiting for his
answer.
He sighs and scratches the back of his neck. "All right, all right. But don't
tell-"
"Dude," Kyle rolls his eyes. "you don't have to tell us that. You know we're
not ones to gossip."
Clyde takes comfort in that and nods, picking up the bottle again and fiddling
with it in an attempt to distract himself from looking at the two. "We kinda...
made out."
Silence.
Clyde wants to look up to see their reactions but at the same time, he's not
entirely sure what to expect. A look of disgusted judgment? Attempts of not
laughing out loud? Either way, it wouldn't exactly be a good thing on his part.
He just keeps himself focused on the bottle in his hands, finding it more
interesting than the words he just blurted out to possibly the only two people
he trusts in school.
"How many times?" Kenny suddenly breaks the silence and earning a glance from
the brunet. The knowing look that gleamed within his cerulean hues nearly made
Clyde flinch in fear. Kenny obviously knows something more than what he just
said but is just waiting for him to admit it. Lying will get him nowhere.
"A couple of times."
"I knew it." Kenny snaps his fingers with a grin as he saunters over to where
his boyfriend stood. "What did I say, yeah?"
Kyle frowns at him. "Ken, this isn't really the time for you to be gloating
about that."
"Stiiiill," the blond teases as he settles his hands on the shorter boy's hips
and steps closer. "I've always wanted to say 'I told you so' to you for once
instead of vice versa so let me have the chance for once~"
Clyde blinks confusedly. "Uh... what's happening... exactly?"
Kyle diverts his emerald gaze away from his boyfriend to look at the brunet.
"Kenny had caught you sneaking into Craig's room every now and then. He says
that you two were obviously doing something lewd but I disagreed. I kinda
thought you two were just... I dunno, discussing about the problematic matters
that ensued between you two."
"And this is why you bottom, my cute naive kosher boy." Kenny sticks his tongue
out at the redhead before earning a hard pinch on the arm. "Ow! What was that
for?"
Kyle sighs and tears himself away from the blond's grip before making his way
towards their friend. "Look, Clyde. I understand how messed up the
circumstances are but... have you ever even thought of putting a stop to this?
I mean, for fuck's sake, you're still dating Bebe and you can't keep you hands
off of her in school. You're technically cheating on her."
"Yeah and have you seen the way Craig looks at you every time you pull your
girlfriend in for a kiss?" Kenny joins his boyfriend's side, crossing his arms
behind his head. "That's not really fair to him."
"What?" Clyde shoots an incredulous look at their direction. "He gets to make
out with The Donovan. That's not unfair. That's pretty much a miracle to him."
"Oh my God," Kyle rolls his eyes. "do you hear yourself? Look dude, why are you
even doing this in the first place? Is Bebe not enough?"
"That's-"
"Isn't she good in the sack?" Kenny cuts him off with a tilt of his head. "Is
she too loud? Too whiny? Does she use teeth? Does she call you her fuckboy?
Does she suddenly sing in the brink of orgasm?"
"Oh God, no!" Clyde wrinkles his nose in disgust, not even knowing where Kenny
got those images. "It's not Bebe...! I mean, I... I can't even tell because we
haven't been doing it since..."
"Since you and Craig started hooking up." Kyle finishes for him but then he
pauses and adds, "behind Bebe's back."
"You two haven't done anything more than just swapping saliva, right?" Kenny
questions.
"No." Clyde shakes his head with a sigh. "And I don't intend to. Look, I don't
really understand what's going on, okay? It happened and I just... went with
it. It doesn't really make much sense to me either but I'm stuck. I don't want
to break things with Bebe because I still really like her but at the same time,
I really don't want to stop what Craig and I have been doing for the past few
weeks."
"Maybe it's the thrill." Kyle crosses his arms and taps his chin in thought.
"Perhaps that's what's missing in your relationship with Bebe. You're getting
tired of the same boring shit and Craig happens to be there in the right time
to give you that desired thrill. Sneaking around and such, I guess that excites
you." Clyde stares at him for a moment as he registers his words. Is that it?
Could that really be the reason why he had always looked forward to sneaking
into Craig's room? The possibility of getting caught is exciting at times, he
had to admit that. Maybe it's not Craig but the mere idea of sneaking around.
He could probably do this with any other person and he would get the same
results. Somehow, that gives him a tinge of relief. At least now he doesn't
have to wonder why Craig popped into his mind when he was jerking off. God
knows how hard he tried to play it cool after that. Maybe he could make things
right with Bebe- talk to her about spicing things up. She always likes trying
new things, right? She'd be willing to do anything.
"Wait a minute," Kenny chances a glance at Kyle. "are you getting bored of us?"
"Are you kidding me?" Kyle looks back at him with a cocked brow. "You're
spontaneous about everything. I wouldn't be surprised if you suddenly wanted to
fuck me in the classroom." After realizing that they're not exactly alone, he
flinches and sheepishly looks at Clyde who now looks absolutely disturbed at
what he just said. "Sorry."
Kenny chuckles and pulls the younger male closer by resting his arm around his
shoulders to plant a kiss on his now-tamed fiery red hair. "Can't say that
thought never crossed my mind."
"Okay," Clyde says all to loudly as he claps his hands once. "this conversation
was very progressive and I thank you two for your help but obviously, I have a
car to fix so go do your nasty stuff somewhere else." He brushes past Kenny to
head back for his dad's toolbox.
Kenny snickers. "All right, we'll leave now. You gonna be all right?"
Clyde purses his lips but nods. "...yeah."
***** Their Insecurities *****
"What... kind of question is that?" A scowl curled the lips of the 13-year-old
Craig as he eyed his friend who seemed rather invested in what he just said,
round auburn eyes staring right back at his cold cerulean ones.
"It's a curious one." Clyde shrugged but Craig could only roll his eyes in
annoyance before immersing his concentration back on his textbook, knowing that
this conversation was going nowhere. This was one of the things why he didn't
like having a fleeting moment of silence with Clyde- the brunet always ended up
thinking up of a random topic to discuss about then blurting it out without
even a trace of hesitation. This one, in particular, was in no doubt the most
peculiarly bizarre topic he had ever thought of and Craig couldn't help but
wonder if it's because he's just running out of new material. Maybe he should
try to come up with a topic for once but that was never a smooth duty for him.
Clyde was the talkative one. He was just the listener and nothing else other
than occasional snarky comments.
"Well I'm not answering it." The taller of the two shook his head but when he
felt Clyde move closer to him on his bed, he immediately knew the guy will not
let this go.
"Come on! It's not gay or anything! Don't you ever wonder about the alternate
universe?"
"A universe where the two of us are romantic partners?" Craig granted his
friend a look of annoyed incredulity. "You've seriously been thinking about
that?"
"No!" Clyde was too quick in denying it but Craig paid no mind to it. "I
just... thought of it now. Anyway, come oooonnn. Who do you think would top if
we were partners?"
Craig sighed as he reached up to rub his eyes with his thumb and his pointer
finger. "First of all, we can never be partners."
Clyde frowned. "Why not?"
"Because," The dark-haired teen directed his gaze back at him with an arched
brow. "we're best friends. We've known each other since kindergarten which
means we know almost everything about each other. There is nothing to learn
from the other anymore. I've seen you at your best and at your worst and you've
seen mine. When it comes to being in a relationship with someone, you and your
partner get to develop your connection and learn things about each other that
you've never known about which pretty much adds the thrill to it. If ever we
even started dating, it wouldn't last three days. Shit, I don't even think
there would be much difference between us. It would be boring. We'll get tired
of each other easily and if we did last more than a week, we'll probably just
end up getting into a ridiculous fight then break up and the tension will
forever live between us."
Clyde just stared at his friend with blinking astounded eyes, not entirely
certain what to say. As though taking his silence as a gift for finally giving
him his peace of mind, Craig directed his attention back on his book. "Now shut
up and just read my comic books or-"
"I think you're wrong."
"Huh?" The taller teen frowned at the brunet. "What makes you say so?"
A pout formed Clyde's lips while keeping his stare fixated on his friend and
Craig knew this look all too well. He was about to get "Donovized" as Clyde
would like to call it whenever he would get to veritably correct someone with
great accuracy. Clyde shifted closer to his friend with a determined look on
his face. "While it's true that some people believe that getting in a
relationship with your best friend could risk your friendship, but there's
still the possibility of enhancing it. Like what you said earlier, we've seen
each other at our best and at our worst which means there's absolutely no
insecurity between us anymore. We're perfectly comfortable with each other and
don't have to fear about one of us cheating on the other or get all worked up
about whether or not we're good enough for the other. And you're wrong about
not learning new stuff from each other. There are some things that best friends
don't get to do together that romantic partners can."
Craig narrowed his eyes at him, already knowing where this was going. "Clyde,
don't even bring it up-"
"Sex!" Clyde grinned all too eagerly and Craig found himself scooting away from
him without delay just in case he was up to something. Clyde didn't seem to
notice though. "We'd get to learn each other's kinks and whatnot! Testing them
out and stepping over our comfort zone... that's the thrill of it! And being
best friends is a great benefit because we wouldn't even be ashamed of
admitting our kinks!"
I can't fucking believe we're actually talking about this, Craig thought in
disbelief.
"And honestly," Clyde blabbered on. "I think I'd top you."
The sudden sense of pride washed over Craig at that as he straightened up and
scowled at his friend. "Excuse me? Why do you get to top?"
"Well, for one, you're skinnier than me so wouldn't that make you the girl?"
"Idiot. The physique has nothing to do with who gets to top and who gets to
bottom."
"Really?"
Craig rolled his eyes. "You'd be bottom, Clyde. Everyone seems to think you got
a nice ass anyway. Might as well put it to good use."
He caught on the crimson hue that dusted Clyde's cheeks and Craig couldn't help
but smirk in victory at this. Unfortunately though, Clyde didn't seem to be
fond of letting him have the last laugh. With a determined huff, the shorter of
the two boys suddenly pinned the dark-haired male down on the bed and earned a
yelp of surprise from his friend- his palms digging onto his shoulders and
ignoring how Craig's textbook crashed down onto the carpet. He grinned.
"Whaddya know, you're the one lying on your back. That makes you the bottom
then~"
Craig glared at him before making a struggle in an attempt to push the
brunet off of him but to no avail. Clyde was most likely stronger than him but
Craig was not one to admit that so he attempted to thrash his arms only to have
his friend grab his hands and pin them above his head. Goddammit. Craig
couldn't help the scowl of utter annoyance that twsited his lips by the mere
sight of the pompous look of victory adorning his best friend's features.
"Well?" Clyde raised an amused brow at him. "Give in?"
"If this is your way of showing dominance, then fuck, you're shallow."
"All sizzle," Clyde smirked as he leaned down closer to his friend, adjusting
his tone to a hushed one. "no steak."
"Ugh, whatever. Just get off of me." Craig growled before finally being granted
access to freedom. He sighed and sat up, immediately reaching for his hat that
had fallen off due to Clyde's spontaneity and settled it back on his head.
"Geez, who the hell even cares who would top? It's not like it will actually
happen."
"Yeah well you think of something to talk about." Clyde stuck his tongue out at
him and Craig failed to resist the urge to do the same.
"Just go read some comic books, asshat." The taller teen threw a pillow at his
friend's face, grinning when it caught the brunet off-guard and sent him
crashing down onto his carpet. "And keep your fantasies to yourself, faggot."
===============================================================================
"You're home early."
Craig straightens up from the fridge as soon as he got himself a can of soda
before looking over to the side to see Ruby leaning her shoulder against the
door frame and munching on a candy bar. She eyes him with her signature
disinterested look on her face and takes another bite of her snack before
asking, "Aren't you supposed to be at your boyfriend's place for your night of
lovemaking or something?"
Correcting Ruby about Tweek not being his boyfriend has already ran its course
at this point. It's getting pretty useless after all since the girl is just as
tenacious as he is. He shrugs his shoulders before brushing past her to head
straight for the living room, hoping that there's something compelling enough
to watch on TV. He needs something to get his mind off Clyde and since Tweek
won't be there to be his sole distraction, he figures that a crappy sitcom will
do the trick. He knows that he really shouldn't be thinking of Clyde anymore,
especially since the guy doesn't seem to be at all affected by what happened
yesterday. The jock's behavior earlier has done nothing but make Craig feel
pathetic- as if he's getting worked up over nothing. He needs to brush it off
as soon as possible before Clyde gets here tonight unless he wants his pride
further damaged by letting that asshole discover that he's been eavesdropping
on his masturbation.
"You two fightin'?" Ruby joins him on the couch and leans back against the
armrest, bringing her skinny legs up to rest them on her brother's lap.
"Because you should know, I'm gonna have to beat your ass if you make Tweek
cry. He gives me free coffee at Harbucks."
"We're not having our movie night because he's expected to attend an hour early
before his shift." Craig reaches for the remote to turn the TV on. "He said
that the shop is celebrating something or I dunno."
"What are they celebrating?" Ruby cocks a brow at him but Craig just shrugs.
"I dunno. He won't tell me."
"Hmm... doesn't that seem suspicious to you?"
Craig sighs and leans back against the sofa, taking a sip from his soda then
giving his sister another shrug of a response. Ruby doesn't seem to be too
happy with his answer though for she kicks him on the hip for that, eliciting a
glare from the older Tucker. "Craig, you should probably go and check what he's
up to. You never know, he might be cheating on you. Why else wouldn't he
expound on his plans today?" Is this kid seriously still assuming that he's
dating Tweek after the great number of denials he had already given her? Again,
correcting her is truly getting pointless so Craig fixates his gaze back on the
television.
"Tweek can't cheat. He's too disorganized."
"You can go ahead and try to convince yourself as much as you like." Ruby
finally steps off the couch to head back to her room. "But if I were you, I'd
investigate it." And with that, she takes her leave at long last but not before
smirking upon catching sight of the look of deep hesitance playing on her
brother's features. Craig sighs and runs his fingers through his hair, trying
his very best to let the show playing in front of him occupy his thoughts. What
the hell is it about? Two waitresses being broke or something? Goddammit, he
couldn't catch up. Not when the dilemma Clyde had established keeps swirling
within the realms of his mind and now his concern over what Tweek is up to is
adding onto his list of shaken thoughts. Why the hell wouldn't Tweek just tell
him what the shop is celebrating? What could he possibly be hiding? Thanks a
fucking lot, Ruby. With a tired sigh, Craig gets up from the couch and heads
straight for the door.
As soon as he pulls the door open though, he chances upon Karen whose hand is
already raised in pursuit of ringing the doorbell. However, as soon as their
eyes meet, she drops her hand back down to her side all too quickly and averts
her gaze down to the ground.
"H-Hi, Craig... Is... Is Ruby home?"
"Yeah, she's in her room." Craig doesn't spare her another glance as he brushes
past her, not taking notice of how the young brunet watched his retreating
figure. He couldn't help but worry over whether or not Tweek lied to him about
his plans today. Maybe he has gotten himself in trouble in a way and is intent
on taking care of it today, resulting to him coming up with an excuse to not
continue their movie night. The thought of the blond not wanting Craig to get
involved in whatever shenanigans he got involved in seems like the kind of
thing he'd do after all. Nevertheless, the mere thought of it irks Craig.
Aren't they supposed to be friends? If Tweek needed help, he would have said so
instead of just hiding it from him unless...
...his life is on the line. Perhaps he owes someone dangerous a large sum of
money and is looking for ways to pay it. Why else wouldn't he want Craig
involved, right? It really does seem logical the more he-
"The fuck?" A frown furrows the brows of the dark-haired male the very second
he has finally neared his destination, spotting Tweek serving the shop's
customers in a mint green maid dress. He almost didn't recognize him with the
long blonde wig settled neatly over his usually unkempt hair, golden locks
falling elegantly over his shoulders. But seeing him twitch every now and then
has determined that he truly is the coffee fanatic that he knows. Now this is
certainly odd. Why the hell is he dressed like that? Carefully, Craig saunters
closer to the shop and takes notice of the chalkboard stand displayed outside
near the entrance.
"Happy International Transgender Day of Visibility?" Craig reads in puzzlement.
He didn't even know there is such a day. He chances another glance at the
window of the shop only to realize that all the waiters are indeed dressed in
different women's clothing while the waitresses wear the exact opposite. He
fixates his gaze back on Tweek who's just in the midst of giving a customer
three packets of sugar as requested before their eyes meet. His bright jade
eyes widen in utter horror and Craig couldn't stop himself from granting him a
one-sided smirk and a casual salute. He doesn't waste any more time and steps
into the shop, amused at how Tweek stays frigid on his spot- evidently lost as
to what to do.
"C-Craig...! You're not supposed to be here...!" The blond finally squeaks out,
hiding the latter part of his face with his notepad.
Craig looks down at him with an amused smirk, his hands digging into the
pockets of his jacket. "Why? Are you taking away my right to be here, Tweek?
Besides, I didn't think you'd be into this kind of stuff." He teases, reaching
to twirl a golden lock of Tweek's wig around his finger.
As though only realizing that his friend has come to ridicule him, Tweek
narrows his eyes at the taller male before swatting his hand away with a cute
pout forming on his- wait, are his lips painted with gloss? "Dressing up like
this is already b-bad enough. I don't need you making fun of me too, Craig." He
twitches a bit in between words.
"Hey now, I'm here to make you feel pretty, Goldilocks." Craig chuckles before
giving Tweek's cheek a soft pinch. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be nice to
your customers?"
Tweek's round cheeks are heated with humiliation at this point as he engages
himself in a staring battle with his all too-amused friend. He's going to make
Craig pay for this. With a defeated huff, the notably shorter male tugs the
cuff of Craig's sleeve and pulls him to an empty booth. "Fine, order something
then i-if you want to be acknowledged as a customer."
Craig chuckles again, not even remembering when was the last time he was
actually this entertained. Seeing Tweek dressed like a girl with a resentful
look embellishing his baby-like features is all too enticing for him. And he's
thankful for the fact that the make-up artist didn't even bother to conceal the
dark circles under his friend's eyes, still letting the blond display his
character in spite of the entire makeover. As he takes a seat, he watches Tweek
fumble for his pen from the pocket of his apron- noticing how his skirt reaches
just above his knees. Craig cocks a brow at this. "Did you seriously shave your
legs for this?"
"A-Argh! I don't wanna talk about it!" Tweek shakes his head frantically and
squeezes his eyes shut. "J-Just give me your order, please!"
"Fine, fine." Craig lets out a laugh again then directs his attention on the
menu that has already been prepared on the table. "Get me two cups of caffe
medici."
Tweek blinks before bringing up his middle and pointer fingers. "Two?"
"Yeah. I want you to have a drink with me."
Tweek frowns at this. "I dunno if that's-"
"Just do it. You aim to please your customers anyway."
The blond glares at him in disapproval for a bit before sighing and nodding his
head. "F-Fine... I'll ask my manager."
Craig then watches his friend walk away, not even realizing the small one-sided
smile still curling his lips as he does so. He has to admit, in spite of it
being unmistakably scarce, he sorta feels quite a loss for the snappy returns
Tweek used to give him. Back when they were kids, they never got along at all
and when they did start to hang out more often, Tweek would always return
Craig's rude remarks with glares or sarcastic responses. Now that he has
thought about it, he couldn't recall when the blond actually started being
really nice to him. Perhaps it happened all too gradually that he had failed to
notice it. Nevertheless, he does wish Tweek would behave like this more often.
It makes their conversations twice more interesting; not that he finds their
interactions dull but still not interesting enough for them to be memorable.
Most of theirs topics would always only center around what happened in class
and Craig telling Tweek to calm down if he starts freaking out about
unintentionally offending him.
He doesn't mind the new Tweek though. Not that he would admit it out loud but
Craig finds him cute in a way. He knows that the blond will in no doubt freak
out though if he actually tells him that so he had convinced himself to keep
that speculation to himself. There are times when he had actually considered
asking the blond out in more ways than one but who is he kidding? Craig always
deems himself a fucking loser- it'd be a miracle if he actually gets into
college. No, he doesn't have a stable future. Nothing is planned out for him
simply because his family doesn't give a fuck. He couldn't blame them though.
He's told them a thousand times already that he still doesn't have a particular
goal in his life and they eventually gave up asking him about it. If he doesn't
have a stable future, then it would be an embarrassment to date him and he
simply couldn't let Tweek have that even if he wanted to.
A halt is immediately dropped onto his thoughts when his phone started
vibrating in his pocket. With a grunt, he fishes it out to find a message from
Clyde.
Oh, what joy.
From: Clyde
 Message:
 bebe's coming over around 6 sooooo i'll b over by 11, yea? 8)
Honestly, how can that guy send a text message regarding when to meet up with
him for another make out session while thinking about the fact that his
girlfriend will be coming over? It almost as if he doesn't have shame at all.
No wait, scratch that. Clyde does have some shame in him. He did it admit
before, did he not? Craig scowls at the memory, recalling what happened at
Bebe's party where the brunet had coldly told him that it is 'absolutely
downright embarrassing to be seen wtih him'. Craig finds himself tightening his
hold of his phone, the familiar bitter resentment rising up within him. Right,
he's nothing but Clyde's dirty little secret and thinking about it know makes
him feel loathsome. What the hell has he been doing? He has thought of this a
lot of fucking times already and he still couldn't bring a stop to what they've
been doing. Clyde is cheating on Bebe with him and if that word somehow gets
out and circulates around the school, he will end up being the 'whore' of the
story. He won't be that guy who doesn't get notice by anybody anymore and he's
very much comfortable with that status of his right now so he most certainly
doesn't want to get rid of it.
I need to stop this before things get out of hand. And for some reason, he has
a feeling that things will get out of hand soon enough; especially after he
realized that Clyde had practically jerked off to the thought of him. That, and
the fact that he had also jerked off to his former best friend's sounds.
But then again, breaking things off with Clyde probably wouldn't even be much
of a loss on Clyde's part. He still has Bebe. He'll lose his make-out buddy but
he still has a girlfriend he could actually fuck. And Craig? He'll end up with
nothing. He'll resume back to his boring ass life: go to school, chat with
Tweek, head back home, update his blog then go to sleep. What a life. Clyde
will surely have the last laugh on that one.
Damn it. He can't have that asshole laughing at him in the end. But how the
hell is he supposed to avoid that?
"H-Here...!" Tweek arrives with the two cups of caffe medici, obliviously
interrupting Craig's train of thoughts. "Boss said I can have- ngh- fifteen
minutes."
Craig stares at his friend who has settled himself comfortably on the cushioned
seat across from him, innocently looking like the perfect solution to his
problem.
No. Tweek deserves someone better. I can't be fucking selfish.
Tweek blinks upon realizing that the taller teen has just been staring at him.
He furrows his brows in concern, fake lashes moving along his blinking emerald
eyes and gently brushing his undereyes. "Err, C-Craig...? You okay?"
Fuck it. "I have something to ask you."
===============================================================================
The sound of the doorbell renders the air just as soon as Clyde has stepped out
of his bedroom, freshly showered. Who could that be? His dad won't be home
until tomorrow morning and he's still expecting Bebe in an hour. Drying his
hair with a towel, the jock descends down the stairs and heads for the door;
not even bothering to check who it is in spite of his father's lectures before
pulling the door open to see his girlfriend beaming at him with a grocery bag
grasped in her hand.
"Babe..." Clyde blinks in surprise. "You're... You're here early. What's up?"
Bebe arches a brow at his surprise, a playful smirk twisting her lips. "What,
am I not allowed to see my boyfriend earlier than scheduled? Our practice ended
early and since your dad won't be home until tomorrow, I figured why not spend
an hour early with you?" She steps up to plant a kiss on the boy's lips, her
arms instinctively encircling around his neck and smilng against the kiss when
Clyde returned it. It is short-lived though for the blonde breaks it and
brushes past the brunet, striding over to where the kitchen can be located.
"I'm in the mood for some pasta right now so you don't mind me making us some
here for dinner, hmm?"
"Yeah, sure." Clyde closes and locks the door before trailing after his
girlfriend. "I thought some pizza would be good enough for you but it's good
that you decided to be creative today."
Bebe laughs while she starts fishing out the necessary kitchen tools, already
familiar with the Donovans' kitchen. Bebe is the only girl Clyde's dad has ever
approved of compared to the other girls the jock had dated and Clyde doesn't
even have to wonder why. Bebe Stevens is the epitome of perfection- beautiful,
smart, funny and open-minded. He recalls how he had dated her before back in
the third grade, then again in the fourth grade and she was in no way similar
to what she has become now. Perhaps some of Wendy's good traits have rubbed off
on her and now, Clyde couldn't even figure out what she sees him. Of course,
he's hot. He knows that. But other than that, he couldn't help but have this
twinge of insecurity of what she truly thinks of him. He's not exactly the
smartest guy in class nor is he the funniest one. Personality wise, he's rather
plain. He doesn't have any interesting stories or trivia to share like Kyle
does nor can he give her that sense of thrill that Christophe does. Bebe has
dated a good number of people who are notably better than him and while they
obviously don't have his looks, they still have Bebe's best interests.
Just as he had thought before, he could try and give her that sense of thrill
but recalling how she used to date Christophe before, could he really match up
to what he had given her? Hell, he even heard that that damn French prick
literally saved her from an infamously dangerous gang then had wild sex after.
How was he supposed to match up to that?
"-so she got a perm after her friends pressured her to. She looks different but
still really cute." Bebe's words cut into the jock's mind and he looks up to
see her already working on their dinner. He sighs somewhat dreamily and leans
his shoulder on the door frame, just admiring the blonde beauty before him who
doesn't seem to mind that she's not getting a response from her boyfriend since
she's so invested in her story. Really, what does she see in him?
He flinches in surprise when he suddenly felt his phone vibrating in his
pocket, also catching Bebe's attention.
"Hold on." He says as he fishes his phone out to see a message from Craig. He
frowns. Craig doesn't normally text him first unless he's decided to postpone
their session at a later time. But then again, the guy never really responded
to his text earlier.
"Who is it?" Clyde catches on the tinge of suspicion in his girlfriend's voice
but then disregards it, far too concerned with what Craig has to say.
"It's just dad. He wants me to check some documents in his office. It sounds
important so I should do it right away." He walks to Bebe whose back is turned
to him and plants a kiss on her cheek, giving her hip a soft squeeze. "Be back
in a minute, babe."
"Take your time~"
Again, what does she see in him?
Turning around, Clyde heads out of the kitchen in pursuit of stepping into his
father's office. He turns the light on and closes the door behind him before
unlocking his phone once again and checking the message.
From: Craig
Message:
lets stop what we're doing
What? What in the actual fuck?! Is this guy seriously thinking of breaking
things off with him through a fucking text message?! While Clyde has also been
intending to break things off with him to make things right with Bebe, he
didn't think that Craig will actually beat him to it. Shit, I am not going to
be the dumpee here. With a shaky sigh as an attempt of totally not losing his
shit, Clyde pushes in his response.
'what? why? 8O'
He leans back against the door and stares at his phone, waiting for Craig's
reply which normally takes less than a minute. He hopes the delay of his reply
earlier is nothing but a one-time thing. Unfortunately, such does not seem to
be the case because a few minutes have passed and his phone has not lit up to
life in pursuit of notifying him a new message. Is Craig intentionally ignoring
him? Making him wait this long for him? Who the hell does he think he is? You'd
have to be a fucking lunatic to dump The Donovan!
"Clyde?"
Clyde jumps a bit the second Bebe knocked on the door.
"Clyde...? You're taking an awful long time there. Everything okay?"
The brunet chews on his bottom lip and stares down at his phone for another
fleeting moment, giving Craig another chance of replying at this very minute.
But when nothing came up, he growls to himself before shoving his phone back
into the pocket of his jacket. Whatever the hell is going on in that loser's
mind, he will get to the bottom of it soon. With another shaky sigh, Clyde
musters up a smile and opens the door to see a concerned Bebe standing by the
doorway.
"Sorry," he grins sheepishly as he steps out and closes the door behind him.
"dad doesn't really keep his files organized so it wasn't easy looking for the
exact ones he's asking about. Anyways, is dinner ready?"
"Almost." Bebe smiles, her perfectly manicured fingers reaching to tug her
boyfriend's hand and pulling him along with her to the kitchen. "I was getting
lonely in there. And kinda scared too since it's too quiet."
Clyde laughs and wraps his arms around the blonde's waist, earning a squeak of
surprise from the girl. "Don't worry, dad won't be home until tomorrow so we
can make as much noise as we want all night."
***** Their Tears *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Wendy buries his face onto her pillow, striving for all what she's got to tune
out the incessant buzzing of her phone in view of the fact it's too far ahead
for somebody to be calling her granted that she typically wakes up around six
in the morning. Whoever it is calling her, they will have to wait until she
gets her much essential eight hours of slumber— even if that aggravating caller
is Stan. Most unfortunately for the valedictorian, a few more minutes have
glided by and it seems like the person decisively has no intention of dropping
the line at all. With an annoyed groan, Wendy rolls over to reach for her phone
from the bedside table. The second her phone ignites up to blind her with its
all too beaming screen, Wendy hisses in annoyance and doesn't bother to check
who the caller is before answering the call.
"Mmhello?" She manages to mumble out, intentionally making it sound like they
have just literally ruined her sleep.
The caller doesn't seem to notice. "Wendy! I'm freaking out right now."
And just like that, Wendy is up in a flash just by the sound of Bebe's frantic
hushed tone. She quickly sits up and rubs her eyes. "Why? What's wrong?" She
glances over at her clock to see that it's almost quarter to six and for some
unsurprising reason, she feels uncomfortable having to wake up a few minutes
before her usual hour.
Bebe doesn't say anything at first and this pushes Wendy further into immense
concern. "Bebe? What's—?"
"It's Clyde."
"What? What did Clyde do? Did he hurt you...?!"
"N-No! He would never do that!" Judging by how Bebe is evidently keeping the
volume of her voice in check, Wendy knows that the blonde must be in the jock's
place; presumably in his bathroom.
"Oh." She sighs in relief. "Then what's wrong?"
"It's... well... it's really been bothering me and I haven't gotten a wink of
sleep all night." Wendy frowns at her friend's confession, knowing fully well
that Bebe is just as dead set about her sleeping schedule as she is but for all
different reasons. Bebe claims that she needs her beauty sleep while Wendy
believes that she needs enough sleep to keep her exertive and functioning in
school. The dark-haired girl doesn't say anything, waiting for her friend to
respond and she thankfully does. "You know that we haven't been really having
sex lately, right? I mean, it's been weeks since we last had sex. Weeks! I
thought that maybe Clyde has just been stressed recently with the whole
basketball practice—"
"—but didn't he say that sex is his greatest stress release?" Wendy inquires
with a quirked brow.
"Exactly!" Bebe fails to control her voice at this but Wendy could tell that
she has flinched in realization for she has resumed back to her hushed tone.
"But last night... I was determined to go all the way with him. I even wore
that red lacy bra that he likes so much and he's told me twice last night that
we'll be having sex. His tone was oddly determined and I just figured that
perhaps he's also caught on the fact that we haven't done it for a while. After
dinner, we started making out on the way to his bedroom. We got to his bed but
before I could even get my shirt off, he suddenly told me that he's
tired. Tired of what?! He didn't have basketball practice yesterday and he
didn't help much in making our dinner!"
That is odd, Wendy believes. As unfortunate as it is for her, Bebe always tells
her the tales of her incredible sex life with Clyde— like how the guy is always
keen on concentrating on her before prioritizing himself. He is always eager to
please which is quite rare to find in guys these days. She sometimes has to
remind Stan that girls need orgasm too. Clyde is definitely a keeper and is
never embarrassed to present his genuine love for Bebe even if it embarrasses
the blonde. So now, hearing her best friend's story of the events last night,
Wendy is finding it all too hard to believe. Clyde is head over heels for Bebe!
For heaven's sake, he got ridiculously possessive when he saw her giving Bebe a
goodbye kiss on the cheek.
"Maybe he has a headache?" Wendy tries.
"He seemed perfectly okay before that." Bebe releases an exhausted sigh. "I'm
just... ugh, I'm just so confused right now. You don't think... You don't think
he's getting tired of me, do you?"
"No!" Wendy shakes her head in spite of only communicating with her best friend
through the phone. "I'm sure he has his reasons. I believe the most rational
thing to do is to talk to him about it."
"Oh, yeah, because a girl asking for sex is so acceptable in modern day's
society." Bebe scoffs in derision and Wendy purses her lips at that.
"You know Clyde doesn't think like that. Remember how someone told him about
all the guys you've slept with when you started dating him and you were so
scared that he was going to leave you because he doesn't want to be seen as the
guy who's dating a slut?" Bebe remains silent at the recollection so Wendy
continues. "He told you that everyone has a past they want to forget. All that
matters is that you love him and he loves you. He even snapped at the girls you
two overheard calling you all different kinds of names. You know how much he
despises the mere thought of slut-shaming. You've cried for days because of
your reputation and you even tried to break up with him to save him the
embarrassment of being seen with you but what did he do? He stayed by your
side. I doubt he's getting tired of you, Bebe and I'm certain he never will.
Maybe he's just having some personal issues lately which is why you need to
talk to him about this. Let him know that you're willing to support him with
whatever it is he's going through like he did to you."
She hears Bebe sigh from the other line and Wendy immediately knows that she
has convinced the blonde. "All right," Bebe says. "I'll talk to him. You're
right. He loves me. He's proven that to me a lot of times now. I feel so bad
thinking that he's..."
Wendy blinks, somehow knowing where her friend's assumption is going but she
wants to make sure. "He's what?"
"...cheating on me."
Wendy couldn't blame her. There is a ridiculous record of guys at school who
have cheated on their girlfriends after all but Clyde's one of the few who's
never done so. Based on what she heard, the jock has even tried talking a few
of the guys out of the idea of cheating on their partners. "I doubt it, Bebe.
Don't worry."
"Right. Thanks, Wendy..."
===============================================================================
Clyde isn't liking this one bit. He hates the undeniable fact that Craig has
been occupying his thoughts since last night right up to the point that he
couldn't get himself in the mood to sleep with Bebe. Guilt clenches his throat
upon recalling the surprise and disappointment that had dawned upon his
girlfriend's gorgeous face when he lied that he was tired. She must have been
looking forward to it considering they've never had sex in a long while but the
most disturbing thing about that is that up until now, he's not longing for
those intimate touches with her. Before, the mere brushing of her lips against
his was enough to turn him into a giddy little fanboy but now, things are
different. Instead, he's been thinking about someone else's touches. The rough
squeezes on his hips, the desperate messing of his hair, the impatient movement
of his tongue against his— Craig's touches are nothing similar to Bebe's
careful ones. With Craig, Clyde somehow feels good about himself and not in a
high-handed way but in a way where he feels appreciated and desperately
desired. Whenever he kisses Craig, it always seems like they can never have
enough time for each other because the taller male's flow is always rough and
impatient but still mindful at the same time. It's almost as though he's
straying from the motive of breaking the kiss for it could push them back to
the reality of fact that what they're doing is wrong.
"Donovan," Clyde blinks his thoughts away upon realizing that the teacher has
just called for his attention. "since you seem to find the back of Tucker's
head far more interesting than my lesson, then I am assuming you've already
perfected the equation and I suggest you answer the problem on the board."
Snickers render the air at the teacher's statement along with a muttered
'faggot' from Cartman to which Clyde could only roll his eyes at, trying his
very best to ignore the crimson heat dusting his cheeks. Craig doesn't seem to
react though, his head still lowered down to whatever the hell he's scribbling
on his notebook. Clyde clears his throat a tad bit nervously before standing up
and taking the piece of chalk the teacher has offered to him, his eyes fixated
on the board.
Fuck Math.
"Problem, Mr. Donovan?" The teacher quirks his brow at the jock's direction.
"Erm…" Clyde offers him a sheepish grin while scratching the back of his neck.
"Yeah, I dunno the answer. Sorry sir, I promise I'll listen this time."
The teacher gives him a warning look for a fleeting moment but sighs eventually
and takes the piece of chalk from the young student. "Kids these days…" He
mutters before resuming the lesson, letting Clyde return back to his seat. Once
Clyde finally reaches his seat, he catches Bebe giving him a confused and
worried look but he could only grant her a smile and a casual wave of his hand
just to insinuate that he's okay. She doesn't seem too impressed but focuses
back on the lesson much to his relief. Clyde sighs and runs his fingers through
his chestnut-hued locks, eyes fixated on the board but his mind still far from
what is being taught to them. Craig has still not responded to any of his text
messages at all, as if he plans on really breaking things up with him without
even a goddamn explanation. What the fuck is that all about? Confronting him
tonight at his house would be evidently futile because he wouldn't even be sure
if Craig would be home or if he'd actually unlock the window for him.
Chewing on his bottom lip, Clyde decides to rip a page from his notebook and
starts scribbling away.
'Meet me at the back of the school after class. Don't even think of getting
yourself out of this, you asshole.'
He couldn't be caught slipping this in Craig's locker though. He needs to ask
someone to do this for him— someone he could trust. Kyle and Kenny are
definitely off the list because they wouldn't shut themselves up from asking
too many questions. Cartman's a big no too and Stan is Wendy's boyfriend; no
doubt he'd tell Wendy about this and Wendy will certainly blab this to Bebe.
Token's off the list too since he's one of the least people who should know
about what's going on between his two childhood friends. Tweek blurts out
secrets a lot and Butters is a fucking blabbermouth so they can't also can't be
trusted.
"Psst, C-Clyde. Can I borrow your e-e-e-erayyy…. e-eraaaayyy… your errayyy… Can
I b-borrow your eraser?" Jimmy leans in to interrupt his thoughts with a soft
whisper.
Oh, what the hell.
===============================================================================
"You've been awfully quiet." Craig notices as he reaches up to open his locker
and shove his books in.
"Argh!" Comes Tweek's foreseen response as though he had been accused of
something so vile. He brings his shaking fingers up to his own locker, finding
it hard to get the combination right before finally managing to do so. "I'm so
sorry! I'm just having a hard time—ngh— believing that you wanted to go out
with me!"
Craig takes notice of how Tweek's naturally ear-piercing voice has caught some
of the students' attention around them but he pays them no heed. After all,
everybody has been expecting this to happen sooner or later just as Bebe had
claimed. He just didn't like the thought of being the center of attention but
deciding to date Tweek who tends to talk too loud without meaning to, he knows
that they'll be earning a lot of glances whether he likes it or not. He fights
back a grimace at the number of times their classmates insisted him to ask
Tweek out, with Clyde being part of the list though it's mostly to conform to
his gang. Speaking of the brunet, what the hell was he thinking giving him long
looks in the hallway and in the classroom? If someone eventually catches on to
his looks, they'll figure something is up and the last thing Craig wants right
now is to be seen as a fucking home wrecker.
It's true that the way he had broken things off with him is certainly the kind
of thing an asshole would do but Craig has figured that there's no other better
way to settle it. If he did it face to face, chances are Clyde will be able to
persuade him into staying with his natural charm and Craig is more than certain
that he constantly uses that to get out of arguments with Bebe. Craig doesn't
even know why he falls for that sick trap— every time Clyde would just so much
as show that boyish smile of his and give him a quick peck on the lips, every
concern Craig has gets thrown off the window. Clyde can be very manipulative
and Craig couldn't tell if he's doing it on purpose or not.
"Why's that so hard to believe?" He sighs as he arranges his books in an
alphabetical manner. "Everyone's been telling us to hook up for these past few
months anyway."
Tweek goes surprisingly quiet for a few seconds before uttering his response.
"Yes but… is that the reason why you— gyah!"
Craig whips his attention on the trembling blond to see his wide emerald-tinted
eyes looking down in horror at a note that has fallen down on the floor the
second he opened his locker.
"Oh Jesus!" The blond screeches in fear. "W-What the hell is that?! I don't
remember leaving a piece of paper inside! Oh God, does somebody know the
combination to my l-locker?!"
"Someone probably slipped it inside your locker for you." Craig shakes his head
while bending down to pick the note up and turning it around to be welcomed by
the sight of terrible handwriting. It looks familiar but he couldn't put a
finger on it. "Meet me at the back of the school after class. Don't even think
of getting yourself out of this, you asshole." He reads it out loud with a
suspicious quirked brow. He directs his gaze on his friend who half-screams in
response to his unforeseen glance. Craig studies him for a second but before
Tweek could ask, he speaks up. "Did you piss someone off earlier?" It seems
unlikely because Tweek is the type who always tries his very best to keep
himself out of trouble. But then again, one can never be too sure.
"I don't know!" Tweek rakes his fingers through his wild blond tendrils,
messing it up even further. "Maybe someone just wants to beat me up! I know I'm
very annoying and—agh! What do I do?!"
Craig clenches his jaw as he studies the note again. Whoever it is that Tweek
had pissed off, they should know better than to pick a fight with him. While
it's true that the blond had done some boxing lessons back when they were kids
and based on personal experience, Craig knows that Tweek can definitely land a
punch, but things are different now. Tweek doesn't like getting into fights
anymore. He easily freaks out when someone so much as raise a hand near him.
Challenging him to a brawl would be the lowest of decisions and Craig is
determined to get that through this bastard's thick skull. He crumples the
paper into a ball before tossing it over to the nearest trash can with flawless
aim, earning another surprised yelp from his friend who obviously thought that
it was going to be thrown at him.
"Come on," Craig tells him as he closes his locker. "let's check who this
bastard is."
===============================================================================
'Jimmy better not screw this up.'
Clyde runs his digits through his brown locks; his thumb dipped into the pocket
of his jeans with his back leaned against the wall. He's rather relieved that
the Goth Kids don't hang around here that too often anymore or otherwise, he
wouldn't be able to think of a better discreet location to confront Craig. He
glances down at his watch once again even though four minutes have only passed
since their scheduled hour of encounter. Craig is never a quick walker so Clyde
expects him to arrive after ten more minutes. He doesn't mind the wait though.
Just as long as he gets some needed information as to why that bastard suddenly
wants to break things off with him without an explanation, then it'd be worth
the wait.
What if he doesn't come though? What if he knows the note is from him so he
decides not to show up at all? Craig has been avoiding him so of course he
wouldn't show up.
Clyde frowns as he kicks his boot restlessly on the ground. No, Craig wouldn't
ditch him even under these circumstances. He had made that perfectly clear
before and Clyde doubts that he will make changes even if things have changed
drastically between them.
"Clyde, all your friends are here. As the birthday boy, you should play with
them." The ten-year-old Clyde refused to leave the entrance of Casa Bonita in
spite of his mother's persistence of going back to the party, his eyes fixated
on the gates in hope to see the familiar blue car of the Tuckers. He shifted a
bit on the bottom step of the stairs where he was seated on but didn't grant
his mother a glance.
"I'll be there in five minutes, mom." He finally responded.
His mother sighed. "Clyde, you said that ten minutes ago. Craig will get here
soon. Maybe he and his dad are just stuck in traffic."
"I know they are." Clyde insisted with a deep shaky breath. "Craig would never
ditch me… especially on my birthday. He got detention earlier and his dad has
always been a slow driver."
He felt his mother give his shoulder a comforting squeeze. "All right, I'll
check up on you in a few minutes. If Craig hasn't arrived by then, you will go
back to the party, all right? Bebe and the others are looking for you."
Clyde could only nod his head, not even caring that his mother just had to
intentionally single Bebe out among the kids. She had always been fond of the
blonde and had constantly told him about how nice it would be if he would start
dating her once they hit high school. Bebe's really nice… but he had dated her
before and after finding out that she had only used him for free shoes, he
doubted that he'd get back with her. Girls are gross anyway.
He sighed as he leaned his chin on his palm. He could hear his party going very
well but he couldn't be bothered by the fact that he was missing a lot. It
wouldn't be as fun without Craig after all. He always liked the guy's reactions
to all the speculations they would chance upon— his snarky comments always
eliciting a laugh from the brunet. What if he really had no intention of coming
though? What if he eventually decided that Casa Bonita was a lame place to
celebrate his birthday at? Craig never really commented on it when Clyde told
him all about his mother's plans for his birthday. Maybe Craig was just too
cool for this. Maybe he just now realized how high maintenance of a friend he
was, seeing as Clyde cried about almost everything. Burning concern clasped the
young boy's lungs as he felt the corners of his eyes started to sting, knowing
fully well that his water works were about to pour out.
But before he could get to that supposedly inevitable part, a figure arrived at
the gates and Clyde immediately perked up with wide eyes. Arriving by the gates
with heavy heaving breaths and cold sweat marking his face was Craig who had
collapsed to the ground once he finally reached his destination.
"Craig!" Clyde cried out, already up on his feet and rushing to his best
friend's side. He knelt down beside the taller boy, taking his chullo hat off
and wiping his sweat off with the cuff of his jacket. "W-What are you doing
running all the way here?! Where's your dad?!"
Craig didn't say anything at first for he was too busy catching his breath,
managing to find the strength to sit up and push Clyde's hand away from his
dampened fringes. "I… I was getting impatient." He finally mustered out. "Dad
was taking too long to… to get to school and pick me up… I don't even know what
the hell's taking him so long but what I know is that you'd be sitting outside,
waiting for me no matter how long it takes." And with that, he grinned and
playfully flicked his friend's forehead. "And I was right, you idiot. Don't
fucking miss your party for me, dude."
At this point, Clyde still ended up exhibiting his water works. "Y-You ran all
the way here… for me…" Ugly sobs began to escape his lips as he let his tears
run down his cheeks, not even bothering to wipe them off. "W-What were you
thinking…! You could have gotten run over or… or… or die out of exhaustion!
Craaaiiig!" And with that, he enveloped his arms around the lanky boy who
already expected it. He wailed some more and wiped his face on Craig's shoulder
but Craig didn't even grimace at the gross gesture. Instead, he just patted
Clyde's back with a sigh.
"You big baby." He muttered though there was trace of affection in it, a tone
that was only reserved for Clyde and Clyde alone. "I'd rather get run over than
make you believe that I would ever settle on the decision of ditching you."
"Don't say that! I don't want you to get run over!" Clyde pulled away to look
at his best friend, his face still stained with tears and snot. Clyde really
was an ugly crier but Craig just sighed and wiped his face with his own sleeve,
his lips twitching a bit to a really small smile. Clyde sobbed and held onto
his wrist, leaning his cheek into his friend's hand to which he found it to be
very comforting. He was this close to giving up and thinking that Craig had
really abandoned him on his birthday. There mere thought of it scared the shit
out of him. He couldn't imagine a life without Craig—a life without someone to
constantly remind him that it's okay to cry no matter how many people had told
him that boys don't cry, a life without someone who knows how to make him laugh
without trying too hard, a life without someone who knows him better than he
does.
A life without Craig would be unbearable for him.
"Ack—! C-Clyde?!"
Clyde quickly looks up from the ground after his fleeting moment of
recollection to be granted by the sight of Tweek and Craig approaching him just
on the right time he had expected. Though he didn't think Craig would bring
Tweek along unless the blond is the only one who knows what's going on between
them. That must be the case then. He wouldn't have brought Tweek with him it if
it isn't. Clyde somehow finds himself getting pissed off at that. They both
have decided not to tell anyone about them, even to the people they're closest
to but evidently, Tweek appears to be an exception to that rule. What, so he's
Craig's best friend now? Clyde manages to tuck away the look of confusion that
has threatened to dawn upon his features as he finally moves away from the wall
and slips his hands into the pockets of his jacket— his eyes solely focused on
his former best friend even though it's Tweek who has taken the first step
towards him.
"C-Clyde…?" Tweek waves his hand a bit. "Is there something wro—"
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Clyde ignores him as he steps up to
Craig, brushing past Tweek. "What makes you think you can just do that so
easily?"
Craig maintains his signature stoic look while eyeing Clyde down. He has
already caught on the fact that Clyde must have accidentally slipped the note
into Tweek's locker instead of his which isn't much of a shock. A part of him
is somehow relieved that nobody's picking a fight with Tweek but a part of him
is also pissed that he had to deal with this today. He had assumed that Clyde
will eventually just drop it after a number of unanswered text messages but
then he remembered that this was Clyde fucking Dononvan and he doesn't let
things go easily. His determination of stealing the Stick of Truth back when
they were kids and Cartman had kicked him out of the game proved that. He
disregards Clyde for a second to look at Tweek who looks so concerned; he's
chewing on his bottom lip. "Tweek, can you just wait by the gate?"
"B-But what about you—"
"Tweek, just get lost already." Clyde snaps, already on the brink of his
patience. Tweek makes a quick scream before scampering off.
Craig scowls at Clyde's tone. "You fucking know better than to raise your voice
at him, Clyde." He says with a tone that is so dangerously dark, most people
would have cowered down but not Clyde. Even though he has recognized that tone,
he refuses to tread his words carefully. He does feel bad for snapping at Tweek
since Tweek did nothing wrong and he had never at all raised his voice at him
but he couldn't help himself. Seeing him with Craig… something just clicked
inside him.
"Don't change the damn subject, Craig." He snaps though with less venom this
time. "This isn't about Tweek. This is about us."
"There was no 'us' to begin with." Craig carries on with his scowl. "If you're
getting your panties in a bunch just because I was the first one to break
things off with you, then fine. Let's make out one last time then you can break
things off with me. Happy?"
Craig's mocking him. The tone may not insinuate it but Clyde can certainly
tell. It just pisses him off further that Craig knows exactly why he's angry
but now that he's thought about it, there is still another reason why he's this
pent up but he couldn't figure it out what it is. Being the dumpee is a huge
part of it but there is something else. "That's not the point!" He fails to
refrain himself from yelling, wanting to say that Craig's wrong even though his
words are spot on.
"What is it then?" Craig sounds impatient, as if he has better things to do.
Clyde stares at him for a moment while his mind reels in for another good
reason why he's pissed but he comes out empty. There is another reason but what
the fuck is it? He growls in frustration as he turns away from the taller male,
running his fingers through his hair once again in habit of disgruntlement. He
shouldn't be losing his cool right now. While Craig seems equally pissed at
him, he has still managed to look so calm and collected while Clyde, on the
other hand, has raised his voice twice already. He takes a deep breath and
finally faces who he used to refer to as his best friend, his posture finally
calm but his eyes still fired up with immense infuriation.
"Why are you breaking things off with me?" He finally asks in a controlled
tone.
Craig watches him with a hard gaze and a frown but eventually looks off to the
side, his hands dug in deep to the pockets of his jacket. "It's going to happen
sooner or later."
"Not this soon."
"When, then?" Craig shoots him a sharp look, his lips twisting to a scowl once
again. "Tell me, Clyde. When the hell do you think we'll finally stop making a
fool of each other? Do I have to wait until you start making lame excuses as to
why you couldn't make it? Do I have to eventually know that you'll stop coming
by without the effort of making up an excuse anymore? Do I have to sit and
watch us drift apart again?" His voice has struggled at one point in the midst
of his words and Clyde could see his shoulders shaking in what he couldn't be
certain of. "Tell me, Clyde. How the fuck do you want us to end this shit?"
Clyde stares at him with a slight look of surprise. He has never seen Craig
like this. "Craig, what are you—"
"You left me!" Craig finally snaps and Clyde flinches at the sudden tone. "You
fucking abandoned me! You figured that I was dragging you down from having a
social life! You didn't even bother to talk to me about how you don't want us
to be friends anymore! You could have at least given me some kind of closure
instead of making me wait for you every day! Every fucking day! I have wasted
my time thinking that you will eventually realize that you haven't hung out
with me a-and… and—" A sob interrupts his words as Craig quickly turns away,
mentally cursing himself for letting his emotions get to him. He angrily wipes
his tears away but still refuses to look at Clyde, not even knowing what kind
of look he's giving him. Pity? Disgust? Either way, it gives Craig a twist in
the stomach.
"…and now, you have the nerve to just… use me… to let me crawl back to your
life as a shameful secret." He says through broken sobs, gritting his teeth as
he wills himself to stop crying because it's just downright embarrassing. This
isn't the first time he has cried in front of Clyde but it has always been
regarded as a rare occurrence. In fact, he has only cried three times: when Red
Racer got cancelled, when Stripe passed away, and when he eventually realized
that Clyde was never coming back—though he was by himself when he cried for the
third time. He shouldn't even be this affected anymore. He has grown accustomed
to being abandoned after all. The people in his life always come and go and
Clyde and his biological father are the perfect example for that. "I shouldn't
have fallen for it… I should have known better than to actually hope that I'd…
I'd be good enough to be someone important to you again."
He still refuses to look at Clyde. Instead, he finally turns away and wipes his
tears for the last time.
"Just fuck off, Clyde."
And with that, he walks away while Clyde stays rooted on his spot. Just as he
reaches the side of the building, he finds Tweek standing there while biting on
the nail of his thumb. The blond looks up at him with so much concern but Craig
doesn't say anything, knowing that Tweek must have heard everything but won't 
Chapter End Notes
     Is it bad that I hate Clyde in this chapter? Anyways, I've decided to
     write out the development between the two side pairings: Clybe and
     Creek, so which one would you prefer to see first on the next
     chapter? All right, if you have, like questions, you can go and
     bother me on my tumblr: mukamikou
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