Chapter Text
The day had been long and arduous for Tweek Tweak, who now had to lift sacks of flour in the back storage of his self-owned coffee house. The shipment had arrived earlier in the morning, but Tweek was only just moving the sacks of flour after closing time. This all started right after he had signed off for the shipment, when one of his employees came asking for help with one of the espresso machines. Figuring that it was probably important that he helped, as it was the morning rush, Tweek dropped everything he was doing in order to help Sarah fix the espresso machine.
He had rolled up his sleeves, revealing all the scars from coffee and milk steamer burns, and began to take the machine apart. He eventually figured out the problem; a stray coffee bean lodged in the water dispenser. How a whole coffee bean had gotten into the espresso machine was completely beyond Tweek. Now with the problem fixed he bid Sarah a quick farewell and rushed back into the storage to work on loading the flour into the shop. It was at this moment he realized that the air was filled with the smell of something… burning. The cinnamon rolls he put into the oven this morning! He had been too busy paying attention to the shipment and the crisis in the front of the store to remember that he needed to take the cinnamon rolls out of the oven.
He began to panic as thoughts of the whole shop burning down rushed through his head. In his flustered state, Tweek forgot to put on oven mitts when he went to grab the hot pan out of the oven. It was already too late because he had pulled the pan full of charred looking hockey pucks out of the oven. Upon the realization of excruciating pain going through his hands, he dropped the pan and screamed out in pain. Sarah who had heard the commotion from the front of the store, ran into the back and began to try calming Tweek down. She led him to the sink on the other side of the room and put his hands under running lukewarm water. “Stay here, Tweek, I’m going to get someone to take you to the ER,” she shushed the tangled blonde-haired boy.
Tweek, regardless of what Sarah had just said, could not stay calm in this exact moment. He began to twitch and shake from all the stress he had just gone through. Instant regret washed over him the second he reached a burned hand into his messy blonde curls to tug at them. He screamed at the sensation of a blister popping as a million thoughts rushed through his head at once. What if I need to get skin grafts? What if I don’t have the money to pay for skin grafts? AGHHH I’m going to go bankrupt and lose the shop and disappoint my parents and and and--
Tweek’s train of thought was suddenly broken by Sarah coming back into the storage room with a tall charcoal-haired man. His face was framed by the strings of the blue and yellow chullo on his head. Standing at about 6’5”, the man was well dressed and incredibly handsome. Tweek guessed his age to be about his own, so perhaps 22 years old. This man must have been new to town as this was a small place and everyone knew just about everyone. “Tweek,” Sarah began, “this kind man was in here ordering a cup of coffee when I had to run back here to check on you. He heard about our conundrum and has offered to take you to the ER while I watch the shop for you.”
“Th-Thanks, Sarah,” Tweek said gently removing his hands from underneath the water. Tweek patted his hands dry and finally observed the damage. His hands and fingers were covered in blisters and red marks, but from what he could tell his skin hadn’t seared off and he wouldn’t have to declare bankruptcy like he had originally thought. He untied the apron that he had been wearing and threw it on a hook by the oven. “I-I don’t know how long we’ll be,” Tweek twitched, shakily handing over the keys to the shop to Sarah, “if it’s too late just close the shop.” “Are you ready to go now,” Tweek met the soft jade green gaze of the taller man. His voice had a nasally quality that Tweek had never heard in someone’s speaking before. “Uh- y-yeah sure,” Tweek practically spat out in his typical panicky manner. This man was incredibly attractive, and it was driving Tweek absolutely insane.
The lanky, dark-haired man lead him outside in the direction of his car, and that was when Tweek could definitely tell he wasn’t from around here. Parked in the only electric charging station in town, by Tweek’s own coffee shop, was a cherry red Tesla model X. He couldn’t help but notice the placement of a NASA bumper sticker decorating the back of it, a recycle symbol, and a peace sign earth sticker surrounded by guinea pigs of varying breeds and colors with the clear caption “pigs on earth”. Tweek was startled by the taller man opening the passenger side door for him and gesturing for him to take a seat on the white leather interior. He gingerly seated himself and watched as the man closed the door for him. The second he got into the car he buckled himself in, threw the car into gear, and began heading to the ER.
After a short period of silence, the man in the driver’s seat spoke. “The name’s Craig Tucker,” he began, “I just blew into town this month with the hope that stargazing here would be better than the big city.” He was definitely looking in the right place. South Park was practically in the middle of nowhere with almost no light pollution in sight. “Tweek Tweak,” Tweek responded without a stutter, “Thanks for driving me to the ER, Craig.” “It’s no problem, I don’t really have anything to do until later tonight,” Craig replied humbly. “What’s going on t-tonight?” Tweek questioned, trying to take his attention off his hand screaming in pain. “Oh, I have work tonight,” the green-eyed boy answered, “I work out in the old astronomy tower by Stark’s Pond.”
Tweek knows of it, but did not think it had been opened in years. He eventually remembered that he had read a local newspaper article about the reopening of the astronomy tower by an astronomer who graduated from the University of Denver. “I remember reading about you in the local paper. Didn’t you double major in Astronomy and Biological science at the University of Denver?” Craig didn’t seem the least bit excited that someone knew of his alma mater, but then again Craig hadn’t show much of any emotion since Tweek first met him. “Yeah,” he replied blankly. Tweek didn’t seem to get the hint, “With your degrees, I’d almost think that you could be an astronaut.” “I gave up on that dream a long time ago,” Craig frowned, finally showing the first bit of emotion Tweek had ever seen from him. “Why would you give up? From what I’ve read y-you’re brilliant!” Tweek did not understand why anyone would ever give up on their dream.
“NASA guidelines are strict, I’m an inch too tall to be an astronaut, plus I never went into the air force or the navy which would make me more desirable,” Craig sighed in disappointment again. “What?! Why would they restrict people based on their height?!” Tweek barely knew Craig, but something about him made Tweek want to defend him. “A lot of things related to being able to fit in the vehicles,” it was clear that Craig no longer wanted to talk about this. He happened to save himself from further questioning from Tweek by finally pulling into the parking lot of Hells Pass Hospital by the emergency room entrance. Craig walked Tweek into the emergency room as he was for certain the poor guy didn’t have a ride back to the coffee shop.
Waiting at the counter reading an issue of Cosmopolitan was a woman with thick curly blonde hair. “H-hey Bebe,” Tweek twitched, “I burnt myself again, but this time on a hot pan from the oven.” The girl who went by Bebe removed her eyes from the article “7 Sex Positions Pretty Much Guaranteed to Help You Orgasm”. “Oh Tweek, what are we gonna do with you,” she replied showing not quite as much concern as Craig would have expected for Tweek’s injury. It did not take long for Craig to deduce that Tweek is here pretty often. Suddenly Bebe’s eyes shifted to meet Craig’s, he saw a spark catch in them as she whipped her head to look back at Tweek. “Damn, Tweek, I didn’t know you liked ‘em tall, dark, and handsome.” Tweek turned a furious red at Bebe’s comment.
“N-no! Bebe it’s not like that! I barely even know him! Hejustagreed to bring me to the ER- nghh!” Tweek practically screeched his response from the embarrassment he was currently experiencing. Bebe merely winked at him as she went to open his chart on the desktop in front of her. “Dr. Brookhaven will be with you in just a few minutes,” Bebe smiled at the two gesturing for Tweek and Craig to go and sit in the mostly empty waiting room. The earlier hours of the morning at the ER were almost never busy in South Park, so it did not take very long for Tweek to leave Craig waiting for him. Craig could not help but think that Bebe was kind of crazy. What made her think that Tweek was romantically involved with him? He decided to dismiss it because if there is one thing that Craig has learned after living for a month in this town, it’s that everyone is absolutely bat shit crazy.
Besides why should he care, it’s not as though he found Tweek that attractive… Did he? No, he’s not gay even though he experimented a bunch in college. He remembered when he was first dragged to the back of the coffee shop by Sarah. He was greeted by the sight of a short blonde-haired boy with bobby pins in his hair to tame his tangled and curly mane. His crystal blue eyes had been red and puffy from crying due to the pain in his hands. A light dusting of freckles were dotted across his skin, probably from many summers spent outside in his early childhood. When he looked over to Sarah, his mouth slightly agape from his trembling pink lips, Craig noted the tiny tooth gap he had between his two front teeth. He was broken away from his thoughts when his vision was engulfed by the freckled boy flailing in front of him with his now bandaged hands. Fuck he might be gay.