Chapter Text
tick.. tick.. tick.. the coffee shop was pretty silent besides the constant clock chime and whirring machines. Tweek was in the coffee shop, waiting for someone. They had been texting non-stop over the past couple days, very excited to see one another. It had been years.
Tweek then sees the one person he had been wanting to see for so long, Craig. His hair: soft. his eyes: so so deep. His heart: filled with the love of the past. He left Tweek’s heart empty after Tweek moved away. But finally able to see eachother again, Tweek’s heart grew bigger than ever.
“Craig!!” He ran up to him, with his arms wide. Craig accepted the hug, they were both so happy to meet once again.
They eventually broke, Tweek had tears in his eyes and Craig had a huge grin.
“I missed you so bad.” Craig started.
“You have no idea.” Tweek said, wiping tears from his green, doe-eyes.
He didn’t remember Craig’s arms being so.. skinny. In fact, Craig looked a lot different, of course they both did but Craig looked more different. Craig had a nose piercing and his hair was all messy, it was kinda cute actually. His clothes really expressed his personality, NASA shirt and all. He still wore a blue jacket. It wasn’t his outfit that surprised Tweek though. Craig was small, too small. It almost made him look unrecognizable. The gap between his legs were so far apart, tweek was sure he could wrap his fingers around Craig’s thigh and still have room. His clothes were baggy but you could tell by his legs and hands and neck that he was very malnourished. It was scary. He loves Craig, and always will. He wants to make sure he’s okay but he can’t really bring it up without being offensive. It’s not like Tweek ever saw anybody’s body as a bad thing. Tweek was considered plus size to most and he was so very happy in his body, he didn’t see anything wrong with it. He doesn’t see anything wrong with anyone’s body. But.. Craig was different. He wasn’t just skinny, he was half-dead.
“So, are we here to get coffee or just stare at each other?” Craig said, with the usual sarcasm that he knew Tweek loved.
“Oh! Right! Sorry..” Tweek immediately apologized.
“No babe, it’s okay. We can order now.”
Babe. It had been so long since he had been called that in person, he missed it so much he was starting to tear up again. Tweek was finally processing that this was real, he was actually with his boyfriend, his soulmate.
“Yeah i'll have a plain black coffee and.. Tweek what do you want?” Craig looked over at his boyfriend, waiting for a response.
“Oh! AH- i’ll h-have a um- GAH!” It was too much pressure, it felt like the person taking their order was staring directly into Tweek’s eyes with pure annoyance.
“It’s okay Tweek, take your time. Or if it would make you feel better, I can get you the coffee you used to always order. If you still like that coffee, of course.” Craig chimed in, knowing just how to help him.
“Yes! I do! Thank you!”
“Alright, go find somewhere for us to sit.”
Tweek takes a deep breath then moves on to find a smallish table.
‘Ah! Perfect.’ He sits down at a round table, a curved couch/booth thing on one side and a chair on the other. He has some chronic pain, so he sits on the couch.
“Alright, hun. Our drinks should come out in a bit.” Craig had walked back over to Tweek without him noticing and sat down on the chair across from him
“AH-!”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”
“It’s- aggh- it’s okay.” He gave Craig a small smile, hoping it showed he was being genuine.
“I’m just so overwhelmed and happy to see you.” Tweek added.
“Me too.” Craig said, staring awkwardly at the floor. He hated eye contact, even with the people he loved.
They sit on a heavy silence for a bit before Tweek decided to bring up what had been on his mind since he looked at Craig.
“So, umm.. you look-GAH different..”
“Oh. Is that a bad different? or.. or a good different?”
“Just different.” Tweek was still tweaking in his seat, but decided to stay silent as he had an idea of what could have made Craig so skeleton-like. He didn’t want to think about it, because it wasn’t his business. Though, the silence didn’t stop his mind from racing: ‘But-but what if he’s putting himself in danger?! What if he's not getting help?! Oh god he’s so skinny! That can’t be okay!! I need to help him.’
“Are you talking about my piercings.. or my weight..?” Craig finally chimed in, seemingly annoyed.. or embarrassed? It was a very hard expression to read.
“Your- Your weight. GAH- Im sorry! That was really rude of me to bring up but, you just look so sick now.. I’m worried.”
Craig almost smiled at that.. weird he doesn’t smile easily yet somehow, just hearing that somebody noticed how deathly skinny it was, even though he knew it was bad, it made him feel so, so proud.
“I’m fine Tweek.” He said in his always monotone voice.
“You don’t have to keep anything from me, I would never judge.”
Craig wasn’t afraid he would judge, he was afraid he would make him stop.
“I just.. it feels like we haven’t seen each other in so long.. you know it’s hard for me to trust people. I’m sorry, I know we’ve known eachother since we were kids. I'm just not comfortable telling you everything yet.” That was good, Craig was being a bit vulnerable. Telling Tweek how he really feels, that’s a start.
“Hey, it’s okay. Nobody’s forcing you to! But if things get bad, tell me. Whatever it is. I will always be there for you, ready to help.”
Craig wanted to cry. He wouldn’t say his parents were neglectful or abusive but they were borderline neglectful, no matter how much he wouldn’t believe it. They would never take him to the doctor and they were always ignorant to his feelings. He always tried to reach out, but he was ignored. Whenever he wasn’t ignored, it was because he did something wrong. His dad was always arguing with him. It felt like he wasn’t really loved, it felt like nobody cared except for Tweek. So when tweek left, things just kept getting worse. When he flipped people off, it was personal.
“Thank you. I love you.”
He had been waiting for those three words. “ I love you too, Craig.”
>>>>>><<<<<
“ORDER FOR CRAIG!”
“Oh that’s me. I’ll go get our coffee.” Craig got up from the table and up to the counter, grabbing the two caffeine-filled drinks. He set the cups on the table.
“Black? Since when did you like black coffee? Its way too bitter for me.” Tweek chirped in. Comfort finally filling the air.
“Oh. Just recently, I guess.”
“Hm, edgy but okay.”
“Edgy?! Hey! I’m not edgy!” Craig got his edge back, arguing back at his boyfriend.
“Yeah, yeah says Mr.Septum Ring.” He pointed at Craig’s nose.
“Ughhhh”
Tweek laughed.
“Hm, I’m hungry! Do you wanna go for actual breakfast after this?”
Craig knew what he was doing. But he didn’t say anything because what if Tweek actually was just hungry and Craig was being selfish? But if he said yes, he would break his fasting streak.
Craig sat his warm coffee cup on the table with his two hands and looked to the floor before talking. “uh-“ why was he choking up? Its not that big of a deal! He was really just digging his own grave.
“Sure. Where do you wanna go? I'll pay.”
‘What?! What am I doing?!’
“Aww but Craig, you just paid for our coffee!! You don’t have to pay, I will!” Craig was determined to pay.
“We can sort it out when we get there.”
Craig still planned on paying, no matter what Tweek said. He would never want his lover to waste his money on nothing.
“AH- okay… hmm we can go to that new sandwich place!”
“I’m not really up for trying anything new right now. I didn’t plan anything but this and some classes.”
‘Oh right, autism.’ Tweek remembered.
“Oh, okay! Hmm well we can just stay here, they have breakfast sandwiches and pastries and muffins and and um-you can look!” Tweek was surprisingly a great problem solver.
“Okay.. yeah we can do that.” Craig wasn’t sure he wanted to get anything and he was so scared Tweek was going to make him eat.
“Let’s go see what they have” Tweek skilled and grabbed Craig’s hand leading them back up to the counter.
Craig’s body was on auto pilot, he was too in his head about all of this. He kept staring at the numbers, looking away, looking at tweek, and back at the numbers again. Too many. ‘500 calories in that?! Oh god, this is too much.’ His heart was beating fast.
“Craig?”
“Huh-?”
“You-you okay?”
“What? Yeah. Yeah I’m good.” He doesn’t want Tweek to care. “ What are you going to get, Tweek?” He tried to deflect his anxiety.
“Oh um I think I want a blueberry muffin! They look so good!!” Tweek pointed at the muffin in the glass case.
‘309 calories?! Oh god, that’s a lot. No way, I’m not getting one of those. Jesus.’ Craig was still in his head.
“What about you?” Tweek looked back up at Craig.
“Oh- um..” he looked around the case for something not so heavy. It was all too much.
“I- actually I don’t know. I’m not that hungry. I don’t think I want anything.”
“Oh.. okay.” He sounded disappointed. Craig couldn’t take being a disappointment. God, he was already vulnerable to tweek about his trust issues, he can’t handle his abandonment issues at the same time!! He needs to do something about it.
“I-I’m sorry. I can get something if you want me to. I’m having a really hard time picking.”
“I think you should eat something but I’m not going to force anything onto you if it’s too much.”
Craig’s heart was beating again. Really fast. He could swear Tweek saw the panic in his eyes. Tweek had to know. He was so scared.
“I’ll get a muffin too.” There. Problem solved, but not really. I mean he should be okay. It seemed enough to get back up.
“Okay! Great!”
Craig sighed in relief. ‘Good, Tweek is happy. That's all I want.’
“Do you want me to order again this time?” Craig asked, he knew Tweek can get nervous sometimes. It would also give him an excuse to pay.
“No its alright. I can handle it!” He gave Craig a thumbs up and walked up to the register worker.
“Hi, what can I get you today?” She had a very bubbly voice.
“Uh- yes we would like two blueberry-“ he twitched- ”muffins!”
“Okay great! Two muffins. It’s a chip reader so just slide your card in when it says it’s ready!”
“Okay thanks.” Craig chimed in.
“Huh?” Tweek was a bit confused.
Craig, still determined on paying, fished his card out of his wallet and slid it into the chip reader.
“Hun! Why would you do that?? I said I was gonna pay.” Tweek pouted.
“Too bad.”
They grabbed their muffins from the cashier’s hand and went to sit back down.
Tweek tugged at the paper and took a bite. “Mm! I love blueberries!”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Craig said.
Tweek smiled back at that.
Minutes later of chatting about nothing and Craig still wouldn’t touch his muffin. He would look down at it every now and then but he mostly spent the time listening to all the things Tweek had to rant about.
“You haven’t tried your muffin yet.. You should! It's good!”
“Yeah.” he picked up the muffin and started to pry at the paper. He bit into it.
“Do you like it?” Tweek grinned.
“Yeah, it’s pretty tasty.” Craig said. He wasn’t lying, it was good. But he kinda wishes it wasn’t.
“AH! I’m glad.”
Craig was scared. Why was he scared? He had gone through this same thing a million times by himself, eat fast, run to the bathroom faster. Why was it harder with Tweek around? Maybe he was scared to disappoint his boyfriend like he does his parents. ‘One wrong move, and Tweek will see how disgusting you really are.’
Craig looked down after he zoned out, pretending to pay attention to whatever political Twitter drama Tweek was talking about now. Looks like he finished his muffin.
“-and then I thought I would reply because it didn’t seem like a big deal but NO! Apparently it was the completely wrong move. Ugh, I hate people sometimes.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Um tweek may I be excused to the bathroom?”
“Sure! You know you don’t have to ask!”
“I know, I more or so just wanted to tell you where I was going.”
“Okay, I’ll be here when you get out.”
Craig rushed to the bathroom while Tweek pulled out his phone.
-
Tweek: this is so stressful! He left me while he went to the bathroom!
Clyde: tweek, of course he left you, did you want him to take you to the bathroom with him?!
Tweek: No! No! You know what I mean!!! I’m just so nervous, he keeps paying for me too! When should I step in and return the favor??
Jimmy: you know money’s not the only way you can return a favor 😏
Clyde: oh god Jimmy 🤦♂️
Jimmy: What?
Tolkien: It'll be okay, Tweek. It’s not like he’s gonna be gone forever.
Tweek: thanks tolkien.
10 minutes later
Tweek: oh god! He still isn’t out! I wonder if he’s okay? Did he leave me?? Did I mess up????
Clyde: Tweek, seriously calm down. You’re fineeee
Tweek: yeah, yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry.
Tolkien: It's okay Tweek! We can distract you while he’s gone!
Tolkien sent an attachment
Let’s play 8-ball!
-
‘Ughhh the guys never really help.’
“Hey tweek.”
“AGH!” He jumped at the voice.
“Sorry for sneaking up on you.”
‘Oh it’s just Craig’
He sighed “it’s okay. I’m just glad you’re back.”
Tweek looked up at Craig, his eyes and cheeks were puffy.
“So uh what do you wanna do now?” Craig asked.
Tweek was too distracted, he look at Craig’s hands. His index and middle finger knuckles were bruised. Tweek had heard of this before on some tv show he used to watch, Craig definitely had an eating disorder.
Tweek looked up at Craig with sad eyes.
“What?” Craig was confused, did he do something wrong?
“Nothing! Do you wanna go to my house? We can watch movies and idk.. cuddle.”
“Sure. Not like I have anywhere to be anyway.”
“Oh.”
“No! I didnt mean it like that. That’s literally the only time im NOT being sarcastic. I have no life, babe. You should know that.”
Tweek giggled, Craig wasn’t wrong. Even when they were kids all Craig did was sit at home in front of the television and watch Red Racer.
“Well, let’s go!” Tweek swinged his keys into his grip and got up from where he was sitting. He reached out to Craig, as to ask if he could grab his hand.
Craig complied and they walked out to Tweek’s car. (Craig didn’t like to take the bus, but he had to in order to get to the coffee shop anyway, so he didn’t have to worry about leaving a car behind.)
They sat in silence once again after buckling their seat belts. Tweek twisted the keys in and put his hands on the wheel when he stopped.
“Hey um, are you okay?.. Like actually. None of that ‘oh yeah I’m great’ bull crap.” He didn’t want Craig to keep anything from him, especially if it was clearly causing him some type of tourture.
“Why?”
“What?”
“Why are you asking. What did I do to make you think that?”
Tweek would feel bad confronting him if Craig wasn’t ready, but Tweek was too worried about him to care.
“Well you know.. I mean..”
“Just tell me. If you don’t tell me, I can’t fix it.”
‘Fix it? Fix what? He’s pissed I brought this up.’
“Fix it? No you don’t need to ‘fix’ anything! I'm just worried about you, is all.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
‘God he’s stubborn.’
“Im not stupid Craig! I love you so much, okay?! You have to know what this is about, I know you’re not stupid either.”
“Of course I’m not stupid!! I just dont want to be selfish!”
“You wouldn’t be being selfish. Are you okay? Answer my question and I’ll answer yours.”
“No, I’m not.” He replied, reluctantly.
“Okay… I figured.” Tweek knew he was right the whole time, he just knows it’s going to be easier to deal with now that Craig can admit it.
“Your turn.”
“I can see you, Craig. I'm not blind. When you came out of the bathroom, your eyes were puffy and your knuckles were red.”
Craig didn’t respond.
Tweek knew he messed up.
“I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. This is the first day of us seeing eachother in years and I bring up a secret of yours.”
Craig still didn’t respond, he just looked away, out the window. Tweek finally realized he was ignoring him so he put his hand on the wheel again and pulled out of the driveway on route to the house.
They both pretended like the conversation never happened while a tear silently rolled down Craig’s face.
—-
CHAPTER 1 COMPLETE…. 2977 WORDS