Coreopsis [Tweek x Craig]

a yellow flower, with spiky petals

"Goodnight Craig".

"Goodnight Tweek".

He turned off the light, then he rested his head on his pillow.

By then they were used to having sleepovers, and the way the blonde boy beside him squirmed and kept changing his position didn't bother him anymore. It actually never really bothered him: sometimes Tweek woke him up in the middle of the night by moving suddenly, but even though he almost got a heart attack everytime, Craig didn't mind. It was actually nice to sleep next to him, somehow even comforting.

Surely one might think that's a normal way to feel about his boyfriend, but the fact was that their relationship wasn't a real one.

It all started in fourth grade, when everyone was convinced that they were dating and they decided to play along, and eventually years later they were still pretending: the town wasn't as excited as it used to be about it, luckily, but at this point they were so used to it that it felt like a real relationship. They barely ever addressed the topic, and kept behaving like actual boyfriends.

It didn't help that Craig actually caught feelings for Tweek, almost immediately.

He never even considered being gay before, and suddenly his world had been thrown upside down and he found himself taking online quizzes to put a name on what he was feeling. He quickly realized he actually liked his boyfriend the way he was supposed to, but never gathered the courage to tell him.

Tweek said from the beginning he wasn't gay, and even if he was, the probability of him liking Craig were close to zero. Therefore if he ever found out he might've rightfully wanted to end their relationship, and the mere thought of it made him nauseous.

What he had was enough, and even though it sometimes made his heart ache, Craig was fine with it.

His reflection on the nature of his feelings was interrupted by Tweek getting up to drink some water.

Craig listened to him reaching for the bottle on his drawer, opening it, and drinkin, while trying to make as little noise as possible.

He stayed as still as he could to not let him notice he was awake: it made Tweek freak out every time, out of fear that he might've disturbed him by being too annoying, and he definitely wanted to avoid that.

It was part of his routine, listening to him getting up at night. Craig didn't fall asleep easily, so he got used to staying still with his eyes closed while waiting to hear him.

As he felt the blanket shift by being pulled by Tweek, he got the urge to fall asleep hugging him. It would've been nice, but it was too much and couldn't be justified by being watched by someone else and needing to pretend.

Thinking about it, he noticed an unusual itch in his throat. He tried to brush it off but minute after minute it got more and more annoying, preventing him from sleeping. He lifted himself to reach the water bottle, but as he moved he suddenly started coughing. He covered his mouth with his hand but wasn't quick enough, and Tweek rapidly got up and rushed to pat his back.

"CRAIG! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?".

His eyes were wide open, making him feel almost guilty. Not only did he wake him up but he made him worry about something stupid.

"I'm... Alright-" he managed to mumble between coughs "I'm going to the bathroom". He stood up and wobbly walked through the door, followed by Tweek's preoccupied look.

It felt like something was stuck in his throat, making him cough even more as he closed the bathroom door behind him.

He leaned over the sink and coughed a bit harder: he hoped that that would've solved the problem faster, but what happened left him completely shocked.