Coreopsis [Tweek x Craig]

one flower, two flowers, a handful of petals

"I'm in love with you, Tweek".

Craig pronounced those words like it was the most natural thing in the world.

He was holding the other boy's hands, which felt pleasantly cold against his warm ones, and he was looking him in the eyes. As he pronounced the last word, a small smile formed on his lips: it felt amazing to finally say it out loud, after all those years of pining, and the few weeks of his body killing itself for him. It almost didn't feel real to actually do it.

It only took a few seconds for all the relieved thoughts that were rushing through his head to be wiped out.

The look on Tweek's face was almost disgusted. He lowered his eyebrows, while his whole body slightly trembled, looking almost like when he was a kid. He faintly shook his head, opening his mouth to talk.

Even before he spoke, Craig felt his heart cracking. He already knew what he was about to hear, and definitely wasn't ready for it. The thought of simply running away crossed his mind, but his legs refused to move. He was stuck there to listen to his death sentence.

"I'm..." Tweek said, and in the meantime Craig felt the boy's hands letting go of his, and him taking a step backwards. "I'm not... like that".

Four words were enough for him to actually feel his chest was being ripped apart. He couldn't even register the wetness on his cheeks, caused by the tears streaming down his face, as his mind went completely blank. Too many thoughts: he had just been rejected by the love of his life, and he also permanently destroyed the friendship he cared the most about, and if that wasn't enough, that also meant that he was going to die with flowers filling his lungs. It was too much to process. He raised his trembling hand to try and grasp the other boy, but Tweek didn't even look at him: he just turned around and started walking away; he didn't even react in the slightest when Craig shouted at him, with an emotion-choked voice.

"WAIT, TWEEK, PLEASE-".

He couldn't say anything after that because he immediately started coughing.
This time it felt different than before: almost like the more he coughed, the less he could breathe. Soon enough his lungs were being filled with flowers and roots, and air didn't reach them anymore; his vision started to blur and his legs felt weak, eventually giving in and making him fall on the ground.

He could feel himself passing out, while he looked at Tweek's silhouette which slowly got further and further, and...

"PLEASE!" he screamed, suddenly waking up.

He was in his bed, sweating, and everything around him was dark, but his head was spinning. Before he could realize everything that just went through his mind, he started coughing again and immediately stood up and rushed to the bathroom.

Too busy to care about what time it was, he slammed the door behind him and kneeled on the toilet.

One flower, two flowers, a handful of petals, three flowers, and each one was covered in blood. At some point it felt like too much and he threw up, while his eyes were once again swollen with tears.

Once he was able to stop he started breathing frantically, looking at his own vomit mixed with blood in the toilet. Partially it was because of actual pain in his throat that triggered his gag reflex, but mainly because of everything he just experienced that made him feel sick.

Even though it was just a dream, the way his heart ached felt way too real: it was too lifelike, and it worked as a reality check for him.
It was a real possibility, that Tweek would reject him, without being kind about it, and even if Craig was already aware, it hit him like a punch in his stomach how afraid of it he was.