Oven Flame

-5-

This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

Ethan turned his pencil around. The other side looked the same.

Him, having someone else? Who could it be? He had never seen the other with anyone. And the student looked quite shy. In fact, he looked like he was nervous all time.

"Aw man. I can't focus like this." Craig's heartbroken face came back to his mind. Ethan felt very bad for making fun of him.

But he couldn't help but to think that something about that rejection had been...off. Was there really someone else? Or was Tweek just lying.

"Oh, that's it!" Giving up on his studies, Ethan slammed the pen on his table and began to pace through the halls of his home, finally making his mind up. "I'll expose all your secrets. I still owe Craig one", he murmured to himself, nodding afterwards and started getting his things ready.

---

Saturday, 11:00 o'clock.
Tweek Tweak was in the usual cafe. Alone. Not a single lover looking like person was around. It looked like he was studying on something, presumably the same thing he did before Craig and he interrupted him the other day. He was very focused. Unlike Ethan.

14:00 o'clock.
The target has drunk more coffee cups than Ethan could count. He was very twitchy, but worked anyways. After that he left the cafe, his eyes still twitching randomly. Ethan didn't think that that was very healthy.

Well, it certainly wasn't healthy to go into another cafe and buying more cafe there. Seriously, how much could one guy take?

---

After following Tweek for an entire day, Ethan noted that the older man seemed to like coffee very much. Like a little bit too much. The reason he looked so meek was not because he was shy but the liters on liters of coffee he had inside him. Huh.

The more Ethan learned about Tweek Tweak, the less he seemed to be the person the younger had thought him to be. He thought of him like a hero, someone who does anything right. A perfect being.

But he was very human, with his own set of quirks. Might soon to be lethal quirks, Ethan thought, rubbing his chin in deep in thought. Too much coffee.

For a second, he even doubted if it really had been Tweek who saved him. Shaking the thought away, he started spinning his pen in his hand again. It was definitely Tweek. That's what his sister told him.

Noticing that those thoughts wouldn't get him anywhere, Ethan mulled over his desk. He was really curious if he couldn't help Craig concerning Tweek, he still felt guilty, because he was the reason they argued at their first meeting.

Well, he guessed he still had all Sunday to find out if Tweek was lying about being with someone else. If he couldn't find out the sneaky way, he just had to ask. Sighing, he pulled his phone out.

---

He couldn't help but ask Tweek whether he should order 15 coffee cups instead of 2. He just got a credulous look and was asked to order 2, fucking idiot. Tweek Tweak was a liar, Ethan wrote on his imaginery note.

"So what do you w-want?" It was a simple question, asked over only one coffee. It was still very hot so Ethan didn't want too drink it yet anyway.

"Uh, this is about what you told Craig...is it true you're dating someone?" Tweek looked surprised for a second. But Ethan couldn't take him seriously because he was twitching all the time.

"Well, d-dont you get well along. But no, you got it wrong. I was saying 'there was someone else', not  that I was dating anyone."

"Huh. So is it unrequited?" Tweek laughed bitterly. "Hmph. If only. I can't find him anymore. He just disappeared from the face of E-EARTH!"

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "People don't disappear." Finally able to take a sip from his coffee, he added: "Please explain."

Tweek sighed and scratched his head. "Why n-not, I guess. I was with a boy in the last year of high school, and I was head over heels for him. It was around the time I...m-met you. One day, he just...uh, m-moved away. Without informing me, his boyfriend. I was devasted, b-but I couldn't forget him! My mind kept making excuses for him. I want to meet him again, to be with him again or...f-finally be able to sever ties."

"Ah." Tweek's voice was shaking. Another sip. "What's his name? Maybe my sister can help find him. She gets around alot." Tweek looked surprised again. "Y-you'd do that for me?"

Crossing his arms, Ethan nodded. "Sure. You saved me after all. I could never repay you for that. I'm certain my sister thinks the same way." A look of doubt crosses Tweek's face at the mention of that incident. "...Do you still not r-remember everything?"

Ethan looked hesitant. Why would Tweek ask this? "...no. I don't." For a short time, Tweek looked incredibly sad, like he lost something in that incident. "Oh. Try to remember s-someday, okay?"

"Okay...?" Ethan didn't understand why he should. The memories were probably painful. Not just physically.

"Anyway, about your boyfriend's name..." Tweek looked very glad at the topic change. "Oh y-yeah! Thank you so much for this."

Ethan just nodded, anticipating the name. He hoped sister could find this man so Tweek could close this past relationship and he could be happy with Craig afterwards. Because both of them sure deserve to be happy.

"It's Tucker. Craig Tucker."

Normally, Ethan would raise an eyebrow and ask for a repeat. But he heard well enough. Furrowing both of his eyebrows, he thought hard about why this situation was happening right now. "Craig...Tucker...?"

At Tweek's nod his face turned into a deep frown. "But you know that person already." Tweek's eyes widened. "It's the person who just confessed to you the other day. He was also named Craig."

Tweek shook his head. "No, no, I knew he was also named Craig, but he w-wasn't Craig Tucker, I know it. F-first of all, he looked completely different, and, and he
...he acted completely different aswell, he sounded different, e-everything but his name was different from Craig Tucker!"

"Minus the fact that he loves you." When Tweek tried to speak again, Ethan raised his hand to signalize that he wanted to continue speaking. "Listen, I'm not pulling your leg or anything. That person introduced himself as Craig Tucker to me, which is the name of the person you're looking for. I swear it."

Dejected, Tweek sunk down in his chair. Ethan got a waitress to bring more coffee. "But...it's impossible...h-his face was completely different...it couldn't change just by g-growing during the years we didn't see each other..." Tweek drank a whole cup in one go.

"And didn't you tell him my name?" "...I did..." "Why didn't he remember?"

Ethan looked unsure. "I don't know. Maybe we should ask him?"

He honestly didn't expect these turn of events. Neither did Tweek.

---

A/N: Done! The plot is thickening...or so I believe. This story is nearly done. It has like 3 or 2 more chapters and a epilogue or something like that. Sorry for making it so short lluv3r :(