Creek Oneshots (South Park)

A Label On It

A Label On It

Azereaux

“I just thought it would be fair to tell you,” Craig says, then he shrugs. “It’s not a big deal.”

But Craig can’t help but keep his eyes focused above Tweek’s head and to the right, watching from behind as a girl he doesn’t recognize goes down the metal slide, and a few of the other boys he does know tossing around a football. He feels Tweek staring at him but he’s avoiding making eye contact. Is this what Tweek feels like all the time? Craig wonders. His hands just need to move so he turns them into fists inside of his jacket pockets, a repetition of clenching and easing them to stable his mounting nerves.

“Craig, are you being serious?” Tweek asks. “You actually like me?”

“Yes Tweek, I actually like you a lot.”

He likes Tweek as a friend, hanging out together and playing video games for hours in the living room or watching movies until late in the night – so late it was practically considered morning because the sky started turning to hazy blue. He likes Tweek as a person, and after a brief stint brought on by some of the other boys trying to make them kick each other’s ass, he found Tweek was actually pretty nice. He was one of the more decent people he got to know at the school who tried to keep out of the crazy shenanigans that seemed to occur rather frequently, and that was something Craig could really really appreciate. He likes Tweek as his “boyfriend”. They still hung out together like they always have, and treated each other exactly the same – it was never an issue even when they had to put a label on it. He liked that Tweek gave him a sense of normality. Slowly, being “boyfriends” was a label Craig has grown use to.

“What if you’re confusing it for something else?”

Confused, he musters up the will to look Tweek in the eye.

“What do you mean?”

“We never did anything differently. We just hung out like normal. You don’t have to force yourself to feel anything just because we have to be ‘boyfriends’.”

Craig frowns.

“I’m not mistaking anything,” Craig says firmly, “and I actually like how nothing has changed.”

“Yeah, bu–”

“Tweek – listen to me. I didn’t bring you to the side of the school for nothing. I want to know if you want to be my actual boyfriend.”

There, he’s finally said it.

While Tweek looks away to the snow covered ground, Craig sees Tweek’s hand beginning to shake from the corner of his eye. Without thinking he brings his left hand out from his pocket and reaches out to hold onto Tweek’s. He tries to stabilize it like he usually does, and Tweek looks away from the ground to their hands and back up to Craig. Craig, alarmed, draws back and stuffs his hand back into his pocket.

Crap, Craig thinks, maybe I fucked it up.

Now if Craig really thinks about it, Tweek hasn’t said anything about liking him back. Just great. He’s jumped the gun and maybe Tweek doesn’t feel the same. That’s awkward. They’re gonna go back to being friends in the best case scenario, and that’s if Tweek still wants to talk to him.

“I don’t know what to say,” Tweek says.

“You do what you want to do.” He doesn’t want Tweek to feel under pressure. “We can be just friends.”

It leaves a bad taste in Craig’s mouth after saying that, the conversation isn’t going the direction he wants, and it’s not possibility he wanted to voice.

“T-that’s not it Craig,” Tweek replies quickly. “I’m just surprised. I’ve liked you that way for maybe two months now, but I didn’t want to ruin what we already had in case you didn’t feel the same.”

What?

Craig’s eyes widen a fraction, but he quickly sets his expression back to neutral. That’s longer than when his own feelings began to change, which is just a little over a month ago.

“Wait, really?”

“Really. So if you’re not pulling some sick joke, I’m willing to give us a real try.”

Craig’s fists in his jacket pockets clench harder again, and just as quickly they let loose. He’s been feeling apprehensive this whole time, just pretending to be nonchalant, but now there’s a real calm inside of him now.

Boyfriends. Not “boyfriends”. They’ll go on their first real date, and maybe end the night with their first sleep over being together. The first time taking care of Stripe as an actual couple. And after so many firsts, they’ll take steps. He can kiss Tweek’s cheek. They’ll go to the next grade together. And the next, and so on. Feeling particularly greedy, Craig thinks even further into the future. They’ll make it work until they settle down and make enough to live in the same home. They’ll share everything.

He’s lost in thought. Craig only snaps out of it when he notices Tweek is beginning to shake again, and he moves to hold Tweek’s hand to steady him. Craig rubs his thumb over Tweek’s knuckles until he manages to relax enough to entwine their fingers together comfortably.

“Are you okay?”

“You were just staring at me, I thought I said something wrong.”

“No you didn’t.” Craig squeezes his hand a little tighter. “Deep breaths, honey.”

The school bell rings. They both look to the direction of the playground when they hear scampering feet across the yard. The other kids are jumping off the swing set when the teacher begins to yell that recess is over, and their friends stop throwing around the football to get into line before heading into the school building.

“C’mon,” Craig says.

“Wait, I have something to say.”

“What is it?”

“I'm just happy that it's you,” Tweek says, “that the Asian girls wanted me to be with.”

Craig smiles.

“Me too, Tweek. I'm happy the Asian girls brought us together.”

He begins to gently lead them back toward the crowd, back into the world with other people, and away from the temporary space at the side of the school that contained only them.

Even though Craig is planning for the future, many years from now, there’s a lot that Craig can do right now with Tweek. They can go to Whistlin’ Willy’s before playing some video games at home. They can go to Stark’s Pond and look at the stars and skip rocks across the water to see whose rock can leap the farthest. Really, Craig can do anything with Tweek, but he knows that he’ll have to start slow to not overwhelm him. That’s just fine. So for now, Craig will start by keeping a hold on Tweek’s hand.