The harsh clanging of the knocker against Craig's apartment door raised his hackles as he blearily stumbled out of his desk chair. The sound was horrifyingly loud and frantic for this hour of night, which could only mean one thing. Craig crossed the width of his shitty studio in three large strides, flicking on a light as he hurried to open the door to confirm his fear: Tweak, a shivering mess on his doorstep, without a coat and seconds away from an oncoming meltdown.
This wasn't Craig's first rodeo. Tweek and Craig had met not even a year ago, and they'd been dating just a few months, but in that time, Craig had received a crash course in having an autistic boyfriend. He learned quickly that on some days, the world was too loud, too fast, too bright, and Tweek would start to feel static-y, fuzzy around the edges, as if he was an animated cartoon with the ink outline suddenly washed away. His brain and nerves would hurt hurt hurt and his skin would crawl and he would break down sobbing because he needed to get it out get it OUT of him. Craig had quickly learned that this was no existential crisis nor anxious spiral that could be vanquished with some thoughtful dialogue, rather, Tweek needed someone to draw those ink outlines back in so the color didn't spill out.
"Oh baby-"
"C-Craig, I, I-" Tweek hiccuped, his words slipping away from him quickly. Craig could tell by the way his boyfriend struggled to wrap his lips and tongue around his name that this was going to be a particularly bad one.
"You're safe now, love, let's go to bed," he soothed, quickly snatching the shorter boy up against his chest as he bundled him into the apartment, the blonde painfully mewling against him.
As soon as Tweek felt the slightly scratchy texture of the bed-sheets kiss his skin, the remaining restraint holding him together to get him here instantly collapsed, and he broke down spectacularly, his whimpers devolving into strangled wailing, his body failing to hold him upright, his hands flying up to tear at his golden locks, desperately trying to drown out the icky gross hurts inside him.
"Hey, hey, none of that," Craig gently chided, delicately disentangling his boyfriend's long digits from his hair. "I have you now, honey, you don't need to do that," he murmured in his ear, bringing the shaking hands between them to brush kisses against the knuckles.
Pulling Tweek against his chest with one arm, Craig used the other to slip his very favorite hat off his head, exposing his somewhat shaggy hair to his boyfriend. The taller boy pulled the hat taut over Tweek's head with practiced ease, carefully folding his jittery fingers around the braided yarn at the end of the flaps.
"There you go, my love, feels better to pull on that, hmm?" said Craig, ghosting a fingertip over his boyfriend's ruddy, tear-stained cheekbone, offering a soft smile. Tweek responded with only high-pitched whines, burrowing his face into Craig's bare chest.
"M-m-make it stop, I w-want it to stop!" he pleaded, yanking on the thick cords so hard that a hat made with less give would have torn. Thankfully, Craig was well aware that his hat was made of wool, extra soft and stretchy from many years of love. It was Tweak's hat almost as much as it was his now.
"I know, sunshine, I hear you," Craig cooed sympathetically in his ear, squeezing him extra tight against his body. He'd read it online somewhere that it made people like Tweek feel calmer, and it definitely seemed to work for him, immediately noticing him go boneless in his embrace.
"I've got you, sweetheart, it's gonna be over so soon, 'm staying right here," the taller boy whispered, planting slow, firm kisses on the apples of his boyfriend's cheeks. Everything he did was slow, soothing him so he wouldn't feel as if he were adrift at sea. Craig did his best to stand strong as the waves of too much too much much much crashed against them, nuzzling his own head against Tweek's as if to say I won't let you drown.
Even though this wasn't the first time Tweek had melted down in front of Craig, and it certainly wouldn't be the last, it broke Craig's heart just the same to see sweet, sassy, witty Tweek in so much agony, and he wished so much he could siphon the pain out of him so that he wouldn't have to scream and paw at his hair anymore. Still, Craig thought, bracketing the blonde with his knees and pressing squishy kisses to his overly-warm forehead, he couldn't imagine loving him more than he did right now. Knowing that his warm, unflappable presence shortened Tweek's suffering just that little bit helped him feel a lot less powerless.
Tweek tried his best to muffle his cries against Craig's skin, trusting his boyfriend would be able to hold up under his weight. Craig was decidedly a little on the slender side, but he was solid, immovable beneath Tweek. Craig's skin smelled like expensive sandalwood soap and safety. Tweek breathed him in, as if his boyfriend would melt away under his touch, just like the soap. No matter how much the blonde quivered from the fire fire its burning ITS BURNING in his brain, he knew Craig would always be there to color him back in when he felt so undefined. He loved the way his boyfriend's chest felt warm and solid and real on his cheek and how his arms and legs and the dryer-burnt blanket that smelled like him were snug and tight around him.
Maybe Craig wasn't the best with words, but he was amazing at surrounding every inch of him with his body, his smell, his love and it told Tweek's screaming nervous system you are home, gentle rays of warmth and calm seeping into his skin, into his veins, tingling in his spine, and blossoming in his brain. Tweek remembers there was a word for Craig's witchcraft, proprio-something or other, had to do with the way the body knows if it's floating in the ether or not and the parasympa-whatever nervous system, but Tweek couldn't really give a damn about the big science-y explanation behind how Craig could make him feel so good. All he knew was that he loved his brainiac boyfriend and the magic that he did.
Craig could feel Tweek's energy starting to wane, the heaving as he sobbed offering less and less resistance to his tight embrace. Tweek's knuckles were pinking back up as his death grip on the hat strings loosened. Finally, finally the eye of the storm had passed over them, and calmer waters were in sight. Craig shifted his tight hold on his boyfriend so they could lay down, letting Tweek's head loll into the crook of the taller boy's neck. One hand slowly made its way along Tweek's spine, fingers finding their way under the hat to gently run fingernails along the blonde's scalp, an act that sent Tweek to dream land without fail in normal circumstances. Craig pressed he heel of his other hand to the base of Tweek's spine, methodically moving back and forth over the soft fabric of an oversized black tee that definitely belonged to Craig at some point, yet had found its way into Tweek's closet. He yearned to know how silky soft the skin of Tweek's back would feel on his palms, but his boyfriend had yet to allow him to touch under his clothes, and now would definitely not be the time to try.
YOU ARE READING
(Craig x Tweek) You May Find Peace of Mind is Waiting There
Romance"Craig's skin smelled like expensive sandalwood soap and safety. Tweek breathed him in, as if his boyfriend would melt away under his touch, just like the soap." Or, the one where Tweek has a lot going on under his skin, and Craig loves him anyway.
