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We need to break up.
…
I don’t want to hurt you!
Tweek's eyes shoot open. The low streams of light through the window fall delicately onto the duvet, making his eyes sting lightly. He blinks, looking from side to side at his surroundings.
He is still lying in bed, comfortably warm under the heavy duvet. Craig is still lying there as well, facing away from Tweek with nothing poking out from the covers other than the tousled hair on the crown of his head. Tweek takes a moment to collect himself.
His breath is still on the verge of panic, left-over from the crying and hyperventilating he was doing in his dream. He attempts a slow, deep breath, not wanting to disturb his partner beside him. It’s still early enough in the morning that neither of them would want to be awake, and the last thing Tweek wants is a disgruntled, upset Craig. Especially after that dream…
He absentmindedly rubs at his eyes, scratching away the crust from their corners. They feel puffy and dry, though he knows he hadn't actually done any crying. He figures it’s a mixture of the sudden, rude awakening and (probably mostly) the copious amount of weed he had smoked the night prior.
Through the early morning light, he watches as the bed shifts beside him and reveals Craig, messy hair and all, watching him silently.
Tweek jumps.
"Why are you watching me?" he asks nervously. His voice has a slight shake to it, though that’s usual for him. Even when he manages to get a handle on his stutter, it still tries desperately to present itself.
“‘cause, you’re cute.”
Tweek makes a displeased squeak and turns to face away from him. He didn’t want to see his face now and be reminded of…
Sigh.
He really hates himself.
“What’s wrong, babe?” Craig asks, placing a hand on Tweek’s hip as he scoots closer. “Bad dream?”
“...yeah.”
This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that Tweek had woken Craig up for another one of his ‘bad dreams.’ It doesn’t happen too often -- thankfully -- but it is still frequent enough to cause him some level of distress. The problem, honestly, isn’t even the frequency…
…it’s the vividness. He has a hard time distinguishing between his dreams and reality because they always feel so damn real, so crystal clear. Sometimes, he’ll even find himself having full-blown panic attacks from the sheer graphic nature of them, unable to stop picturing them even an hour after waking.
He’s not sure why it happens. He just knows he hates it.
And honestly? This dream wasn’t even that bad. It wasn’t violent, even. It was just…
Heartbreaking.
“Do you wanna talk about it?” Craig asks, now pressed fully against Tweek’s body.
“...I don’t want you to be mad at me.”
At this, Craig squeezes his body tighter. “Why would I be mad at you? It was just a dream you had.” Tweek tucks his head further down into his chest, curling up into a ball.
“I…” he starts with a sigh, “I ch-cheated on you. In the dream. But, I felt so bad about it! I-I was freaking out and, well, I was gonna break up with you, ‘cause, well, I-I dunno, I felt so bad, I felt like I was gonna th-throw up… so I said, ‘we have to break up,’ but… you didn’t understand why, you told me I was being manic, again, and then I felt even worse ‘cause I… I abuse you ‘cause I’m all crazy and shit, but I said, ‘please, I don’t wanna hurt you!’ and you said, ‘I don’t want you to hurt me either!’ and I guess I’m just so worried that you’ll leave me, ‘cause I don’t want you to leave me, b-but, I can’t… I couldn’t force you to stay ‘cause then I’m being abusive again--”
“Okay, hey, normally I’d let you rant until you felt better but this just feels like you’re working yourself up even more so I’m gonna cut you off there, okay?”
Tweek pauses for a moment before nodding slowly.
“Can you turn around so I can look at you?” Tweek flinches and shakes his head no . Craig rubs his hand along Tweek’s side, squeezing lightly on his bicep. “...please?”
Tweek peeks his head up the smallest amount, looking at Craig’s gentle face. He didn’t… look angry.
With a sigh, he relents.
Slowly, he rolls over so that he’s on his back. Craig still has his arms around him, as well as his legs. They make eye contact and Tweek’s face contorts into one of nervousness and discomfort.
“Do you want to cheat on me?” Craig asks blankly. Tweek’s eyes widen and he fervently shakes his head no .
“N-no! Absolutely not! I-I would never --”
“Okay, so then why are you so concerned that you will, and that I’ll leave you?” Tweek stops at this, contemplating it for a moment.
Would he ever cheat on Craig? He doesn’t want to. So… why is he so concerned? Cheating isn’t something that can happen accidentally… can it?
Or what if he doesn’t really know what cheating is and he really does do it by accident? He ends up not realising until it’s too late, and Craig finds out and leaves him…
“I guess… I’m just scared that you’ll leave me. ‘cause… I’m not good enough…”
Craig reaches his hand up to the side of Tweek’s face, rubbing his thumb absentmindedly back and forth. He places a delicate kiss onto his nose, causing him to let out a quiet squeak.
“Babe, I promise you that won’t happen. I don’t know if you noticed, but I kind of love you and shit. I don’t know how you got this in your head, but I know you, Tweek. You aren’t a cheater, and you aren’t abusive to me. You have a mental illness that you’re trying to get a handle on, and it’s trying to take advantage of you. That’s all. You haven’t done anything wrong, and I highly doubt that you will.”
Tweek lets out a sigh. “I hate that you’re probably right.”
“ Probably? I am most definitely right. I, like, always am.” Tweek lets out a laugh at that.
“Oh, yeah, you’re definitely always right. Just like when you were right the other day at lunch, when you said the capital of Idaho was ‘potatoes.’”
They both let out a chortle as Craig flips him off.
“Man, fuck off, you know I wasn’t paying attention,” he laughs.
As they continue to lay there, a peaceful silence falls between them. They stare at each other lovingly, just content to be here in this moment and to be held. The light drifting in from the blinds becomes brighter slowly, the sun rising in the sky to signify a new day.
This is all they really need. All they ever have, and ever will. This peaceful moment together.
“I love you,” Tweek whispers with a smile. Craig smiles back, kissing his cheek, and then his jaw.
“I love you, too.”