The Evermore Dissociate(Creek) - Chapter 72: Chapter 72

Another morning sunrise peeked through the window, into the tranquil bedroom. Tweek began to stir awake as the light passed by curtains unclosed. A sense of everlasting comfort and security washed over the blonde as he tiredly blinked, and all he wanted to do, was to snuggle deeper into the warmth of the blankets. He didn't all that mind when the first few seconds of him being awake, he hadn't known where he was, but sure enough, realisation soon took place after.
His contentment hadn't lasted long though. It was when he stretched out with a silent yawn, that he felt Craig beside him. Too close, beside him. It seemed that during the night, Craig had rolled over, taking up most of the bed, including his own and half of Tweek's pillow. But that wasn't what Tweek was most concerned about, rather, it was the sleeping arm laid over his waist.
He could picture it now, being blamed for their compromising positioning as though he had any say over it. This was Craig's fault, Tweek mentally told himself, not his. He peered over to his sleeping friend who's expression was peacefully relaxed, which made Tweek's decision to shove the arm away, even harder than before. He rolled his tongue around in his mouth as he thought about it, but then decided to stick to the good old fashioned way, and harshly jabbed his finger into Craig's chest.
"Craig..." He whispered.
With a sleepy sigh, Craig stretched out and unknowingly pulled Tweek closer to himself. The blonde tensed up, with his eyes wide. There was no denying how comfortable he was right now, but all of a sudden, he needed to pee. He tried to wriggle away a little, but the arm trapping him, tightened in place.
"Craig!"
"Mhm, what?" He grumbled with his morning voice.
"Your arm." Tweek awkwardly cleared his throat. "It's- uhm,"
"Shit, sorry."
For some reason, Tweek felt entirely too embarrassed by the situation, and as he watched as Craig pulled his arm away, rolling over to the other side of the bed with the majority of the covers, he remembered, he needed to pee. After hastily crawling out of the bed, leaving a now again sleeping Craig behind, he headed for the bathroom, promptly locking the door behind himself.
On the way, he'd grabbed the toothbrush Craig had given him last night, and as he peeled away the plastic cover, he glanced at himself in the mirror. The sight made him cringe. His bruises were still clear as day, though the swelling had mostly gone down. Whilst brushing his teeth, he made sure not to look at his reflection again. Soon he'd finished up in the bathroom, having relieved his bladder and somewhat cleaned himself up, and so he began to head back to Craig's room.
Out in the hallway, Ruby leaned against the wall with her toothbrush in hand as she carefully watched Tweek. At first, he hadn't seen her, but as she moved away from the wall, patting her tooth brush into the palm of her hand, he froze in place with furrowed eyebrows. The girl was small, barely reaching shoulder height, but the confrontational look she displayed had Tweek on edge.
"Tweek Tweak." She accusingly spoke his name. "We meet again."
Unknowingly to Tweek and his current state, what she was saying made little sense considering they'd met plenty of times in the past. She was adding affect though, and she was flaring for intimidation.
"Um, hi." Tweek mumbled as he ran fingers through his tangled hair.
"Come with me." She says in a tone that has Tweek wondering whether or not she was luring him into a trap. He wasn't sure following the girl was in his best interest, or if it was even safe to do so. "I need to talk to you, in private."
For a moment, Tweek looked across the hallway to Craig's bedroom. The door was slightly parted, and he figured he could just speed walk his way there, but then he looked back over to the young girl, and something inside his head told him that was a bad idea. So he followed her into a room he guessed was her own, with butterfly stickers decorating the walls, and a ballerina trinket box quietly singing in the back, its melody soothing.
He stepped inside and Ruby closed the door behind him, an action he'd rather she hadn't done. If someone was to walk in, he'd have some explaining to do. Awkwardly, Tweek stood by the door as Ruby passed him to sit on her bed with her legs crossed. She continued to wear her scornful stare as she watched the blonde, but then it relaxed into a more passive expression.
"What are your intentions with my brother?"
Tweek almost choked at the question. He hadn't been expecting that, and he certainly didn't know how to respond. "I-uh...what?" He fumbled over his words.
"Don't play dumb with me, Tweet."
"It's Tweek..."
"I know, Tweet. Now answer my question, are your intentions pure towards my brother? Or do I have to beat you up?"
He sized the small girl up, figuring if it came to it, he could take her, but then he realised this was just a shake up, a protective sibling shake up. He wasn't sure whether or not he should be flattered, or creeped out, but then he thought about Craig and his answer became clear.
In a barely noticeable way, he nodded his head as he looked to his socks. He thought about how nice it had been to wake up next to Craig, and he wanted to do it all over again. His blood tingled in his veins as he remembered last night, and what he thought was going to be a passionate kiss of acceptance and confession, but wasn't. He'd conquered territory with Craig last night, and though he knew his friend wasn't completely ready to admit who he was, he knew in due time, he would be. That thought made him smile.
Ruby watched him from her place on the bed, and when he smiled down at his feet, she knew he was the one. She understood the bond he and her brother shared, and she felt sick for contributing to the halt of their long awaited relationship. Though she was still only young, she knew her brother had problems, ones he couldn't fix alone, and after shooing Tweek out of her room again, she decided she needed to help.
Grateful to be back in the safety of Craig's room, Tweek scooped up his phone and headed back over to the bed where Craig slept. He sat on the edge, unlocking his phone and noticing he had a few new messages. Three were from his mom asking where he was and if he were okay, so he quickly responded to ease her worry. Then he saw Stan's name, and something in Tweek's mind told him to click on it as fast as possible, so he did. The message wasn't long, or even detailed for that matter, but it wasn't important because it was self explanatory.
He's awake.
The thought of it being a message sent to the wrong person momentarily came to mind. Perhaps Stan was talking about himself in the third person, but then Tweek realised how dumb and rare the possibilities of that being the case were, and so he messaged back. After ten minutes, they'd arranged to go visit Kenny in hospital once again, and as Tweek locked his phone and placed it on the side, relief soothed his mind.
Glancing over to Craig, who's hair fell messily over his forehead, with half his face buried under the sheets whilst his shut eyes peeked over, Tweek took the time to admire him. He wanted to stroke the hair away from Craig's eyes, and without realising, his arm extended out to do so. His fingers gently met with the black hair, but before he could brush it to the side, images raced through Tweek's mind like a headache.
He saw Craig throughout the darkness, asleep with the covers pulled up to his nose. He saw his own hand reaching down in a similar manner, before nesting his fingers into the mess of hair in a way that made his stomach flutter. And then he heard Craig sleepy voice asking him what he was doing, but then it repeated, closer than before causing him to flinch with the memory fading away.
Looking down at Craig, Tweek paused once he realised he'd been gently tugging a handful of Craig's hair. Tired yet confused eyes glared back at him, and after a moment, he let go, spluttering out a row of apologies. Craig sat up in bed, running his fingers through his hair to tame the parts now sticking up. He looked over to Tweek who was nervously bending his fingers, and with a morning voice that sounded far from his original one, Craig asked, "What were you doing?"
"I was- I- I was trying to wake you up." Tweek lied, though his explanation was relatively accepted. "Um, Stan and Kyle will be here in fifteen minutes to take us to the hospital."
"What for?"
"Kenny's awake."
"He's awake?" Craig repeated.
"Yeah, he's awake."
And with that, Craig's head dramatically dropped back down into the pillow with a drawn out sigh.
Fifteen minutes passed with Craig complaining the entire time, and Tweek continuously having to prevent him from crawling back into bed, but soon enough they were in the back of Kyle's car. The atmosphere was filled with nerves as they drove in near silence with the radio low. The skies were dark and clouded, and the air was insatiably cold.
Neither Craig, nor Tweek had said anything about last night, despite them both wanting to. A part of Craig wanted to forget it ever happened, then another part of him was curious as to why it had. Not speaking about it was bugging Tweek. He wanted to address it, but he also didn't want to push his luck. He briefly glanced over to Craig who was looking out of the window, unaware of Tweek's longing stare.
It hadn't taken long to arrive at the hospital, and not long after they were standing outside of Kenny's room in total silence, once again. Both Kyle and Stan looked to one another, and with a short nod, Kyle reached over and opened the door. The room was dimly lit, and as Tweek entered the room last, he looked to Kenny who was apparently sleeping. At least, he hoped he was sleeping. The four of them gathered around Kenny, all unsure of what to do next.
Stan took initiative by poking Kenny's arm, but when the blonde showed no signs of waking up, they decided to wait around for a while until he did. There was a tiny television that looked like it belonged in the eighties, which took some figuring out before they could watch what limited channels were available. The picture wasn't great, and they had the volume barely on so that they didn't disturb Kenny too much. The entire ordeal had Craig wishing he'd stayed in bed. Hospitals gave him a weird feeling, one he'd rather not experience.
"Christ, I haven't seen this in years." Kyle grinned towards Stan when the Terrance and Phillips show came on.
"Me neither." Stan says, trying to fight off the small smile that was threatening to replace his features. "I had all the toys and merch back then."
"Same here."
"Makes you wonder where the time went."
"Yeah." Kyle agreed, watching the screen ahead. "We had a good childhood though, there's no arguing with that."
"For sure. Our dad's are still idiots though."
"My dad's not that bad." Kyle frowned, but the knowing look Stan was wearing made the redhead snicker. "Yeah, okay, he's an idiot.
"Stop talking so loud, I can't hear the show."
Stan and Kyle tensed, slowly turning to Craig and Tweek, though the pair of them were staring at Kenny's bed. There was Kenny reaching over for the remote, awake and alive with a lazy smile on his face. He hadn't been asleep to begin with, he'd just figured there be more heartfelt confessions if he were unconscious, and he was a little disappointed with the lack of them.
Kenny..." Was all Kyle could say in a mumble of shock. Beside him, Stan was silent as he stared at the blonde, forcing himself not to become emotional. There were no words to describe how relieved and thankful he was to see Kenny awake and well. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired." Kenny confessed. "You'd wonder why, since I've been asleep for days."
"What did the doctors say?" Kyle asked.
"My right leg is fucked up, they're still unsure if I'll ever be able to walk on it myself. They're still doing test on my head. They said I hit it pretty hard, and that I'm lucky to even be alive."
Unsure how to contribute to the conversation, Tweek could only stare at the bracelet he'd previously placed into Kenny's hand, which was now tied around his wrist. He wondered if it was normal for Kenny to be talking so slow, but then again, he'd had a head injury. Bruises and swelling covered Kenny's face, worse than Tweek's. It made Tweek cringe at the thought of how uncomfortable it was for the other blonde, considering his own still hurt like hell when touched.
When Kenny glanced over his way, with a small and fragile smile on his lips, Tweek swallowed, unable to smile back. He hadn't missed the unsure look Kenny expressed when he looked away, but then he was immediately caught up in conversation with his other two friends.
"Lacey Williams came to see me earlier." Kenny cheekily smirked. "She wants me."
Stan laughed through his nose, shaking his head at his friend. He was the same as ever, and he couldn't be more happier.
Though for Tweek, happiness was replaced with curiosity and wonder. He looked beside him as Craig quietly stared at the wall ahead with a blank expression, and as subtly as he could muster, Tweek knocked his shoe against the side of Craig's, drawing him from his daze.
When Craig met Tweek's eyes, it was like he could read the blondes mind. It was as though he could see the internal struggle Tweek was having, knowing he felt lost around the awakened Kenny, and when Craig calmly smiled at Tweek in comfort, despite it being barely noticeable, Tweek shyly smiled back.