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“Alright, great show! Really hit the crescendos this time! That’s going to knock the judges out of the park tomorrow! Before competition we’re going to work on drill for song three, so 9 am start guys! Make sure you bring-“
Buzzz buzz
That little secret inner pocket in Tweek’s uniform was vibrating. Jason White, crowded in next to him in the post show huddle, glanced over, looking scandalized.
“Got your phone on you?”
“Shhh,” Tweek responded, wide eyed and urgent.
Mr. Romero was still talking. “You’ve got until 2 minutes into the third quarter for a break, then be back to finish out the game, okay? Back 2 minutes before the end of the third quarter! Band, ten hut!”
“Hut!” The answer echoed around the far end of the field as the band snapped to attention and was dismissed.
“Let’s get in line at the concessions,” Jason said, but Tweek was already glancing around shiftily.
He pulled the phone out of his uniform and read the message there quickly.
Behind the equipment shed. Be quick, I’ll wait as long as I can
Gulping, Tweek glanced around. The equipment shed was back off the far side of the field, beyond the guest bleachers and backed up to the woods beyond the high school.
Friday night, and the South Park marching band had just performed their show during half time for the home football game. Now he had to sneak away from everyone somehow. Possibly to his death, by the looks of the dark shed and dense woods beyond.
But maybe, just maybe it would be worth it. If he could be quick. Halftime was already more than half over.
“I have to ahh – do… something!” Twerk stuttered. “Bathroom or… whatever – it’s an emergency! Can you take my clarinet?”
Tweek shoved the instrument into Jason’s hands and was off, practically running because that’s a great way not to attract attention to yourself, past the concession stand, past the bathrooms, outside of the field limits where the stadium lights didn’t reach, so it was darker and he was less likely to be seen, until he got to the equipment shed. Then he slowed down a little, because he was panting and sweating in this stupid costume and he didn’t want to look like a weirdo and he wasn’t even totally sure if anyone would be here, it could be a joke, it was probably a prank, or maybe it was a trap, maybe he was about to get jumped, and robbed, and beaten up-
He was about to give up and head back, inside the limits of the school’s football field, back to his friends and the crowd and the concessions and the bleachers- then a voice cut through the dark.
“Over here.”
Tweek blinked into the darkness, and could just make out a shape leaning against the far side of the building, the side facing the forest.
“H-hi!” It came out like he was shouting, not greeting. Tweek’s raspy voice was full of uncertainty, but he was pushing himself to be brave anyway.
“Wasn’t sure if you were coming.”
He took another couple steps closer. “The marching band director had the longest post show brief today.”
“I only have like, a couple minutes.” Craig Tucker shoved himself off the building and took a step toward Tweek, holding his hand out. “Come here.”
And then suddenly they were grabbing each other, oh my god Craig pushed him back against the building and Tweek wasn’t even scared anymore because Craig kissed him, urgently and deeply. Craig was pressed up against him and it was ridiculous in their weird ass clothes, Tweek’s stiffly starched cover all and jacket, Craig’s bulky safety gear under sweaty dirty football jersey and pants, oh god those tight fucking pants. Football games had been torture for Tweek the last few years thanks to trying to pretend he wasn’t transfixed by the team standing in front of him as the band sat in the bleachers playing fight songs. And here he was, somehow, kissing a football player?
Technically, it wasn’t the first time this had happened. Well okay it was the second time, but the first had been like, confusing? Tweek was leaving school late after a theatre club meeting, planning for the spring musical, and Craig had been in the parking lot still, with the hood of his truck propped open and leaning inside. Tweek had watched as he approached, on his way to own car, but he hadn’t planned on saying anything, Craig was busy clearly, and they barely talked these days, not since elementary school when the whole neighborhood used to play battle and shit. But then Craig had looked up as Tweek approached, and his eyes caught Tweek’s. He nodded.
Crap. That meant Tweek had to acknowledge him back- “Hey, man. Vehicle problems?”
“I think my transmission’s done,” Craig said, running a hand through the back of his hair in that way boys did that fluffed it all up. Damn.
“Oh, shit.” Umm, okay. Now what? “Do you need a ride somewhere?”
Craig sighed, and Tweek wondered if he wished it was someone else offering. Maybe he’d turn him down and call his girlfriend, surely he had a girlfriend. Or one of his friends. Tolkien and those guys. They were alright, they’d probably go out of their way for a friend.
“You don’t mind?” Craig asked, watching Tweek in a way that made him feel very… observed. And his lips twitched. He wasn’t very emotive at all, Craig had a pretty stony neutral face but this was an uptick, right at the corner of his lips. Like the smallest, little smile.
He closed up the hood of his truck, grabbed his backpack, and then they were crammed into Tweek’s car. He had to throw trash from his floor and the passenger seat into the back before he could let Craig in, embarrassing, and he had a huge collection of cds in here, his parents’ plus some stuff he found online and some of his own from when he was a kid, because his old piece of shit car had a cd player in it and, okay, embarrassing, to have someone going through your music the first second you interact with them. It was like, fine. Read my fucking diary, why don’t you.
It all would have been fine regardless, because they chatted easily about Tweek’s music collection on the short ride to Craig’s house. And he pulled into Craig’s driveway without running anyone over, or hitting anything, or saying something that would make him a social outcast forever, or any other disaster. Then. The craziest thing happened. Disaster, potentially, happened. Because Craig undid his seat belt, and turned, and looked at Tweek. And Tweek shifted too, and looked at Craig.
Then suddenly they grabbed each other and were kissing. How the fuck did that happen. It came out of nowhere. It must have been him, though, right? It had to have been him who initiated it? Because Craig was, like, popular and kind of low key a jock and… Craig surely hadn’t meant to kiss a boy, he couldn’t have meant to kiss Tweek…
They broke apart just as suddenly as they came together, near identically mirrored expressions of confusion on their faces. Then Craig frowned, averted his eyes, grabbed his backpack and in one smooth motion, opened the door and slid out.
“Ahh, see ya,” he said, slamming the door closed.
That was Tuesday. Tweek spent the next few school days expecting to get jumped and beat up at any point. Somehow, it never happened. Then. Friday morning, this very morning, Craig was waiting at his locker before first period.
“Hey,” he said as greeting while Tweek nervously tried to open his locker.
“Hey,” Tweek answered. Should he apologize? Beg for his life? His locker finally popped open. He began switching out the books in his bag.
“Are you going to the football game tonight?”
That was not what Tweek had been expecting, at all. “…yes?”
“Can you come find me? At halftime?”
“I perform at halftime,” Tweek said, frowning.
“I know that,” Craig said. “And they brief the team while you perform. Then we get a couple minutes for a break, and the cheerleaders perform.”
He was right. There was usually a few minutes of half time left when they were all done, and the band got most of the third quarter off.
“I- argh, umm, okay?” Wait, what had he just agreed to?
Craig handed Tweek his phone. “I’ll text you. Put your number in.”
So Tweek did. He… gave his number to Craig Tucker. And agreed to meet him during the Friday night football game. And then when he did meet him… they kissed again. What was going on.
Tweek came back to reality when Craig pulled away. He held Tweek in place against the building but peered back toward the field.
“Shit. It’s almost time. I have to go in a second.”
“Oh, ahh, yeah, no problem, man, I-“
Craig interrupted his rambling. “Are you going to Bebe’s house tonight? She’s having a get together.”
“No, we’ve got to put away all the equipment after the game and I have rehearsal early tomorrow-“
“Okay, well, Tolkien’s having a party tomorrow night, come to that?” Craig was so intense the way he looked at you, it made Tweek’s heart race and all the thoughts leave his brain.
“I can’t,” Tweek said. “Saturday’s competition night.”
“Where are you?”
“North Park.”
“We’re playing North Park tomorrow, the party’s after,” Craig insisted.
“No, comp goes late, man,” Tweek said. “Perform at like, 6, awards at 9, we stop for food sometimes on the way back… I won’t be done until like, midnight.”
Craig huffed. “Damn.”
“Yeah.” Not that he was totally sure why it was a bad thing, anyway. He didn’t often go to Tolkien’s parties, and surely Craig couldn’t want to hang out with him there.
“I’ve got to go,” Craig said, and he sounded… regretful?
Tweek almost started to babble a response, but Craig leaned in, cutting his words off by pressing his lips to Tweek’s. He had his hand on Tweek’s cheek, and it was less urgent, less frantic this time. It was… sweet.
Craig pulled back slowly with a lingering look at Tweek. “Okay. We’ll talk soon.”
“O-kay?” Tweek stuttered out, and Craig was off running this time.
He was left alone in the dark, at the back of the equipment shed.
Tweek waited what he hoped was an appropriate amount of time to let Craig get back to the field, so no one suspected they’d been back there together. Then he slipped back into the crowd himself, and even had time to grab some chicken fingers from the concession before he had to be back in the stands.
When he plopped down onto the cold metal bleachers, Jason wasted no time getting on him.
“Where were you?”
“Just, you know, had to run to my car… bathroom… chicken tendies-“ Tweek said, holding up his food.
Jason smirked and gave him a suspicious look, but let it go.
~
Saturday night arrived crisp and cool like a good autumn evening should. The nice thing about late season like this was, the lights would be on over the field when you performed, because it was dark already. Performing at night was so much better than performing during the day. The bad thing was, you’d be freezing your ass off in the bleachers for hours after. It was always cold and windy up there, even when it wasn’t cold and windy out somehow.
They performed, and it felt great. Tweek might have just happened to have an extra spring in his step all day, and for once in his life it was like everything hit just right, he played great, his marching sharp and energetic. They might even win this comp, their director said it was their best performance of the season.
They put their instruments and equipment away. That was always mild chaos, but Tweek stashed his clarinet quickly then went to change into street clothes. Jeans, a long sleeved t shirt, his marching band sweatshirt. Good bye dinkles, hello sneakers. That would make loading the equipment truck so much easier. He did spare a second to check his phone before leaving. And there was a text.
Where are you?
Tweek’s heart raced. Silly. It was words on a screen. He texted back.
North Park Stadium, at the comp
His phone rang. It was Craig.
“No I mean, where specifically?” Craig said without salutation. “I’m here, I just watched your show but there’s like, a million buses and trucks around-“
“You’re here?!?” Tweek screeched.
“Yeah,” Craig answered, unbothered.
“Where are you? Specifically?” Tweek asked.
“Umm, it’s like a driveway and the buses are all lined up- I see the parking lot with all the trucks-“
“Stay where you are, I’ll come find you,” Tweek insisted, then hung up.
He bolted up and off the bus, looking around left and right. He couldn’t see Craig yet, but he took a gamble and ran off in the direction of the field, and then as he got around the curve in the road, there he was, up ahead. Craig. Wandering around alone in the dark, at his marching band competition.
“Hey! Over here!” Tweek yelled and waved to Craig, then he got a good look at him. He had jeans on, at least, but that was clearly his football jersey and he didn’t have long sleeves underneath, either. Not only was he going to stick out like a sore thumb, he was going to freeze. “Shit. Here. You need to blend in better.”
Tweek pulled his sweatshirt off and handed it to Craig. A strange look crossed his face as he took it, that little almost smile again, and he pulled it on. Tweek usually wore his clothes oversized, so it fit Craig fine and it was kind of- umm. Well, it was interesting seeing Craig wearing his sweatshirt.
“What are you doing here?” Tweek hissed at him as they walked.
“Our game ended like an hour before you performed, so I just… snuck off, walked over here,” Craig said, shrugging. “Tolkien’s covering for me.”
“You came to see the band perform?”
“No,” Craig said patiently. “I came to see you.”
“Why?” Tweek asked, confused.
“Because I like you,” Craig said, and he said it easily enough, but though it was dark, Tweek thought his cheeks reddened a bit.
“You do?” Tweek shouted, and a little twitch ran up his arm.
Craig looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “I’ve been kissing you all week. Why, do you not like me, too?”
“I do,” Tweek said, gulping. “I do like you.”
“Okay,” Craig said, as if that was all settled.
“What did you tell Tolkien?” Tweek asked.
He was leading Craig back toward the stadium, because if he went to the equipment truck with him, some parent helper or teacher was bound to notice he didn’t belong. If he got him up in the stands, he should be able to blend in seamlessly with the rest of the students. And they were walking, just a nice casual stroll, like they weren’t in that much of a hurry to get back with other people, anyway. Walking close now, shoulders touching.
“Told him I was sneaking off to meet someone in the band,” Craig said, shrugging. But that smirk came back, stronger this time.
“He didn’t ask who?” That was hard to believe.
“Oh, he did. I just didn’t tell him.”
Ahh. Well that sort of made sense, other than one minor inconvenience in the current situation- “Okay, but what about all these people?” Tweek asked as they came into view of the stadium. He waved his arm around the span of it to make his point.
But Craig just shrugged. “Guess they’re going to know first.”
Tweek led Craig around the back of the stadium where band members were allowed to come and go. They climbed the stairs of the bleachers and Tweek glanced around, still debating if he should try to slip off on their own in the crowd, but a few kids from their school had already spotted him and were waving them over. Tweek glanced uncertainly at Craig, but he nodded, so they headed up. The South Park kids were crowded into the top corner of the stands, occupying several bleachers.
Jason was the first to notice the addition to the group. “Oh!” he said, glancing at Tweek. “Wait, Craig?”
“’sup,” Craig muttered, shooting a little smile at Tweek.
“Don’t let any of the teachers know,” Tweek said urgently. “He’s gonna need to get the bus back with us.”
Tweek shoved Craig onto a bleacher in the middle of a group of kids, and they pushed over to make room. Someone lent Craig their uniform hat, and with the hood of Tweek’s sweatshirt pulled up and the hat on top, no one would ever realize he wasn’t with the band.
“What are you doing here?” someone asked Craig as Tweek was quietly spreading the word to the kids around them so no one gave Craig up.
“I’m here with Tweek,” Craig said. Tweek glanced back at him, and they shared a little smile again.
Finally Tweek sat down, choosing to sit right in front of Craig instead of next to him. He squished in between people and had to lean into the side of Craig’s leg. Craig didn’t even pull away or anything, but he didn’t make a big deal about it, because he didn’t really want to risk anything else too revealing, not with so many people around.
Craig didn’t seem to have the same reservations. He leaned forward, put a hand on the bench right beside Tweek, and spoke quietly into his ear.
“It’s freezing up here,” Craig said. “Are you cold? You gave me your sweatshirt.”
“I-mmm okay,” Tweek said, but his teeth chattered and betrayed him.
Craig chuckled, and briskly rubbed Tweek’s arms. Oh god, people were watching them. Jason shot Tweek a look, a little eyebrow wag, head tilt, and Tweek felt himself turn bright red. Especially when Craig didn’t let go of him. Especially when he shifted and pulled Tweek back between his legs, wrapped his arms around him, his chin rested on the top of Tweek’s head. And Tweek just sat there and let him, I mean, he had no idea what was going on but he wasn’t going to argue, it was… incredible. And unexpected. And unlikely.
But they sat and watched the last bands perform, and cuddled in the brisk autumn air, and laughed and chatted with people, cheered when awards were announced and they got first in their division. Back on the bus, everyone subtly left the far back seat for Tweek and Craig, as was custom for couples to get. That was kind of embarrassing, and Tweek thought also misleading, because, you know, who knew what they were. But regardless, they slipped into that seat and slumped down, knees up on the seat in front of them, leaning into each other and whispering the whole way home.
“Do your friends know?” Tweek asked, eventually. The bus was very quiet, but so were they, sitting with their foreheads practically touching, staring at each other in awe as they whispered. “That you, you know… like guys?”
“No, no one does,” Craig said, then chuckled so quietly it was just a breath. “Well I mean, all these people do now… I guess I’ll be telling everyone else soon.”
“Oh, yeah?” Tweek asked.
“Well, yeah,” Craig answered, grabbing Tweek’s hand and kind of playing with Tweek’s fingers. “I mean, if we’re gonna go out now…”
“We’re gonna go out now?” Tweek asked, smirking. Teasing, a little bit.
Craig’s cheeks turned red. “Well, you like me, don’t you?”
“Yeah. I do,” Tweek agreed.
“So, you wanna go out with me?” Craig asked, and he stopped inspecting Tweek’s fingers in favor of just squeezing his hand.
“Yeah. I’ll go out with you,” Tweek answered, grinning in the darkness. He reached out and pulled the hoodie strings of his sweatshirt that Craig was still wearing, making the hood tighten around Craig’s face.
“I’m keeping this, by the way,” Craig said, grinning back as he pulled the sleeves of the hoodie down and tucked his hands into the pocket, snuggling into Tweek’s sweatshirt.
“Oh, yeah?” Tweek asked, pulling Craig forward by the hoodie strings.
“Yeah.”
“I suppose I’ll allow it,” Tweek mumbled against Craig’s lips, and this time he could feel them both, grinning.