Tolkien’s instructions had been clear, follow the path into the forest until he reached the clearing. Simple, but the more Tweek wandered into the forest the more anxious he felt. He walked what felt like hours and he had not seen any signs of reaching his destination.
Tweek clutched his pocket knife nervously. He couldn't see the sky due to all the trees but he could faintly hear thunder in the distance. When Tweek was ready to give up and walk back he suddenly saw a break in the trees.
Just as Tolkein said there was a clearing in the middle of the forest with a large table set up for a party. The table was covered in multiple pieces of fine china in a variety of colors. In fact, none of the dishes or teacups seemed to belong in the same set.
Each plate also contained a variety of desserts. Tweek felt his mouth water at the sight of multicolored macarons, chocolate raspberry cheesecake, and gooey chewy brownies. There were so many sweets and treats, many of which Tweek wasn't sure he could name.
Despite the abundance of snacks, the party only consisted of three guests. Tweek was taken aback by the sight of three familiar faces he least wanted to see, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny.
Stan was slumped on the table taking turns sobbing and sipping from a teacup. He was dressed similar to his usual outfit but was missing his hat, revealing a pair of dark black rabbit ears.
In front of Stan a shrunken version of his best friend, Kyle, was frantically trying to rouse him. He also dressed close to his usual self but he now downed mouse ears and a tail.
The final member of the trio, Kenny was seated at the head of the table snickering at the sight. Tweek almost didn't recognize him due to his drastic change in wardrobe. Instead of his normal parka, Kenny was wearing an orange suit jacket with matching ripped pants. To finish the look he had a bright orange top hat on his head.
Tweek decided to ignore his dislike for the three friends and focus on his goal: finding Craig. He approached the table ready to plead for Stan's help when he overheard Kyle's voice.
“DUDE! GET UP! THIS PARTY WON'T BE READY IF YOU AND KENNY DON'T HELP ME!”
“She broke up with me. *hic* Why? *hic* We were so happy.” Stan said, breaking down into sobs.
“Grrrr…KENNY! DO SOMETHING.”
“Hey Stan. Why don't we go look at the flowers in the garden. I heard there's some gorgeous roses that get pretty wild if you're into thorns.” Kenny suggested.
“She used to love roses.” Stan cried out.
“Oh come on man! This party isn't gonna fix itself you know.” Kyle said, stomping his foot.
“Uhm…excuse me I'm looking for Craig's cousin.” Tweek finally spoke up.
Kyle spun around with a surprised look on his face. His expression switched to a suspicious scowl. “Who wants to know?”
“I need his help to find Craig. Please, it's urgent.” Tweek begged.
Kyle considered the request before he was struck with an idea. “Alright I'll point you to his cousin under one condition. How good are you at making hot beverages?”
#########################
After an hour, Tweek could feel his left eye twitch. Stan and his friends were getting on his last nerve.
Tweek was used to serving difficult customers. It was a given working as a barista in his family's shop. Working in a coffee shop required a lot of patience and understanding, but Tweek was running out of said patience and was done understanding.
“NO, NO, NO! You're supposed to heat the water then add the tea leaves.” The demanding mouse shouted.
“*Sob* Do you think I'm a slob, too? *hic* She said I was a slob.” The insufferable hare whined next to Tweek.
“You know I dig a guy that can walk around in underwear with no shame.” The top hat weirdo said with a flirty tone.
Tweek could feel his rage simmering in his chest. He struggled to focus on his goal. He was doing this for Craig, he thought.
The mouse continued to nitpick his work, the hare continued to cry, and Tweek continued to try to brew enough tea to satisfy the party hosts. Tweek almost found peace in the rhythm of filling a teapot, boiling the water, and adding the tea leaves. Rinse and repeat.
Everything was going well in Tweek's opinion when suddenly he felt a hand on his hip. He flinched and dropped the teapot in his hands. It crashed on the floor and all the voices Tweek blocked out rushed in at full volume.
“She used to love that color.”
“Oops! My bad, I just wanted to feel the material of your panties.”
Tweek snapped. The sky above the clearing was instantly filled with thundering clouds. “This…isn't….my.. UNDERWEAR!”
A bolt of lightning landed between Tweek and the three friends. All three took a step back and looked on in panic. The storm didn't seem to bother Tweek in the slightest.
The three party hosts began trying to placate the irate blonde.
“N-no of course not you're d-definitely not wearing underwear.”
“Y-yeah they look great o-on you.”
“Yeah they make you look sexy.”
The mouse and hare gave Kenny a death glare. Suddenly a bolt struck the mad hatter turning him to dust. Kyle and Stan were horrified at the sight of the empty orange top hat.
“Oh my God! He killed Mad Kenny!”
The two friends barely dodged the bolt of lightning aimed at them. It was clear they needed to act quickly before they met the same fate of the Mad Hatter.
“WAIT! You said you needed our help! You needed Stan to find Craig! Remember!” Kyle tried to reason with the enraged teen.
Tweek's deadly glare hardened for a moment. “How are you going to help me?”
“St-Stan is his cousin. He knows where he is.”
“I know where he is! Why do I need you two?” Tweek shouted.
“Well if you know where he is you must know about the Queen's army.” Stan said.
“A-army?” Tweek rage vanished and in its place was a look of confusion. The dangerous lightning was gone and a rush of wind took its place
The boys took advantage of the change to calm the storm.
“Hey it's okay if you didn't know. Most people don't talk about them. Luckily for you, Stan is close to the queen and he can help you get past them.” Kyle said reassuringly.
“Really? You can do that?” Tweek asked full of hope.
“Well, the queen and I are currently going through a rough patch but I know someone that can help us.” Stan assured him.
Tweek nodded with a smile. “That sounds great…Wait, weren't there three of you guys?”
The two friends gave each other confused looks but being worried about setting off another storm quickly brushed him off.
“Our friend just wandered away, don't worry. Let's get going before it gets too dark to see.” They steered Tweek away from the orange top hat sitting on a pile of ashes. They concluded Tweek was unaware of his actions and that truly terrified the hare and mouse. They hated to see what else the blonde teen was capable of.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The flowers in Tolkein’s hands felt heavy. He wasn't sure if it was the grief of knowing his friend was in such a fragile state or the feeling that he could have somehow prevented it.
He was grateful to have his friends with him. Like him, Jimmy and Clyde had expressed wanting to visit Tweek, but felt nervous about going alone. Visiting together gave them the confidence to see their friend in such a vulnerable state.
They originally wanted to include Craig, but Craig had avoided them since the accident. They were not surprised as Craig tended to isolate himself when he was stressed or emotional. His friends respected his need for privacy during those times and were confident he would confide in them when he was ready.
Walking into the hospital room, Tolkien felt all the bravado from his friends’ support vanish at the sight of Tweek's pale and bruised face. He was worse than he imagined. The gasp from beside him told him Clyde was also caught off guard.
Jimmy, who could never stand a silent room, broke the silence with his dark humor. “Man, Tweek I’d h-hate to see the state you l-l-left the other guy in.”
The guys chuckled. “Jimmy's right. You've always been a tough fighter. I'm sure you're fighting hard to come back to us.” Tolkien said, taking Tweek's hand.
The door opened behind them. “YOU!”
Everyone was taken by surprise by the harsh tone of Craig's voice. Tolkien was further caught off guard when he was roughly pulled away from Tweek's side only to meet the furious eyes of Craig.
“What was your idea? You saw him struggling and you thought you could take advantage of him! If you were so set on being his hero, you would have prevented this from happening!” Craig accused.
Tolkien felt outraged and pushed Craig back. “You've got a lot of nerve throwing accusations around. Yeah, Tweek was stressed. Instead of wondering why, you're here accusing me of trying to steal your boyfriend. Why don't you ask why he put that stupid box on his head?”
Watching his friends butt heads, Clyde suddenly collapsed to the ground crying. “IT'S ME! I told him to wear it that morning. I-i saw him on the bus and I…oh God why did I encourage him to wear it?”
“No Clyde. I r-r-ra- saw him in sc-school before class. He wasn't wearing it, but I, too, e-e-encouraged him to try it. I re-re-re feel guilty for it.” Jimmy confessed.
Tolkien looked at his friends' guilty expression and felt the weight in his heart increase. “Craig you're right. I did notice Tweek's anxiety, but I was never a hero. I wasn't even a good friend. I left him to deal with it alone.”
Craig looked stunned. “But you went to group therapy with Tweek.” He pulled out the flyer from his pocket to show Tolkien.
Tolkien gave him a sad look. “Craig this therapy was for Buddha Box users. I was there with my dad. Tweek was there with you.”
“What! I don't remember that!”
Jimmy nodded his head. “Tweek did a lot for you wh-when you wore the b-box.”
“Yeah, he even refused to wear the box because he was worried about you.” Clyde added.
Craig slowly approached Tweek's bed. He placed a shaky hand on his cheek. Looking at his face, memories of that day suddenly made more sense.
He remembered stepping out of his mom's car with his hand stretched out. A familiar warm hand took him and led him to his seat. All the while he was focused on his phone, happy to ignore the world outside his box. Did he ever thank Tweek for walking him to class?
He remembers feeling someone shove him to the ground. He yelled at them, worried about finding his phone. When he looked for the person responsible, he only caught a brief sight of blonde hair as they ran out the door. Could that have been Tweek?
He remembers waiting outside the classroom with his hand held out waiting for the familiar touch to guide him. How long had Craig been waiting to feel Tweek's hand unaware that his boyfriend had been in a terrible accident. How long had Tweek been laying on the floor in pain?
He remembers the moment he came across that dreadful article. His boyfriend fell down the stairs at school and he found out from a news article shared by his cousin on Twitter. He removed his box in shock and was surprised to see he was sitting in the counselor's office with his parents by his side. His first words to his parents: Where’s Tweek?
Craig gently took Tweek's hand, the familiar warmth was gone. The pain in his heart almost crushed him. “I did this.”
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