Chapter Text
When Craig saw Stan and Kyle holding hands on the first day of junior year, his first instinctual response was irritation. Being the gay couple was his and Tweek’s thing, not theirs.
“Oh, come on, Craig,” said Tweek, with laughter in his voice. “We both know that’s ridiculous.”
“I know.” He grumbled. Logically, it didn’t make sense to be irritated at all. What, did he and Tweek own a monopoly on gay relationships? Still, the irritation remained. It was temporary, though. It really wasn’t that deep or important after all.
“Hey Craig,” Cartman had gone up to him unprompted, which never led to anything good. “Did you know Stan and Kyle are like total fags for each other now? Just like you guys.”
“Cool. What’s that got to do with me?”
He regretted saying that last line. It broke one of his own cardinal rules — never give Cartman the chance to give stupid answers.
“Wha — well of course it does! It…”
Craig walked away before he could hear his full response.
There were other exhausting first-day activities that needed attending to, like new class arrangements, new teachers, new strategies for skivving successfully and bringing his effort levels to a minimum while still getting by.
He was peacefully walking to the school cafeteria with Tolkien when he heard the recognizable click-clacking of feet and crutches behind them.
“G-G-Guys, did you see Stan and K-Kyle?”
Craig wanted to roll his eyes, but he didn’t care enough to exert the effort. “Yes, pretty much anyone with their eyes open this morning has seen Stan and Kyle.”
“What?” Clyde joined in. “What did they do?”
“Take a look for yourself.” He nudged him towards the lunch table, where the two stars of the day were seated. They sat so close that their shoulders were touching, and he was sure they were holding hands under the table as well.
When Clyde stopped to stare, Craig grabbed him by the back of his jacket to join the line so he wouldn’t get run over by the lunch crowd. While queuing, Clyde started hitting Craig with the back of his hand. Craig was entirely unamused by this.
“Dude,” he shout-whispered. “Dude,” he tried again, still hitting Craig as if he didn’t notice him the first time.
“Yes, I know, stop that.” Clyde sometimes forgot his own strength; those back-slaps were starting to hurt.
“Damn, who would’ve thought?”
Nobody in their direct vicinity was pointing it out as blatantly as Clyde did, but they definitely heard him, and some were even peeking over at the table themselves.
Craig set his lunch tray down in his usual seat, the rest following not long after. Clyde was still constantly peeking over at the other table. Craig had half a mind to stop him.
Tweek had arrived to the table, and Clyde wasted no time in asking him,
“Tweek, did you—”
“Yep, first thing in the morning.” He set his tray down, then his flask of coffee which he had carried in between his arm and ribcage. Both always landed loudly; it was difficult to be quiet when your hands tended to shake.
“They’ve always been close,” said Tolkien, “so I’m not too surprised.”
“Kyle has always been pretty suspect, but Stan? Wow.” What did Clyde know about being suspect, anyway?
“I-I wonder how they g-go… how they go… how they became a thing.”
“We could just ask. Or find out who they’ve told.”
“The only way to know for sure would be to hear it from them d-directly.”
There was a pause.
“I could ask,” Tolkien offered.
“No,” said Clyde, “it should be Tweek or Craig asking, it’s less weird since they’re gay too.”
“I-Is that how that works?”
Tweek threw his hands up. “Great. Just what I need. More pressure!”
Craig sighed. “I’ll go.”
“Craig, you don’t have to…”
“It’s fine, babe.”
He lifted his tray and walked over to the other table. It need not be said, but this was something that Craig did not usually do. Whenever Craig headed over to the lunch table of Stan’s Gang, it was usually because they did something stupid and it bled over into Craig’s business. Today, the reason couldn’t be more obvious. Still, they seemed somewhat surprised to see Craig coming over.
“Oh, hey,” Kyle greeted him first.
“Hey, Craig,” said Stan. He sounded friendly, yet somewhat apprehensive. Did he think Craig was going to pick a fight with him for old times’ sake?
“Hey. My stupid friends want to know how you two got together.”
Stan grinned at him while Kyle looked at Stan. Then, noticing his gaze, Stan turned to look at Kyle too.
They were smiling at each other while Kenny was still laughing. “And they sent you?”
“For some reason, they think only gay people are allowed to ask them that question.”
“Seriously?” Kyle seemed amused. At least someone was entertained.
“Come sit with us, dude.” Stan shuffled over to make room for Craig and his lunch.
“The yaoi fangirls got to them,” Cartman told him as he sat down. “They were never going to stop at just one gay couple. Who knows, maybe you’ll be next, Kenny. Or maybe… even me.”
Craig ignored him. “So, how did you end up together?” he asked the couple.
“Stan confessed,” Kyle said first.
“Yeah,” Stan confirmed. “And in case anyone’s asking — yes, I did nearly puke on him.”
“It’s a good thing he didn’t, or I might have rejected him right there and then.”
“Cool,” said Craig.
They resumed eating. Craig thought they’d be a little bit hesitant to talk with him around, but Kenny had no such qualms and began telling them about some summer fling he had.
Craig looked towards his own table and was about to return, when Clyde gave him a very animated expression to stay the fuck put and keep going, or something.
Stan chuckled. “Your friends are staring daggers at you, dude.”
Craig sighed, loudly. “What more do they want to know? Your sex life? The fuck.”
Stan blushed so hard his face matched Kyle’s hair.
“Don’t answer that,” Craig said quickly, “I don’t want to know and those idiots don’t need to either.”
His phone buzzed. Craig had a feeling it was from Clyde, so he took it out and opened it. Yup, it was. There was a list of questions quickly typed out and full of typos.
“If they wanted to know so bad, they should have just done it themselves.” Despite that, he began reading off the list. “How long have the two of you been together?”
“We’ve been dating for… a little over three months now,” said Kyle. “We decided to go public today, see how it goes.”
“First day of school is an interesting choice.”
“Yeah, well, since it’s all new anyway, it’s as good a time as any.”
“Not the worst time to go public.” He looked back at his screen. “Already know this one. Not going to ask this one.” Why were straight people so obsessed with knowing who was top or bottom? “When did you find out you liked each other?”
Kyle looked at Stan, who smiled down at the table.
“I’ve liked him for years,” Stan said, “on and off. Pretty much the same time Wendy broke up with me, not sure if you know about that whole situation.”
“Yeah, I saw it myself.” Craig was fully capable of keeping up with the news. Stan and Wendy had always been on-and-off during elementary school to the point where Craig sometimes had trouble remembering if they were together or not at any given point in time. It was in middle school that they broke up for the last time, not that anyone knew at the time. But at the end of the term when Wendy publicly shut down a heartbroken Stan in the school hallways, that had been the end of their romantic relationship for good.
Word was that Wendy dumped him because he was too immature for her. But the two of them started getting along by the time they got to high school. Everyone speculated that they might get back together again, but they never did. Then, today happened.
“I honestly didn’t realize it sooner. I think I was trying to convince myself I wasn’t into dudes and I just really missed Wendy. Heck, she figured it out before I did.”
“And you only worked up the guts to ask him out, what, three months ago?”
Stan clearly didn’t like the way he said it. “Hey, shut up. We don’t all have the luxury of having the town decide your relationship for you.”
Like he knew anything about what it was like for him back then.
“Brave words for someone within punching distance.”
Stan wasn’t fazed. Impressive, considering the fact they were seated right next to each other. “What, struck a nerve?”
Kyle was sensible enough to hold him back by the arm. “Come on, Stan.”
“Sorry, Kyle. I just think people shouldn’t talk shit about someone’s best effort at actually being honest about their feelings.”
Stan was annoying when he got so sensitive.
“Really, Marsh? I think people shouldn’t talk about shit they know nothing about either.”
Stan had the balls to turn around and glare at him, square in the eyes, actually look at him to read his face. That, he could appreciate.
Finally, Stan rolled his eyes. “Fine. I take back what I said. Not like you ever told anyone about what happened.”
“Because it’s private information and I don’t want everyone to know about it.”
“Yeah,” he swiveled back to his food, “I get it dude.”
Somehow, it annoyed him more to get blown off just like that.
“Ooh, that was intense. You guys should totally hang out more,” said Cartman. “It’ll be like your little gay club.”
Craig stuck his middle finger up at him. It was almost a survival skill to be able to deal with Cartman’s nonsense.
“You’ve got any more questions in your list?” Kenny helpfully asked.
“Right. Well, whatever, that’s pretty much it. Oh, and…” As annoying as they were, Craig didn’t think lightly of them coming out publicly as a couple. “Congrats, you guys.”
“Thanks,” said Kyle sincerely.
“Thanks, I guess,” said Stan, earning a glare from Kyle for his efforts. Craig just laughed, which earned another eye roll.
He finally returned to his usual table and was greeted by an assortment of exasperated looks.
“You nearly got into a fight with Stan? Seriously?!” Tweek seemed really worked up about it, which made Craig feel bad. He placed his hand on his shoulder.
“It’s okay, honey. Nothing happened in the end.”
“Can we not trust you with anything?” Clyde complained. “Not even recon work?”
“Hey, he was the one who started it.”
It took Craig two whole seconds of self-reflection to realize he had sort of been the one who started it, not Stan. Not like he intended to.
“He’s way too sensitive. It’s impossible to have a conversation with him.”
Tolkien laughed. “Pot calling the kettle black, but okay.”
“We put up with you because we love you,” said Clyde. “Now spill the deets.”
“So, what about Kyle? When did he start liking Stan?”
“Uh…” The answer was coming up blank. “No idea.”
“What do you mean, no idea? You didn’t ask?”
“It didn’t come up.”
“YOU SUCK AT THIS.”
For Stan, it was a productive first day of the school year. There wasn’t much being taught today, mostly just to introduce the teachers and the specific flavors of pain they’d be going through in the classes to come. It was great not having to do anything, but it was still pretty boring.
Still, he was in a really good mood. Mostly because he was still riding off the high of going public with his boyfriend. He got to see him during lunch and in between some of his classes, and nearing the end of football practice Kyle was waiting for him in the bleachers. He even saw him shift to where the team girlfriends were sitting — they seemed to be getting along, chatting while they waited and watched.
A couple of teammates elbowed him and called him gay, but there was no bite to it. That had been one of his big concerns; that his teammates would turn on him en masse and ostracize him out of the team. Sure, there were a handful of people who awkwardly sidestepped the whole thing, but by and large they took it pretty well.
In the locker room, a dreaded senior approached him and clapped him on the back.
“So, Marsh,” he spoke, Stan could hear the cocky swagger in his voice, “You take it up the ass?”
Stan was prepared for this. “Why,” he scoffed, “you want some pointers?”
The senior laughed, as did some of the others neighboring them. “Damn, with that scrawny Jew?”
“What do you think?” he shot back with a smirk. “You wanna know so bad, huh? Too bad, I’m taken.”
“Come on, dude, stop trying to hit him up,” said another senior. “We all know you missed your shot, gaywad.”
“Yeah, stop being such a sore loser.”
“Oh, fuck off, you guys.” He finally went back over to his locker to continue bickering with his friends.
Dealing with such people always required some form of mental armor. This was business as usual, especially with the upper grades, so Stan knew how to spar with them. He did wish he could be more honest, more vulnerable, more himself. But this was just the reality of the situation.
Looked like football club was settled. On Thursday he would very briefly do battle with the boardgames club, which posed its own unique challenges. The music club would probably be fine.
When he went back out, he happened to lock eyes with his coach, who came over to speak with him.
“Knew you were queer as hell,” said Coach. “Well, times have changed. The team seems fine. I expect you to train harder now that you’ve got someone to impress. Rest well, you’ll need it.”
Well, that was slightly ominous.
He walked towards the bleachers. Kyle was already heading down to meet him, waving bye to the girls.
Just looking at his boyfriend made him feel giddy with joy. He wanted to pump his fist into the air every time Kyle reached out to hold his hand, which he just did as they walked out of school together.
“Looks like you’re getting along with the girls,” Stan mentioned offhandedly.
“Yeah, they’re nice. Seems like they’ve accepted me as an honorary jock. Or really, an honorary girlfriend. How about you?” He seemed concerned. “Nothing too terrible?”
“Pretty good, actually. Everyone’s chill, more or less. They ask questions they shouldn’t be asking just ‘cause they think they’re being funny, but that’s it.”
“Yeah, as expected. Better than expected, actually. It’s strange, it’s like people were… They were surprised for sure, but it also felt like they expected us to be together. Like it made sense to them in hindsight.”
“I think that says something about how hard I was crushing on you,” Stan admitted. “They probably picked up some of the signs early on. Or maybe,” he smiled to himself, “they think we were always meant to be together.”
That earned him a laugh. “You’re such a sap,” Kyle said fondly. “I think today went really well. You know, I…” his voice grew softer. “I think I really like being with you.”
Stan beamed. “I’m really, really glad.”
He was so happy. His best friend and crush agreed to date him, he actually said yes, and actually wanted to be seen in school and in public holding his hand and being his. He must be the luckiest boy in the world.
They walked past his house. Kyle’s house was further away, so Stan would naturally keep walking with him until he said goodbye at his door. Kyle gave him a look that said, ‘dude, I don’t need this, but fine, thanks anyway.’ Stan thought it was hilariously cute and squeezed his hand tighter.
When they got to the door of the Broflovskis’ home, Kyle looked a little exasperated when Stan tugged at him like a lost child, but then smiled gently as he leaned in. They kissed on his doorstep.
When Kyle opened the door, his mom happened to be there as well. Her eyes lit up when she saw him; Stan waved and said hello.
“Oh! It’s so nice to see you, Stan, did you walk Kyle home? What a gentleman. Why don’t you come in and make yourself comfortable? I’ve made a little too much for dinner and could really use your help finishing it.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Broflovski, but—”
“Call me Sheila! Don’t be a stranger, Stan, you can call me Sheila, haven’t I told you before?”
Stan gave her a sheepish look. After the initial shock of learning about her son dating his best friend, she had since gone slightly in the opposite direction by extending a great deal of hospitality to Stan.
“Mom, stop embarrassing him,” Kyle told her, only to get dismissed with a wave of the hand.
“Thank you, Sheila, but I’m alright. I’ve got dinner at home.”
“You’re in the football team, aren’t you? Trust me, you need the extra calories. I want you to perform at your very best.”
Stan lost to her sheer force of will. Kyle rolled his eyes at his mom, but he seemed happy to have Stan stay for a little bit. Dinner was relatively pleasant, especially since he got to sit next to Kyle and bother him throughout, knocking his feet against his leg at selected intervals to maximize a reaction out of him.
He texted his mom to tell her he couldn’t make it for dinner, but to leave his portion on the table.
He followed Kyle upstairs to his room.
“Aw, come on. Homework? On the first day of school?”
“Yeah, I know, right? At least it’s not due tomorrow, but I still need to get started.”
Stan didn’t want that. He snuggled up to Kyle and kissed him on the cheek. He mumbled, “Could it wait?”
Kyle chuckled. “You’re horny, aren’t you?”
“Mhm.” He stroked his hair and kissed the back of his ear. “Please?”
“Okay.” Kyle shuffled off of him. “Sit on the bed.”
Stan was very quick to obey.
Kyle pushed his legs open, just enough for him to get in between them. Stan felt his head go empty at his touch. He got excited just thinking about him, his lips and his tongue, his eyes through his eyelashes.
It was Kyle’s favorite way of getting him off, and he wasn’t complaining. With all the recent practice he’d been getting, Kyle had gotten really good at giving head. He helped Stan unbutton his trousers; Stan shivered when he planted a kiss just below the band of his briefs.
Stan threaded his fingers through his curls. He closed his eyes and let out a satisfied sigh.
A month had passed. In other words, it was somehow already a month into the semester, or to some, only a month.
Tweek found it difficult to understand why Craig would more often than not end up butting heads with Stan. Not some stark difference in views or morals, nor some inexcusable grudge. It seemed like that any previous feuds, long resolved and amends made for, was going to fuel every future minor disagreement into a disaster waiting to happen.
Since the start of the school year, it was happening more and more. Nothing catastrophic, thankfully, not yet. Gym was always a nail-biting experience because of how competitive they could get, but this was and had always been the case when those two shared a gym class. What truly worried him was how weirdly argumentative they got about random things.
At first, it was because Craig got annoyed at how physical Stan was getting with Kyle in the hallways, hugging him and poking his sides and laughing together. “Get a room,” he’d deadpan at them. “This is why I hate gay people.”
Stan shot back during another occasion; when Craig was holding Tweek’s face to comfort him about something he couldn’t remember anymore. “Get a room,” he said emphatically. “Doesn’t feel so good, now, does it?”
Then Craig was scoffing at some physics project Stan had come up with, smugly showing him up with his own that ended up getting the top score. Then Stan was showing him the finger and telling him to ‘suck it, loser’ because Craig didn’t do well for a chemistry test and Stan actually, for once, had a higher grade than him — Craig had pretended it didn’t matter, but it had been a very sore point for him. Then, they had different opinions on which was the best song on a band’s latest album, and the beef got so bad it bled into social media.
They apparently caused a scene in public because they both wanted to get their boyfriends the same thing — the last bouquet at the convenience store.
He didn’t like this. He really didn’t like this. He didn’t like to worry about how a fight between them could get them into trouble, and he didn’t want it to be with Stan.
“He’s an idiot and a whiny baby,” said Craig.
“Ahhh!” It made Tweek tug at his hair. Stan could be stupid at times, but he was more than that. What Tweek admired the most about him was that he genuinely tried to become a better person as they grew older, in spite of all the shit they went through as kids. Stan was also one of the few people in school who actually thought highly of him.
Craig gently pried his fingers off his hair. “It’s okay. I know you worry about me getting in trouble. I promise I won’t let that happen.”
“Craig, why exactly do you hate Stan so much?”
“I don’t hate him, honey. He just gets on my nerves.”
“Why? Why does he get on your nerves and I don’t?”
His facial expression softened at that. “Tweek, it’s not that you never get on my nerves, but I understand why you act the way you do, and you’re such a sweet person. Marsh on the other hand is insensitive to others, yet takes everything so personally and then makes it everyone’s business.”
Tweek tried his best not to yell again. “I’m not saying he doesn’t have flaws! But he’s actually a really nice guy and not even nearly as bad as some other people in this school, so I don’t understand what’s your problem with him!”
Craig shrugged. It was as if it did not matter in the slightest whether Stan was a nice guy or not. Knowing Craig, this was more than likely to be true.
“We’ve all been friends for so long and you still don’t care? At least try to get to know him! Stan’s my friend too; if you can get along with him I’d be a lot more at ease.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Tweek folded his arms and frowned at him. Craig smiled, ruffled his hair and kissed him on the forehead. As typical as it sounded, it genuinely did make him feel better.
Okay, fine. If Craig was going to be stubborn about it, he’d just have to do something about it himself.
Craig let his friends convince him into thinking it was worth seeing the September supermoon together. It wasn’t a big deal, and he figured his friends might not be as interested in some of the other niche astronomic events, so supermoon it was going to be. It would be nice to head to Stark’s Pond together. Craig would hardly be expected to do anything, anyway. He could cuddle up with Tweek and talk about the stars together, if the situation permitted.
He wasn’t expecting the extended friend group as well.
He got a little suspicious when Kenny appeared. He was fine with him, strictly speaking, so he gave him a nod and a word of hello before going back to minding his own business. He narrowed his eyes when he saw Stan and Kyle walking towards them with their hands clasped.
“Alright, who invited them?”
“Thanks for the warm welcome, asshole.”
Craig rolled his eyes at the sound of Stan’s voice.
“I invited them,” Tolkien admitted. “Extended the invite to Kyle and whoever wanted to come along. Sorry, I didn’t know you weren’t okay with it.”
Craig shook his head. “No, I don’t mind. Just warn me next time.”
“Hey, guys! I brought snacks for everyone! Isn’t that so nice of me?”
Surprisingly, Craig wasn’t as bothered by Cartman’s presence. He usually brought good snacks and went home whenever he decided things got too boring. Stan, on the other hand, had the habit of courteously staying till the end, talking to everyone since apparently he was friends with everybody.
He distracted himself with the stars for a good while until Tweek, who sat by his side, nudged at him. Craig looked over at him attentively.
“You know, since Stan is here, you might as well go talk to him.”
“What?” Tweek couldn’t be serious. “And interrupt his date with Kyle?”
“Kyle is talking to Tolkien right now. As nice as it is spending time with you, it’s not a date. Go talk to your friends.”
“So do I talk to my friends or do I talk to Stan?”
Tweek elbowed him again with an exasperated smile. “Call him what you want. I just think you’d stop fighting all the time if you actually get to know him. Do it for my peace of mind, please?”
Craig squeezed his hand. “Okay, I’ll try.”
It wasn’t that Craig didn’t understand why he was so anxious about it. It was why he felt it was in their best interests to reduce any chance of conflict by not interacting with Stan. Tweek, for some reason, thought the opposite would work better.
“I’m not asking you to be best buddies. Just actually talk to him.”
Thus, Craig got up and approached Stan, who naturally raised his eyebrows at him but patted at the ground beside him.
“What’s up, Craig?” he asked as Craig took a seat.
“Tweek told me to come talk to you.”
Stan let out a surprised laugh. “That’s unexpected. Here I thought you actually wanted to come talk to me about something.”
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
“True. Hey, I appreciate it.” He tilted the bag of hot-n-sour chips in his hand towards Craig. “Want some?”
“Sure.” He grabbed a handful and started eating. “Thanks,” he said a little belatedly. Stan nodded at him.
Actually, Craig had no real issue with him. Stan was generally a friendly guy; when they got along, they could get along. The problem was that everything that could go wrong tended to go wrong around Stan. Craig was invoking Murphy’s Law every time he decided to get involved in Stan and his gang.
“So, why did Tweek want you to talk to me?”
Craig sighed. “He was really insistent on making us hold hands and sing kumbaya.”
Stan chuckled at that. “So even he thinks you can be an asshole sometimes.”
Craig glared at him, which only made him laugh harder.
“Nah, I get it,” Stan continued. “It probably worries him that his boyfriend keeps beefing with one of his friends. What’s your issue with me, man?”
“I don’t have an issue with you.”
“It’s fine, dude. You’ve got an issue with most people. My issue with you is that you can be an asshole, but that’s really mild all things considered.”
“How do you expect me to react when you say shit like that?”
Stan grinned. “You find that offensive?”
“It’s as if you say stuff to piss me off on purpose. And if it’s not on purpose, even worse.”
“Sorry. Generally speaking, I don’t want to piss anyone off.” There was a glint in his eye. “Unless it’s funny.”
“Fucker.” Craig stuck his finger up, but he couldn’t help but gain a bit of respect for Stan’s sheer brazenness.
“But if it makes Tweek worry, I’ll try my best to lay off.” Stan shrugged his shoulders. “You’ve just got to stop starting beef with me.”
“Way to shift the blame.” In other words, this wouldn’t be stopping anytime soon. “Doesn’t this bother Kyle at all?”
“He was kind of upset at me for the bouquet incident.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Got a good scolding for it. He didn’t like me causing a scene, especially if it’s in public. But I think it’s different for Tweek. He’d worry that we’d get into serious trouble one day. Which, for the record, I don’t hate you, dude. I don’t want to get us both in actual deep shit.”
“Same.” They both crunched on more chips, then after a moment, Craig sighed. “I don’t know how to reassure him that it won’t happen. I know he’ll still worry, but I at least want him to worry less.”
“That’s sweet of you. But I mean, isn’t this what he’s trying to do? He’s worried things would escalate and he wouldn’t be there to stop it in time. That’s why he’s trying to make us resolve our differences. So it won’t get there. Hey, he even trusts you to come talk to me.”
“It’s got nothing to do with my peacemaking ability. It’s because he’s got a good opinion of you. Seems like you two get along.”
“Well, yeah, he’s a cool guy.”
Craig scoffed. “He’s more than cool.”
“Okay, loverboy.”
Genuinely, though, it surprised Craig that he thought Tweek was a cool guy. That wasn’t a common thing to say about him. Most people accepted his quirks or ignored them and got along with him, but it didn’t mean they thought well of him.
“Why did you use that word?” Curiosity got the better of him. “Cool.”
“Because he is. You don’t believe me? Dude, I was friends with him before you two even got together.”
“You were friends with him and still made the two of us fight for your amusement and a stupid bet.”
“Hey, that was before we were— But yeah, that was real shitty of us, I admit it.”
“You and your friends did a lot of shitty stuff.”
“Yup,” he said sheepishly. “Sorry.”
“To be fair, me too, so we’re even.”
A truce. It was sort of nice being in a truce. Craig chased down the chips with soda. Those sweet sweet empty calories.
“Sometimes I hear the way people talk about Tweek and it’s like, they think Tweek can’t handle himself,” said Stan, suddenly. “That he’s got to rely on you for everything. Which is stupid.”
“Yeah.” Craig got a little angry thinking about it. “We help each other. I help him calm down, he makes school more bearable.”
“I guess it’s because they think you’re the capable one. There’s always got to be provider who does everything for the, um, receiver? Whatever, you get what I mean. Tweek can actually be really fucking scary, but since he’s a pacifist people think he’s weak. I think just because he’s got anxiety and gets all twitchy doesn’t mean he doesn’t have good sense. And he does things despite being anxious, which I know is harder. It’s just easy to judge him without getting to know him. Don’t you think so? You know him better than I do.”
“I think you actually know him better than most people.” Which honestly, truly surprised him.
Stan folded his arms and smiled. “See? I can be observant when I want to.”
“Hah, okay. So if you don’t know someone, it’s because you don’t care, got it.”
“Come on, Craig. I know what you’re getting at. You really think I don’t know you after all these years?”
“Surprise me.”
Stan thought for a little bit. “My parents used to say, don’t hang around that Tucker kid, he’s a troublemaker and a bad influence. But it’s not like you go out of your way to cause trouble just ‘cause you want to. You just… don’t want to do stupid things. So if you think it’s stupid, you don’t want to do it, and you can just not do it because at some point, no one can stop you. And because you’re a cynical bastard you need to be convinced that something isn’t stupid, rather than the other way round.”
“Was the cynical bastard part really necessary?”
Stan shrugged. “Yeah? That’s kind of your whole thing. I don’t care, whatever, not worth my time; that sort of thing. You know what you care about. Everything else has to be added to the list. And honestly, I respect that.”
Craig was mildly offended. Not because he was wrong, but because he was right.
It was probably the reason why Stan generally got along with everybody; he cared enough to know them. For all the fucks Craig gave or lack thereof, he didn’t expect to be given any in return.
He begrudgingly admitted to himself that Tweek might have a point.