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"Tweek, what are you going to get Craig for Christmas?" Wendy asked, smiling at him. They were currently partnered together to work on a project, but they had finished a little early, so they were talking quietly to themselves.
"GAH, I have no idea," He said, dropping his head into his hands. He had been trying to think of a good present for Craig for over a week, and had yet to think of anything. He really needed to get him something special, since it was their first Christmas as a couple, but also just because he wanted to show Craig how much he cared for him. It was hard, though, because Tweek had never been in a relationship before, so there were so many things he didn't know how to do.
Wendy must have been able to see how much it worried him, that he couldn't think of a present for his boyfriend. "I could try to help you come up with some ideas, if you'd like?"
Tweek wasn't sure if that was a great idea, because it might not seem as genuine and heartfelt if it wasn't his own idea. He was having such a hard time thinking of anything, in the first place, so it might be for the best that he got some help.
He nodded, and smiled, "That would be nice, if you don't mind. It's just so much pressure, thinking of a good gift, and Craig is such a good boyfriend, I know he'll think of something great."
He peaked across the room, where his boyfriend was sitting, working with Cartman, and not looking happy about it at all. Tweek felt bad for him, he didn't didn't blame him for flipping the bigger boy off every other sentence.
"I don't mind at all! It'll be fun! I'll even see if I can get Stan and his friends to help out, they might have a different outlook on what kind of present they would want themselves," Wendy said.
Tweek panicked at the thought of involving even more people, "Will they say anything to Craig, though? I can't have him know what I'm getting him early!"
Wendy shook her head, "No, they won't! I'll specifically tell them not to bring Cartman, he'd be the only one who would do that. They'll keep it to themselves, I'll make sure of it."
Tweek nodded slightly, "Okay."
Wendy grinned at that, and pulled out her planner, and opening to that days page. "Why don't we meet at Stark's Pond, at four? Does that work for you?"
Tweek considered it, and then nodded. He and Craig walked home from school together every day, but he would still have time to walk home with him and then go ot the pond, so Craig wouldn't know he was up to something. As long as Tweek didn't freak out and blurt it out himself, that is.
"Great, I'll ask Stan during lunch if he'll come," She said. "This will be so much fun, we'll come up with a great plan!"
He hoped they would, because Craig really deserved a great gift. The past couple months that they've been dating had been some of Tweek's happiest.
"Hey, Tweek," Craig greeted, in his normal tone, as he stood beside Tweek's locker. It was the end of the day, and they were heading home.
"Hi, Craig," He replied, closing his locker door and smiling as Craig held out his hand for him to take. The walk home was normal, they chatted idly about the projects they had worked on.
"You're so lucky that you got to work with Wendy, I got stuck with fucking Cartman, and literally every idea he had was so awful," Craig said.
"Yeah, I felt bad for you, you did not look like you were having fun."
"I don't understand why they don't let us pick our own partners. If we would have worked together, we would have had the best project all around," Craig said, kicking a rock that was in his way.
"It wouldn't be fair to everyone else, though," Tweek pointed out, "Since we're obviously the best team in the whole class."
Craig smiled at him, one of his rare, tiny smiles, and Tweek was pretty sure he was one of the only people that ever got to see Craig smile like that. He had been friends with Tweek before they started dating, and he was very cold and closed off most of the time, even though they were friends. Something about all the hand holding must have unlocked a different version of Craig, one that rarely flipped him off, and was very caring. It was amazing.
"You're right, we're the best team around. Lucky us."
Craig walked Tweek up to his house, and gave him a quick hug before he left. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye, Craig," Tweek replied, heading into his own house. Once the door was closed behind him, he ran to the window, and watched as Craig walked away, back to his own house. As soon as he was far enough away, Tweek ran to the kitchen and left a note to his parents, letting them know he was going to Stark's Pond. They were at the coffee shop, and probably wouldn't even get home for a few more hours, but Tweek had no idea how long it would take him to think of a good present.
He taped the note to the fridge, and then left, looking all around him as he walked to the pond, paranoid that Craig might appear out of nowhere and find out what he was doing. He knew that Craig was more than likely already playing video games, as he usually did until his parents made him work on his homework.
Stark's Pond was deserted, except for Wendy, Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Bebe. It scared him, to have so many people know he was so hopeless in finding a present for his boyfriend, and he approached cautiously.
Stan spotted him first, and waved, "Hey, Tweek."
Tweek nodded back, "Hey," he said, looking at everyone else as well.
Wendy had a notebook open, and it looked like she was actually going over notes, and Tweek knew they were probably about the whole present situation.
"Come on, sit down," Bebe said, smiling at him, "We have to figure out the perfect gift for Craig."
He really did have to figure it out, every second it got closer to Christmas, his chest started to tighten up more, with fear that he'd never find anything suitable, and Craig would dump him. It was even worse knowing that he would never actually do that, and Tweek could give him actual dog shit and Craig would just laugh and give him a hug. And then he would go and give Tweek the sweetest present ever! It was too much pressure! He sat down weakly, still internally fretting over everything.
"Okay, so to get started, we need to find something that Craig really likes," Wendy stated.
"That'll be the hard part," Stan said, "Craig hates everything."
"No he doesn't!" Tweek insisted. He knew Craig better than any of them, and there were tons of things Craig liked.
"Then what does he like, Tweek?" Bebe asked.
"You answered your own question there," Kyle pointed out. "He really likes Tweek."
Tweek blushed at that, and look down at his hands, which were folded in his lap. "Yeah but that doesn't help me think of a present. He really likes video games, but I don't think there are any out now that he wants that he doesn't already have. And he really likes guinea pigs, but he already has Stripe, so it's not like I could get him another guinea pig."
"But what about toys for his guinea pig! That would be a good idea!" Wendy said, her eyes lighting up.
"We don't have a pet store in South Park, though, and I don't think my parents will be willing to drive me to one," Tweek admitted.
"How about we make some toys then?" Bebe suggested. "I used to have a hamster, and you can make all sorts of little ramps and stuff from popsicle sticks."
"Oh that's a great idea!" Wendy replied.
"Yeah," Tweek seconded, "I think he would like that. We play with Stripe a lot, and if he had a little ramp to run over, I bet he would like that."
"Let's go buy some popsicles now, and get started!" Stan said eagerly.
Tweek was surprised that they wanted to help him actually build the toys. "Oh. Uh. You don't have to help me build that, I can do it myself. It was enough that you helped me think of an idea to begin with. I was so stressed over it."
"Stan wants to help mostly to eat some popsicles," Kyle clarified, "but we don't mind helping out. It'll be fun."
"Yeah," the others agreed.
That's how Tweek found himself at Stan's house, three hours later, with everyone else. all of their mouths stained different colors from eating all the popsicles.
"I can't even feel my mouth anymore," Kyle said, sticking his tongue out and poking it, "I think it's broken."
"Ew," Wendy said. "Keep your tongue to yourself."
Both Bebe and Tweek had given up on eating the popsicles after their second ones, and moved onto washing and drying them, and then using food coloring to make them different colors. Once they were colored, they started making the toys. The first one was a colorful ramp, slightly bigger than the one Bebe had made for her hampster, but they thought it was a perfect guinea pig size. Tweek could already imagine Stripe scurrying over it.
Once they had finished the bridge, they started working on a hut. They had two walls build before they ran out of popsicles.
"Oh no," Stan said, pulling out the last popsicle, "this is the last one."
"AGH! I can't give Craig just two walls! Stripe won't know what to do with them!" Tweek said, walking around the room, covering his face.
"It's okay, Tweek, we can come back tomorrow and get some more popsicles," Wendy offered.
"Oh no, I can't have you do that! You've already helped so much!"
"We really don't mind," Bebe said, "It was fun hanging out with you and doing this."
"Yeah, and the popsicles were amazing," Stan said, smiling happily.
"I-I guess," Tweek gave in, "If you want to."
"Of course we do! See you tomorrow," Wendy said, waving at Tweek as they all left to go to their own houses for dinner.
Tweek went downstairs to join his own parents for dinner.
"Tweek, sweetie, it was so amazing to see all your little friends over! I couldn't help but notice Craig wasn't with them, you two aren't having a fight or anything are you?"
Tweek's mother said, once he sat down at the table.
"Oh, uh, no. Um. They were all helping me. Make a gift, for Craig. I was having trouble coming up with an idea," Tweek answered.
"You know, some of our warm, comforting coffee is always a great choice for a present. Imagine, cuddling up next to a Christmas tree, with a hot, steaming, cup of coffee, holding you like a warm hug from Santa himself," Tweek's father suggested.
"No, no, it's fine, we figured something out."
"Darn. Just keep it in mind, son," Mr. Tweek said.
Tweek was unlikely to give Craig anything coffee related, considering Craig didn't even like coffee. His father didn't understand that, he thought everyone loved coffee as much as he did. He offered Craig coffee every time he came over, much to Tweek's dismay. Craig always politely turned him down, which was always a shock to Tweek, early on in their relationship.
Before he started dating Craig, Tweek thought polite would be the last word he would ever use to describe him. He might have been right, then, but since they had been dating, Craig had been different. Not to everyone, he still let plenty of people know exactly what he was thinking of them, and how much he didn't like him, but when he was with Tweek, he was softer, and less abrasive.
Tweek would be lying if he said he didn't spend the rest of dinner day dreaming about Craig.
The next day, after school, Tweek had to turn down Craig's offer to hang out. He felt so bad, because under normal circumstances he'd always say yes.
"I can't," Tweek said.
"Oh," Was all Craig said in reply. His voice was still the same, but it was a little lower, and Tweek could tell he was sad.
"I can't tell you why, not right now, but I have a reason and I'm sorry. I'll come over to your house tomorrow, I'll even stay all night to make up for it," Tweek offered. Even though it was a school night, he knew neither of their parents would care. They would be over the moon about them spending the night with each other, as long as they kept the door open all night.
Craig met his eyes, already looking a bit happier, "You're so cute, honey. That's fine. I'll see you tomorrow."
They hugged each other goodbye, and Tweek went inside his house. He went to grab his money, and then nearly ran to the store to stock up on popsicles. By the time he got back to his house, it was nearly time for everyone else to get there, since they decided to meet at Tweek's house at four that day.
The actual production was a lot faster that day, since they had established a rhythm, and they were done in about an hour.
"Thank you," Tweek said to all of them, "Without your help I still wouldn't have any idea what to give him. You're all life savers."
"You're welcome, dude, it was fun. And gave us an excuse to get away from Cartman for a couple of days," Kyle said.
"You'll have to let us know what Craig thinks of them, but I know he'll love them," Bebe said.
"And if you ever need someone to eat a lot of popsicles again, I'm in!" Stan said, from around the popsicle he was still eating, even though they had finished.
"You can take all of the rest of them with you," Tweek offered. "I don't need them."
Stan smiled, "Sweet."
Once they had all left, Tweek got to wrapping the presents. He was too afraid of them getting broken if he actually wrapped them, so he put them both in their own bags instead. He took special time in filling them with tissue paper, and putter a sticker with Craig's name on it clearly visible. Once he was done, he looked at them and smiled. He was so happy he was able to give something great to Craig.
It had taken Tweek hours to work up the nerve to tell Craig. It was the next day and they had decided to go to Tweek's house after school and stay there for the night. Craig's house was fine, but he liked any chance to get away from his sister. Tweek had tried three different times to mention the presents he had, but each time he could do it. He finally got the words out around 11 pm, when they were dressed for bed, and hanging out before they went to sleep.
"I know Christmas isn't for a few days, but it's going to drive me crazy if I don't give you your present as soon as possible," Tweek finally said.
Craig nodded, "That's fine, I have yours with me.'
His book bag was sat on the floor, a few feet away from where Craig himself was sitting, and he reached over and opened one of the pockets, pulling out a neatly wrapped present, about the size of a textbook.
Tweek grabbed the bags he had for Craig that were hidden under his bed, and they exchanged gifts. They both sat on the floor of Tweek's bedroom, about three feet apart, facing each other, their presents in their laps.
"You can go first, babe," Craig said with a smile, breaking the silence.
Tweek nodded and started tearing of the paper.
"My mom wrapped it, by the way. It looked a lot nicer that way. I tried to do it myself, and it didn't go very well," Craig admitted.
Tweek loved how much Craig would talk when they were alone. In front of other people, he wouldn't say nearly as much as he does to just Tweek.
"It looked lovely all wrapped up," Tweek said, and then looked down at it again, with half of the paper torn off. He could tell if was actually a book, but it was the back of it, so he couldn't tell what the book was. He turned it over and pulled the paper off of the front.
Awesome LEGO Creations With Bricks You Already Have.
"GAH-" Tweek gasped in surprise. The cover showed a dragon, and a little fort, and he quickly opened it to look at some of the other things it had.
"Thank you so much, Craig," he said, overwhelmed. He couldn't wait to make some of these designs.
"You're welcome," Craig said. "I wanted to get you one of those huge sets, but they were expensive, and I knew you already had a lot of LEGOs, so it wouldn't be hard for you to make a lot of these things."
"I can't wait to, will you help me when I do make them?" Tweek asked, looking at Craig hopefully.
"Of course I will."
"Great!" Tweek smiled, "Now it's your turn. I hope you like it. I'm sorry if you don't! I can always do something else if you really hate it, I promise-"
"I know I'll love it," Craig insisted, already pulling the tissue paper out.
Tweek waited anxiously as Craig pulled out the little popsicle stick ramp. Craig stared at it for a few seconds, not saying anything.
"It's a ramp, for Stripe to play on," Tweek said, beginning to ramble on because of his nerves, "You know how I couldn't hang out with you the past two days, it's because me and Wendy, and Stan, and Bebe, and Kyle-"
Before he was finished, he was cut of by a surprise hug from Craig, who was holding on to him very tightly. Tweek stared blankly for a couple seconds in shock, before he caught on and hugged Craig back.
"I love it, and I know Stripe will, too," Craig said, still holding Tweek tightly.
"There's more in the other bag," Tweek pointed out.
Craig pulled back to open the next present, and smiled widely when he saw the little hut. "He'll love hiding out in this. Thank you so much, Tweek."
He hugged Tweek again, and then they decided it was time to go to sleep. They both climbed into Tweek's bed, and stared at the ceiling, not able to fall asleep.
"I'm really glad you liked your gift," Tweek confessed. "I was so worried about finding something you would like, and I knew you would get me something great, like you did. I had to ask Wendy to help me come up with an idea, I was so clueless."
"You did perfectly," Craig insisted. "You knew me well enough to know I'd love something for Stripe. I'm glad you liked the book, I made my mom drive me to Denver last weekend to get it."
Craig really was the best boyfriend ever.
"Do you think this will be so stressful next year?" Tweek wondered.
"Maybe. I know I'll want to get you the best gift ever, every year," Craig answered.
"Me too," Tweek said, already thinking of ideas for the next year. Maybe getting an early start would make it easier.