A/N: It's been a wicked long month since I've updated, and I'd like to apologize. You see, I managed to accidentally delete the document that I had the storyboard for this story written out in, so I've got to put it all back together again. I'm expecting this story to run for about 25 chapters? Just a rough estimate. So uh, here's this. I'll get the next chapter up asap, and I promise it'll be a lot better than this one. - Harvard

As I sat on the hardwood floor while looking up at Tweek as if he were the antichrist, I realized that I'd never been woken up by being shoved out of my own bed before. I guess there's a first time for everything, though.

"What... what the fuck?" I mumbled and rubbed my eyes. I wasn't exactly sure of what on Earth was happening at the current moment since I was having quite a nice snooze just a few moments before all of this began, so my speech sounded garbled and slurred together.

The alarm clock next to my bed blinked 2:32PM.

Tweek's nervous gaze was on me as if I would stand up and pummel him into the mattress at any given second. "I-I woke up and you w-were sleeping -nngh- next to me!"

Ceasing my yawn, I lifted a brow amusedly. "I know."

"We slept together!"

I stood up and cracked my back. "I know."

I guess my two-word answers weren't enough for the spazztic blonde as he jumped out of the bed, patting himself down as if to make sure that all of his body parts were there and none of his organs had been harvested for the black market. I was going to tell him that he was all there in one piece when one of his hands shot up to press against his forehead.

"I feel l-like I've been hit by a -nngh- train," he groaned painfully, his eyes screwed shut tight. I laughed and fell to my knees, digging around beneath my bed for a black and white Vans shoe box. I pulled it out and sifted through the small stack of comics I had in it until I came to the one I was looking for.

"Yeah, alcohol can do that to you. You were pretty far gone last night at the party for most of it," I explained and stood back up. I held out the comic and waited for him to open his eyes. "You even admitted that you were gay. I didn't drink, so I can only imagine what you're feeling right now."

His eyes shot open and a worried expression replaced his one of pain. "W-what?"

I assumed he was asking about the comic, so I told him, "It's the next one you're supposed to read. This one's got Captain Craig revealing how he got his powers, and even hints at how he knew Doctor Darkness before he became a villain. It's the best one I've made so far."

He just continued to stare at me. "I'm n-not gay, Craig. I like—"

"You told me Kelly was a dude and that you lied because you were scared. It's alright, don't worry about it. I don't care if you're gay," I tried to assure him before he took off like a frightened squirrel. With the way he was acting at the moment, I wouldn't be surprised if he actually did make a run for the door. "So do you wanna hang out or are you busy today?"

He looked around, taking in his surroundings. He had never been in my room before, let alone even knew where I lived. For some reason, his house was the one we'd always find ourselves at.

"I've gotta go," he finally said after a long minute while his gaze was fixed on my bedroom window. "I have to g-get ready for work."

I dropped the comic onto the bed when I realize he had no intentions on taking it and chewed the inside of my cheek. Part of me felt dejected because of it. Hadn't I made it clear to him that nobody read my comics? He was the only person I'd ever let see them, and here he was turning them down.

Deciding not to make a deal of it, I reached for my car keys and held them up. He was still looking out the window with knitted brows. "Here, I'll drop you off."

"You live right behind me," he said quietly. It was too quiet, too calm. It worried me. "Why d-didn't you ever tell me that you lived -nngh- right behind me?"

I didn't know how to answer that, so I told the half-truth. "Didn't want you to stop playing that weird music of yours." I left out the parts about how I'd taken up to watching him from my roof sometimes. "Besides, I like going to your place. It's a change of scenery."

I didn't get a chance to try and evaluate the new look painted on Tweek's features before he was straightening out his clothes and heading for my bedroom door. Afraid I might have spooked him, I reached out and grabbed the sleeve of his shirt. He tugged his arm out of my grasp.

"I'm gonna w-walk home since it's so c-close," he announced heatedly as he tore open the door. I followed close on his heels through the house, attempting to make use of my tongue and the English language but nothing came out of my mouth. "Thanks for t-taking care of -nngh- me."

"Wait, is everything alright?" I asked once I finally figured out how to use words again. Tweek just continued to open the front door and scurry down the front porch steps, leaving me to stand alone.

As I watched him disappear between the side of my house and the neighbors, I realized that this would be the second time Tweek Tweak has left me confused with unanswered questions, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it.

Eventually I gathered myself back up and stormed my way back up the stairs, feeling slighted and even a little hurt. For the first time in my life, I felt like I needed to talk to someone and vent. It was odd since all my life I'd been a loner, completely fine—happy, even—with being left alone, but then again I never had to deal with these—these feelings. I had always taken care to make sure that I was comfortable and never put under new stresses, but now since I'd been thrown out of my comfort zone with this interest I'd found in Tweek, I didn't know how to handle these types of situations.

I was beginning to doubt myself, feel uncomfortable, nervous...

I hated it.

The first thing I did when I made it back to the confines of my bedroom was snatch my phone from the bedside table and text Kenny, asking him if we could meet up and chill. I figured since he and I were sort of in the same boat that maybe he'd be the best one to talk about with this.

Apparently whether or not he was the man for the job didn't matter; he had his hands full with Kyle, who he was currently trying to woo over ice cream.

I'd never flipped anything off harder than my phone at that moment.

At a loss and in a bit of a hurry, I ended up texting the next person who immediately came to mind. I just as quickly regretted it after I'd sent the message, too.

Part of me silently prayed that he wouldn't answer back, that he'd just ignore me and go on about his merry day doing whatever it is he and his stupid face did on a daily basis, but obviously the odds just weren't in my favor now, were they.

I sighed when I read the message, half-irritated with myself and half-relieved that I could at least talk to someone and get my mind off of Tweek.

sure dude. come ovr, im home alone til 5. i'll order pizza. - SM

"We're out of grounds! Bring some out when you're done, alright?" Jake shouted from the front of the shop. I grabbed the broom and dustpan from the corner. It was amazing how much of a mess it could get in here after just a few days.

"Okay!" I called back, letting him know that I heard him loud and clear. I waited to listen for any additional instructions but none came.

I sighed and began to sweep the storage room floor. There wasn't enough for me to do at the shop today to keep my mind off of Craig. I felt so bad for running out on him like that, but I didn't know what else to do!

I bent down and scooped the dirt into the dustpan.

I mean, I couldn't even recall everything that happened at the party... just bits and pieces. I remembered something about a game and being dared to kiss Craig. I also remembered him running off before I could do it... that memory came flooding back the instant that Craig said I told him that I was gay.

For some reason I couldn't remember that, and it scared the shit out of me; what if I made a fool of myself? Did I do anything stupid? Did I try to kiss him again and I couldn't remember? My mind felt like it was going to explode with questions that I couldn't bring myself to ask, so the only thing I could think of was to high tail it out of there.

I thought I was keeping my composure pretty well, but then I realized he was hiding the fact that he lived right behind me and was listening to my music! Did that make him a stalker? Oh God! I didn't want him to be a stalker—I don't like stalkers!

As I dumped the dustpan into the trash, I pursed my lips and shook my head of those stupid thoughts. Craig wasn't a stalker... well, at least I thought he wasn't. Craig was a good guy. Good.

Still, it didn't help that he was sleeping with me... I thought I'd made it clear to him that we couldn't sleep in the same bed. Jesus Christ, what if I snored or if I kicked him in my sleep? This is just too much to think about!

"You alright?"

"GAH!" I pulled at my hair that I wasn't even aware of my tight grip on. Jake worriedly hurried over to me and unraveled my fingers like Craig did whenever he saw me get like that. I sheepishly looked at the ground once he was finished. "T-thanks. I uh, I guess I -nngh- sort of freaked out a b-bit."

"A bit. Right," Jake scoffed with a playful grin. "What's bothering you, Tweek? You're usually pretty calm back here. Like it's your little sane-room or something."

I forced a wry smile and shrugged, placing the broom back in the corner. "I don't know, it's s-sort of stupid," I sighed. "It's Craig."

He perked a brow. "The kid I called Stan? What, do I gotta kick his ass?"

I laughed. "No! I think I j-just might have hurt his feelings is a-all. It's kind of a l-long -nngh- story." I kneeled down and poked around under the bottom shelf for the huge bulk-sized bag of grounds, dragging it out to the center of the floor and over to Jake who picked it up over his shoulder as if it were nothing. Show off. "How do you make it up to someone w-when you make them upset? I'm not really used to having to d-do it."

Jake hummed in thought and scratched his chin with his free hand. "Well what's he into? You can always get him a gift or something. That usually works with women."

I followed him out of the storage room and back to the front of the shop. Night was beginning to fall and the streetlights were turning on one by one outside.

"There's a problem with t-that logic," I smirked. "Craig is definitely a guy."

"Well I dunno about him, but if someone bought me a video game after making me mad, I think I'd have to forgive them in a heartbeat."

That gave me an idea.

"You're into c-comics, right?" I asked.

Jake nodded. "Very much so. I've got tons; I need to actually get rid of a few boxes since they're taking up so much room. I've got lots of rare DC issues from the Silver Age. Why, are you looking for something in particular?"

"Silver Age... does t-that mean they're good -nngh- for collecting?" I remembered Craig telling me something about how there were different ages in comics, but I wasn't too keen on specifics. I sort of zoned out while holding his guinea pig at the time.

"Yeah, it's usually considered the best age for comics."

I nodded and began to untie the strings of my apron. It was nearing closing time. "Can I-I stop by sometime and c-check them out?"

Jake smiled as he wiped down the espresso machine. "Of course. Whenever's fine for you. Just give me a call."

I thanked him and went to begin counting the money in the drawer until I felt someone's eyes on me. I turned around to see Jake watching me intently.

"Uh,"

"I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but you've always got a couple of mismatched buttons," Jake said as he reached forward and grabbed ahold of my shirt.

"Gah!" I flinched and jumped back. "I-I know!"

Jake's furrowed brows let up and a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "You're really funny, you know that?" He went back to busying himself with cleaning one of the coffee machines. "You remind me of a little bunny rabbit, sometimes."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that, so I didn't.

Jake tossed the dirty rag to the side and scratched nervously at his neck for a second. "I was wondering... would you like to go see Modest Mouse in Denver with me?"

"You want to go to a c-concert with me?"

"Yeah, what do you say?"

I twiddled my thumbs nervously for a second. I wasn't used to having friends and being asked to do things; It was nice, don't get me wrong, but it was still sort of new to me.

Once I had calmed my nerves down enough to assure myself that Jake wasn't planning on kidnapping me, murdering me and dumping me in the woods somewhere, I said, "That sounds like it'd be fun."

I momentarily thought about asking if Craig could come with us, but I decided against it when Jake gave me a friendly grin and, once more, began cleaning the machines. Craig was amazing and definitely the best friend I had out of small handful of people I knew, but I couldn't just always expect for him to be around. I needed to find my own friends and be independent, otherwise I'd probably smother Craig... and that was the last thing I wanted to do.