They all but stumbled through the front door, laughter bubbling from their throats past their panted breaths. They were soaked, head to toe, and dripping all over the hard wood floor of the entryway.

"C'mon," Butters beckoned, waving a hand and cocking his head toward the stair case. "Mom'll get real sore if we get her floor all wet. She works awful hard to keep this house so clean, you know." He was grinning, full and toothy and childish.

Why exactly did Craig like hanging out with this kid? His normal company was nothing like this, nothing like Butters. But the kid held a certain charm, and Craig could never say no to that stupid pretty smile.

It wasn't just that. He actually had fun with Butters. He had fun with his other friends too, sure, but it was dirty fun. Reckless, unorganized – often unlawful – fun. But with Butters, it was just… fun. That was it. Innocent games, shenanigans, playing pretend.

What the hell kind of teenager still plays pretend?

But Craig couldn't deny that he enjoyed it. That's why he was standing in Butters' house, drenched to the bone, laughing because he could.

"You know, at my house we wouldn't have to worry about my mom yelling at us for anything," he said, starting after Butters up the stairs. He didn't touch the banister so that he wouldn't get it wet.

Butters spun at the top of the stair case to look back down at Craig. "Yeah, but I like my house!" he said enthusiastically, like his house was the best place in the world. And it probably was, to Butters. He could do anything he wanted there, be anyone he wanted – it was his own personal world.

Craig reached the top and had to teeter on the top step to stand before Butters. He looked down at Butters, and anyone else as short as Butters probably would have been intimidated by Craig's height with how close they were standing. But Butters just smiled and led the way back to his room.

Butters grabbed some towels from the bathroom and shut the door behind them once they were finally in his room. "I know you're a lot taller than me, but you can borrow a pair of pants once you take them wet ones off," Butters offered, already beginning to strip himself out of his soaking attire.

Craig watched and his heart skipped a beat as more and more of Butters' skin was revealed. He looked away, because he would feel ashamed for watching while Butters trusted him not to.

Ashamed? Since when was Craig Tucker ashamed to appreciate a nice fucking body? The answer is never. Butters just had that effect on him; made him feel conscious about the things he did.

"Yeah, that'd be great, thanks," he said. He turned the other way and began to rid himself of his own heavy clothing.

A few moments later, Butters tapped him on the shoulder. He heard repressed giggling and turned to see Butters hiding a grin behind his hand. "What?" he asked, taking the offered pair of sweat pants.

"You have a tattoo on your butt," Butters said, and that was the last straw. He broke out into a fit of giggles and had to hold his gut as he doubled over.

It took Craig a moment to even remember what Butters was taking about as he slid on the pants, but then it hit him. Blurry images and flashes of color ran through his mind and he suddenly remembered the night he'd shared with Kenny just a few days prior. "Uh, yeah, it seemed like a good idea at the time," he said. Everything seemed like a good idea when Kenny is around.

Butters raised an eyebrow as he tried to quiet his laughter. "But a sailboat? Have you ever even been sailing?" he asked.

"Nope," Craig replied, rubbing his towel through his hair. His hat had gotten soaked too, of course, and it unfortunately laid in the pile at his feet.

That simple nope was enough to make Butters drop himself back onto his bed until he was done rolling in his laughs. Craig didn't think it was that funny, but then again, Butters always appreciated the little things.

"Should we go throw this stuff in the drier?" Craig asked, piling all of the wet clothes in his arms.

Butters hummed an affirmation as he sat up, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Yeah, let's go." He hopped off his bed and led the way back down to the laundry room, bounding down the stairs.

They piled the clothes into the drier and ended up sitting on the floor in the laundry room instead of going back upstairs.

The sound of the drier running filled the air for a while, while neither of them spoke. Craig leaned against the drier as it ran and didn't look at Butters.

Butters was smiling, as usual, perfectly content to just sit there in silence with his friend. He was just glad Craig was there at all. He was never really sure why Craig hung out with him, out of everyone else he could be hanging out with. Butters was boring.

"Hey!" he said, turning to Craig. An idea struck him; a game they could play. Craig looked and Butters continued. "Want to play hide and seek?" he asked.

"Hide and seek?" Craig repeated.

"Yeah!" Butters said, his smile bright and excited. "Until our clothes are dry."

Craig hadn't played hide and seek since they were young, but with Butters, nothing seemed like a bad idea. "Sure," he agreed. "Who counts first?"

"You can hide first. After all, it's my house and it would be awful hard for you to find me if I hid first."

Craig stood and looked down at Butters as he left the room. "No peeking," he said, rolling his eyes good naturedly. Now, where to hide.

Butters started to count and Craig made his way through the house. He really didn't know the whole house that well since Butters' parents were normally home when they were there.

He made his way up to Butters' room since it was the only place he really knew and got in the closet. He snarked to himself about irony or some bullshit and shut the door behind himself. And then he waited.

A few minutes later he heard footsteps, and he knew it wouldn't be long before Butters found him in there. Closets were such an easy hiding spot.

"Craaaaaaaaig!" Butters called, giggling quietly to himself. He loved playing games, and Craig was one of the only people left that would play with him. He entered his room and looked around. He didn't see any signs of Craig, but then again, that was the point of the game. "Craiggg," he whispered, sneaking inside the room.

He checked under his bed and behind the curtains and in his toy chest before turning to the closet. "Are you in there?" Butters asked, having a good suspicion he was correct. Craig didn't answer, obviously, so Butters opened it to see Craig sitting on the floor.

"Aw damn, you got me," he said, grinning lazily up at Butters.

"Do I get a prize?" Butters asked, suddenly hungering for a cookie or a slushie or something else sweet.

Craig considered the question for a moment, not sure what Butters was going for. "Uh, sure," he said. He stood up and took the short stride toward Butters. He gave Butters a swift peck on the lips, and the moment was over just as quickly as it began. It really wasn't a big deal, but the blush on Butters' face said otherwise.

"Well gee, w-what was that for?" he asked, avoiding looking Craig in the eye.

"You asked for a prize, didn't you? What, was that not enough; do you want another?" Craig asked, and he started to bend down again but Butters turned his head away.

"N-no! I just – it's not often someone kisses me. I wasn't expecting it…" he drifted off and stayed silent for a moment before looking back up at Craig. "I was talking about food. I want cookies," Butters admitted, hoping to avoid the topic of the kiss.

"Oh, yeah, we can get cookies," Craig said. And as simple as that, he backed off and headed out of the room.

Butters lagged a moment bug quickly jogged to catch up. "U-um. Craig?" he asked.

"Yeah?" Craig asked, starting down the staircase without giving any of it a second thought.

"Can I, um. Hold your hand?" Butters asked. His face flushed and he bit his lip, but he'd never get what he wanted if he didn't ask.

Craig shook his head and didn't let Butters see his smile. "We're only going to your kitchen, bro," he said, but he held out his hand anyway. Butters took it and they spent the rest of the afternoon playing rounds of hide and seek and giving each other "prizes."

WOW OMFG BOBBY I'M SO SORRY FOR THIS I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON AND IT'S 4:30 IN THE MORNING BUT I DID IT, I FINALLY WROTE THIS MOTHER-ASSER, SO HERE OTL

HAVE SOME BRAIG EVERYONE.