Accepting ✔️

Chapter Twenty-Four: My Dad

Word Count: 1012
Trigger warning: Implication of drunken abuse, Homophobic Slur

Craig's POV
The first thing I heard when I woke up was, "CRAIG FUCKING TUCKER, WHAT IN THE NAME OF HELL ARE YOU DOING?" followed by a series of high-pitched screams and a loss of warmth. Out of instinct, my eyes fluttered as I reached for the warm object that was pulled away from me, grabbing a heavy but soft object while unintentionally scratching my hands on a sandpaper-like substance.

Opening my eyes to the very apparent darkness, I took in my surroundings.  I was holding onto a trembling blonde's shoulder. Next, I stared down to what he was flinching at and pulled the shaking boy back up next to me. "Dad," I let out in a soft whisper.

There, standing right under the roof, staring up at us, was my drunken father. "WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU SLEEPING ON THE ROOF NEXT TO A  FUCKING FAG?" he slurred. The streetlight near Kevin's house seemed to be flickering to the rhythm of his interchanging pitch. I stared down at him with wide and now very awake eyes and looked over to Tweek who was suddenly breathing way faster than he was just about 15 seconds ago. Genuinely, who would know what to do in this situation?

All I could do was... nothing. I sat there, staring at my father, not uttering a word. "GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE," he screamed at me. I was sure he was going to wake up our neighbours. My only movement made was covering Tweek's whimpering and scattered breath releasing mouth with my hand. "YOU FUCKING FAGGOT."

He fiddled with his keys and finally stomped inside. After I heard heavy but tumbling steps coming up the stairs from my open window, I pulled Tweek as close as I could to myself and slid down the asphalt shingles that made up my roof. "Close your eyes and hope to God that we don't die," I squeezed him, and he wrapped his arms around my waist, clutching onto it tightly. I stared at the ground and jumped down, aiming for a bush. If I had the time to be climbing onto the tree that was so desperately waiting for us, I would've. Alas, that is not the case, and I shifted myself so that I would be under him when we hit the ground.

•••

In the 5 seconds it took for us to fall to the ground before my eyes shut, I didn't believe in the possibility for Tweek to pick my aching body up from my dewy yard to run as fast as we could away from my house, but when I awoke that was precisely what Tweek was telling the hospital nurse.

"So, why did you jump off of the roof in the first place?" the nurse questioned him.

"Oh, well you see..." Tweek trailed off. He started scratching at his palms, but I pulled them away from each other, giving Tweek and the nurse the indication that I was awake.

"My dad," my voice strained.

"What about him?"

"We were running from him. He was drunk. I didn't want him to do anything he'd regret." I told her, bluntly. She looked more bothered by my explanation but didn't question us further.

"Well... you fractured your arm, but you're mostly unharmed. After we get your cast on, you'll be discharged in a minimum of an hour if you're lucky," she told us. Tweek and I nodded our heads in response. She left the room.

"Well that was an interesting way to meet your father," Tweek said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah," I started, scratching the back of my head, "I'm so sorry about him..."

"Don't apologize. They're his actions, not yours," Tweek reasoned with me before going wide-eyed, "Oh god, please don't turn out like him."

"I won't," I said sternly, "Once I become a dad, I won't ever let myself get as drunk as he does. I don't want to hurt anyone that I don't have to hurt. Especially not children. I swear he isn't anything like that when he's sober."

"How do you know you'll have kids?" Tweek asked changing the topic.

"I'll adopt. I don't even care if I'm dating, married, or single. I want to be able to raise a child that can change the world or at least spread good morals to it."

"You know, I think you just changed my mind about raising a child," Tweek chuckled.

"You're welcome."

As I got my cast on, I had time to think about how my life has gone up to this point ever since Tweek moved here. This anxiety-driven blonde teenager has completely changed my life. He improved it. He helped me realize that the reason why I hadn't liked any of the girls that I had "dated," which is a lot considering I dated 3/4 of the girls at our school. He helped me. I realize, now, that I have to help him, and that doesn't mean telling him to stop cutting. That means giving him a reason to stop cutting. That doesn't mean asking him to go on a date with me. That means showing him off and proudly telling everyone that he's my boyfriend. That doesn't mean peer pressuring him to go on 'scary' rides at the fair or to go on the roof and watch the stars with me. That means making him want to do risky things and trust me. I want him to trust me as much as I trust him.

•••

After the hospital discharged me, Tweek and I spent about 3 hours at his house. That was until he had to go to work and we spent the rest of the day at the coffee shop.

I walked up to Tweek with a piece of paper and a few markers from the kids' station. He tilted his head in confusion and nodded towards my paper. "Do you like it?" I asked him. I held up a sign that said 'No Petes allowed' and a 'beautiful' cartoon drawing of Pete underneath.

Tweek burst out laughing and pointed his finger towards the door of the shop, handing me some tape from below the counter. I scuttled over to the door quickly and pasted my sign proudly on the door, above the schedule.

Hopefully, Pete'll take the hint. I looked towards Tweek and shared smiles with him. He gave me a thumbs up.

A/N: Tada! I actually finished this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it. If you haven't seen my updates book, I will be taking an extended break from this story. My writer's block is getting worse, and I need to calm it down for a while. I hope you all understand. Leave a vote? Have a wonderful day and don't do anything really stupid.

~Beru <3