TWEEK TWEAK:

The starter of an AU wherein Tweek and everyone else is grown and has lives of their own. Tweek is struggling through an illness.

Sweat dribbles down Tweek’s temple; it leaks down the side of his face and drips off his chin. He does his best to ignore it as he places three books into a plastic bag and hands it over to the customer. As she reaches for it, he twitches, a full body jerk that nearly ends with him punching her in the face. With a horrified grunt, Tweek blurts out a “Sorry!” and slides the bag across the counter. A blonde woman with brown eyebrows stares at Tweek as though he were a cryptid caught pissing in front of her. She takes the bag with a muttered thanks and, as she leaves, the smile on Tweek’s lips falls away, and he turns to sneeze wetly into the crook of his elbow. “Ough!”

Yesterday morning, Tweek had been fine, if a little sniffly, but today his sneezes run wild and his fever is high enough to warrant concern. He'd dry-swallowed two Tylenol earlier, but if they’d had any effect, he’s yet to see it. His eyes are watery and puffy, and his nose is leaking in a cascade. Reaching for the box of tissues beside him, Tweek snags two and blows his nose into them before tossing them to a nearby trash can. One misses and tumbles just outside of it, while the other reaches its mark. Hand sanitizer sits beside the tissues, and Tweek squirts a small glob into his hand before rubbing it in his skin. It’s only then that he turns to the next customer, a man with a toupee who is eyeing him warily.

“Oh man, please tell me you found what you were looking for,” Tweek says, reaching for the thick, black book in the man’s hands. “‘House of Leaves’ is a trippy book. It, hhgh, blew my mind when I read it, made my head spin like a top! Never seen anything like it before.” Tweek sniffles as he rings it up, and from the corner of his eye he spies someone with a precariously piled armful of books making their way to the door. Alarm gives him a surge of adrenaline and energy, and as Tweek sets down the book, he springs forward around the counter with a loud cry of “Stop!”

The culprit does not stop. Instead, they bolt forward, running face-first into the door with enough force to send two books spilling from the heap. They don’t stop to gather them, but throw the door open with their weight and lunge through the threshold before beginning to sprint. Tweek follows hot on their heels, his breath catching in his lungs painfully and forcing him to cough weakly as he takes chase. He trips on one of the books and sends it skidding out the door as he blearily glances around, his heart beating in his chest with enough intensity to nauseate him.