Creek

Creek
Pairing information
Type	Slash
Canonicity	Fanon Pairing (origin); Canon Pairing
(Possible) Origin	"Tweek vs. Craig"

Creek is the romantic pairing of Craig Tucker and Tweek Tweak.

See also: Fanfiction involving Creek

Originally a wholly fan-created pairing, in existence for well over a decade and already fairly popular, it received renewed attention on October 24th, 2015, when SouthParkStudios.com acknowledged Creek's existence and requested Creek fanart from South Park fans for use in an upcoming episode. The resulting episode "Tweek x Craig" essentially canonized the ship and provided a perspective from the shows' creators on the fandom's shipping culture.

History

Craig and Tweek's first interaction in the series, shortly after both were introduced, was in the episode "Tweek vs. Craig", where the boys, motivated by a bet relating to the two "troublemakers" in the class, claimed to Tweek and Craig that each had insulted the other, and convinced them to fight in front of the entire school. When it turned out neither of them knew how to fight, they had them trained for it. Craig was trained by Cartman, in Sumo wrestling and Tweek by Stan and Kyle, in boxing. After the fight, both boys were hospitalized and seemed to be getting along fairly well, but the kids fooled them into fighting again soon after.

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Tweek hiding behind Craig in "Marjorine".

The relationship between Craig and Tweek after this episode is highly ambiguous, as they share no major direct interaction between the third and seventeenth seasons. Several background sequences, primarily but not limited to the fifth through seventh seasons, seem to depict them as friends, and animators often placed them next to one another in larger sequences, seeming to show them as part of the same social circle and strongly suggesting a friendship had developed off-screen, though its exact nature was/is unknown. Tweek's limited role in later seasons made it very difficult to ascertain his exact relationships with other characters in the series, even the main boys.

In a famous example of these ambiguous interactions, the episode "South Park is Gay!" depicted Tweek as a member of Craig and Those Guys, and by extension friends with Craig, Token and Jason, however, Matt and Trey provide no dialogue for Tweek in the finished episode. By the next run of episodes in "Good Times With Weapons", Tweek and Jason are no longer part of Craig's inner social circle, replaced by Clyde and Jimmy, who remain part of the group in most episodes after this point, though animators continued to ocasionally place Craig and Tweek in the background together. Some fans believe there are may have been lingering antagonism between them in this interim period, due to the ambiguity of their relationship - they fought in both "Tweek vs. Craig" and the later "Tweek x Craig".

During the seventeenth season, interactions between Tweek and Craig suddenly resumed - in "Informative Murder Porn", Craig, Tweek and Jimmy confronted Stan, Kyle and Kenny to discuss their parents' MineCraft activities, and shortly after in "Black Friday", they both pick the PlayStation 4 and side with each other.

As a result of these mixed interactions, Creek is a pairing that has a unique appeal as both a love-hate relationship, based on "Tweek Vs. Craig", similar to Kyman and an appeal as more of a friendly and caring relationship, more akin to Style.

Background Appearances

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Craig and Tweek smiling at the camera together.

Tweek and Craig can be seen standing side by side in the background in numerous episodes including "Ginger Kids", where they are trapped in a cage together, and in "The Wacky Molestation Adventure", and where they are on the same side of the town. Tweek and Craig can also be seen sitting together at multiple school assemblies. In "Marjorine", they hide next to each other, behind the bushes, and in "You're Getting Old", they sit near one another at Stan's birthday table. 

In "How To Eat With Your Butt", they appear in the background, shoving each other and fighting over a spot at Kenny's window, and as Tweek chose to fit in next to Craig, before Craig backed away and went behind Tweek, letting him occupy the front spot.

Canonization

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Official Craig x Tweek art, created by the South Park storyboard team.

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Craig and Tweek at the end of the episode.

This ship was considered a fanon crack pairing, even among its most ardent supporters, until the Season 19 episode "Tweek x Craig", where the school's new Asian female students begin drawing 'yaoi' artwork of Tweek and Craig together, and they are showcased in the school and near Whole Foods at an Art Fair. Though initially confused and angered by the assumption, Tweek and Craig eventually choose to create a pretend relationship and stage a fake "break-up" in order to stop the production of the pictures. Craig encourages Tweek to act out and make it look real, only for Tweek to accidentally humiliate Craig by making him out to be a cheater, causing the school to shun the latter. After seeing how miserable the town is without their relationship, and an accepting speech from Craig's father, they choose to "get back together" and reconcile, inspiring the town once again.

There was still much debate, even among Creek supporters, about whether or not this episode constituted a proper canonization, and it was generally believed this ambiguity is intentional. It is important to note that while both characters maintain a heterosexual attitude, it is very common in Yaoi manga for male characters to continue to claim heterosexuality despite engaging in homosexual acts, and this may be part of the satirical and parody element of the episode. A key example is how Tweek suggests that Craig has inspired him and that he wants to help Craig with whatever is "hurting" him, a common Yaoi trope.

Subsequent Development

The pairing has been referenced in the background of multiple episodes released since - for example, Cartman references their relationship in "Naughty Ninjas", they openly hold hands in the school hallway in "PC Principal Final Justice", and Butters references their relationship in "Weiners Out". They appear together in almost all background sequences as well since this. Despite the breakup of many other canon couples in the twentieth season, Craig and Tweek's relationship has remained intact.

By the events of the Season 21 episode, "Put It Down", their relationship is revisited and developed further. Craig notably refers to Tweek by pet names such as "babe" and "honey" a few times, even when speaking in private, though Tweek does not use such terms of endearment. Craig is urged by his friends to calm his boyfriend's anxiety, which leads to tension as Tweek takes his rational and logical approach as dismissive, though they continue to seek each other out.

After a trip to the amusement park leads to an argument between them, with Tweek upset that Craig seems too focused on problem-solving and not enough on helping him sort through his emotions, Craig eventually learns from Heidi and Cartman to be supportive of helping him understand his emotions, and after helping calm Tweek down on his own terms, the two boys lead their class together in song at the episode's closure.

They can still be seen holding hands together in multiple later episodes, including on their way to seeing Heidi and Cartman's fight and watching television together at Stan's House. While they are onscreen for a large part of the season 21 finale, "Splatty Tomato", their main interaction as a couple is Craig trying to comfort Tweek on a wooden bench after seeing the President, only to suggest that he doesn't believe him and that he was just seeing things. Other children soon substantiate that Garrison is present, and both Tweek and Craig join their journey into the woods.

Their relationship was referenced in the season 22 episode, "Buddha Box", where Cartman uses a device that allows him to focus on his phone, claiming he has an anxiety disorder. He suggests that Craig may prefer to spend more time on his phone than dealing with Tweek's "emotional problems", and he is later seen using the device, leading to Tweek being concerned for his well-being.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole

“	Now it is the time, Lend me your strength! - Tweek Okay...Let's work together! - Craig The overflowing love becomes one and fills the world! - Both Ultimate: Eros Eruption	”

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Craig and Tweek's Ultimate: Eros Eruption

Their relationship forms a key component in the second video game, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, having broken up shortly before the game's events. When the player arrives at Craig's House for a mission early in the game, Craig (as Super Craig) declares openly that he is gay and tells the player that his looking for his guinea pig (Stripe #4), which belongs to him and his "ex-boyfriend" Tweek. During a later confrontation between "Coon and Friends" and "Freedom Pals", Tweek and Craig are seen arguing about being a duo and about walking out of the group.

During the game, both of them comment on each other, criticizing the moves and skills they have, though Tweek asking Craig why he did it if the New Kid addressed Craig to do a skill on Tweek.

Later in the story, Craig asked the player to deliver a note to Tweek requesting his laptop. As Tweek reads the letter he said that he will give him his laptop if Craig returns Stripe #4 since he paid for him. Craig agrees and sends the player to get the guinea pig. After the player gives the guinea pig to Tweek, Tweek gives him the laptop; but before he can give it back to Craig, Tweek's father stops the player and tells him that he appreciates him trying to help them. He believes that they just need relationship counseling and tasks the player with giving them a Counseling Referral. Both Tweek and Craig agreed only if the player comes as well.

At Relationship Counseling, Mr. Mackey tries to get them to talk about their quarrel with no luck. Mr. Mackey then decides to do an exercise with them and introduces five different students each with a Resentments, Expectations, Accusation, Victimization and Withdrawal shirt. Mr. Mackey tells them that they need to overcome all of this before telling them to fight them. After beating Expectations, Mr. Mackey tells them that Expectations doesn't go down easy and that there's always more expectations, which brings more students for them to battle. Mr. Mackey encourages them to work together if they're gonna eliminate all of the Expectations. Craig agrees and convinces Tweek that they can do it together, which unlocks their ultimate: Eros Eruption.

With the battle won, both Tweek and Craig feel much better and reconcile their relationship and can be played on the battlefield together, and the player can also befriend their parents. In addition, a mission involves collecting Yaoi art of the two throughout the town.

During battle after the counseling session, both Tweek and Craig complement each other's moves and flirt. After Eros Eruption, some buddies will comment on the ultimate (even Thief Craig but due to a bug, these can be only heard when Craig uses his original ultimate).

Jason Schroeder, producer of South Park: The Fractured but Whole revealed in Game Informer that he introduced Matt and Trey to Craig and Tweek fan art.

South Park: Phone Destroyer

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  "Tweek X Craig" Event Page
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  Imp Tweek Card
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  Youth Pastor Craig Card

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There are various cards relating to Craig and Tweek within South Park: Phone Destroyer, but special attention was paid within the Mystic theme to them, with Imp Tweek and Youth Pastor Craig appearing during story gameplay and leading to a popular AU among Creek shippers that has since become infamous in the fandom's shipping community. The Imp Tweek and Youth Pastor Craig cards were released one week apart, during which an event was held where the player must collect Yaoi art to unlock the characters. The background for the event was even Yaoi art.

Controversies

Due to this pairing's longevity and popularity, it has been subject to a number of small and relatively civil debates within fandom discourse, particularly on Tumblr.

Dominance Portrayal

Craig has generally been portrayed as the dominant one in the Creek relationship due to the fact that he seems to be described as more stereotypically masculine, physically and personality-wise, generally being tougher and more down-to-earth than Tweek, who is portrayed with more 'feminine' associated traits as emotional, anxious and fearful. The fact that Craig is animated as slightly taller than many other child characters also contributes to this.

However, in recent years, more and more occurrences of Tweek being dominant have been happening in fanart and fanfiction. The pairing is commonly referred to as Twig, and has gained popularity. However, dominant Craig still remains the most popular version, as is reflected in the episode "Tweek x Craig". Some believe this may be due to where Craig was announced three pounds skinnier than Tweek in "Tweek vs Craig", thus making him the "weaker" one due to the stereotype that the submissive ones are normally skinnier and smaller. Tumblr user Ukaisha offered a financial reward to anyone who could get Twig fanart into "Tweek x Craig", but the reward was never claimed.

Some fans find the use of application of gender and dominance roles to the characters can lead to narrative problems, especially among inexperienced writers, who may allow role stereotypes to override the character's canon personalities in favor of sticking closer to dominant Yaoi roles. This is often avoided by more experienced and self-aware writers, but it is nonetheless a common association of the ship.

In the DVD commentary for "Put it Down", Trey discusses the nature of the episode as pitting Craig as "logical" and "wanting to problem-solve" and Tweek to being "emotional" and wanting someone else to "feel" with him, and suggests these are usually the roles of the man and woman respectively in a relationship. This statement was interpreted by some as sexist but many felt it supported the dominance portrayals in fandom.

Canonicity

As mentioned above, the canonization of the ship remains a controversial topic with fans due to the ambiguity of their final moment in "Tweek x Craig"'s initial storyline. Many fans were disappointed the episode seemed to imply the characters resumed their relationship only to make others happy and therefore had their agency taken away from them by others, while other fans felt that the characters' relationship was fully genuine and should be treated as such. Multiple topics have been started at South Park Studios looking for clarification if the characters are genuinely homosexual, as well as comments on social media. Despite later episodes, this issue remains a point of contention and debate among fans.

In the Season 19 DVD and Bluray commentary, Matt and Trey have addressed Tweek and Craig as a homosexual comment, with Trey being particularly excited for the characters' future.

The excitement amongst Creek fans since the "Tweek x Craig" episode aired, and even the ensuing controversy itself, have inspired some backlash on social media websites such as Tumblr, where many fans who are not as interested in the couple often become overwhelmed with the amount of content that is produced for it, while fans who do like the couple remain sensitive to criticism about its portrayal. Some fans feel the relationship is becoming overused, while others feel that the show should use them more to increase LGBTQA+ representation.

As the characters remain in a relationship in official South Park media since the episode aired, the pairing is accepted as canonical, but the manner in which it was presented and brought into canon, and how this affects the characters themselves, continues to be debated and shapes how many older fans feel about the relationship.

Characters' Sexualities=

It is worth noting that while Tweek and Craig have typically been referenced as "homosexual" or "gay" since their relationship began, particularly by Craig, suggesting they are only attracted to men - however, Craig has had previous relationships with women, both of them seem to be as attracted to Lisa Berger as the other boys in "The Hobbit", and most surprisingly, Craig suggests an attraction to French women in South Park: The Fractured But Whole. While many fans speculate one or moth boys are bisexual, others believe they may have faked this behavior, or simply see most of these references as relics from before their relationship was canonized.

Popularity

The couple was well-known for many years as the most popular Crack Pairing in the fandom, even by many of its most ardent supporters, and was frequently within the top five most popular pairings at that point.

Since its subsequent canonization, its already high popularity has only continued to rise, becoming arguably more popular in the fandom than Kyman and Style, with a rather massive amount of fanart and fanfiction dedicated to it. It also has therefore taken the status of the most popular Canon Pairing in the fandom, though Creek fics do not typically deal with their canonical relationship, often taking place in alternate universes or after periods apart.

According to recent reports, on FanFiction.Net, most stories are dedicated to Style, followed by Creek, then Kyman.

Trivia

• On Tumblr, when responding to a photo post involving Kyle saying "But the point is, there’s nothing about it that means Tweek and Craig are actually gay at all.", the South Park Digital blog responded, "Are you SURE?", implying that they actually do feel for each other. The blog also posted a gif from "Tweek x Craig" and tagged it with "creek is canon".

South Park: The Fractured But Whole

• During the development of the game, it was revealed that Craig only cares about Tweek and his guinea pig, Stripe. It was also revealed that Tweek's not paranoiac if he's with Craig.
• While we don't know the circumstances behind Tweek's outfit choice, he is wearing what is either Craig's clothes or something that looks almost exactly like Craig's clothes as his superhero costume.
• They have joint custody of Stripe #4 who Tweek bought for Craig.
• If you collect all the Creek yaoi fanart, you get an achievement that depicts Tweek resting his head on Craig's shoulder.
• In the downloadable wallpapers from Uplay, you can see Tweek's silhouette in Craig’s wallpaper and vice versa.

Gallery

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Craig and Tweek holding hands

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Craig and Tweek, holding hands in the hallway.

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Tweek and Craig holding hands at the end of "Put it Down"

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Craig and Tweek running to see Cartman and Heidi fight

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Craig and Tweek watching Terrance and Phillip with the other bpys

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External Links

• CraigxTweek-FC - Creek fanclub on DeviantART
• Tweek-x-Craig-Club - Creek fanclub on DeviantART
• THE-CREEK-CLAN - Creek fanclub on DeviantART
• Playing In The Creek - Creek Appreciation blog on Tumblr