Chapter Text
“I know who rings like that.”
And Thomas didn’t even have to wait for Newt’s next word. “Minho” he said, and Newt just answered with a nod. “Does he know you’re here?”
“No, but I guess he figured it out. He must have rang my door, and since there was no answer…”
Thomas nodded and looked at Newt’s lips, wanting to kiss them. Just in case it was their last kiss. Just in case something bad happened. But he just broke contact with him and stood up to open the door. He pressed the button after confirming that it was indeed Minho and then left the apartment door ajar. Thomas crossed the arms on his chest while Newt stayed on the sofa, looking at the TV but actually focusing on the hall. What had happened on the shower a few hours ago seemed months away.
“Hey, Minho!” Thomas hugged him, acting as friendly as ever. Acting as if he hadn’t just been masturbated by his soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend, as if he didn’t love Newt, as if he didn’t felt selfish for loving him, for stealing him. “I thought you were with your family back in London.”
“I was, yeah, but I came this morning. I… is Newt here? I miss him.”
“Yes, come in. He’s in the living room.”
But Minho got closer to Thomas, placing both hands in their shoulders. “Did he sleep here? Did you look after him? I… I just need to know that he has been well and not alone, because—” Minho shut up and shook his head. Thomas knew he was hiding something because of the sudden way he had shut his mouth, but he didn’t say anything about it.
“Yes, don’t worry, I let him stay in my bed and I slept on the couch. I was… really worried about you guys. He told me you used to spend Christmas together. What has happened?”
“He has been… weird. More distant, you know?” Thomas nodded, although he clearly remembered that Minho was the distant one. At least, according to Minho. “And that has made me distant too. The relationship has been dead for weeks now. But I don’t want to leave him. I’ll feel too guilty.”
“Why would you? I think he’s strong. You are adults now, you can both handle a break up, can’t you?”
Minho tilted his head and looked away at the plain white wall besides them. He was considering his next words, unable to decipher what Thomas knew about Newt.
“Yes, he is strong. I know he is. But at the same time I have this feeling, like I have to take care of him constantly, you know what I mean?” Thomas did, but he just shrugged, ‘more or less’. “So, what if after breaking up with him he wants those cares and has no one to give them to him?”
‘He has me.’ Thomas shrugged again and it was now him who put one of his hand in Minho’s left shoulder. “Listen to me. Do you want to break up with him?” he asked lowering his voice.
Minho took a deep sigh as he closed his eyes. “I don’t, unless the relationship is still as dead as this last weeks.”
“There’s only one way to handle this.”
Thomas had made them some red tea with some biscuits and had retired to the kitchen to give them privacy. However, he was leaned against the door, listening closely in case he needed to intervene.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, Minho. Thomas is such a good friend. He’s made sure I got my mind occupied. You should see him dancing.” Both of them chuckled, looking at the floor. The laughs died soon. “And you? Are you okay?”
Minho nodded, sipping from his cup. Then he lost his eyes and mind on the reddish water. The silence was deep, up to the point that they could hear some carols from another floor.
“What happened?” Newt voice was a bit broken, but he didn’t dare to cry. Not that soon.
“I guess… we were too fast?”
“We were everything but fast. Although maybe going to live together was a risky move. Living together can kill couples, but we already knew that. We did it knowing that it could happen, remember?”
“Yes, Newt, but…”
“And that’s probably why you were at the gym all day. I thought… Shuck, I thought you were having an affair with someone from the gym.”
“What?” Minho couldn’t help laughing, causing Newt to roll his eyes and look away. “That’s… ridiculous, Newt. I’d never do that to you.”
“Then why were you training so much? Why spend so many hours there?”
“Come on, I work there. I’m not going to go home just because I have a free hour. I use it to train and swim. It’s my lifestyle, Newt.”
“You did before! You picked me up whenever you had free time, you bought me lunch. But since we moved in together… you came home for dinner and have sex before bed. I felt… used.”
Silence again. By the way Minho sniffed, Thomas found out he had started to cry.
“I can’t believe you, Newt. Should I remember you the couple of nights you received me wearing only one of my tank tops?”
“I’m not saying I didn’t want to! I’m not saying you raped me or anything, I know you’d never do that. But… you just had your dinner and then waited for me in the bed, and then you played with me until I got hard… and, like, you’re my boyfriend. Of course I want to have sex with you. But we stopped doing other things — watching a movie, going out to have a drink — I guess I got tired.”
“I’m sorry. I really am. I can make up to it now, Newt, I —”
“No. I don’t… I think we should… end this. I like you, Minho, but I can’t take it anymore. I’m bloody terrified to say this, but I want to break up with you. Besides, I like someone else and I need to be free. I’m sorry, Minho. And I truly want to be friends with you after this, because I still appreciate you. A lot.”
Thomas couldn’t see it, but Minho took a napkin and dried his eyes before blowing his nose. “Don’t worry, I want to end it too. I mean, I’d like to end it if we were going to be like these last weeks. It’s not healthy.”
Thomas thought of his relationship with Brenda. It had died because of the lack of love and passion while Newt and Minho’s one was going to die because of the excess of passion. Although passion went beyond sex itself and Thomas understood it.
“And I apologise if I ever made you feel bad or used. It wasn’t my intention.”
“I know. Maybe used is a strong word, but I can’t find anything else. Did you tell your parents?”
“Yeah, they figured it out. I told them it wasn’t over, but that it would be very soon.”
Thomas had his forehead against the door and had closed his eyes to hold back his tears. He didn’t feel as guilty as before, but still. Would they be happy and together and healthy if he hadn’t shown up in their lives? In the silence that followed Minho’s last intervention, Newt got closer to him to give him a hug.
“Friends, then.”
“Best friends, of course.”
“Hah! Don’t tell Alby that or he’ll be jealous of me.”
“He’ll get over it. And as soon as he finds a girlfriend, he’ll forget about us” Minho joked, messing Newt’s hair as the latter laughed with the former.
“Does Thomas know?”
Newt nodded, and Minho understood him. He understood their friendship and he was actually glad for Thomas’ presence in Newt’s life. Then they called him. When he heard his name, he wetted his hands and went out drying them as if he had been washing the dishes. “Did you like the tea?”
Both Minho and Newt started to laugh as they broke the hug.
“Yes, Thomas, it was bloody delicious. But, we have something to tell you. It’s over, our thing.”
“Oh, wow. Sorry, guys. You… were a good couple.” And they were. Cute and hot, intelligent and funny, serious and entertaining at the same time. But, selfish as it sounded, Thomas preferred Newt to be with him. Because he liked him. Loved him.
“Don’t worry, we’re fine. Just… this happens all the time, right? With every couple.”
“It was sooner than I had anticipated” Minho confessed with a sigh, “but it’s better to end things before they are rotten.”
“Since when are you so deep?” Newt picked Minho’s side with a laugh that was soon shared by the other two.
Minho asked Thomas if he could stay the afternoon there and he ended up saying the night too. Newt proposed him to go to his apartment, but Minho himself declined the invitation.
Thomas was happy with the three of them spending the rest of the day together, functioning as a perfect trio. It really was a perfect trio. Even Minho complemented Thomas and Thomas complemented Minho in ways they hadn’t discovered yet. Newt glued them together. Without Newt, there would be no trio. And it was something that surpassed any sexual or romantic feeling.
However, Thomas could just look at Newt whenever Minho was focused on the TV. He wanted to kiss him, hold him, undress him, hug him, give him everything he hadn’t given anyone yet. At least not with that intensity. And he wanted to get intimate with him, lose his virginity with boys to Newt. He wanted to do everything only with Newt. But they had to wait, at least until Minho got back to his working life, when Christmas went by. Would he accept them? Or would Minho hate Thomas they way he feared Minho hated him when they first met? He really liked Minho. He was trustworthy and generous. He wouldn’t want to lose his friendship. So, the next move came natural to his mind — he would have to go and visit him on the gym, when he was alone and maybe more vulnerable, to tell him everything.