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"Do you think he'll ever notice that his sweater has gone missing?" Newt blinked, turning to look at his fiance with one eyebrow arched high. Percival however wasn't looking at him - he was staring at two very close people also at the park.
Said people were Credence (Newt may or may not have aggressively adopted him) and his friend, Valentin. Now that he was looking at the two of them, he noticed Credence wearing a familiar blue sweater that was at least three sizes too big. It was familiar because he'd seen the other man wearing it on multiple different occasions.
Neither seemed to realize the borrowed clothes, talking quietly, Valentin showing Credence the glossy pictures of a book he pulled from who-knows-where.
"He probably just doesn't mind. They're friends, sometimes you loan a friend clothes."
"You wear my shirts all the time, and we are far from friends."
"Percy, we're getting married in April. And I only wear your shirts in the morning or when I want something."
"Exactly! Wait what!? You do that on purpose?"
"Hush, you're being loud, dear."
Newt ignored the grumbling from Percival, happily snuggling into his side and smiling when the man put an arm around this waist, a warm hand resting on his waist. The park was a splendid place to take a walk, if not a bit chilly. Up ahead on the path, Valentin pushed his blue rimmed glasses back into place on his nose and let Credence hold his hand while the younger boy tried to walk on a wooden beam.
"I wonder when he'll do the whole, 'have my jacket it's cold' line that you used on me." A harsh wind, barely cut by the trees bare of their leaves, had them all huddling into jackets and hunching shoulders to fight off the cold.
No one noticed when Valentin shrugged out of his jacket and handed it to Credence without a word spoken between the two.
The borrowing of clothes got worse.
Percival noticed the black and grey striped scarf first, holding it up to the light and glaring at it.
Valentin M.A. Terrai had been embroidered on one of the ends in pink thread.
Newt witnessed, at three in the morning while he was typing up a lecture on mooncalves, Credence sneaking into the kitchen for an early morning snack. He was wearing a light blue t-shirt that was, without a doubt, exactly what Valentin had been wearing just the other day.
Newt said nothing, but smiled knowingly the entire day.
It took walking into the kitchen with Credence holding his cat (a gift that Newt had silently dared Percival to oppose the Christmas the year prior), wearing Valentin's blue sweater and Valentin's brown leather jacket for Newt to decide something must be done. He slid into one of the chairs at the dining table, waiting for Credence to set the large grey cat down before he dared to speak up.
"So, you've been wearing a lot of different clothes than usual. A lot of Mr. Terrai's clothes, to be exact." The boy had the decency to look guilty as he smoothed his shaky hands over the front of the sweater, nervously smiling and shuffling his feet. A good start; he wasn't running away yet, and there wasn't a hint of black smoke. Newt leaned forward, resting his elbows on top of the table and smiling innocently. "Have you kissed him yet?"
"N-Newt!" Credence stammered, face flushing bright pink and looking just down right horrified and embarrassed. His hands twisted the hem of his - Valentin's - sweater, wrinkling the soft blue fabric.
"I'm just asking. He's a very nice boy, and he looks at you in a way he doesn't look at anyone else..."
"M-me and Tin are j-just friends, I swear! I-I just...forget to give him his stuff back..."
"Mmhm. So, when is he taking you out for a date?" Newt pretended to be busy examining his nails - he actually needed to clip them - while Credence stuttered and blushed even more. "Your curfew is eleven, if you think you'll be late call and let us know."
"Newt!"
"Hey, what's going on in here? Your niffler tried to slip out the door when I came in." Both Newt and Credence turned in surprise to see Valentin standing in the doorway, holding a certain thief in his hands. His hair was looked horribly messy, but with his curls it looked perfectly normal, and despite it being a chilly fall day he only wore a long sleeve shirt and a heavy looking scarf, a thin cloak tossed over one arm.
And it seemed he didn't notice Credence wearing his clothes. The tall brunette simply smiled, golden amber eyes warm, albeit slightly hidden behind his glasses.
Newt bit his bottom lip, tilting his head as he looked between the two young men.
"We're just discussing clothes for winter." He soothed, standing from his seat and doing what he'd meant to when he walked into the kitchen - getting an ice pack for Percival's knee. "You kids go have some fun!"
He left with a snicker, already planning to tell Tina all about it when he called her later.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Credence rolled his eyes and stepped over to Valentin, the taller male looking down at him with amusement.
"You should keep my sweater. You look better in it than I do, мой сладкий." Credence laughed, feeling warm on the inside as he kissed the silly, curly haired russian's cheek.
"Lets go, we have lunch reservations and a movie to catch."