Chapter Text
Happy wouldn’t even begin to describe of Thomas felt. All his life, he was told that he was special, that he had a gift. Yet, it never came. He always thought he was a failure, that he wasn’t good enough or unworthy of the gift. He would never come up to claim what was his. Now here he was, training everyday with Ava and learning multiple techniques and methods to master his airbending. Ava had also brought Alby in to aid in Thomas’s training, during sessions and during his free time. Alby and Ava kept reminding him that he needed constant focus and to always feel the air around him at all times. Feel it in his blood, in his veins, in his chest, in his hands.
He knew he wasn’t going to master this in a couple of weeks, but it sure did feel that way. But he was reminded that there would probably be a few setbacks, as the first time he felt certain emotions like rage or despair, he wouldn’t be able to control his powers properly. Over time though, he would learn how to maintain constant control.
Today Alby would direct air towards him, and Thomas had to find a way to repel it back. Sounds simple enough, but Alby informed Thomas he wasn’t going to go easy on him. Essentially, the two were in a duel, but Alby wouldn’t seriously hurt him.
He was blasted into the wall a few times and once to the ceiling - that one hurt - but after twenty minutes or so of Alby’s relentless attacks, Thomas directed it back at the boy. But he didn’t expect Alby to send it right back, knocking Thomas off his feet again.
After an hour, Ava thinks Thomas had done good enough for the day and called the session to an end. “Another successful session. Well done Thomas,” Ava praised when they were finished.
“Thank you Ms. Paige. Can I go to the library now?”
“Soon, Thomas. I assure you it won’t be much longer.”
Denied again. Disappointed but not unexpected. Thomas and Alby left, walking back to their house. They didn’t have anything else on today’s agenda, so they figured they would chill out together for a while. Thomas still didn’t know Alby as well as the others, so he figured he should try to make an effort to become better friends.
“Hey Newt!” Alby yelled.
Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Thomas turned his head and saw said blonde walking with Sonya a few feet ahead of them. Newt looked up, but his face fell when his eyes landed on Thomas. Something seemed different .“Oh..hey guys.”
“We were gonna hang out back at our house, you guys wanna come?” Alby asked.
“I have a class,” Sonya said. “I’ll stop by after.”
“Newt?” Thomas asked. “Can you come?”
Newt wasn’t looking at Thomas, which Thomas felt was odd. “Actually, I have to get back to my room. I’ll see you guys later,” he said turning to walk away. Sonya said goodbye and followed after him.
“What the hell was that?” Thomas asked. Newt practically gave him the cold shoulder. He wouldn’t look at him and he barely even spoke to him. He was literally smiling with Sonya and the minute he saw Thomas, he froze up.
“What?”
“What do you mean what?” Thomas asked exasperated. “He completely ignored me.”
“I think you’re reading a too much into it greenbean,” Alby said and started walking again.
“I mean, I get he likes Sonya, she’s pretty and all and I don’t care if they’re dating but don’t just ignore me because your girlfriend is there.”
“What did you just say?” Alby chuckled.
“What?”
“Did you say girlfriend?
“Yes.” Why, what else would she be? Friends with benefits? Oh, God. Thomas did not want to think about Newt having sex with someone.
“Dude,” Alby stared at Thomas like he was an idiot. “Sonya is his shuckin’ sister.”
Thomas eyes went wide. Sister. So Newt doesn’t have a crush on her and isn’t dating her?! “Are you serious?”
“They have the same hair color, the same eyes, the same accent,” Alby stated. “Jeez, Teresa told us you were a bit slow but I didn’t think you were that slow.”
“Oh, shut up.”
“So...were you just jealous of them?”
“What?!” Jealous? Of Newt and Sonya? No way! Not at all! And if he was, he sure as hell wasn’t going to admit it. That would just be pathetic.
Which Thomas knows he is.
“Cute,” Alby mused and walked away.
Today was Teresa’s off day, and she had intended to spend it catching up on her readings in her room. She was sore from the defense and combat classes she was taking, as all students were required to know some form of self defense, especially those with gifts that wouldn’t aid in a fight like bending. Luckily, Brenda wouldn’t be back for a couple of hours - not that she minded the girl, but if she were here, she would coax her to hang out - leaving Teresa in peace.
Or so she thought.
He was just coming up the stairs, but Teresa could hear his thoughts loud and clear. Aris was coming to talk to her and he was freaking out in his head. God, he was cute. She waited to move until he knocked on her door. “Come in.”
Aris slowly opened the door and said hello. Teresa offered him a seat and he sat at the edge of her bed. “What’s up?” she asked.
“I, uh...I was thinking...well I was wondering if…”
She could read his mind, she knew where he was going with this. But she just smiled and waited for him to ask her. It was adorable to see him panic.
“Would you want to go out? Not like a date! But it would just be us. Unless that’s weird? It’s okay if you don’t want to, it’s just you’re really pretty and nice and awesome-”
“Aris.”
“Yeah?”
“That sounds wonderful.”
The boy’s nervous expression soon became a soft smile. “Okay. Great. Uh, how about lunch tomorrow?”
“Sounds perfect,” she smiled.
When he left the room, she could hear him cheering in his head. She couldn’t help but laugh.
Thomas received a text from Brenda saying to meet at the cafeteria for some lunch. He had planned on going to the gym, but he supposes that he could always go later on. It wasn’t like he had a busy day or anything.
He got to the cafeteria and saw his friends in their usual spot. Brenda, Minho, Harriet.
And Newt.
After grabbing some food quickly, he made his way over to the table and sat down. He immediately felt the tension between him in the blonde. To make matters worse, when he looked at Newt, he turned his attention away from Thomas. It was obvious he had a problem with him.
“So Thomas, how’s your training going?” Harriet asked.
“It’s pretty good. Alby is tough on me, which I prefer.”
“So you’re saying you like it rough?” Minho teased, earning a smack from Brenda.
“I’ll see you guys later,” Newt said, picking up his tray and going to leave.
Okay, what the actual hell. Thomas can’t imagine he did anything wrong. The past few weeks with Newt have been great. Then all of a sudden Newt doesn’t like him? Something isn’t adding up.
Thomas followed Newt out of the cafeteria and caught up with him outside the building. “Newt!” he called.
The blonde froze in his tracks and reluctantly turned around. He didn’t say anything, so Thomas took that as his cue to continue speaking. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Huh?”
“You’re avoiding me,” Thomas said. “You’re trying to avoid me and I don’t know why. Did I do something wrong? Do you not like me or something?”
Thomas was trying to hide the hurt in his voice, but he wasn’t doing a good job. He couldn’t help it. He felt this bond with Newt that he didn’t even have with Teresa. To have Newt not care about him hurt like hell.
“Tommy, no. You didn’t do anything wrong,” Newt soothed. “It’s...it’s me.”
“What do you mean?”
Newt looked like he was trying to find words to say, but every time he opened up his mouth, he came up empty. So Thomas took the initiative. “Newt, if you think you did something wrong, you didn't. If I made you feel like - ”
“Thomas, stop. It isn’t you. Just..." the blonde sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I gotta go, I’m sorry.”
The brunette watched the blonde walked away until he was completely out of sight.
Thomas was so confused. Newt was really weird. Guess that comes with weird powers?
But they were literally perfect together! Every time he hung out with Newt, it was like they had known each other their whole lives. They were constantly laughing and having a good time. Newt even pushed Thomas harder to work on his powers, so that’s proof that he did care. Then what was it?
Oh no.
Newt knew. Newt knew Thomas liked him! Gosh, was he so obvious?! How stupid could be he? He totally freaked Newt out! That’s why he didn’t want to be around him. He groaned at the realization and mentally smacked himself on the face.
“You okay there?” Minho said, suddenly appearing behind Thomas.
“I don't know honestly,” he mumbled.
“Look, Newt’s been through a lot. Everyone here has been through shit,” Minho said. “Take me for example. I almost set my room on fire and burned my mom when I got my power. It’s hard to get the idea of hurting someone you care about out of your head. Newt’s past prevents him from getting close to people. It took me a year to get through to him. Don’t hold it against him. He’s been through more than you know.”
Then Minho turned to walk back to the cafeteria. “Just give him some time,” he said as he left.
So Newt was avoiding Thomas not because he didn’t like him, but because he did? Is that what Minho meant? On no planet does that even make sense.
Thomas sighed and just went home. He didn’t want to eat or hang out with anyone right now.
Suddenly, he wasn’t happy anymore. Now he felt hurt.