Chapter Text
Valentine’s Day. The most romantic day of the year. A day where everyone expressed love to the one who truly meant the most to them. Some love gets reciprocated while others crash and burn before they even take off. And the overuse of everything pink and red.
For Newt, Valentines Day started with a missing warm body next to him when he woke up in the morning. He rolled over to where Thomas should have been to find nothing but a cold spot on the mattress. He blinked open his eyes in surprise and sat up on the bed. “Tommy?”
No response came. Maybe he left early for some training with Minho?
Newt went to check his phone on his nightstand when he saw an envelope resting there with his name written on it. And Newt knew whose messy handwriting that was.
He opened it up to find that Thomas left him a note.
Newt,
You said you didn’t want to do anything cliche, but this probably qualifies as one. Indulge me a little, alright?
I’ve made a little scavenger hunt for you. Follow the clues until you find the next one and you’ll find me waiting for you with a little surprise.
You first clue:
I reach for the sky, but clutch to the ground.
Sometimes I leave, but I am always around.
What am I?
“You’re a dork Tommy, that’s what you are,” Newt mused.
Newt took a few moments to contemplate the clue, trying to decipher what the answer to the riddle was. A part of him knew Thomas wasn’t clever enough to come up with these on his own, but then again, he was always full of surprises.
“A tree!” That wasn’t so bad.
…
But which tree?
After twenty minutes of searching the campus, he finally found the tree he was looking for. Only because Minho was standing there. And with a...rose in his hand?
“Just for the record, I’ve been standing here for an hour,” Minho complained as he handed over the rose and another piece of paper. “You must be really good at sex or have a magic dick or something because Thomas went overboard with this. Here’s your next clue Newtie, bye!”
Newt took both items from him and watched the Asian walk away. Newt frowned, dumbfounded by Minho, the roses, and the riddles. This is what Tommy had in mind?
He then looked down to the next clue.
Pirates are sneaky, you can say they are crooks.
To find the next clue, go to a room that has books.
“The library,” Newt mumbled. “That one was too easy Thomas.”
Five clues and a half an hour later, Newt found himself in the gardens with Teresa holding the last rose and clue. She stood there with a smile on her face as she extended her arms to pass the items to him. “Tom really went all out, huh?”
“Yeah, he did,” Newt chuckled. He took the final clue and opened it.
You can easily touch me, but cannot see me.
You can throw me out, but not away.
What am I?
“Does that even make sense?” Newt asked aloud.
“Your back.”
Newt turned around to follow the voice to see Thomas standing at the other end of the garden, a bouquet of roses in his hand. He had the largest and most adorable looking grin on his face, like a kid in a candy store. “It’s your back. I couldn’t think of a riddle that would get you to turn around,” Thomas said sheepishly.
Newt laughed and made his way over to Thomas, a smile plastered to his face and unable to tear his eyes away from that gorgeous boyfriend of his. He took the flowers that were held out for him and gleamed at the brunette. “You didn’t have to do this you know.”
“Yeah, I did. Because you’re worth it Newt. So...will you be mine?”
“Always Tommy.”
Thomas brought his hands to Newt’s face and connected their lips. Newt couldn’t help but smile into it at his boyfriend’s cuteness and Teresa fake gagging with the others behind them.
Case after case, document after document, file after file, there was nothing.
Ava had contacted with her former Legion member Alec to aid in the investigations of the missing gifted individuals. Unfortunately, there search came up dry. They literally vanished without a trace. They were just...gone.
She fears of WCKD’s return. They always knew that many of the founding members had escaped when they were caught and shut down, and it was always a possibility of them to return to finish what they had started.
She decided to make contact with the Legion again. This was out of her league and she no longer had access to the resources that they did. After taking all the proper precautions on the secure line and getting through the safety requirements, she managed to get in touch with who she was looking for. “Well if it isn’t the light of my life,” the man said. “It’s been a while hermana.”
“It sure has been,” she mused. "Nice pun by the way." Jorge had always teased her about her gift.
“I’m guessing you aren’t calling to see how I have been doing.”
“I’m afraid not. If you’re not aware, there’s been several reported missing persons of children with powers. I’ve been trying to investigate as much as I can, but I don’t have the resources and credentials that you do.”
“Transfer over any information you have, I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime - ”
Static interrupted their conversation as the line went dead. Confused, Ava just tried to reconnect with the Legion, but found that she was unable to do so. “That’s strange,” she wondered.
A knock on her office door reminding her of her next appointment broke her train of thought as she had a lesson she had to give. There would be time to transfer the data later in the day.
Thomas only ever got to spend one Valentine's Day with someone, and to be frank, it wasn’t the best. This time, however, he planned on making it the best he could for Newt. He’s glad the scavenger hunt went well. It was exhausting trying to convince Minho to help him out - he was probably scared that Brenda would be offended he couldn’t come up with something as great.
Thomas knew the plan was to do something with everyone in their friend group tonight, but he decided to leave early with Newt to do their own thing.
Despite Newt’s protests to stay in for the night, Thomas won the argument and they were on their way to their destination. The brunette wasn’t going to take the blonde to a fancy five star restaurant - even though Newt always deserved the best - since Newt wasn’t too fond of upscale places. So he made reservations at the Homestead. A nice meal at Newt’s favorite restaurant would be a great night.
It’d be even better if Teresa would stop calling every five seconds. Literally every five seconds. If his phone wasn’t being bombarded with text messages, Teresa was calling him.
“She still calling?” Newt asked from across the booth.
“Yeah,” Thomas sighed shutting off his phone. “No need for that to continue.”
Newt chuckled at that as the waiter brought their menus. Now Thomas could keep his undivided attention on Newt.
“So what was the relevance of all the spots where you had a clue and a rose for me?” Newt asked. “I recognized a couple as our spots, but the others not so much.”
It was simple really. Each was a spot where he and Newt had a moment together. The tree he first saw Newt under when he came to the school. The library when they borrowed - not stole - the books. The cafeteria when they first spoke. The rooftop when Thomas first discovered his power. And especially the gardens. Thomas couldn’t count how many moments he and Newt had shared there.
When Thomas told Newt all this, the blonde was grinning from ear to ear, letting out a small laugh. “I didn’t think you were such a bloody romantic.”
“Only for you.”
Mary and Vince were resting on the couch watching reruns of their favorite tv show. They never really got crazy for Valentines Day because they already knew how much they loved one another. They didn’t need one specific day to remind them that they were in love.
Chuck had his first Valentine ever today. For a while, he was crushing on one of his classmates - he tried to hide it, but he wasn’t good at it. It was cute.
An urgent knocking on the door disrupted the two from their quiet evening. Vince stood up from the couch and made his way over to the front door. Mary followed right behind him.
When the door was opened, an older looking dark skinned man with grey hair and a beard was standing there, looking like he was scared. His clothes were filthy, there were wounds and bruises all over him. “Jorge?”
“I wish I could say it was good to see you, hermano,” he greeted Vince. “But we have trouble.”
“What trouble?”
“They’re late,” Teresa said as she was pacing the room.
“I’m sure they’re fine,” Minho said from the couch. “They’re probably just too busy making out that it’s slowing them down.”
Teresa was worried sick every second the two were gone. Thomas had told her they wouldn’t go anywhere alone, but she forgot it was Thomas who she was talking about. You tell him to go left, he goes right.
The least he could do was answer is phone. He hasn’t checked any of Teresa’s calls or texts. Just a simple “Hey, I’m not dead, be home in an hour” text would suffice. But no. Apparently that’s just too much to ask.
“Great, now his phone is off!”
“Maybe because you won’t stop bothering him?” Brenda supplied.
“But they could be in trouble! I just want him to be safe!”
“He’s just on a dinner date with Newt. He’ll be fine,” Aris tried to assure her.
Yeah, he could be fine. Or he could be dead. Teresa prefered not to learn that Thomas was dead.
“Look, there’s nothing you can do about it right now, so just put it out of your head, alright?” Alby said.
“Hey, Mr. Grumpy speaks!” Minho exclaimed. “You’ve been quiet all day.”
Alby just flipped the bird and grumbled that he was going to bed. Minho and Brenda decided to head off too and Teresa plopped down next to Aris, leaning onto his shoulder. “Am I being crazy?”
“No, you’re just worried about your friends. I think it’s sweet,” he mused as he kissed her cheek. “Do you want to stay up for them?”
Teresa raised her head and looked at the brunette boy. “You would do that for me?”
“Of course.”
So she spent the rest of her Valentine’s Day - or night, at this point - cuddling with Aris on the couch. But she decided to put her anger and worry aside for a little and just focus on the boy right next to her.
The boy she still hasn’t told she might be leaving.
“Hey, Aris? Can we talk?”
They were walking down a quiet and pretty much empty street hand in hand, chatting about whatever came to mind and passing all kinds of various stores and doing some window shopping. A lot of them were decorated for the holiday, with pink hearts and love notes on display. Too much pink in Thomas’s opinion.
Thomas took a look down at their intertwined hands, smiling at the bracelet and the lack of Newt’s arm braces. It’s amazing how far he’s come in the past few months, letting go of the fear of his powers. There was just one step left.
“Newt?”
“Yeah?”
“You know how there’s still an empty bed at our house?”
“Ben’s old bed, right?”
“Yeah. I was thinking...why don’t you take it?”
Newt stopped in his tracks, Thomas being forced to as well since their hands were interlocked. “Huh?”
“Newt, you don’t need to be in your room any more. Look at all you’ve done. You don’t wear your braces anymore and you’re out in public! Those were huge steps for you, and I think you deserve the chance not to feel like a prisoner anymore.”
“You’re asking me to move in with you?” Newt asked, trying to play it off as a joke. “I’ve gotta say Tommy, that’s quite a bold move of you.”
“Newt.”
Newt sighed looked away at the ground, shaking his head. “Tommy, I don’t know. I still can’t control it while I’m asleep and I don’t know what’ll happen if I have a nightmare or something. And what if - ”
“Forget the ‘what ifs’ Newt. You have control and you won’t hurt anyone. This is the last step you have to take. After this, you’ll finally realize you aren’t a danger. You’re just a teenager like the rest of us, just with some extra awesome.”
Newt chuckled and shook his head. “You’re such a dork,” he mumbled.
“So? You’ll ask Ava?”
Newt genuinely seemed to be contemplating the idea in his mind. That alone was progress. If Thomas had asked in the past, it would have been a straight no. “Can I sleep on it?”
“Of course. And by ‘it’ I hope you meant me.”
Newt playfully hit his shoulder and they continued on their walk home, continuing past the various stores.
One of them had televisions in the window and were set to a news channel, and there was a couple of women standing outside looking in. They both seemed upset by something and Thomas stole a glance at the news program they were watching. When he realized what it was, he stopped dead in his tracks and took a step closer to the television, not realizing he had pulled Newt with him. “Tommy?” Newt asked confused by his behavior.
“Authorities are unsure of what happened, but as you can see from the footage captured by our chopper, the Hero Legion has been assaulted.”
The building was in flames, thick clouds of smoke rising to the sky above. The place was in total ruins.
“It is still uncertain if there are any survivors, but there is already a confirmed nineteen dead.”
“I have to call my parents,” Thomas told Newt as he rushed to take his phone out from his pocket.
“Tommy - ”
A sudden flash of purple and Newt screamed as Thomas watched him get hurled into a parked car across the street, the glass shattering and the blonde landing on the pavement face down.
“NEWT!”
Before he could even think about running towards him, Thomas was knocked off his feet barely a second later, hitting the ground hard. He got up on all fours and looked around for someone or something that attacked him and saw a girl with her hands radiating with a violet glow.
“Why, if it isn’t the young Exemplar,” she sneered, and five more figures appeared next to her, two of them being Frypan and Winston.
And they all charged towards Thomas at the same time.