Work Text:
We’ve been living in this Safe Haven for nearly a year now and everything has been going smoothly. WCKD seems to be completely abolished and we’ve set up home on our beach front, building more and more to make it feel more like a community. Life here is a lot like life in the Glade; everyone has to play their part in order to keep everything thriving. A lot of our daily tasks are like the Glade as well, we have builders, chefs, slicers, med jacks, scavengers, farmers and even explorers who have basically the same job as runners. I’m an explorer, the same way I was back in the Maze.
However, on the side, I’ve been running my own little matchmaking business. I have always had a keen eye for who works together and how I can set them up. Nobody knows that I’ve been doing this since it’s been relatively undercover and sly but I take great pride in my work. I set up Sonya and Aris (who were nearly together already when we found them, they just needed a little push), Harriet and Frypan and even Gally and Brenda. Everyone has been happy with their matches and my success rate has been 98% (there was a mix up with Jorge, not my finest work).
Unfortunately, although my success rate has been high, I haven’t been able to find a match for my best friend. Shuckin’ Newt has not been easy to read in order to figure out who he’d work well with. I thought about Eleanor who has a similar accent to him; I thought they could bond but that wouldn’t work. Then I thought of Amelia; they were both quite bright and they’re both scavengers, but that didn’t work either. I figured out soon after I’d thought about those two that Eleanor actually worked really well with Amelia and I decided to set them up instead.
For a while, I debated whether or not Newt was even attracted to people; he’s never shown an interest in anyone. However, after a drunken, late night chat, he told me about how badly he wanted someone to hold while he slept. It was an odd conversation to say the least, frankly I don’t remember how it came up, but ever since then I have been determined to find the shank that someone.
“You seem lost in thought,” Gally knocks me out of my daydream and I look down at him as he climbs up to sit next to me on a tree branch, “What’s on your mind?”
“Trying to figure out who to pair Newt up with.” I say with a sigh as I look down at the berry bushes across from us, Newt picking blueberries with Rosa. Gally is the only person I have told about my matchmaking business; he’s still making amends so he felt that he owed it to me to keep it a secret. He really didn’t have to, I don’t mind, but I’m grateful.
“Don’t you normally wait for your targets to inspire you to get working on them?” Gally asks, handing me some sunflower seeds. I shrug, tossing some of the seeds into my mouth. They’re tangier than usual and Gally chuckles at the expression on my face.
“He’s my best friend, I’ve locked on.”
“How’s that been working out for ya?” Gally asks, spitting a mouthful of shells onto the ground below him. I sigh and lean backwards, getting comfy in a nook of the tree.
“Terribly, he doesn’t seem interested in any of these girls. I’ve tried prying info out of him about girls I think he’d work with but the shank doesn’t seem to really care about any of them,” I rant, shielding my eyes from the suns rays escaping through the greenery.
“He does seem pretty reserved. Hell, the closest you’ll get as a match for him is Thomas, they’re inseparable.” Gally says, chortling at his own sarcasm. I scoff slightly, opening my eyes and looking back out at the berry fields.
Newt has now been left alone as Rosa heads back to our beach. Suddenly, a blackberry hits him in the cheek and Newt’s head shoots up, looking for the culprit. His eyes find Thomas, a few feet away, walking back up to the beach himself, his hands full of berry baskets. Newt glares playfully before throwing a blueberry at Thomas who catches it in his mouth with ease.
“Looks like you’re out of luck,” Gally says, copying my laid back position carefully. I narrow my eyes at Newt, watching the faintest of blushes rise on his pale cheeks as Thomas walks away, a twinkle in Newt’s eye. Newt turns back to his blueberry bush with a soft smile on his face. Suddenly, I notice Thomas turn around, glancing at Newt as the sun shines on his hair and I watch Thomas’ smile drop into a soft look of… adoration? Holy shit. Holy shit.
“Holy shit!” I exclaim, bolting upright on the tree branch, nearly knocking Gally backwards.
“Are you shucking crazy?!” Gally shouts, holding onto the branch for dear life as I hop down to swing myself back and forth. I watch Newt look back over at Thomas one last time, his eyes clearly dropping lower on Thomas’ body.
“Gally, you slint-head, you’re a shucking genius!” I cry, hopping onto the ground below.
“Minho, what-”
“Follow me!”
I run quickly back to the beach, Gally close on my tail and I beeline straight for my hut, nearly slamming the door in Gally’s face in the process. Gally is heaving slowly as I rush around my room, collecting papers and books and writing utensils.
“What… are you… doing?” Gally asks, completely out of breath. You can tell that the shank is just a chef.
“I’m making a plan and I’m gonna need your help for this to work,” I say, titling my page in bold, black letters ‘THOMAS AND NEWT’. Gally reads my writing and his brows furrow as he sits down at the table.
“Minho, I was kidding when I suggested Thomas, you know that right?” He questions and I nod, beginning to scribble down my plan, “I thought Thomas was in love with Teresa.”
“I thought so too, but clearly I’ve been missing the bigger picture here. Ever since Teresa died, I’ve just listed Thomas as off limits for all of my matches, I’ve never actually considered him for anyone. But then you said his name and I watched how him and Newt interacted in the field and I realized all of the little things that I’d missed out on when we were back in the Glade.” I say quickly, still writing frantically.
“What exactly did you ‘miss out on’?” Gally asks, trying to keep up with my writing.
“Typically, back in the Glade, Thomas gravitated towards those he felt comfortable with. Alby because he was in charge, Chuck because he was like a little brother, myself because we experienced the Maze together at night. But I never stopped to wonder why exactly he felt so comfortable with Newt. And looking back now, there were a lot of times where they just hung out alone or talked alone.”
“Yeah, but they’re best friends, isn’t that normal?” Gally asks, sitting back further in his chair.
“There were so many simple moments between them that we all just ignored. How many times have you seen Newt blush because of Thomas? How many times have you seen Thomas casually touch Newt in some way? Arm around the shoulder, leaning against him, even just touching shoulders? This isn’t a coincidence and I overlooked all of it.” I say, becoming more and more frustrated with myself for not seeing this sooner.
“After Teresa died, after we thought Newt was gone, Thomas broke completely. We all thought it was because of Teresa, but Thomas wouldn’t let go of that damn necklace. The one Newt gave to him. He broke because he thought he lost Newt, not because he lost Teresa. He got so much better when he saw Newt the day he woke up. He wouldn’t let him go. Gally, this runs way deeper than a crush, they’re in love with each other.”
“Whoa, in love with each other? Wouldn’t they have noticed by now?” Gally proclaims, sitting up further to view my writing. I shake my head, flipping onto the next page.
“They don’t know. They’re both so shuckin’ oblivious it’s painful. This is probably going to be my best match yet!” I say, stepping away from my writing with a maniacal grin on my face.
“Hey, you set Brenda and I up,” Gally says annoyedly, crossing his arms. I look up slightly apologetically, but I know he knows that I’m right. Newt and Thomas have been together since the beginning, and they’re going to be the hardest to get together now. We have a lot of work cut out for us.
_
Dinner that night, I make sure Thomas and Newt are side by side as we eat and I observe them carefully. Phase one of my plan is to get them visibly flustered with each other. We all eat quietly, each of us holding our own private conversations as we do so. Newt and Thomas are completely transfixed with each other’s conversation and I make eye contact with Gally who is sitting across from them. He nods and proceeds to ‘accidentally’ knock his fork off of the table.
“Damn it, Newt, it’s under your foot, can you reach it?” Gally asks as he reemerges from under the table.
“Sure thing, mate.” Newt says with a smile, ducking under the table to grab the fork. Just as planned, Thomas slightly ducks under too to look for it with Newt and I reach forward quickly, moving their cups so they’re aligned vertically, Thomas’ cup closer to the edge of the table. Newt reappears with the fork in hand and hands it across the table to Gally.
“Thanks,” Gally says with a smile, cleaning off his fork and continuing to eat. Newt and Thomas continue as well and I watch them curiously, praying that they follow my plan the way I had wanted them to. I start to feel discouraged when suddenly, Newt reaches forward and lifts Thomas’ cup up to his lips, taking a sip. I grin inwardly before shovelling some potatoes into my mouth, chewing as I pretend to notice.
“Hey, isn’t that Thomas’ cup?” I question, leaning forwards to peer at the both of them. Newt looks down at the cup in his hand, a signature green that Thomas had painted himself and puts the cup back down on the table with a simple apology. Thomas shrugs it off like it was nothing and they are about to continue eating when I chime in.
“Y’know, that’s called an indirect kiss.”
Newt looks over at me with a furrowed brow as Thomas stares down at the cup in front of him. On cue, Gally and Brenda both ‘oooh’ from their side of the table, attracting Newt and Thomas’ attention. Their awes catch the attention of some of the other Gladers who all in turn begin awing at the pair as well. I watch out of the corner of my eye as Newt’s face lights up like a Christmas tree and Thomas begins rolling his eyes, trying to laugh along but failing to conceal the redness rising in his neck and ears. The pair slightly notice how embarrassed they both are and immediately become more red, looking far away from one another.
Phase One, complete.
_
The next day, Thomas and Newt receive glances and wolf whistles from everyone in the camp and every time I witness this occur, I see them both blush. They stay side by side for the whole day, working together in the berry fields and spending meals together. My prediction came true in that sense: that they’d become closer rather than further apart.
“The plan is working perfectly, how do you do that?” Gally asks as we sit on the beach, watching the fishermen wade about in the shallow water. I smirk to myself and shrug, not entirely aware myself.
“I think I’m just really good at reading people and picking up on their mannerisms. Also, they’re my best friends, if I couldn’t pick that up off of them, what kind of friend would I be?” I ask, turning my head slightly as I hear their voices. Thomas and Newt are walking down the beach together, laughing at something Newt just said.
“Hey lovebirds!” I sing towards them and Gally chuckles, wolf whistling at them as they walk past. I succeed in turning Thomas’ face bright red as Newt glares daggers at me. They make me shiver; I might want to tone it down, angry Newt is horrifying.
“Jeez, Newt is shucking scary when he’s mad,” Gally voices my internal thoughts aloud and I nod before grinning over at them.
“Right about now, Newt is gonna start walking closer to Thomas, pretending to be cold as an excuse to check and see if Thomas is okay. Maybe even apologize for my behaviour.” I predict and Gally rolls his eyes.
“That is not gonna happ-” Gally starts before cutting himself off as Newt does exactly as I said and begins shivering slightly, stepping closer to Thomas. They start talking, Newt looking over his shoulder to gesture at me and Thomas shrugs, I can tell there is a soft smile playing on his features, “Holy shit, you are unreal.”
I laugh at Gally’s remark and look behind us to see Brenda prancing towards the beach, her eyes set on Gally. She jumps straight onto his back, startling him before giggling and crawling around to sit between his legs, “Afternoon, boys.”
“Hello, gorgeous,” Gally says with his idea of a playful grin before leaning down and pecking her lips. I gag loudly and he socks me in the arm, causing me to groan and Brenda to laugh, “You made this, deal with it.”
“I regret everything,”
-
Phase Two of the plan commences that evening as we all sit together around a bonfire. I had suggested that tonight we light the fire seeing as the seasons were changing and it was growing colder. We lit the fire every evening, but today since it had been suggested, everyone is sitting around it together. Thomas and Newt are sitting with their backs facing the ocean, huddled slightly together as the cold winds breeze past us. It was much warmer in our huts.
I walk towards the fire with Gally and Brenda, our hands full of blankets. The strategy behind my plan required a lot of intricacy to ensure that this didn’t go wrong. The blankets needed to be handed out and passed along at the perfect spots so Newt and Thomas ended up with only one between the pair.
“Alright, you shanks, take one and pass them around,” I announce and many of the people around the fire voice their thankfulness for the new sources of warmth. Brenda gives her stack to Rosa who passes them along exactly the way that she was intended to. Gally struggles slightly, but he figures out where to go and which way to send them. I take a seat next to Thomas, my own blanket wrapped around myself.
“Thanks, Minho.” Thomas says with a small smile which I return kindly. I watch as the stack of blankets make their way around the circle and end abruptly with only one blanket in Newt’s hands. In order to not arouse suspicion, each pile was one blanket short, Brenda and Gally and myself and Frypan were all to share.
“We must be short a few,” Brenda says, taking note of Newt’s confusion. I analyze their faces profusely, neither of them seeming to understand that they had to share.
“That’s alright, I can just go grab one from my hut.” Thomas says simply, beginning to stand. Shit.
“C’mon, Thomas, after all the effort we took to bring them down here you can’t just suck it up and share?” Gally asks gruffly, pulling Brenda closer. Thomas exchanges a glance with Newt who was now beginning to understand what had to happen.
“Um, I guess that’s fine, right Newt?” Thomas asks and Newt’s eyes zip up to Thomas’ as he sits back down, “Y-Yeah.”
Thomas takes the blanket from Newt’s shivering hands and wraps it around the two of them, pulling Newt into his side. I could tell that Thomas was nervous, but he was being bold, something which I attribute partially to my meddling the day prior. Newt’s face was a deep shade of scarlet and he tucked his head closer to Thomas’ neck, I assume to avoid Thomas seeing his tinted cheeks.
“I say we play a game,” I say, turning all heads towards myself. Now that Phase Two was complete, I thought it was time to up the ante to Phase Three.
“Anyone remember Truth or Dare?”
Murmurs travel around the circle, along with groans of protest from some. The last time we played Truth or Dare, it ended ridiculously competitively and Aris got hurt trying to prove his so called manliness by running into the ocean completely naked and unable to see where he was going. It definitely was not a pretty sight having to rush in and drag our nude friend out of the water.
“Come on, it’ll be fun! Less competitive this time, why don’t we stick closer to the Truth side of the game?” I suggest and people started seeming a little less hesitant.
“With you and Thomas playing, I can’t see it ever not being competitive to be completely honest,” Newt says and Thomas nudges him with fake shock written on his face. Newt giggles, his eyes squinting slightly and the look of amour on Thomas’ face is ridiculously soft. How has no one noticed this?
“I think it sounds fun!” Gally says and I wink at him appreciatively, “I’ll go first. Um… Jorge, Truth or Dare?”
“Bold to pick me of all people for your first question,” Jorge says, his eyes flitting over to Brenda, making Gally slightly uncomfortable, “Truth I guess.”
“What was it like taking care of this one all those years?” Gally asks, gesturing to Brenda curled into his side and everyone groans. He always asks the most boring questions one could ever possibly ask.
“It was an absolute blessing. And I think it was equal parts me taking care of her and her taking care of me, let’s be real.” Jorge states and Brenda smiles warmly at him.
“Okay, Jorge, let’s move on and ask actual interesting questions now, shall we?” Thomas says, sassing Gally who glares at him playfully. Newt chuckles, shuffling closer to Thomas under the blanket, which definitely does not go unnoticed by Thomas and myself. Thomas looks down at the top of Newt’s head as he leans forwards to rest his elbows on his knees and smiles, shifting a bit as well. Guessing from Newt’s soft blush on his cheeks, there is an arm wrapped around him now.
The game continues on for quite some time, juicy questions being asked about relationships and life, and silly dares including the most generic ones for couples to make out or do something along those lines. I quite enjoyed watching poor Sonya have to lick Aris’ armpit as a dare; she looked absolutely horrified. (It was great). After eating a bug off of the ground for my dare, now comes the big moment, my turn to ask Thomas or Newt a Truth or Dare.
“…Thomas. Truth or Dare?” Please pick dare, my plan will be complete if you do.
“Truth.” Shuck.
“Would you ever consider dating anyone here?” I ask with a smirk. Thomas looks stunned by the question and gets nervous immediately, Newt looking up at him curiously.
“Correction: are you considering dating anyone here?” Thomas goes bright red at that and the circle ooh’s at him. He brings a hand up to rub the back of his neck, smiling awkwardly.
“Uh… well. I mean that’s a pretty loaded question, Minho, not really sure where that came from, haha. Um, I guess a lot of factors go into considering a-”
“Yes or no, Thomas.”
“…Yes?” I grin widely, as the entire circle erupts into cheers and wolf whistles. Thomas is as red as a tomato, his eyes staring at me in bewilderment, and Newt is smiling at him fondly. I was so blind to have never noticed their connection before.
“Alright, alright, let’s move on. Gally, truth or dare?” Thomas asks, still sweating and embarrassed. Gally is smirking at Thomas, definitely teasing him.
“Dare.”
“Because you won’t stop looking at me like that, I dare you to make out with Brenda.” Thomas says with a grin. Gally doesn’t look fazed by this whatsoever, even wrapping an arm around his girlfriend to pull her close. Suddenly, someone clears their throat and Gally tenses up so visibly that it’s comical. He turns slowly to look over at Jorge, who does not look impressed.
“Seriously, dude?” He asks Thomas and Thomas shrugs, leaning an arm on Newt’s shoulder. Newt seems like he is absolutely loving life, having been asked no questions and having the boy he is clearly pining after lying against him under a shared blanket. Gally gulps and smiles apologetically at Jorge before kissing Brenda full force for no more than two seconds. However, the amount of tongue in that tiny kiss made it impossible to say that it was not making out.
“Newt, Truth or Dare?” Gally asks instantly, avoiding eye contact with a furious Jorge. Newt pouts slightly, annoyed that his streak of avoiding the hot seat was broken. Say dare you shank, Gally knows what to do.
“Truth.” They both suck.
“Fuck, marry, kill: Thomas, Minho and Brenda.” Gally says and I have never loved him more in my life. Newt contemplates his options, thinking hard about his answer.
“Kill Brenda, obviously. She’s dating you. Fuck… no, marry Thomas and fuck Minho I guess. I really do not want to do that though. No offence, mate.” Newt says, grimacing as he looks at me. I just wave him off, absolutely elated by his answer. No one else seems to have noticed that Newt definitely admitted to choosing Thomas to fuck AND marry, but Thomas definitely has because he has a flush across his face.
“So, you would have no problem marrying Thomas? That means you would have to fuck him too, you know,” Gally says and wow, that is double points for Gally today. Thomas is bright red again, and Newt is on the way to joining him as the circle all riot at that revelation.
“What, did you want me to say I wanted to marry your girlfriend?” Newt asks, but no one is really paying attention to that anymore. They are all hollering over Gally’s discovery.
“This game is ridiculous, I’m going to bed.” Newt says, shaking his head with a playful smile on his face as he gets up to walk away. He lingers slightly, however, waiting for Thomas to follow him. Thomas stands quickly too, wrapping himself up in his blanket and trotting along after him. Gally looks over at me and I nod at him, showing my thanks. Phase Three, definitely complete.
_
Phase Four of my plan is far more subtle than the rest, with Phase Five being the grand finale. I approach Newt in the berry fields a few days later, ready to plant some seeds. Since the night of the bonfire, I’ve been laying low, letting fate run its course. Well, as well as the others who tease them incessantly now because of me. Newt is picking blackberries in the field today, the breeze blowing his hair into his eyes.
“How’s it going?” I ask and Newt turns towards me, wiping that hair out of his face. His smiles warmly, putting a handful of berries into his woven basket at his side.
“It’s been alright, the wind is picking up though, you can tell fall is coming.” He says and I nod in agreement as he turns around to absentmindedly pick more berries.
“Wanna go for a walk, take a break from the fruit? It feels like it’s been forever since you and I really chatted, you being such a busy shank and all,” I suggest playfully and Newt looks back up at me, contemplating his answer. He nods to himself, pulling the basket off of his shoulder.
“Yeah, why not, we can go get some lunch. I just have to drop this fruit off back up at the hut first.” I follow behind him as we walk out of the field, towards our food storage hut that holds all of our supplies for cooking. Newt drops off the basket with the storers, taking inventory on the food he has returned with.
“What should we get to eat?” He asks, turning on his heel to walk towards the dining area. I reach forward and grab his arm, dragging him in the opposite direction towards the forest. Newt seems awfully confused as I pull him along and I wink at him as a sign to wait and see.
“How’ve you been, man?” I ask and Newt rolls past his confusion, shrugging with a grin.
“I’ve been fine, I guess. Getting colder now though, I really hope the weavers finish up with our winter clothes soon, I would really appreciate a new sweater.” He says and I roll my eyes. Typical Newt, so mundane.
“Maybe you could find a different way to warm up in the winter. One involving let’s say, another person heating you up.” I say suggestively, and Newt looks at me with an indecipherable look in his eye. He seems to become uncomfortable immediately, wrapping his arms around himself.
“That’s, um, really flattering, Minho. But, that Truth that I answered wasn’t serious. I’m so sorry but I absolutely do not think of you that way,” he begins and I look at him, very confused, “I didn’t even think you liked guys. And besides, I’m already-”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, don’t get ahead of yourself, you shank, I wasn’t talking about me, Jesus Christ.” I cut him off, laughing awkwardly. He sighs, visibly relieved that he was wrong.
“Wow, I am so glad. Wait, then who were you talking about?” Newt asks, and I smile, pulling us to a stop at our desired destination. We stand at the top of a small waterfall, overlooking a creek a few feet below us. Swimming around in the water are quite a few of our people, relishing in the surprising warmth of the spring. More specifically, Thomas is there, wading around in nothing but his boxers, laughing and goofing off with Clint.
“Our resident suicidal Greenie down there,” I say and Newt follows my pointed finger to Thomas, hair damp as he stands in the water. The fact that he’s shirtless for Newt to admire definitely helps my plan as well. Newt’s eyebrows raise, clearly surprised at my suggestion, yet his eyes never leave Thomas’ chest.
“But we-”
“Look, you should really consider it, the two of you. I see the way you look at him and I definitely see the way he looks at you. There’s a big connection there and it would seriously be a waste to leave it be now. Seize the moment, Newt, when you… when all that shit went down, he was absolutely devastated at the thought of living without you. Don’t let this slip away.” I rant, before turning to walk away from Newt, who is staring at me with his eyebrows cocked.
“You wanted someone to hold, remember?” I say with a smirk, leaving a confused Newt behind by the spring. I hear Thomas shout his name and Newt turns to look down, smiling affectionately.
Now for Phase Five.
_
“You really aren’t being subtle with this plan, are you?” Gally asks as we set up the blanket and lanterns by the spring. It has been a week since I planted the seed, or rather the entire plant, with Newt and I decided it would be best to just throw them at each other for a date.
“These are my two best friends and this pining has been going on for so shuckin’ long already. I don’t want them wasting another second apart, so drastic and obvious measures had to be taken.” I say and Gally nods understandingly, placing their meals down on the ground. I had Frypan pull out all the stops to make his best fish and rice dish with some broccoli on the side. It smells absolutely divine.
“They’re gonna love this, Minho, it’s too romantic to not love it.” Brenda says, placing a basket of flowers next to the blanket. I nod to myself, very proud of my work. I am extremely confident that tonight is the night that they get together, and tomorrow I’ll see them walk into breakfast hand in hand. It’s gonna happen.
“Alright, let’s go tell our boys where to meet.” I say, walking away from the meal with Gally. Brenda stays behind to watch over the food and protect it from bugs or animals or even other hungry people. The spring is a very popular location for dates, so it wouldn’t surprise me if another one of my couples showed up here tonight.
The first stop is Thomas, knowing he’d probably take ridiculously long to change and clean himself up before leaving his hut. I knock on Thomas’ door softly, but loud enough that it will alert him of my presence. Thomas usually takes seconds to answer a door with loud crashes inside and a knife in his hand as he opens it slowly. However, tonight, there is absolutely no sound. I furrow my brow, looking to Gally who is equally surprised. I knock again, harder this time, but still no response.
“Thomas?” Gally calls out and I push open the door, revealing complete darkness inside and no Greenie to be found. My eyebrows raise in surprise, having absolutely no idea where he could possibly be.
“That’s odd. I guess we’re going to Newt first,” I say and Gally shrugs, baffled too by the empty room. I turn and walk down the beach, closer to the rocks of the cliff nearby where Newt’s isolated hut sits. We built it further away as he recovered as a precaution if things took a turn for the worse. It’s not too far away from everyone else, but it’s the closest to the ocean. It always surprises me how he can ever sleep here, with the waves crashing so loudly against the rocks.
“Newt?” I call, my voice slightly raised as a wave crashes against the coast. We approach the hut which has light coming from the inside, signalling that there was someone home here at least. The waves settle for a moment before crashing again right as I knock on the door. I huff, knowing full well that he will not hear me knock because of the waves. As they settle again, I push the door open, barging inside only to find myself in absolute shock.
“What the shuck!” I cry and the two boys break away from their kiss to turn and stare at me in surprise. Gally squeaks behind me and I hear him step out of the hut, his back pressed against the outer wall.
Newt lies underneath Thomas, his legs wrapped tightly around Thomas’ waist and his one arm wrapped around Thomas’ neck. His other is reaching lower on his body, and I refuse to look down at what I know his hand is wrapped around. Thomas hovers above Newt, connecting the two of them together before he pulls out of the blonde and springs backwards, falling off of the foot of Newt’s bed. Newt scrambles to cover himself up in a blanket as Thomas just awkwardly lifts a pillow to conceal himself.
“Why didn’t you knock?!” Newt shrieks, his face completely red from embarrassment. I now notice the profuse amount of bruises on the two of them, littered around Newt’s neck, and all over Thomas’ chest leading down to the pillow. Newt’s lips are red and swollen and Thomas’ arms are covered in scratch marks as well.
“I did! You didn’t hear me!” I shout and Thomas shifts awkwardly side to side, trying to pull on a shirt while keeping the pillow up. Newt covers his face in his hands, groaning inwardly.
“Jesus, I know I told you to go for it, but this is a little fast, don’t you think?” I say, shielding my eyes to let Thomas get dressed. Newt scoffs and I hear him stand up and wrap the blanket around himself.
“Minho, you are one dumb shank,” he says and I gasp, dropping my hands to glare at Newt. Thomas yelps, still trying to put on pants and he dives behind Newt to shield himself.
“What do you mean?! I’ve been trying to set you guys up for the past three weeks and I succeeded, how does that make me dumb?!”
“Minho, Thomas and I have been together for months!” Newt exclaims and my eyes widen, my mouth dropping open as well.
“What?!”
“A week after I woke up we started dating. And we weren’t hiding it either, you just never noticed somehow.” Newt says and Thomas furrows his brow, stepping out from behind Newt.
“He’s seen us kiss,” he says to his boyfriend and my mouth drops open even further.
“He clearly does not remember it.” Newt says, cocking out his hip sassily. Thomas looks at me in confusion as well, clearly stunned that I could have missed this.
“Hey, I wasn’t the only one! Gally didn’t know either!” I say, turning to pull Gally back into the room, only to find that he’s run off, abandoning me there. That traitor.
“But that’s Gally, he’s…Gally,” Newt says and I open my mouth to protest before realizing that that is an accurate statement, “Remember that party we had where I told you I just wanted someone to hold at night? You got so lost in your drunken thought that you clearly didn’t notice Tommy come sit beside me and tell me that I had him. I thought you would have at least remembered him kissing me right after, it was definitely not subtle.”
“How did no one else know?” I ask. Newt rolls his eyes, sitting down on his bed.
“We weren’t telling everyone, we didn’t really care. We weren’t hiding it from you specifically. I can understand everyone else not noticing because we aren’t a super PDA couple, but we’ve definitely been PDA-ing around you.” Thomas sits down beside him, allowing Newt to lean up against his side. I am still completely stunned by this revelation.
“So at the bonfire, you weren’t trying to out us to the whole circle?” Thomas asks and I shake my head at him.
“God, no, I was trying to play matchmaker, I thought you were both just pining.” I say and Newt laughs at me, Thomas putting his face in his hands.
“You must be a horrid matchmaker then if you can’t even recognize your best friends actually dating each other right under your nose,” Newt says and I pout at him as he chuckles.
“I have a 98% success rate.”
“Not anymore, I guess.” Thomas chuckles and I sigh, hanging my head in defeat. The room grows silent, with the sounds of the ocean being the only noise and I look up at them. Thomas is looking awkwardly to the side, avoiding my gaze and Newt has an eyebrow raised at me.
“What?”
“Are you going to leave so we can finish, or are you wanting to stand there and watch?” Newt asks and my face goes bright red.
“Right. I’m gonna go.” I say hurriedly before turning on my heel and leaving the hut.
_
The next morning I walk into the dining hall dishevelled and embarrassed. My matchmaking service, I have decided must come to an end. Frankly, I’m too afraid of situations like that happening again. Gally looks pale as I sit beside him and he turns to look at me in fear.
“You don’t get to grieve with me, you shank. You left me there!” I say and Gally winces, dropping his head down on the table.
“Never in a million years did I need to see anyone having sex that wasn’t me and Brenda.” He complains and I scrunch up my face in disgust. Jorge is glaring at the top of Gally’s head now too, before turning to me in curiosity.
“What happened?”
“He’s a shuckin’ idiot, that’s what happened.” Newt says and I wince as I turn to watch him and Thomas sit down at the table. Jorge turns to Newt, ready to ask for an explanation, before seeing the VERY obvious marks covering Newt’s and Thomas’ necks, shutting up with wide eyes immediately. Brenda, however, bursts out laughing.
“You guys walked in on them having sex?!” She screeches with a laugh and Newt shakes his head in amusement, Thomas resting his own down on Newt’s shoulder.
“I’m scarred, okay?! And I’ve learned my lesson, I’m never meddling again!” I cry and Brenda chuckles again. Newt rolls his eyes, grabbing some food off of his plate to eat.
“You’re damn right you’re never meddling again. Nobody needs to see us like that except for each other.” He says, biting into an apple slice. Thomas smirks at his boyfriend, leaning into his ear to whisper something that makes Newt’s cheeks flush. Thomas grins, leaning back to stare across at me, opening his mouth to speak.
“I don’t wanna know! I absolutely do not want to know!” It’s official, matchmaker Minho is closed for business, and everyone can blame my two best friends for its unfortunate end.