Work Text:
with a squeak of a shower faucet, newt let hot water traverse down his bare back. he ran his hands through his hair and leaned back against the slippery wall. a misstep caused him to bash his knee painfully into the tub's rim. hissing through his teeth, he held his leg, staring at the red mark. it spread over an amalgamation of scrapes and scratches from a childhood of reckless freedom. he almost teared up at the sheer nostalgia of it.
"newt? you okay, man?" a tired sounding voice asked from outside the bathroom.
"yeah, just hurt my knee." newt said, straightening. he heard the click of the door handle and he sighed, pulling the shower curtain tighter towards the wall.
"tommy, get out." said newt, peeking out from behind the curtain to glare at the boy. thomas shrugged at him, flipping the toilet seat up.
"you know you're crying, right?" he commented, not looking at newt. he raised his hand to his eyes, wiping away a salty teardrop.
"hm. must've been the shampoo."
thomas saw through the lie easily, raising his eyebrows at him. he washed his hands, then walked to the tub.
"what's wrong?" he sat cross-legged next to it, leaning slightly on the damp rim. newt watched the fabric of his sleeve soak up water, then sat down himself.
"nothing. really."
"tell me about this 'nothing.'" thomas gave him a look, and newt melted a little inside.
"i was just thinking of when i was a kid." newt said, more of a mumble. it made him genuinely sad to think about how it was before his life cracked open in front of his eyes - before he cracked open.
"it's always a bummer." thomas replied.
"it's worse for you." newt said, almost condescending. at least newt had had parents, even if they were dysfunctional. even if he had to clean up his dad's beer bottles or throw away empty pill bottles with his mom's name printed neatly on them.
"no, it's not. just because you think someone's been through more than you doesn't mean your pain doesn't matter. ya know?"
"tommy?"
"yeah?"
"are you drunk?"
his words were blurred together ever so slightly and his hands a little too limp for him to be sober.
"maybe a little." thomas laughed. he stood up, and newt caught the hem of his shirt suddenly. thomas hummed questioningly, turning around. newt stood, holding thomas' face for a moment, staring sadly at him. he kissed him, rushed but somehow slow and sweet. then he disappeared behind the shower curtain again.
"newt! you can't just hide behind the curtain after doing something like that!" unbashfully thomas peered at newt in the shower, then winced. various marks from previous experiences stood out painfully against his pale skin. newt let out a slow sigh.
"you don't have any sense of dignity, do you, tommy?" he clambered out of the tub, wrapping a towel around his waist.
"nah. where'd you get all of these from?" thomas asked, tracing three identical scratch marks on newt's back.
"cat." he mumbled.
"you're allergic."
"dog, then."
"you're scared of dogs."
"yeah, why do you think?" newt gestured at a faint scar on his thigh. "most of these scars aren't from dogs, anyways." he toweled his hair and pulled on a pair of boxers and pajama pants.
"where are they from, then?"
"i don't wanna tell you." he looked at thomas dramatically, almost. "the way i got these scars are uglier than the scars themselves."
"drama queen." thomas hopped up onto the sink, barely flinching at its threatening creak. "they're not ugly. the scars, i mean."
"yes, they are." newt turned to leave the bathroom, then:
"what was up with the kiss?"
newt hissed through his teeth. "i dunno. just an impulse, i guess."
"oh. then," thomas hopped off the sink, hugging him from behind and pressing his lips to a scar on newt's neck. "you can call this an impulse too." his voice was muffled by skin. he traveled slowly down newt's back, making him shiver with the sensation. the sensitive skin around his scars tingled when thomas passed over them, a gentle chaste kiss on each one. newt closed his eyes, barely breathing.
"why do you like them so much?" he asked tentatively.
"the scars? they're a part of you. and you," thomas turned newt around to face him. "are beautiful." he kissed newt, the same soft lips that had passed over all the marks from his past barely seconds ago.