Chapter Text
“God, Tommy, you let me die and I will break one of your bones per zyrk I lose.”
The whole Blast from the Past thing was ridiculous, Newt was aware. Every hit he accidentally took while not paying enough attention to the game and his eyes wandered yet again towards the brunet doing his best to keep him alive, took him half his health – something he was not used to anymore.
Thomas groaned, and a furious pressing of one keyboard almost made Newt laugh, because no matter how hard Thomas tried, no heal came.
“Well if someone would at least care the healer is getting attacked?!” Thomas barked angrily and it made others laugh hysterically. “Dammit!”
Newt put on the auto run and circled the boss, swiftly typing a threat to the party chat. Their group was full of idiots, he had to admit. Low levels, without the mandatory potion, and not even trying to help Thomas when he was in danger.
[Party][Badland]: You fuckers, if my healer dies, I am going to strap you to those bloody barrels and repeatedly revive you to strap you to a new one!
One berserker actually moved towards the running priest, but the IQ apparently wasn’t in the package, because he cycloned the mobs right next to the barrel and killed himself – and Thomas as well.
“My god,” Thomas wailed once he ressed, his tone sounded as if he said: I’m so fucking done with this shit!. “I’m never going to do the Blast from the Past ever again.”
“I am going to rent a better healer,” Newt teased and immediately got an “ooooooh” from their audience, as well as another flood of jabs.
“With how you handled a 47 level instance I’d be scared to go with you even to an AC, man,” Ben laughed while eating his pizza and Thomas left the party the first moment the boss died.
“Yeah, sorry,” the brunet mumbled and Newt bit his tongue. It wasn’t his fault, the party was terrible, it all took them forever and Newt hadn’t really helped with his sporadic blocking. He definitely didn’t want Thomas feeling bummed out, not when he did the best he could.
“The Blast from the Ass equip is bloody bad, did you notice?” he pushed away the notebook and stretched, hoping it would convey the message. “It’s like one hit and half of my health was gone. No wonder you had a hard time healing. I think they gave us the rustiest shit in the game for that.”
“Did you just call it Fart?” Winston snorted he almost spilled his drink on Teresa who was sitting next to him on the couch, and she gave him a dirty look for that.
“It’s shitty enough,” Newt shrugged. He definitely meant the pun. “The reward is a stupid Oculus gear you can get by soloing BT, so what’s the point of doing that?”
“I saw pros failing solo BT already,” Ben noted, “so it may have a little value to somebody.”
“Painful to think about that,” the blond rolled his eyes and stood up, smoothing his cargo pants slowly. “Either way-,”
“Wow, Newt,” Ben suddenly gasped and his eyes bulged with huge revelation. “That hickey is of size of Texas, jesus.”
Newt froze, his mind reeling. A hickey? From when? It’s not like he had sex recently or someone made him a practice target for vampires. Then it dawned on him – Rosa had that nasty habit of doing that when she thought he was not paying enough attention. The night in the cinema – that made sense. She was annoying to the max and he just wanted for the movie to be over and go home, and she was all pouty, and this was the result.
“Oh,” he said only, and rolled his eyes when others started to stretch their necks to see it too.
“Thomas, man, control yourself a bit,” Winston snickered after an inspection and Newt had to hold himself by his sheer will not to laugh hysterically. God, how much he wouldn’t even mind this guy doing that to him? Marking him like this? Just so hot. He had to take a deep breath before shrugging like it was no big deal.
“Leave him alone,” he told them with faked resignation. “Can’t blame a guy for marking his territory now, can you.”
An avalanche of shouts, ewws, aaahs, or small comments like “nasty” or “no way” filled the living room and Thomas just sat there, staring at him with wide, Bambi eyes and Newt couldn’t help himself but smile. What was that guy even shocked for? They were tiptoing around each other from the first moment they met, Newt just took it up another notch (and yes, yes it was fun).
Minho’s phone ended the scene abruptly, and after he answered with “Nice!” he nodded towards Newt to come with him, looking into the hallway impatiently.
“Okay, end your bitchin’, go play something,” the blond waved his hand in general direction of laptops lying around and manoeuvred between them towards the exit with Minho right behind him.
“You just love to make his life miserable, huh?” Minho smirked in the hallway, giving him a knowing look and Newt shrugged, his smile not wavering.
“It’s not like he is not used to it, right?” he smirked at the Asian. “Just teasing him a bit.”
“Don’t cry when he pounce you like a prostitute to show you the real power of man-made hickeys,” Minho patted his back with a grin nodded towards the stairs. “Can you get a sleeping bag from upstairs? That kiddo is gonna need a place to crash.”
Newt only nodded and ran up, staying a distant “heeeeeeeeeeey” when Minho opened the main door.
***
When Newt got back downstairs with a sleeping bag under his arm, a curly haired kid opened his arms and shouted: “Baddie!”
The first impulse Newt had to avoid the contact was to put the bag as a barrier, and when Chuck collided with the cushion, he pushed it into his arms firmly and raised a finger when the boy tried again.
“No touchy,” he reprimanded. The whole touching part made him uneasy from people he knew nothing about. He got used to Minho being touchy feely, but that was the exception.
Well, also Thomas. But his touching was different, something Newt welcomed – relished even – because it came naturally and had a pleasant intent.
“You are no fun,” the kid pouted, but it took him only few seconds before he bounced in between others and immediately fitted in like a piece of puzzle.
The whole meeting started to plan another big dungeon and Newt was dragged to the ABHM with Chuck watching Newt’s laptop happily, all excited to see 60’s instance in full motion. Newt settled comfortably at the couch, and logged in.
“Hey, loverboy!” he heard Winston talking and looked over the notebook at him, finding him standing at Thomas. Such nickname made him smirk. “ABHM?”
Thomas only stared for a while, a little dazed and Newt fidgeted a little – his name still hadn’t appeared in the guild as online, and he had a bad feeling Thomas was not going to play at all. The bad AH must had left a bad taste, Newt could understand.
“Earth to Thomas, you are so out of it today,” Winston nudged Thomas’ shoulder to wake him up from the trance. “You coming with us or not?”
“Ah, no, thanks, not today,” the brunet finally responded with a quick shake his head, successfully confirming Newt’s thoughts. “I‘ll go get some fresh air I think. Anyone want something in a shop?”
A rain of requests filled the room right away; Minho had to give him a pen and paper to write it all down. Thankfully Thomas had a still functioning brain, because he refused everything heavy (“Beer!” Ben shouted. “Do I look like a mule to you? Next.”), but even without it the list seemed to go on forever, and the money he was receiving multiplied he could probably open a bank with it.
“Accept the inv, Newt,” Minho’s voice made him focus back and an invitation on the screen counted down it’s availability. He cancelled it and logged of, earning a confused look from others.
“I’ve changed my mind,” he explained, closing the laptop slowly. “Will go with Tommy. There is no way he’s going to drag this all by himself.”
“Baddie noooo,” Chuck howled, disappointment dripping from his voice. “I’ve wanted to see you play!”
“We’re not leaving for honeymoon,” Newt retorted with a sigh. “You ‘ll get the chance. Like it’s something you need to see.”
“Goddammit, are you doing this on purpose?” Minho grumbled while Newt put the laptop away and approached Thomas, leaning heavily over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at the completely filled page. Thomas immediately angled to accommodate him and his hand shot up to his waist, resting there comfortably. It made Newt a little bolder, and also probably cheekier when he was answering Minho without missing a beat.
“Of course. It’s my job to make you frustrated by looking for another tank,” he said and felt how Thomas’ thumb started to rub lazy circles at the place where his hand rested. It sent a pleasant shivers down his spine and he rose his own had to return the favour, gently touching Thomas’ back.
“Let Gally tank it, he loves aggro spamming,” Thomas jabbed with a smirk and Gally, sitting in a corner of a sofa, flipped him off without bothering to use his mouth for a verbal assault. Their mutual love was hilarious at the moments like these.
“Who bloody asked for smoked ribs?” Newt demanded with a disbelieving stare when his eyes caught the messy written piece. Thomas hand disappeared from his waist, clutching the list in both hands. Newt decided not to feel disappointed like a school girl. “Do we look like Omaha Steaks?”
“Was just an idea,” Winston piped from behind his notebook and Newt rolled his eyes.
“I can’t believe you even wrote that down, Tommy,” he addressed his partner with a small laugh, and traced his spine a little higher. The warmth from his body was seeping back to Newt with intensity. “Let’s go before it gets dark.”
“Yeah,” Thomas exhaled slowly and folded the list so he could hide it in his pocket. They left the house in haste Newt completely forgot about his coat – but the weather was alright, only a little grey. It was warm enough to go only with his hoodie, so he didn’t even bother returning for the coat, even though Thomas had his jacket on.
“God, I needed to get out of there, this was the best idea ever,” Newt took a deep breath of the rain-filled air and felt the calmness settling in him. He glanced back at Thomas who looked visibly fidgety and extended his hand towards him with a smile. He was pretty sure they could cross some things out of the list, it was ridiculously long even for two of them and – his thoughts stopped the moment Thomas squeezed his hand in return. He looked at their joined hands and barked out a laugh.
“Oh my god, Tommy, you are such a dork!” he hiccupped in between the giggle fits and Thomas let his hand go quickly, burning red and looking utterly adorable. His first instinct was to hold his hand? How cute was that? It probably broke the scale down!
“The list,” the blond boy held his hand up again, still laughing, but softer. It was endearing, he couldn’t say otherwise. “Just wanted to read it properly.”
“Kill me now,” Thomas groaned, even redder, and pulled the list out of his pocket and handed it to him, then crouched and hid his face in the sleeve of his jacket.
“Oh come on, it’s fine. I’ve seen a better faux pas from you already,” Newt patted him over the back and his fingers slowly slid at the nape of his neck, touching it gently. “I let people hold my hand after a good dinner and few dates though, so don’t think I am this easy.”
“I don’t think you are easy,” Thomas mumbled into his sleeve. His ears were bright red as well.
“Good,” Newt retorted and his hand moved into Thomas’ hair, dragging his nails over the scalp.
Soft.
“That would break my heart,” he almost whispered, running his fingers through strands of brown hair.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Thomas said suddenly and Newt’s hand stopped.
“Break my heart?” he asked, a strange anticipation flooded through him.
“Yeah,” Thomas was barely audible. “I wouldn’t do that.”
Newt felt his throat tighten and his body shivered slightly.
“You will be the death of me, Tommy.”
***
Newt had so much fun. He was enjoying himself even despite the slight pain that was shooting from his leg up after the amount of walking they did to the shop. He didn’t care, this was amazing. His favourite song started right the moment they entered the mall and he was so happy he didn’t even care people were staring when he started to dance and sing along.
“You put your hand out, opened the door,” he sang the current part, extending his hand towards Thomas, “You said come with me boy, I want to show you something more.”
The brunet quickly shook his head and took a step back, and it made him grin like mad.
“Tommy,” he sing songed, “loose up a little. I am not going to bite your head off.”
“I haven’t even taken you on a proper date, I can’t hold your hand,” Thomas shot back and Newt howled with laughter at the cornflake isle and threw one bag into the cart. He decided not to push him anymore and rather swayed further the aisle, twirling the list with requests between his fingers, more humming now than singing along. He was patient. This game they played was fun. A little bit of cat and mouse and he couldn’t say it didn’t make him excited for the progress.
“Do we have everything?” he asked with furrowed brows, looking into the paper and planning to murder the person who ordered garlic-filled food. They wouldn’t be able to get that stench out of the flat for days, he could already smell it. Thomas swung a can of coca cola into the cart and nodded.
“The cashier is going to think we are nuts,” he commented while pushing the cart forward. Newt had to agree with him, all those things seemed like for a kinder garden party, nothing was even remotely healthy.
“I am more concerned about us dragging it all back to the apartment,” the blond noted, but he couldn’t wipe a big smile off his face. Screw the weight of all those things; they were going to have sooo much fun.
***
The idea of fun didn’t include the heavy rain that greeted them at the entrance. Thomas stared at the dark sky in disbelief and Newt whistled when the rain intensified to a horrific rate.
“It’s like in the movie,” he pointed out. “We get drenched, rent a motel room and make out in front of the fireplace while the camera is going to take a close up at our wet clothes drying in the heat of the fire.”
“There are no fireplaces in motels,” Thomas opposed calmly.
“Ah,” Newt sighed. There went his fantasy. “Not worth it then.”
Thomas snorted, rubbing his hands together when the mall doors opened to let in a couple of drenched people, and a cold air hit him.
“Making out with me isn’t appealing enough? That’s mean.”
“I am a sucker for the fireplace scene,” Newt shrugged, but he couldn’t help but smile at the notion. Making out with him would be more awesome than a thousand of fireplaces, no doubt about that. That guy was just so amazingly touchable Newt had to fight the urge to lean all over him every second he spent in his vicinity.
“Why does it look like it won’t stop raining any time soon?” Thomas asked while another several people arrived through the door, dripping wet, and pulled Newt out of his thoughts.
“Because we are super unlucky?” Newt suggested. “You wanna wait?”
“Do you?” Thomas glanced back at his companion and Newt shook his head. Waiting sounded boring. Not to mention his leg started to hate him with passion and he craved the warmth and comfort of the flat, a hot shower and then the warm couch he could sit on.
“I never heard of anyone who got killed by getting rained at,” he pointed out and then tilted his head to the side, searching for possible examples when it did. He found none. “Unless it was acid, that is.”
“Cheerful thoughts,” Thomas smirked and looked down at the big bag they brought with them, full of requested items. “But it’s not just us who are going to get drenched. Half of these things are going to be inedible once we get home if it gets wet.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” Newt uttered in muffled response how he was getting his hoodie over his head at the same time. It wasn’t cold, just wet. He could go without the hoodie no problem (although he had to admit the idea of having the coat seemed great now).
“What are you-,”
Before Thomas could finish the sentence, Newt tucked his hoodie over the top of the bag, successfully covering everything inside, and flashed him a victorious smile.
“Problem solved, now let’s go,” he gestured towards the downpour outside and Thomas critically looked him over.
“Are you kidding?” he frowned at the thin white t-shirt Newt wore (his favourite t-shit, that frown was not okay). “You will freeze outside.”
“Oh please,” Newt waved his hand, Thomas mother hen tendencies were amusing, “I know I look like a wind can take me away, but I am not a sickly kid from Brooklyn.”
“No, that was Steve Rogers,” Thomas immediately countered and both of them chuckled. Thomas looked him over and the worried crease in between his eyebrows made Newt a little afraid of what was he thinking about. When he pulled his jacket down and handed it to Newt with a meaningful look, the blond had to bite his lip to stop the laughter coming up his throat.
Seriously? This was definitely like in a cheesy romantic movie, handing him his jacket like a proper gentleman, now only the roses were missing.
“Newt, I swear to god, if you don’t take the jacket now…”
“You will chase me around the mall with it and propose in the end?” this time the snicker escaped the blonde’s mouth without an attempt to conceal it and Thomas shook the offensive piece of garment menacingly. He looked like he was ready to throw it, or maybe really chase Newt around the place and forcefully making him to wear it.
“Yes! That’s exactly what I am going to do, so if you want to escape the first hand embarrassment of running around a public place full of seniors who is going to judge you, with me cornering you somewhere-,”
“A fish section would be cool.”
“-and probably do something inappropriate to you as well-,”
“Like smacking me with dead fish?”
“-you will take that jacket right now!” Thomas ended the rant with a deep inhale and Newt’s face broke into wide grin.
“You are the boss,” the blond assured him fondly, and took the jacket carefully. It was a little bigger than he was, but warm from Thomas’ body, and he put it on slowly. He noticed Thomas watching him and cocked his head to the side.
“Satisfied now?” he asked and the brunet didn’t say a word, only suddenly stepped closer – close enough for a touch, face to face, looking down at him. At first Newt didn’t really understand, but then Thomas gripped the edge of the jacket tightly and it made him freeze at the spot. This was it. This was bloody it, probably a kiss or an attempt or something equal, and he wasn’t ready, he didn’t even thought about properly yet, and it freaked him out, but excited him at the same time and he didn’t know how to react, where to put his hands, how to stand, so he remained at the spot like a tit, waiting for the other boy to do the first move, because he couldn’t, his brain stopped to function at the worst time. Then a zipping noise dragged him back to the task at hand and he realized Thomas was closing the jacket all the way up to Newt’s neck, tucking him in like a baby.
“Now I am,” the brunet remarked and Newt had to smile. A strange fear dropped from his shoulders and he could relax again. It was fine. Alright. Good thing nothing happened, not here. He was surprised by his own insecurity about the proceedings – he couldn’t say he didn’t wish for something to happen for some time, but when it seemed it finally came to the point, he got scared it moved too fast and he couldn’t handle it all. But Thomas was a puppy, and he cared about him, so the gesture was the most loving thing he ever saw.
“Who would say you are such a mother hen, Tommy,” he said softly and smoothed the garment over, noting the pleasant texture.
“Comes with the package,” Thomas retorted, his voice a little shaky (Newt hoped his tone wasn’t the same, even that he felt a little overwhelmed at the moment), and grabbed the bag. He saw how Thomas swayed a little, a flash of surprise on his face, and Newt batted his hand away.
“Let me,” he said and gripped one of the handles, gesturing for Thomas to take another one. “I will make them play slaves for a week for this, I swear.”
Thomas snickered and nodded in agreement. Really, why didn’t they take the car? Walking was overrated.
By Newt’s command they both left the safety of the mall and got immediately sprayed with heavy drops of the rain landing with accuracy of a master sniper. It made Newt laugh, the coldness of the rain surprised him, but also delighted a little. It had been years since he actually ran through the rain like this, enjoying the strange moment of freedom. Thomas laughed with him and it was absolutely awesome. They basically jogged through the city like pair of idiots, until the rain got even stronger and they decided to hide for a while and catch their breaths under the safety of a bus stop.
The bag got heavier with all the rain that landed on it, and when they could rest for a while he definitely appreciated it. Thomas looked relieved as well when he could ease his hand for a while, and Newt had to take several calming breaths to get rid of the shooting pain that made him a little wobbly. It came in waves, but calmed down after a while.
“How’s the leg?” Thomas asked carefully as if he read Newt’s mind and Newt turned to his companion calmly.
“Doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would,” he answered and quickly looked Thomas over. He was drenched, the shirt was clinging to his torso like second skin and Newt wondered how a white one would look this wet. The black one hid a lot of contours, but he could see Thomas was fit and strong even without seeing him without it. Then he noticed he was getting analysed as well and probably with more care too. Thomas eyes travelled down and back up, and it was a hungry stare, an open want in his eyes, and Newt felt himself getting hotter, even though the water made his skin ice cold.
“See something you like?” he couldn’t stop himself from asking and it apparently pulled Thomas back from whatever trance he fell into. At some point Newt wanted him to say something. He wished he would at least hint with few words he was interested. But Thomas always stayed somewhat innocent and child-like Newt just wasn’t sure what he wanted anymore.
“Sorry,” Thomas mumbled and avoided the eye contact, his ears burning red again. Newt could see there was no way he could make him say anything more, pushing sounded like a wrong move too, so he just bended for the handle of the bag again.
“We should continue,” he said flatly. “It’s getting chilly.”
“Good you have the jacket, yeah?” Thomas joked, his voice a little hesitant and Newt smiled at his hopeful reaction. Yeah, he hadn’t told him anything yet, but Newt was willing to wait. He so was.
“Good I have you.”