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"What is it with all the fanfare around Christmas?" Thomas groaned exasperatedly, throwing on the ugly jumper that Newt had forced him to wear, shaking his head whenever he begged his boyfriend to have mercy. "I get that we should celebrate with loved ones and exchange gifts, and decorate with trees and klunk, but why must it be so busy, breaks, this, that, baking, drinks, more and more stress, basically?"
"Calm down, Tommy," Newt said, rolling his eyes smartly. "You're not making any sense."
"My point is," Thomas interrupted, waving his hands wildly. "We're broke college students, Newt! We can't afford all the decorations and klunk!"
"Come on," Newt said, batting his wide, blue eyes that were framed perfectly with golden lashes.
Thomas grumbled at the cheap trick but made no further argument as his boyfriend pulled him out of their mess of a college dorm and out to the courtyard, where a bunch of girls were singing Christmas carols shrilly.
"Hey, Lizzy!" Newt said, waving to the tall girl who wore her reddish-blonde hair in a neat plaid. "Have you gotten your dorm decorations yet?"
"Duh!" Elizabeth ––– Sonya, as she preferred to be called by friends ––– replied, not sparing a glance at the direction of her brother. "Harriet's coming home with me for the break!"
"Good," Newt muttered underneath his breath. "So's Tommy," the tall boy said to his sister, who nodded.
"I'm assuming you haven't done shopping?"
"Shut up, Elizabeth," Newt grumbled. "It's all Tommy's fault."
"Let's go shopping, Newtie Cutie," Thomas intervened, shaking his head at his blue-eyed boyfriend of 6 months. The last thing he needed to do was get into a fight with his potential sister-in-law. Woah, Thomas, a bit too fast, isn't it?
Newt and Thomas had their hands intertwined.
They were at the crowded mall, and Thomas imagined if there had been a pandemic. This mall would definitely be the hot spot, or at least, one of them. He could feel the belly of a toned man to his right, and a girl, who was facing the other wall of the lift, had her torso inclined his way.
The brunet gripped his boyfriend's hand tightly, wishing with all his might that they could just get out of this elevator already!
"Do you regret coming yet?" Thomas whispered against Newt's lobe; he felt the British boy shiver.
"N-No," Newt stuttered, shooting a glare at Thomas. "Must you complain so much?'
"I must," Thomas argued, returning the look to Newt. "Must you shop for more decorations? Our dorm is already filled, and we're going to go broke, soon!" That wasn't very far from the truth; Thomas and Newt both worked two jobs in their spare time, but they weren't the most high-paying jobs, and it was difficult to pay off their school fees, textbooks, dorm rent, and so on, although they had student loan for that.
Newt heaved a sigh as the people started to trickle out of the lift. "It's the spirit of Christmas!" The blonde insisted to his boyfriend.
Said boyfriend groaned again. "Fine, just be quick, okay?" He moaned, squeezing his eyes closed tightly as if the idea of Christmas shopping physically pained him.
"You're supposed to help," Newt murmured, his eyes widening at the sight of a Mrs Claus tea-tray. "How's that one?"
The brunet peeked one eye open, revealing a hazel orb. "How much is it?"
"Grinch," Newt teased as he picked up the tray gingerly and flipped it over.
"That's too expensive," Newt said, the same time that Thomas said, "We're buying it!"
"What?" The taller one exclaimed, his eyebrows shooting up at Thomas' unexpected words. "It's too expensive! You said it yourself! We can't –––"
"We can," Thomas insisted. "We will. I'm paying. But I think you should lay it down on the other decorations, babe. It's not really about the money, it's just that our dorm isn't the biggest thing in the world, and we filled a lot of space up already..."
"Why?" Newt questioned, cocking his head adorably, letting a lock of golden hair fall from where it was tucked behind his ear. Thomas tucked it in, smiling when his boyfriend's crystal blue eyes followed his bony fingers and almost went cross-eyed during his attempt to follow Thomas' pale extensions all the way to his ear.
"It makes you happy," Thomas said simply. If it made his angel happy, he was willing to do absolutely anything.
"Come on," Thomas said gently, interlocking his mole dotted fingers with his boyfriend's coarser ones. "I'm paying, remember?"
"Just this last one, then," Newt said, sighing. "We're broke college students."
"Yep," the mole dotted one agreed. "Broke college students who are running out of money and space because of Christmas decór." He smirked as his boyfriend shot him a life-threatening glare that promised revenge, anger, and the silent treatment. Basically, whenever Newt gave that look, it meant he was going to make sure you were shucked.
Newt and his Tommy walked leisurely to the counter, their pace slowing down to match each other.
Thomas was fumbling around for his wallet; he couldn't remember which pocket he put it in. Newt was patting around discretely, too, but not because he lost his wallet as well. The British boy couldn't let his boyfriend pay for everything, right? It was his idea to get the decorations, and he was the one who had to pay for it. Of course, Thomas only learned about this later on or he would've been exasperated (which he was when the blonde told him).
"Got it!" Thomas exclaimed triumphantly. "Come on, Newt!"
Newt had watched as his boyfriend handed the girl at the counter 5 crisp bills, exchanging a word of greeting with her.
The leaner boy knew that the redhaired cashier was shamelessly flirting with him, either not knowing that the taller blonde was his boyfriend or she didn't care. Thomas was sure it was the second one; Newt was standing very close to him, practically gripping his back pocket as he glared defiantly at the redhead.
This is ridiculous, Thomas decided as he got the change back.
"Thank you," Newt said stiffly to the girl at the counter.
She nodded back, just as stiffly. Evidently, she figured out that Thomas had an amazing and gorgeous boyfriend.
"I'm beat," Newt declared after they pulled their purchases into the dorm, both collapsing onto the beds simultaneously.
"So much for 'just be quick'," Thomas slurred, his cheeky voice dropping to a muffled whine.