Archive of Our Own ^beta

Finally vacation break. Thomas could not take any more studying, his brain was so tired of thinking he was afraid that if he lied down, his brain wouldn’t manage to make his muscles move to get him back up. And as tired and willing to sleep for hours and hours on end as he was, he did not want to miss dinner.

“Minho,” he called to the lump on the bed on the side of the room opposite to where his bed was. ”Minho!” He called again, a little louder and patting lightly on the region he calculated to be the head.

“Hm” came the grumbling from beneath the sheets.

“You gon’ miss dinner.”

“Hm?”

“You’re gonna miss dinner!”

“Hm…”

“‘Kay,” Thomas said, shrugging, and left the room.

The next day it would be time to get back home for vacation break and Thomas and Minho were coming back home together. They lived in the same city – and not far from each other, actually –, but only met in the boarding school they both attended.

It was late at night when their flight landed home. They had arranged that Thomas would sleepover at Minho’s and would go home the next day, because Minho’s house was close to the airport and it would be less tiresome like that than arriving home past midnight. That was what happened pretty much every time.

“Oh, right!” Thomas said to himself when they were at Minho’s. “I almost forgot. Minho, help me. It’s my mom’s birthday next week, I should’ve bought her some souvenir when we were on that field trip. Ah, dammit,” he sighed.

It was Minho’s turn to shower, which he had already, but that was just one part of the process. Minho was a princess when it came to his showering plus skincare routine, he could spend hours in front of the mirror. Thomas had much more memories of his friend with a towel around his waist, looking at the mirror than with any other clothing configuration. Thomas should not have let him go shower first.

“Minho!” Thomas called, but he knew he would have to go to Minho if he wanted an answer.

“Huh?” Minho said when Thomas appeared at the bathroom door, still not looking away from the mirror.

“I forgot to buy my mom some souvenir and it’s her birthday in a couple days.”

“Just buy something around here, then” Minho suggested.

“Yeah… I don’t know any stores around here, though.”

“Does it have to be something big? I’ve never seen you talk about giving your mom a gift, I didn’t know she minded those things.”

“She doesn’t, but I never give her anything, so I wanted to give her something this year. I don’t know, it’s more about the gesture, I guess.”

“Then give her something simple, I don’t know, a flower or something. Parents love that kind of corny stuff.” Minho said.

“A flower, huh… Yeah, that could work. I remember there used to be some people who sold flowers around downtown, I wonder if there still are. Maybe a card to go with it? What do you think?” Minho did not say anything. “Hey, are you listening?”

“Dude.” Minho said, looking at Thomas for a change. “It’s Sunday. We’ve just gotten home. I’m tired, okay? I just want to drop asleep on the bed.” He went back to looking at the mirror.

“You only want to spend hours standing in front of the mirror, more like.” Thomas mumbled. “But anyway, did you listen to what I said? What do you think?”

“Yeah, whatever, sounds nice.”

“So I’ll just go look for some flowers tomorrow.”

“Sure.”

“Ugh, you’re the worst person to ask advice to, has anyone ever told you that?”

“Yeah. You have.”

Thomas slapped his friend on the shoulder blade, leaving a light white mark on the skin, which quickly turned to red and would soon vanish.

“ Ouch! You prick” Minho said, but Thomas knew he wasn’t being serious.

“Anyway, are you planning on leaving the bathroom anytime this week? If I wait for you, I’ll end up getting late for my Mom’s birthday.”

That made Minho look away from the mirror. He looked bluntly at Thomas, said “Ha-ha,” and turned back.

“Well, at least the shower is not occupied, so excuse me,” Thomas said as he entered the bathroom and started undressing. They shared a bathroom with half the floor back in the school, so sharing a bathroom was not a big deal for them, they were used to it.

-

“Yes, Dad, I’m sure. You don’t need to go help me today. Oh, what are you talking about, Mondays never have much movement and even if it does, it’s nothing I can’t handle.” Newt said to the man who insistently made motion of getting out of bed, and whom Newt insistently –although never ungently– nodged back down.

The noise of the front gate opening and then closing came from the front of the house.

“That must be Vince. Now that he’s arrived, I need to go or it’ll get late.” He sighed. “Dad, I have to go, I really can’t waste any more time here discussing it with you. You’re staying and that’s that.” He sighed again, then changing his tone, he sat on the bed and said in a lower voice, “Dad, I know you hate being stuck here and feeling useless, but I really need you to be here and to behave, you already make too much effort in the days that you do come with me to the store and you really need to rest. I know you feel better, but still. Please.” The old man seemed to finally comply, albeit reluctantly.

The door to the room opened and Vince’s austere figure filled the door frame. “Oh, you’re still here.”

“Yeah, Dad’s being stubborn today. But he’ll behave now. Won’t you? ”

“Hmm, yeah, yeah, I will,” the old man mumbled lying back down on the bed. It was a nice bed, comfortable, with clean sheets; a small thing, but it meant volumes to Newt to finally be able to provide this small thing to his sickly father after so many years of poverty.

Ever since his father’s sickness got worse – to the point of him having to stay in bed most of the time, or all the time – the worst part was looking at that old uncomfortable bed and thinking that he could not provide not even that simple thing to his Dad.

But now he could. Now they finally managed to move out of that house in the countryside and have a house in the town, and a nice house, too! It was a beautiful house, its facade a smooth shade of green that Newt loved, and it was perfect because of how it blended with the little plants there were all over the front terrace, forming a garden of sorts. The upper part of the facade was blue, which blended with the sky in the times of the year in which it did not rain, so there were few or no clouds. It was this time of the year right now. Summer. Newt liked the rain, but after that episode, he has to admit he was left with a little bit of a trauma, and whenever it rained he felt shivers run all over him, and it was not only because of the cold, it was the memories.

He was still thinking about it when he arrived at the flower shop he owned. The memories were not as clear anymore, but he could still remember how he felt, the fear of not knowing what would happen to him, of not knowing what he should – or could – do. Thinking about their current home always led to thinking about their old home, and how they went from one to the other, that decisive day that changed everything. The more Newt thought about it, the more he was sure that it was that day and that mysterious boy who gave him the opportunity to get to where he was today. And the process of thinking about these things was, of course, constant. After all, how could Newt not think about it.

He was sad he never had a chance to thank the boy and he wondered if he would ever have one. He thought about asking Vince about the boy, maybe he had contact with him or someone from his family, but he ended up deciding against it, mostly for being embarrassed, and Vince probably would not be able to help him anyway, he did complain a number of times about how “that friend of yours” had forgotten all about Vince and never went back to visit again, etc, etc. So they probably did not have much contact.

Newt chuckled lightly to himself as he arranged the apple blossom flowers that were the theme flowers of his store in the cashier’s desk and then went to do the same with the ones that were on the balcony the store had that simulated a house’s front porch; customers could buy through there if they did not want to go into the store. Friend , he thought. It was funny thinking of that person as his friend given that they did not know each other. But oh did he wish he did.

The store was, as expected, empty. Movement was always low at the beginning of the week, especially in the morning, right when the store had just opened. So, sitting at the cashier, Newt started to get lost in his own memories before he could realise and stop himself, and once again his mind wandered to that rainy day.

-

“Oh for fuck’s sake, are people fucking blind?” The boy came out of nowhere. Newt was looking down in a pathetic beaten down stance so he did not see the boy appear, when Newt knew it, he was already there – he could barely see the boy even now, all he saw were blurred flashes of the person that was quickly, and quite skilfully, collecting Newt’s remaining flowers, picking Newt up, and half guiding, half taking Newt to a side.

The boy led them both to a gate. The gate was old and rusty, its bars barely had any white paint anymore. It was as common a gate and any other in the neighbourhood and it stood by the side of a store. The store was closed now, but Newt knew what it was because he had seen it open, he saw it everyday. He had seen it today, too; today he also saw the moment the door was closing and the pity in the owner’s eyes looking at Newt standing in the rain and being bumped on by the people passing by hurriedly to not miss their busses.

Running was no remedy for Newt anymore, he had already lost the last bus and was fighting hard not to give in to despair. He once again took a look at his situation to see if he could magically figure out a way out of it. He had had the brilliant idea of wandering farther than usual to see if he could maybe have some rich folk from the nice part of town take some pity on him and buy some flowers. Unfortunately, having been walking for hours without any food does not do much good for your appearance, apparently, and rich folks do not seem to enjoy seeing starved-looking kids reminding them that while they feast with expensive dinners and go to fancy theaters there are people starving. Someone called a cop and what other reaction could Newt have had other than running for his life (and his flowers)? Unfortunately he made half the flowers fall from the basket along with most of the money he had made that day.

“Oh fuck me” was all he managed to tell himself. Now he would have to pray the driver of the bus was one of the nice ones and let him enter even if he did not have enough money for the ticket. Some drivers were more friendly with Newt than others and let it slip whenever Newt was some cents short, not all of them, though. What was worse, it was getting late and he had wandered far away from his usual spot which is near the bus station. The next bus was the last one and if he missed it, the only way back home was getting the Night-Bus, which was more expensive (so he would have to pray all the more vehemently) and did not go all the way to the village, so he still needed to walk some good 3 kilometers. Long story short: “I’m fucked” was the second thing Newt said to himself.

He had, of course, lost the last bus. When he arrived at the station all he saw was the back of a bus turning the distant corner. “Was that…?” He started to ask someone who was standing by, among gasps for air, not daring to finish the question in dread of the answer. The person simply nodded.

Newt had no idea what he would do now. Would the driver of the Night-Bus let it slip, even if the amount he had barely covered half the ticket? He would not count on it. He wandered some blocks aimlessly. It felt like everything was crumbling on top of him at that moment. Not only the misfortunes of that day, but everything, the fact that he needed to come from fucking Far Far Away everyday and back again at night cause that job of his of selling stupid flowers was basically all that kept him and his father alive and fed. He hated his father’s disease, he hated the city people who did not buy his flowers. He hated the rain right now that did not let him concentrate on what he would do.

And what he did was succumb to the floor. Someone bumped into him while walking hurriedly making him fall down, maybe running to catch a missed bus, Newt thought, “Oh, it’s no use, you can walk calmly, hon” he wanted to scream to the person. He felt like giving up, calling it quits and saying “Okay, you win, whoever there may be that benefits from this situation, you win, congratulations, I lost, I’m defeated. C’mon collect your prize and be done with it.” He looked at his remaining flowers on the floor drowning in the puddles and let them, why bother? But in the middle of his considering the pros and cons of bothering to save the flowers from the rain, someone decided for him and was picking them up.

“Vince!” the mysterious boy called into the gate. It led directly to a staircase. There was a house (or at least one or two rooms) above the store. “HEY, VINCE!” The boy yelled barely having waited for an answer from the first call. Soon a man appeared, he was not looking very happy at the visit. “Open up, will you?”

“Why?”

“Oh, just the sun is a bit hot out here, we’d like a bit of fresh water, is all.” Then the boy changed completely his demeanor and tone, leaving every bit of sarcasm aside and said in a sober tone, “Vince, c’mon, open up. Please. My friend here needs a place to stay.”

The man – looking ever displeased – complied. The boy led Newt by pushing him lightly on the back. That was when Newt realized the boy was not coming in, too. Newt had been looking down that whole time and still had not seen the boy’s face. He quickly turned around and looked up, right in time to see the face of the person who had just randomly helped him and possibly saved his life. At that moment, Newt knew he would never forget that face. The sandy brown hair which, surprisingly, was not soaking wet, as if he had only been in the rain for a few moments; the brown eyes, the beautiful shape of the mouth. Newt would never forget that face. And he hoped desperately he would not need to put his memory to the test and that he would see the boy again. Preferably sooner rather than later.

Newt heard heavy footsteps going up the stairs and realized he was still standing there looking out the gate when the man was already going up. He snapped out of his daze and followed. But not before throwing one last look towards the street and feeling disappointed that he could not find the boy anymore. Right in front of the spot where he had fallen down moments ago, the door of a car was pulled closed and the car left, that must  have been him. That would have explained why he was not very wet.

“So you two are friends then, are you?” The man asked as soon as they arrived at the top landing and were passing through the door to the left, stepping into a small room that was both a living room and a kitchen.

“Um, yeah…” Newt answered. He could not have spoken less confidently.

“From where?” The man asked. Fortunately, before Newt could open his mouth and start babbling some made up story, the man went on, “I’ve never seen you two together. Didn’t know he was the type to make friends with the likes of you. Weird kid, that one is.” By now it was clear to Newt that the man was not intending on letting him speak, which came as a blessing to Newt as he would not know what to say and was sure to ruin everything if he did manage to speak. The majority of the questions Vince asked were rhetoric and the other few that were actual questions to Newt, did not leave any space for an answer.

Newt sat on a wooden chair, hoping that the man would not take offense in that – he did take care of not sitting on the couch as he was soaking wet – and observed as the man, all the while talking about this person and that person and how they were all weird kids, prepared some tea.

“What in the name of Christ are you doing?” The man exclaimed, making Newt almost fall from the chair.

“Wh–”

“Why haven’t you dried yourself yet? Are you crazy, making my whole living room wet!”

Well, that was a bit of an exaggeration, Newt reckoned, given that the man had not even given him a towel or anything.

“The bathroom is right here” the man said, pointing to one of the two doors that were in a corner of the room, each on one of the adjacent walls, “there’s a towel there. Here, I’ll give you some dry clothes.” The man entered the other door, which Newt assumed was the man’s bedroom; he figured he was not going to sleep there, which left him with the couch. The thought made him all the happier he did not make the couch wet, after all. The man returned with some dry clothes and gave them unceremoniously to Newt. “That’s your friend’s. Maybe you can give them back to him, since that ungrateful brat doesn’t ever come visit anymore.” And back on ranting about everyone and everything the man went, walking back to the tea.

The clothes Vince gave him were a grey pair of sweatpants, a blue shirt and a black hoodie. He wondered about who would wear a plain blue shirt like that? Maybe someone who liked to actively be out of whatever was trending at the moment. But he did not dislike the shirt, it actually made him like the colour blue more.

He slept comfortably that night, despite everything. The sweet scent that the clothes still had somehow made it all go away.

-

Thomas heard about a new flower shop that had opened in the neighbourhood in the course of the last semester, when he was in school. Well, “heard about” is a bit of a stretch, but the old lady who told him about the shop when he asked her where he could buy some flowers recommended him this shop so vehemently and assured the quality of its service so much he trusted it to be a common opinion in town.

Maybe it was, maybe it was only that old lady’s view. And why exactly he asked her about this, he did not know, but he guessed she looked like someone who would know about buying flowers; and he tried to convince himself he did not just think that because she was old, but that was probably the reason.

She told him the shop was near the bus station; he went that way and asked a couple more people to make sure he was in the right direction. It was not difficult to find the store and it did look really nice. He saw a couple of people forming a line in what looked like a house’s balcony; there were only two people in front of him, so he decided to wait there. He observed the store’s decoration, the sign that read “ Apple Blossom Flower Shop ” and the adorable drawing of apple blossoms all around it. He noticed a lot of little jars with apple blossoms, which was fitting, since that was the name of the store; whoever it was who ran the shop did have their branding right.

Also the perfumes. You could smell a lot of pleasant scents from the various pots with flowers that were all over the place, but in an orderly and organised manner. He felt pleased and relaxed there, even if he was a bit because of the walking. God, I really am out of shape, aren’t I? Thomas thought to himself. Getting back to his observation of the store, he really thought there was not anything that could make it more beautiful. Oh was he wrong.

A figure appeared around the corner inside the store, Thomas saw through the simulated balcony. A person. A person? Or was it an angel? The figure moved graciously towards the balcony and the first person standing in the small line. Thomas had to remind himself that angels did not exist, because he was really beginning to think that that was what he was seeing. The golden hair fallen over the shoulder, the golden morning light that invaded the space through the large windows made the gold of the hair stand up even more. And then something that was just cruel: a discreet, thin hairband with little blue roses around the head, the elastic almost invisible, making it look like the roses were simply there, existing amidst the golden locks; the sky-blue shirt that went along with the equally blue roses. Thomas was afraid he would begin to cry; he was really overwhelmed. Oh and the smile. How was it possible for a human being –it had to be a human being, right? Because of course it could not be an angel. Right?– to smile so graciously . That smile alone managed to warm Thomas’s heart just by looking at it. And it was not even directed to him; the figure, the person, the boy was talking to the lady who was the first person in line, talking to her with such attentiveness. Thomas panicked a bit. What would he do when it was his turn? Having all the attention from that angel– person on him. He would freeze. He would stutter and embarrass himself. Then Thomas panicked a lot. The gentleness on the way he dealt with the pot he held as he handed it to the woman. Thomas felt his legs falter. The tenderness in his face. Thomas was afraid his legs would fail him and he would fall down right there, so he hurried to enter the store.

Inside was even nicer than out; there were big windows which made for great lighting, and there were a couple of tables near an L shaped counter. He sat in a chair and let out a breath. He realized he was nervous . Now he was inside and the boy was still occupied in the balcony, but eventually he would come to Thomas and what would Thomas say? What should he say? Of course he should say what his order was. But what was his order? What had he gone there to buy? It did not seem to matter, as the only thing his mind seemed to be able to focus on was that boy.

He grabbed his phone with a faint hope that something would pop up to distract him so that he wouldn look as pathetic and for his surprise it actually did. It was a message from Minho asking where he was. He hesitated. Did he want Minho –or anyone, for that matter– to arrive and ruin… ruin what? His chances of talking with the boy? Did he have any chances, really? Wait, talk about what? What am I thinking? Thomas thought to himself. He could not think of any lie to tell Minho and was afraid to lie either way in case Minho found it out and he had a bigger problem which would be explaining why he lied. So he just texted Minho back saying how to find the store.

“K” was all Minho sent and went offline right after. Thomas knew it was no good texting anything else, because Minho hardly ever picked his phone up when he was on the street going somewhere. No other notifications popped up for Thomas to get distracted with, his phone was as good as dead, so he put it away into his pocket again and tried to find something to do with his hands. There were some newspapers and magazines on another table, he picked a newspaper up and scanned it, looking for something not that boring.

He chuckled to himself thinking that he looked like an old man reading the newspaper as he waited to buy some flowers. That thought got interrupted by a voice that spoke to him as the speaker approached.

“Excuse me, sir. I’m sorry, you haven’t ordered yet, have you? I’m ready to take your order no–.”

Thomas had put the newspaper down timidly, once again panicking mildly not knowing what to say. And apparently he was not the only one, because the boy, who was holding a small glass pot with a pinkish white flower in it, stopped talking abruptly before finishing the last syllable upon seeing Thomas’s face and let the pot fall down and shatter on the floor. Thomas got up, startled.

“Oh, I’m sorry, so sorry, wait here just a moment I’ll be right back to clean this mess. Please, wait here.” The boy was saying, looking desperately embarrassed. “Please, don’t go anywhere.” He added, and now his plea sounded somewhat different, not only like an employee apologizing to a customer, but a person asking desperately to another person to not go away, not leave them.

“Um, er– n–no pro… No problem. I’ll wait.” Thomas finally managed to say. The boy looked a tad less desperate and hurried inside the store. One moment later he was back with a little plastic shovel and a broom and avidly collected the shards and the dirt and the flower. While he was at it, Thomas, feeling embarrassed to watch him clean, looked around the place and realized they were alone. He vanished into the store again and one moment later reappeared, no longer with the shovel or the broom.

He looked expectantly at Thomas. “Hi!” He said nervously. The both of them standing up, looking at each other awkwardly.

“Hi…” Thomas answered unsure, starting to feel sick in the stomach.

“You’re Thomas! Right?” The boy said. “Can I– Can I give– you, like, a hug?” He added and made a small motion to move forward; Thomas made an equally small motion of backing away, completely taken aback. The boy realised. “Oh! Ah, oh no, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m being totally intrusive. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to–”

Thomas understood absolutely nothing. Then a sad realisation dawned upon him. “Is this a fucking prank or something?” He asked and looked around in search of hidden people and/or cameras. They were still alone in the store as far as Thomas could see.

“Wh– A prank? No! Oh, no, no, no.” The boy chuckled nervously. “I’m sorry, you’re right, I’m making no sense, am I? Come, sit here” he said beckoning to Thomas to sit at the L shaped table and went around it. “Here, I’ll make a cup of tea. Which do you prefer?” He asked, showing two options.

“Um, just whatever. Either one.” Thomas shrugged.

The boy picked one and started preparing two cups of tea. “Um, I’m… My name is Newt and… I’m… Well, this…” He waved around at the store. “I’m really grateful for… Well all this was only possible because…” He was pouring sugar onto the cups; his hand was visibly shaking.

“Hey,” Thomas said, trying to sound soothing, “it’s okay. Tell me what happened. Is something wrong?” Thomas was surprised at how calm he sounded, wondering where all that calmness came from, given that he still felt dumbfounded at being in such an unreal situation.

“Wrong? Oh no, no, no. Quite the contrary.” The boy took a deep breath and looked up from the cup right into Thomas’s eyes. “I’m the owner of this shop. And it’s only been possible thanks to you.” Then he let out a relieved breath, like feeling relieved he managed to say those words.

“What… What do you mean? What did I do?”

“Thomas, you– you saved me.” Once again he was looking down at his cup of tea. “That’s what you did. I don’t think you remember it, of course you don’t, but one day, a few months back, I was completely lost. And I thought I had lost everything for good. I didn’t think I’d be able to go on. But then, you showed up, like by magic. You picked up the flowers I’d let fall down, you picked me up, and led me to a gate. Vince’s house. You said I was a friend, even though you didn’t know me, and asked him to take me in. He did, because you asked him to. He took me in, he fed me, saw that I was dry and had a place to sleep for the night. I wouldn’t be able to get back home for my dad that night, you know. I didn’t used to live in town back then.”

“Oh…” Thomas said, not knowing what else he could say and feeling stupid for not saying anything. “I only did what anyone should do, right? I saw that you needed help and helped? Isn’t that, like, the right thing to do and stuff?”

“Oh Thomas, you did so much more than that.” Newt said, leaning forward in an impulse and laying his hand on top of Thomas’s, then realising what he had done and seeing the look of shock upon Thomas’s face, retrieved his hand awkwardly, fighting to not get his face all red. He cleared his throat. “Well, thanks to you, I got to know Vince. And he got to know me. The journey I had to make everyday, to the city to sell flowers so I could sustain myself and my father, who’s sick – he’s better now,” Newt added at the worried look on Thomas’s face. “So Vince rented me this space so I could make my flower shop.” He sniffed and Thomas looked up at his face and saw tears welled in his eyes. “And it’s been a total success! People love it! I’ve almost made enough profit to buy the space, but I prefered to become associates with Vince instead. Everything is going really, really well, and Thomas it didn’t go well for so long.” The first tear rolled down. “Now I can finally see to it that my father has a nice, comfortable bed in a nice, comfortable home. Here in the city, near where I work, instead of worrying everyday if I’d make it back home that day.” More tears.

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Thomas said, again feeling stupid.

“Don’t be! You’ve changed it! You’ve granted me and my father a new life. I’m so grateful to you, you have no idea.” He sniffed and wiped the tears away. “This whole time I’ve been thinking about when I would have the opportunity to thank you in person. Thank you, Thomas. Thank you .”

“Um… You’re welcome.” Now Thomas felt the stupidest ever. What a lame response. But he genuinely did not know what to say. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t need to say anything.” Newt beamed at him. Then he changed his expression like he just remembered something. “Oh! I’m so sorry, I’ve been babbling about myself and completely forgot about your order. What was it again?”

“Oh, um, I’ve been thinking about getting my mom some flowers for her birthday, which is this week and I forgot to get her something. So maybe some flowers and a card on it? What do you think about it?”

“Oh, I think it’s really sweet of you.” Newt said and smiled reassuringly, which actually made Thomas feel more confident that his gift was not so lame after all.

See Minho, Thomas thought, learn with Newt here how to give advice. “Well, which flowers do you recommend? I was thinking maybe something colourful? More than one type of flower and roses, etc?”

“Yeah, definitely. This sounds nice. How about…” And then he started to go on about options of flower arrangement.

“By the way, how much will it be?” Thomas asked innocently. Newt laughed a little. Thomas looked at him puzzled. “What? What did I…”

“How much? You don’t actually think you’re gonna pay for anything in this store, do you?”

“I…”

“Thomas, forget about it. It’s all on the house for you.”

Thomas sensed it was no good arguing, so he did not. And they went back to discussing the flowers. “Which one is the apple blossom, again? Is it this one?” He pointed at one of the pots. “This is the brand of the store, right? So I want it included. Also, this blue one you have on your head, too, cause–” they make you look gorgeous. Then his eyes widened a little as he realised he had almost said it out loud. That was really, really close. “Cause, they, um, er… they… look gorgeous. I mean, um,” he cleared his throat, “they are nice flowers. Like, they have a nice colour. I think they’d go along well with the apple blossoms… and the rest… right? Do you have some water?”

“Oh, sure, right here, come.” They went back to the table they were drinking coffee on. Newt gave Thomas a glass of water. While Thomas drank, the front door opened and someone walked in.

“Oh, hi, welcome to Apple Blossoms Flower Shop and Caf–”

“There you are, old lady.” Newt looked puzzled.

“Fuck off.” Thomas said, not needing to turn back to see who it was. It was Minho.

“You done with all the flower shopping?”

“Almost.”

“Hi there, nice shop.” Minho said somewhat solemnly to Newt, who still looked a bit puzzled.

“This is Minho, a friend from school.” Thomas explained.

“Hey.” Minho said to Newt.

“This is Newt.” Thomas explained.

“Wait, what’s the name of the store again?”

“Apple Blossoms.” Newt said timidly. Did that Minho boy think the name was stupid of something?

“Are you a fan of Isaac Newton or something?” Minho asked.

“A little bit, yeah. Not exactly, but, well, that’s my name, too.”

“Oh cool. Nice name for the shop. Really smart.”

“Thanks.” Newt said timidly.

“So, did you hear about the party?” Minho asked Thomas.

“What party?”

“At Gally’s.”

“Ugh.” Thomas rolled his eyes. “I don’t know why you hang out with that arse.”

“He’s not that bad.”

“He’s worse.” Thomas said and Newt giggled lightly at that.

“You don’t need to be his BFF to come to the party. It’ll be cool.”

“That depends on who’ll be there.”

“Everyone will.” Minho said.

“Will you?” Thomas asked Newt before he could stop himself.

“Huh?” Minho, who was grabbing his phone, asked, then he got into his phone and zoned out.

“What?” Newt asked.

“I mean, er… Like, if you wanted to, you could, I mean… But yeah, of course you won’t, right? This is probably not even your thing and all.” Thomas struggled to say. “You won’t know anyone there, so yeah, you’ll probably not be into it. And it’ll be a lame party, I bet, anyway.”

“This’ll depend on who’ll be there.” Newt said quickly and shot a discreet look at Thomas that Thomas didn’t quite manage to understand.

“I suppose…” Thomas said.

“Will you be there?” Newt asked?

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Then I would. Like to go, I mean. I’d like to go, yeah.”

“Okay.” Thomas said not being able to help but smile a little.

“Well,” Minho said, “you two finished?”

“What?” Thomas asked with the face of a criminal who got caught in the act of crime. Newt had a similar expression.

“The flower you came to buy?” Minho said. “Did you choose it?”

“Oh,” relief dawned upon Thomas, “right, we were just finishing that.”

They got back to arranging the flowers and some five minutes later Thomas and Minho were leaving the store. Thomas was not sure what had just happened, but he was sure he wanted to buy some more flowers as soon as possible.

-

“So, how were things today?” Newt’s dad asked as they sat on the kitchen table, eating dinner.

Newt had been indecisive about whether he would tell his father what happened earlier that day or not. Rather how much he would tell, because of course he would tell his father what happened; he had talked plenty of times about that stranger who helped Newt and made it possible for them to have everything they had now. But of course he did not tell his father that he was anything other than “grateful for that kind stranger”; he did not tell his father that the stranger was a boy his age, that he dreamed with that boy many times, that he thought about meeting him, getting to know him… well, he did not tell much, to sum it up.

And of course he felt embarrassed, even if his dad did not know anything that went on, much less could his dad read his mind, but just talking about it made his stomach get filled with butterflies.

“Um, it was okay…” Newt answered. “It was cool.” He added. “Actually,” he cleared his throat, “I made a friend today.”

“Oh, that’s nice. Who is it?”

“Um, you remember that person that, you know, helped me back then and that helped us have the store and all?”

“‘ Helped us have the store’? You mean the person who enabled it for us!” His dad chuckled. “The person without which we would still be living back in that house in the countryside. And how could I not remember it, if you talked about it pretty much everyday for months!” His dad added smiling heartily.

The amount of butterflies on Newt’s stomach doubled and he felt his face get red. He cleared his throat again. “Well, um, he’s actually a boy around my age. And he went to the store today.”

“Oh!” His dad let out expectantly.

“He actually didn’t seem to know all the good he did us. We chatted a bit.”

“Well, did you invite him for dinner or what? I want to meet him, of course!”

“Oh, right… Um, no I didn’t… I…,” was not thinking very straight , “forgot.” He finished.

“Oh, Newt, where do you have your head? How did you forget something like this?”

“But it’s okay!” He said, avid to make up for his fault. He invited me to a party! Newt wanted to say, but that was when he realized – he did not know anything about the party, where it would be, when, at what time, how to get there. Was the invitation just something thrown into the air halfheartedly? “Um, he said he liked the store, so maybe he’ll go there some other time.” He finished, not wanting to tell his dad about the party and consequently reveal that he was so over the moon with an invitation that, for all he knew, could have been some sort of prank or something.

“Well, let’s hope he does.” His dad said.

“Yes, let’s hope he does.” Newt said under his breath, more to himself.

-

“Thank you for buying from us, come back soon!” Newt said to the client who was just leaving the store. He waved from the balcony and went back inside to sit for a bit on one of the stools in the café counter. It was Wednesday so movement was considerably high in comparison to other days of the week, like Monday. But now, if the day followed as usual, he should have a few hours of calmness, because hardly anyone usually went there in the middle-late afternoon.

His legs were a bit sore from having been standing up for so long. He made a mental note to remember not to mention this at home or his father would insist he needed to come to the store to help Newt. It had already been a huge battle today to convince him to stay home. Newt did not wanna make things any more difficult for himself. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the bell on the door indicating someone entering. New looked up to see who it was and jumped up from the stool.

“Oh, h– hi. Welcome to Apple Blossoms Flower Shop and Café.” He said and instantly regretted it. How stupid did he just sound.

Thomas giggled. “Hey. Thank you. But you don’t need to greet me like that.”

“Right.”

“Yeah…”

“Oh, right! So, did your mother like the flowers? Did you deliver them to her yet?” Newt asked.

“Yeah, yes I did. Her birthday was yesterday.”

“And… did she like them?” Newt asked expectantly.

“She did, yes. She absolutely loved them. Her eyes got all welled up with tears and all. You’d think she wouldn’t be so surprised at me giving her a birthday gift, right?” Thomas chuckled.

“Oh, I’m sure it’s not that!” Newt said. “It’s just, you know… parents. They’re like that sometimes. Emotional. Any small thing makes their heart jump and all that.” Newt said and suddenly felt self-aware.

“Right. So silly of them, right? Like you look at someone– some thing , I mean– and get, like, speechless, or whatever.”

Newt forced a giggle. “Yeah. Silly.”

An awkward pause followed.

“So,” Newt cleared his throat, “are you looking for some more flowers?”

“Oh, right, no, yeah, I’m… No, I came to tell you that she liked the flowers, is all. And thank you, by the way.”

“Oh, don’t mention it. It was nothing.”

“Also,” Thomas added, “I came to ask… well, I came to ask if you’re really going to the party.” He said. “It’s okay if you don’t want to, really.” He added before Newt answered.

Newt’s heart skipped a beat and started beating faster. He was afraid Thomas would hear it beating. “I will. I’m coming. Well, I want to.”

Thomas discreetly smiled relieved. “It’s going to be this Saturday at around seven. I’ll give you the address.”

“How about meeting up and going together? We can meet at my house. At six. For dinner.” Words blurted out of Newt’s mouth before he could stop himself, but actually he was glad he did not stop himself, because if he had, he would never gather the courage necessary to ask that. Thomas was a bit taken aback so he did not respond at first. “Well, my dad wanted to meet you, you know? Say thank you in person and all. So he said I should invite you for dinner.”

“Oh, right. Parents and this thing with inviting people over for dinner, right?” Thomas said with a light chuckle. “My mom will probably ask the same soon enough. But I mean, it’s cool,” he quickly added, “like, you could come over any time. It’d be nice. I live in the neighbourhood around the botanic park, you know? You’d like it around there. Lots of trees and flowers and… stuff.”

Newt almost did not manage to stop his eyes from getting wide open. The botanic park was Newt’s dream neighbourhood to live in, it was really, really beautiful and full of flowers, of course. But he could never. Only rich people lived there. And not in a sense of having a good stable livelihood or if you somehow inherited a house there from a rich relative, but you are not rich yourself. That did not happen because you had to pay a whole lot of exorbitantly expensive fees, that was common knowledge around town, somehow. Soon after beginning to frequent the city, Newt discovered that if anything worked around there, gossip did. That neighbourhood was for rich people and rich people only. And if Thomas lived there, he and his family were rich .

How the fuck would Newt have someone live that come over to dinner at his poor house? To eat poor people food? What would Thomas think of him? He would lose interest for sure. And that’s already a fantasy assuming he ever had any interest. Newt thought.

“But well, anyway. Dinner at yours sounds good.”

“Really?” Newt asked in a mix of surprise and affliction; he was almost wishing Thomas would decline.

“Yes, of course. So it’s Saturday at six, then. Do we meet up here at the store?”

“Yeah, could be.”

“Great.”

Oh fuck me , was always the first thing to come to his mind in this kind of situation.

-

“Thank you so much for having come, Thomas. You are really a sweet, sweet boy.” Newt’s dad said, after they had finished dinner and as they left the kitchen table and walked into the living room. “Your parents must be very proud of you, I’d like to meet them someday!” Thomas smiled timidly. Newt’s dad assumed a tone a bit more serious. “And thank you , for everything you did for my Newt here. It… it really saved our lives, you know?” Thomas smiled yet timidlier. His face started to get a little red.

“It was nothing. Really. I just did what I think anyone should’ve done.” He said.

“Well, that speaks volumes about you. I can see you’re a great company for my Newt. And very humble, too! Most rich folks wouldn’t get near a humble house like this one.”

“ Dad! ” Newt said through his teeth, embarrassed.

“It’s true! I have met my fair share of rich folks and they’re not all friendly like your friend here.”

“Well Newt’s my friend,” Thomas said, putting his arm around Newt’s shoulder and pressing him in a tight hug, “doesn’t matter where he lives, I’d like to know that I’m welcome there.” He looked at Newt. Newt wished he had not. Newt’s face was burning hot so he knew for a fact his face was red as a tomato.

“You’re a good lad, you’re a good lad. I won’t worry as much knowing he’ll be at this party with you. Oh, before I forget!” Newt’s dad said and hurried to his room. He came back one instant later with a little box in his hand. It was one of those boxes that carry rings. And when he opened it, there were in fact rings inside, two of them. “These were the rings my parents used for their wedding. They passed it on to me, Newt’s mother and I used them, too. But since… since after she departed I no longer felt like using mine, so I put them away. I found them earlier when I was cleaning the room.”

“ Dad… ” Newt said reprehendingly.

“Oh what bad some cleaning’s gon’ do? I can clean my room, that’s nothing. Anyways . So I thought of giving it to you, son. Well, one of them. Now I guess I’ll extend the offering to your nice friend, too. Do you like them?” He gave them the box. Newt and Thomas grabbed one ring each and examined. They were really beautiful. One was golden and the other was silver, both had an etching of a flower, blue and pink.

“Wow!” Thomas exclaimed. “They’re really beautiful. Thank you.”

“Are you sure about that, dad?”

“Yes, yes. I really don’t feel like putting on those after all that time.”

“Thanks.” Newt said.

“You’re welcome, son. Now it’s time for me to go to bed, so off you go, you two.”

The boys left the house, but before getting on their way, Thomas stopped Newt.

“Wait, where are the rings? Aren’t we gonna put them on?”

“You want to put them on? Like, right now? And go to the party and stuff… with them on?”

“Yeah, sure, why not?” Newt took the little box out of his pocket and opened it. “And oh, um… what do you think of the golden one?”

“It’s pretty, why?”

“You should have it. It’ll get along well with your hair.” Thomas said and Newt noticed Thomas was looking down when he said this.

“Okay.” Newt said smiling. They put on their rings and went off to the party.

-

“THOMAS!” The girl screamed. She approached him with her arms raised, holding a vodka bottle on one of the hands. She hugged him, gave him a peck on the cheek, then pressed his cheeks. “You cute thing! Oh I missed you so much!”

“Me too!”

“Oh you liar, you were not! You barely even texted me!”

“I was busy! You know, studying .”

“Uh, bitch, me too?”

“Yeah, but it’s different you live inside the fucking school. I swear to god my energies were completely drained.” He said. “OH! I’m sorry. Newt, this is Teresa, my best, best friend in this world! Teresa, this is Newt, a friend.”

“HI!” Teresa screamed and hugged Newt just like she had Thomas. It was clear the girl herself had been guilty of drinking the half of the vodka that was missing from the bottle. After parting away from the embrace, she tripped slightly, but quickly got back in balance.

“ Teresa .” Thomas said laughing. “You’re so drunk!”

“And you’re not ?”

“No, we just got here.”

“Oh, then let’s change that.” She said and started to open the bottle.

“Wait, wait! We don’t even have cups on us. Let’s get some in the kitchen.”

Moments later they were sitting on the grass of the backyard, by the pool. Teresa poured drink onto their cups. After one small sip, Newt decided that was definitely not his thing. Some ten minutes and quite a few gulps later, Thomas was drunk. Newt was the only sober of the trio and mostly just observed Thomas and Teresa laughing their guts out with any silly thing. Newt did not speak much, but he could feel that Teresa was making an effort to make sure he would not feel left out, she always included him in the conversation, asked for his opinions, etc. Newt really appreciated that and was grateful.

The party was actually pretty cool. Newt had never been to one like that, so he didn’t know what to expect, but he was enjoying himself very much. People came to where they were, talked to them and went somewhere else, one after the other. Eventually they left the spot and went around, chatted with some people; steered clear of some others. At first Newt was a bit nervous about meeting new people, but after a while he said “fuck it” and went along, and it turned out that most people there were very nice and friendly.

Eventually they got back to their spot on the grass. Thomas and Teresa still pretty much drunk were still laughing about anything 90% of the time, and giggling stupidly the other 10%. Newt was not drunk-giggling like them, of course, but he too was having a great time.

“Oh, man, I’m so happy right now,” Thomas said, “I’m really happy to be here with you two. Did you know we just met?” Thomas asked Teresa. “Me and Newt.”

“Oh, really? You look like you know each other for a while. Well, I wouldn’t know, you wouldn’t have told me either way since you decided to ignore my texts.”

“Ugh, here comes the drama queen again. Go away! We don’t want you here, and bring my friend Teresa back!” They paused for one second before bursting out in laughter. “No, but for real,” Thomas said, recomposing himself. It felt like it was destiny.”

That caught Newt’s attention. Was it one of those situations in which a drunk person starts to talk without a filter and reveal stuff? Newt was intrigued by what could come out next.

“I went to buy flowers for my mom. And as it turns out he has a flower shop ! What are the odds, right? And it’s a pretty cool store! Super well organised. Hey, maybe he could help you with your sketches. You two are so art-oriented, or whatever, I don’t know. She draws, you know?” Thomas added the last part turning to Newt. “Oh well, anyway, I’m super glad you’re both here. I love you two.”

Teresa rolled her eyes. “Thomas, you’re drunk. How do you expect anyone to take your words seriously? A drunkard’s words aren’t worth much, you know?”

“What? Am not!”

“You’re not drunk?”

“Well, that I am. But still! N-No, you’re wrong! I know what I’m saying!”

“Of course you do, of course you do.” Teresa said, giving her friend condescending pats on the shoulder.

“You dare doubt me! Watch this – would a person who doesn’t know what he’s talking about do a double flip onto the pool?”

“Oh Thomas don’t start…”

“I’m serious! I’ll do it! Newtie, you are a responsible person, may you hold my mobile phone, please?” He handed his phone to Newt. “Oh, also my house keys.” He handed the keys.

“Now, Newt, run!” Teresa joked.

“Ha-ha,” Thomas mocked, “he’s not you, he wouldn’t do that! But enough of this, it’s time for the show–” As he talked, he began to take his shoe off, lost balance, tripped and fell backwards into the pool.

“Tommy!”

Everyone looked in suspenseful expectation. Moments later Thomas emerged from the water with his arms up and screaming, excitedly. The people around the pool cheered, some got in, too. Soon the pool was filled with people in all levels of clothing.

Newt went near the border of the pool. “Hey, get out, now!” It took Thomas some convincing that he should get out of the pool instead of Teresa and Newt getting in. But eventually he complied. “I’ll take him to a bedroom and look for a towel.” Newt said to Teresa.

“I’d go with you, but I’m not feeling very well, I need to go to the bathroom real quick.”

“It’s okay, I got him.” Newt said and they went in the house through the kitchen door.

“Hey, Gally!” Thomas called. “Got some dry clothes for your pal?”

“The fuck you’re doing, Thomas, getting the whole house wet.” A boy with short hair was approaching them, he must have been Gally. “C’mon, my room is this way.” Gally said to Newt, he led the way, and Newt followed, with Thomas’s arm around his shoulder. Gally’s room was a suite, Thomas entered the bathroom while Gally took some clothes from his closet and put them on the bed.

“There’s a mop in there, please don’t leave any mess behind.” Gally told newt.

“Oh sure. I’m sorry about that.”

“Yeah, alright.” Gally said and left  the room. He did not seem like a very sympathetic person, but who could blame him in that situation?

“Hey, um, T– Thomas?” Newt called tapping on the bathroom door.

“What happened with ‘Tommy’?” Newt heard Thomas say from inside and went red instantly, he was really, really glad Thomas couldn’t see him. “I liked it, no one has ever called me that before. I like it.”

“Um, I need to go pee, really quick, wait me here?”

“You can use this bathroom, the toilet’s free.” Newt saw the doorknob begin to turn and panicked. Before Thomas could open the door, he hurried from the room. There was a bathroom in that same corridor, he could see. When he was back, Thomas had vanished from the bedroom.

“For fuck’s sake, Tommy.” Newt said under his breath, then feeling embarrassed, corrected himself, “For fuck’s sake, Thomas” even though he was alone. He cleared his throat and went in search of Thomas around the house.

He found Thomas in the kitchen, making coffee.

“What are you doing?” Newt asked.

“Coffee. You want some?”

“Um, no, thanks.”

“C’mon, I make great coffee!” Thomas bragged.

“ Why are you making coffee?”

“Why not? I like coffee. Don’t you? Oh no!” Thomas looked at Newt alarmed. “Don’t tell me you’re a tea totalitarian! Or is it ‘teatotalist’?” He got back to his coffee making.

“You’re thinking of ‘teetotaler’, and what does this have to do with anything?” Newt was beginning to get amused with this conversation.

“It’s people who prefer tea over coffee, innit?”

Newt chuckled. “That’s not what it means, Thomas.”

“Stop calling me that.” Thomas said through gritted teeth.

“ Your name ?”

“Yes. It sounds like you’re reprehending me.”

“Doesn’t everyone call you that?”

“Yeah, but it’s different.”

“Because it’s me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“ I don’t know?”

“Then who does?”

“I don’t know, you ? Teetotaler, or whatever.”

“You’re making no sense.”

Thomas shrugged. “That’s my charm.”

“Yes, it is.”

Thomas cleared his throat lightly.

“Well, while you’re at it, I’ll see if Teresa is okay. Be right back.” Newt said and left again for the backyard. He looked around and could not see Teresa anywhere. He figured she would be okay. He spotted Minho on the couch that was on the balcony of the backyard. Minho seemed to be in a paralel party, while people cheered in the pool while fully clothed, Minho was lying on the couch on his phone. The phone was held on the horizontal and being flipped in every direction frenetically, so Newt reckoned he was playing something.

“What are you playing?” Newt asked.

Minho’s eyes darted for half a second to Newt and back to the screen. “Oh it’s just– No, no, don’t go there , no! Argh!” He said, frustrated, apparently having lost. He then looked at Newt. “Where’s your cup?”

“I don’t have one.”

“You can have this one,” he said, getting a cup that was on the floor by the couch, “it’s clean. Well, mostly.”

“No, it’s fine, I’m not drinking.”

“What, you’re already drunk?”

“Oh no, no. I don’t think I’m made for this drinking thing. I’m afraid I’ll vomit if I take another sip of alcohol.”

“Aw, so pure.” Minho said. “Wanna sit?” He added, raising his legs up in the air, getting in a weird position. “Today, please, this is tiresome.” Newt sat and Minho landed his legs onto Newt’s lap and started another round on his game. “So you had never drank before?”

“Um, only beer. Not vodka, no.”

“And did you like it? Beer?”

“Um, no.”

“Yeah, I’m also picky with beer. What brand was it?”

“Um… I don’t know.”

Minho put his phone down. “You’ve never gotten drunk?”

“No.” Newt admitted timidly. “I had opportunities, but I was always afraid I’d do something stupid. I don’t know.”

“Pussy.” Minho said getting back to his game. Newt’s face sombered a bit. Minho somehow seemed to notice. “Oh hey, no, too soon, I’m sorry. I didn’t actually mean it. I just… I just say stuff like that to my friends and all, I don’t actually mean anything by it.”

“No, it’s okay.” Newt said. Then after a pause, “To your friends, huh?” He said, “And I’m a friend?”

“What do you mean?” Minho asked. “Why wouldn’t you be?”

“I don’t know, it’s nothing, I just… I don’t know, I guess I was kinda unsure if I fit here, in this… lifestyle. Look, I don’t even know what I’m saying.”

Minho examined Newt. “It's cool.” He said soberly, still examining. Then he bolted upwards and turned 180 degrees, now lying his head on Newt’s lap. “I like you, Newton.”

Newt had no idea what to do or say. “Um… what?” He said faintly, hoping it had been more under his breath and that Minho would not hear. Minho was at his game again and took a couple of seconds in silence, which made Newt think he had not heard, before he spoke.

“You’re cool. And you’re honest. People usually put on some facades, you know what I mean? And you can see it if you look closely enough. Except anyone hardly ever does, which is convenient. Thomas does that sometimes, too. Don’t tell him I told you that, by the way. But we all do. I do, too, sometimes. But you don’t, you put yourself out there.” He stopped talking, like he had finished. Then he said, “I think you’ll be really good to Thomas.”

Before Newt could ask what he meant by that last part, Minho was screaming at the screen again and bolting upright, getting into a seated position. He got up from the couch and stretched some.

“I’m gonna go inside. You good?”

“Um… yeah, yes.” Newt said and Minho went in.

Newt remembered he had left Thomas in, by himself, near an outlet, so he went in right after.

“Hey, coffee is ready!” Thomas said when he saw Newt. “Here, I made enough for both of us.” He handed Newt a cup of coffee. Thomas blew a bit into his cup and started sipping tentatively. Then he advanced to more and more ambitious gulps.

“Are you crazy? You’re gonna get burned!” Newt said alarmed.

“It’s not that hot” was Thomas’s response. But the feeling on Newt’s hand, coming from his cup, told him the opposite. Thomas went on with his gulping.

“Stop that! You’re gonna get a burn!”

Thomas drank almost all the coffee, then replenished his cup, then turned to Newt. “Hey, you know what we should do? Let’s go to the terrace. Super nice view there.” Thomas led the way and they went to the house’s terrace, which, being on the top of a three floor house, really was nice. The terrace was nice, too, it was decorated with a lot of big plants at the corners, and some small pots with flowers here and there.

They stood by the sill and felt the cool breeze on their faces.

“I told you coffee was a good idea.” Thomas said.

“You didn’t say it was a good idea.”

“No?”

“No.”

“What did I say then?”

“That you made good coffee.”

“And don’t I?” Thomas said, raising his cup and taking a sip, inviting Newt to do the same.

Newt took a taste of the coffee. “Yes, you do.”

“Ah!!” Thomas vibrated. “Thank you, thank you. I told you you’d like it.”

“You didn’t tell me that.”

“Are you sure? I think you’re remembering it wrong. Must’ve been all the vodka you drank. Sheesh , Newtie, I have to tell you, you have a drinking problem.”

“Oh, I have a drinking problem, do I?”

“Yes. You don’t drink enough, that’s your problem.”

“I don’t know why you do, to be honest. It tastes awful.”

Thomas hesitated, then sat on the floor with his back against the parapet. Newt followed suit and sat by his side. Their bodies were touching. With the coffee on their hands and the both of them close together, it was really cosy. “Yeah… but it helps make you more… you, I guess.” Thomas said. “I know that sounds terrible. But I’m so caught up in my own mind most of the time. Overthinking. So it’s nice to let it all out without a filter, without trying to control how I’ll be perceived, all that, you know?”

“Yeah, I think I do.” Newt said.

“And it helps with talking. You can speak more freely, not worrying that you’re using the wrong words, or that you’re sounding corny, or whatever. But…” He hesitated. “The cold water of the pool really helped sober me up and that gave me an idea.” He beckoned at the cup of coffee in his hands.

Oh , Newt thought. He did remember having heard once that coffee helped sobering up.

“I wanted to cut the drunkness, because that thing Teresa said, about the words of someone drunk not being worth a lot and all, that got me thinking.”

“Oh, Tommy, she didn’t mean anything by that.”

“No, I know she didn’t. But it got me thinking. About what I had said to you two. I really meant it, you know. So I wanted to say it again, sober this time. So you’ll know I mean it. I’m really glad you’re here with me today. Right now.”

“I’m glad, too.” Newt said, getting red.

“When we met… I… It was… magical, somehow. I don’t know, but I felt… like it was some thing. You know? Like, something special.”

“Yeah, I do. I do know. When we first met, –I mean first , first met, when I met you, to be more precise– I knew I had to meet you again. I–” He paused.

Being this close to Thomas, Newt could smell his scent. His sweet, sweet, scent. It was a perfect perfume, not too sweet that it made you nauseous, nor did it feel artificial, it was like a natural perfume. How could a human being smell that good? And the worst part was, Newt recognised it. From that night, when he wore Thomas’s shirt and hoodie, the ones Vince gave him. It had the same scent. And here on that rooftop, feeling it once again made Newt instantly feel like being home. He began to feel sleepy and he did not know whether it was sleepiness due to feeling so safe or passing out due to nervousness.

“I…” he went on, “couldn’t stop thinking about you, Tommy. I’m sorry if this is creepy. But it’s the truth. I couldn’t. I thought about the day I’d meet you again. Hell, I even dreamt about y–” Newt was cut short by something suddenly all over his face, covering his mouth shut.

It was Thomas’s face and mouth. Thomas was holding Newt’s face tenderly in his hands and kissing him in the mouth. After staying frozen in that moment for some instants, they slowly departed. Thomas was wide-eyed, surprised by his own actions. Both of them were gasping for air, like the windy rooftop was suddenly lacking air. Thomas still had his hand on Newt’s neck.

“Fuck, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t’ve done that.” Thomas said.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Newt said. Thomas felt his heart drop. “What’re you sorry for?” Newt said and put his hand on Thomas’s cheek. He leaned forward at once and brought both back to that moment. Only this time lasting more. And with tongue.

There were two strong heartbeats getting mixed and neither could tell which was whose. Newt did not feel nervous anymore, nor did he feel cold even in the chilly air on the rooftop. All he could focus on was the scent that involved him entirely and the nice feeling in his tongue. Thomas caressed Newt’s hair and remembered the first time he looked at those golden curls and his heart skipped a beat. He remembered thinking Newt was an angel and realised he still was not fully convinced that that was not the reality of the situation. Or worse, what if Newt was some illusion his mind created. That was when he parted from the kiss.

“Are you real?” Thomas asked Newt.

Newt laughed. “What?”

“How are you real? You’re too perfect to be true.”

“I’m not perfect, I got plenty of flaws.”

“I won’t mind them.” Thomas told him and kissed the boy in front of him again, then again, and again and again. Then he hugged Newt tightly, putting his head on Newt’s chest.

“You’re trying to be the smaller spoon or something?” Newt joked.

“Leave me to it.”

“I don’t think that’ll work.”

“You’re older, it’s your obligation to be the bigger spoon.”

“By one year !”

“Don’t care. Still your obligation.”

“Oh is it, now?”

“Yes. I don’t make the rules.” Thomas lifted his head and took a good look at Newt. “So you’re really not an angel?”

“I promise I’m human. You?”

“Flesh and bones.” He said. “And hair.” He added. “And nails.”

“And water.” Newt suggested.

“And water! And cartilage.”

“Ah wow, that’s a lot.”

“All yours.” Thomas said and instantly regretted saying something so corny. He wished he had not sobered up.

“ All mine? Even the cartilage.”

“Yes, all of it, you can take it if you want.”

“Nah, I’m good. Thank you, though.”

“Oh, the coffee! It’s almost cold, but still drinkable.” He took a sip from his cup and made an ugly face. “Nah, no, not drinkable, not almost, totally cold.” Newt laughed and Thomas was infected with the laughter. Thomas got up and extended a hand to Newt. “Should we get back to the party?” He asked. Newt nodded and took his hand. They looked at the nice view of the neighbourhood once again. Newt gave Thomas a quick peck on the cheek.

“Let’s go.” Newt said and moved towards the door.

“Hey, hey, wait!” Thomas called.

“Huh?”

“So… are we, like, a thing now?”

“I don’t know.” Newt said.

“I’d like us to be.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“So… it’s official, then?” Thomas asked timidly.

“Yeah. Yes, it is.”

“Good.” Thomas said and gave a shy smile.

“Good.” Newt agreed.

“We don’t need to tell anyone, though, if you don’t want to. It’s okay, I’ll understand.”

Newt didn’t say anything, he hesitated. Then he extended his arm and offered his hand to Thomas.

“Are you sure?” Thomas asked.

“Yes. Completely.”

Thomas took it and they went down the stairs, back to the party.