Chapter Text
9:00 Am.
Hard Rock Cafe in Seattle.
March 2nd, 2009.
Newt looked the menu up and down, front to back and even checked the little margarita menu they had and he still couldn’t make time fly by any faster. The music was high energy and the people at surrounding tables were laughing and singing along with the tunes being played over the speakers.
Usually Newt would’ve Loved this scene! If it weren’t for the fact that Teresa was Late. And by a Considerable amount.
The waitress must’ve come by to ask if Newt would like a drink for a third time and each time he asked for a Dr.Pepper, what else would he drink anyways?
The bells on the door clicks for what must’ve been the hundredth time, but this time it was the woman of the hour- or half past hour, Teresa. And along with her Two other boys who Newt didn’t know or at least didn’t recognize.
”Newtie! My man, My bestie, my salamander sounding friend how have you been!” Teresa exclaims while hugging Newt, ruffling his hair with her hands and then getting a good look at him. Before he could get any words in she gasps and starts out another sentence. “God… those MySpace photos don’t give you enough credit, you are looking good!” She continues to blather about. After a few chuckles Newt goes to speak and she cuts him of Again. Which does annoy the boy a little bit- but he’s just so happy to see her he can’t be bothered.
”Now before you get mad at me for being late- I just want to let you know I’m covering your meal, and I’ve got an Opportunity for you!” She says, finally taking a seat and her two boys taking a seat along side her, one of them sitting next to Newt. The other between the boy and Teresa. “Teresa let the man speak girl.” The younger boy between the older boy and Teresa says. He had Curly hair and a freckled face, face hovering over the menu scanning what items he wants to get.
“Well it’s nice to see you too! I’ve missed you. And yeah I’ve been good- what’s this ‘Opportunity’?” Newt finally manages to get out. He’s a little distracted by the two Strangers sitting at the table- the one next to him was especially distracting with his dark hair that faded into waves on the top of his head and strong jawline and sharp brows. Eyes a golden caramel brown.
“So let me introduce you to my cousins here- Thomas and Chuck!” Teresa starts. She points to the boys at the table- they looked and waved at Newt a little awkwardly. They clearly knew how Teresa was and you could see the sorry in their eyes for her behavior.
”They’re moving with me here! And I know you’ve been looking for work so I figured you could help Chuck settle into school here in Seattle! We don’t know any tutors asides from you and I’m willing to pay you hourly. If you’re down for that of course.” Teresa breaks the news- and Newt lets out a smile of relief since he thought this was going to be a bigger situation than she made it out to be. Tutoring? Easy. That’s all Newt did throughout school to get Volunteer credits.
“Well I’m glad you trust me with that. When do you start school? ” Newt says directly asking Chuck to include him on the convo- it is His education after all.
Newts been graduating for years, he works as a barista and plans on hopefully owning his own coffee shop one day. He’s playing the long game here and any kind of money he can get he can definitely use towards that dream.
”Oh- I’m uh. Starting in a week or two… before the school year… uhm…. Yeah.” Chuck says being caught off guard. Chuck was clearly a little awkward, he was Not expecting to be directly talked to.
Chuck would put his menu down temporarily and look at Newt now directly.
“You’re good at math? Like Algebra?” Chuck asks, serious and stern like this is a conference. “Yes I passed my algebra classes with flying colors, if you Must know Chap” Newt says playing along with Chucks interview.
Chuck does a celebratory fist bump with Thomas and lets out a Hushed “yes!” Which makes Newt giggle to himself a little. He forgot how much he enjoyed working with kids. He did stage hand after college to make a little money on the side for the children’s theater down town, and he always loved showing them how the light mechanics worked.
”usually this piece of Clunk would help but he’s busy with his band now.” Chuck says earning a hair ruffle from Thomas. Thomas laughs playfully and wraps his arms around Chuck. “Oh what ever will you do without me!” Thomas lets out. Chuck laughing and in between words giggling as he tells Thomas to Get off him.
”I’m sorry, Clunk?” Newt says a little confused. Do they have their own secret language? Newt thinks to himself as he admires the boys comfortability with each other. They’re brothers for damn sure. Though they really don’t look anything alike- their personalities are almost exactly alike in the way that they’re playful and pretty mischievous by the looks of things.
”yeah, Clunk! It’s-“ “We made our own curse words to make our mom mad when we were kids, and now it’s just apart of our Vocab.” Chuck starts but Thomas interrupts, Thomas looking a little embarrassed and Chuck looking betrayed with his mouth left open in shock. Teresa is sat there with her hands over her face.
Teresa removes her hands from her face and proceeds to stick her hand out to newt.
”so, you wanna?” She says, Newt takes her hand and accepts and she lets out a little cheer before taking a menu and scanning it.
”now what’s good here?” She asks. “You know, I really don’t know. I hadn’t ever been here before today.” Newt replies now finally going over the menu with intent to eat something. He decides not to get another Dr.Pepper- three of them is already more than enough. They order their meals and sit and chat about with eachother.
“So you’re in a band?” Newt asks looking at Thomas, Thomas who had just taken a sip looks at him and nods. Once he’s done he laughs a little and finally answers. “Yeah! My Friends and I, they live here in Seattle and I moved down here so they could have a second guitarist.” He nods while talking, talking with his hands quite a bit while and generally is just so expressive when he talks. Newt just can’t get enough of it.
”so how do you and Teresa know each-other?” Thomas asks, Teresa and Newt give eachother a look- like their mentally asking eachother ‘Whose gunna tell the story?’ And they Settle on Newt.
”well. We were in High school together- specifically we were in her Cosmetology class. I was a Hair model for her all year so we were already friends but this one moment is what sealed us as Best friends.” Newt starts to tell the story and Teresa is already Giggling and pulling her camera out to find pictures.
”So their big project to pass the class was to Cut and Dye someone’s hair for a runway show the school put on for their program and she had this bright idea to-“ “I was going to turn him into a platinum blonde.” Teresa cuts Newt off while Newts smile begins to crack into a laugh.
“And she- She bloody Did it. She did turn me into a Platnium blonde- but she fried it So Bad that the only way to fix it was to Crimp it. And make me look like an 80’s pop star.” Newt manages to get out- he was now full on laughing, and Teresa had finally gotten back to the photo on her Camera, Newt was surprised she even had the storage to find the old photo.
“how do you still have that!” Newt asks all surprised.
”well- I keep this camera around for special pictures! I use my phone for regular photos- but I tend not too because I’m almost up on my phone credit.” Teresa says pulling out her LG silver that had a slide out keyboard and a Touch screen so you knew it was New. Thomas and Chuck were laughing at the exchange and giggling at the photo of Newt in 80’s pop attire and Crimped Fried Platnium blonde hair.
“How was the after math?” Chuck asked while laughing in between words. “Oh just Awful. I think that year I had to buzz my hair and I dressed a little grunge to help my case and match the style.” Neat replies and then turns to Teresa. “How the bloody Hell did you pass that class?!” Newt laughs, Teresa is holding her sides and Thomas is just eyeing the photo on the camera down.
“I genuinely- I don’t know! I probably shouldn’t have if I’m being honest” Teresa says and Thomas gives the camera back.
”you know what- for 80’s pop that’s perfect. You successfully bullshitted your way through Cosmetology” Thomas says while hi-fiving Teresa.
“don’t Hi-Five to that you twats!” Newt says In shock.
Newt holds a lock of his hair in terror. Newts hair was naturally a dirty blonde, and he had it long down to his shoulders that he usually kept half up half down.
”my hairs lucky enough to be alive and healthy today” Newt says and Thomas leans over to inspect the lock of hair Newts holding. Running his hand through it before looking at Newt.
”yeah definitely healthy. Teresa’s in the clear for hair murder then!” Thomas says.
Newts thrown back at the sudden move from Thomas. This man who Newt already thought was pretty cute had just ran his hands through Newts Hair, that’s not normal behavior in any way- maybe Thomas just gets comfy rather quick. Newt thinks to himself- trying to find a logical reason for that kind of behavior. If it weren’t for the fact that Newts lived in the states for a while now, he would’ve thought Thomas’s hair petting was just typical American behavior- but it’s been a Long time since Newt lived in England. So he knew that this was probably a product of Thomas’s quirky behavior.
“well whatever- Newt! You should come hang out tonight.” Teresa says. This catches Newts attention.
”oh? Where at?” He says, accent a little thick there. “The crocodile!” Teresa says.
The crocodile is a venue where bands can play, people can drink, and overall just have a good time. Concert tickets are also not bad at all. Newt hadn’t been to a concert in Years by this point, he was always busy- or was away in Manchester to visit family.
”yeah sure, sounds like fun. Who’s playing?” Newt looks at Teresa whose holding back excitement and points at Thomas.
Thomas winks at Newt before pulling out a folded paper from his pocket and handing it over to Newt. It was a flier for a band called Wicket, playing tonight at the crocodile. Free Admission.
It was their Opening night and here was Newt sitting with their Newest member.