Chapter Text
Newt was back. Finally.
It’s not that he didn’t adore the summer holidays, time spent with his sister, Sonya, and her friends. It’s just… her friends were a lot. And he missed school. Well, not school, but he missed his dorm, and the halls he had grown used to, and, most importantly, his best friend…
“There you are, ya shank!” Minho slung an arm around Newt’s shoulders. “I have missed you soooo much,” he paused to swoon dramatically, almost loosing his backpack in the process, “you would not even believe it. We have a new kid this year, his name’s Thomas. Pretty chill, but his parents seem a bit shit. Maybe you can bond over that.”
Newt fixed him with a stern glare and Minho backed off, hands raised in surrender. “Kidding, kidding. Seriously though, you’ll like him. Oh, and HELL ON EARTH, I already got your schedule for you and your first lesson tomorrow is double maths, bright and early in the morning. By which I mean 6 am. What the heck is wrong with you man, you could be sleeping in.”
”Says the guy who gets up every morning at 5 sharp to run laps.”
”Not on Saturdays. God, take me to Saturday already.”
Newt laughed. He had missed this. School was terrible most of the time, but the people there were good. Almost all of them, really.
Minho led him through the halls to the common room, chatting about the running team and his holidays and how Newt just had to ask out that girl Rachel because she was totally into him. Newt nodded along, but truth was he was completely zoned out. He was too busy taking in the new paintings on the walls, the new carpet, the new…
The new… people?
The new person, actually. Thomas. Minho had said that.
Thomas was in the common room, already talking to Aris. He was.. he… wow.
Newt actually felt his mind go blank. Everything just spontaneously combusted and every last, withering brain cell he had crawled into a hole to die. He stumbled slightly, then stopped completely. Minho stopped too.
Thomas glanced up for a second and looked at him. Literally just glanced. Slight smile. He looked kinda scared, probably because being new was fucking scary. He also looked kinda like he’d just crawled out of bed. Completely disoriented. Brown hair all ruffled.
He looked pretty fucking hot, though. Newt felt weird. He didn’t like it. Not one bit.
Okay, he kinda liked it. But something felt wrong. Oh shit, shit, shit, was he blushing? Was Newt blushing? His cheeks felt warm. Not in a oh-I’m-a-girl-in-the-movies-and-the-superhero-is-shirtless-and-looking-at-me way. More in a fever-sick-panic-attack-anaphylactic-shock way.
Minho noticed.
Of course he did.
“Newt? Earth to Newt?”
”Wh… I.. err… sorry, what?” Newt ran a hand through his hair, flustered.
”I said, d’ya wanna go meet the new kid? Thomas? Y’know, instead of staring at him like some kinda serial killer?”
Newt hasn’t been staring.
Had he?
He probably had.
Shit.
Did he want to go meet Thomas?
Hell no. Hell yes. Maybe? Definitely. Definitely… not.
He never wanted to see, talk to, or be aware of Thomas again. He also sort of wanted Thomas to be the only thing he was aware of forever and ever…
Something was seriously wrong with him.
Minho was still waiting for an answer.
Shit. Say something.
”Err… no. Not right now. You can, I gotta… put my stuff back… in my dorm.”
Almost everything was in his dorm already, and Minho knew that. He left everything there over summer. He had different clothes at Sonya’s so only essential personal items came with him, and they could all fit in one backpack.
But Minho had been Newt’s best friend since they were little kids, and he knew when not to push. He knew when he went to far when talking about Newt’s parents, or Newt’s love life. He knew when to shut up.
”Okay, fine. I’ll order us pizza for dinner. I’ll catch you up in 10, ‘kay?”
Newt nodded. Faked a smile that Minho saw right through.
Then he headed to his dorm, dropped his stuff on his bed, and locked the door.
He was going to figure out what the fuck had just happened.