centre | newtmas au

28

Thomas

Thomas lay on the grass beside Newt, his sleeping bag half unzipped and his leg sticking slightly out of it, his calf resting on the worn material of Newt's sleeping bag. Newt had told him that since it didn't rain there, the boys slept outside frequently.

"I like the stars" Newt said, propping his head up by folding his arms beneath his neck, glancing up at the night sky above them. "They make me feel less trapped in here" he said, with a sigh that Thomas almost didn't catch.

"I've never really seen them before" Thomas said, pausing to consider if he had said was true, "or at least, I don't remember it."

Newt smiled softly, the pale light from the dying fire that lay a metre of two a way lighting his face enough that Thomas could see it. It made him feel safe, in this expansive glade in which he was a foreigner. Although he never could recollect why, he always knew that Newt had a magical way of making it seem like he wasn't alone. And for now, anyway, he wasn't alone.

"See that one over there, Tommy?" Newt said, raising an arm up into the air and pointing. Thomas laughed softly.

"You've got to be a bit more specific. There's a lot of them" he said, which was received by a grunt from the other boy.
"Fine then" he said, lowering his outstretched arm and leaning closer towards Thomas, placing two gentle fingers and a thumb on either side of his chin, and tilting his head in the direction of the star. Newt's head was pressed up to Thomas' now, and he almost heard the pulse in his neck beating next to his ear.

"That's the brightest one, or at least, I think it is. I've been staring up at it every bloody night and wishing for a miracle" he sighed, but it felt like a happy one. "I guess you're it"

Thomas felt a surge of something right in the centre of his chest, something he knew he had felt before, but it felt new and overwhelming, despite its familiarity.

"I love you, if you didn't know that already" Thomas said, turning his head away from the sky and looking at Newt. Newt turned his head down to look at Thomas, and he smiled.

"I love you too Tommy" Newt said, his eyes bright and shining despite the darkness. Newt's arm was lying limp by his side now, so Thomas unfolded his from his chest and brought it down so it lay side by side with Newt's. Thomas traced a line down from the other boy's elbow joint all the way down to the tip of his middle finger and lay his hand to rest on top of his. Newt didn't say anything, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence, it was silence of two people who understood each other.

"Sorry to ruin the moment" Thomas said, after they had lay in silence for a few minutes, "but you said you'd tell me about the maze, and I can't sleep without knowing, so, tell me everything you know"

Newt shifted in his sleeping bag and shook his head, but not to decline, in a way you'd do it to a child who you had given into. "Okay, but don't ask a lot of questions. Let me speak"

Thomas nodded, miming zipping his lips tightly together, with a smirk.

"The maze is a bloody dangerous place" Newt began, sitting up in his sleeping bag, his eyes briefly glancing to the doors closest to them. "I went in there a while ago, with Minho and Gally, and we saw something, or..." Newt paused, "it saw us"
Thomas waited with baited breath.
"It was this weird half alien, half mechanical thing with a mechanical tail and metal claws that clicked on the ground when it ran, and tore the ivy on the walls when it climbed" Newt shuddered. "We almost didn't make it out alive, but luckily, we only encountered one. Who knows what else is out there" Newt looked down at Thomas who was sitting with shock expressed all over his face. "No one has been in since" he finished.

"Did it.." Thomas took a quiet inhale, "did it hurt any of you?"
Newt shook his head. Thomas exhaled.
"Almost got Gally. He got stuck behind the walls when they were changing and he had to run for his shucking life to get through, and he did, with everything but his shoe" Newt chuckled, despite the intensity of the story.
"So, how do we know we're safe here, then?" Thomas said, glancing wearily at the doors in the dark ahead of him.
"We were unlucky, we stayed out too long, till it got dark. They come out at night is our guess, when the maze doors close and the glade gets shut off" Newt glanced at Thomas. "Tommy, we're okay"
Thomas nodded. "I know. I wanna know more though" Newt sighed.
"It's getting late"
"One more question" Thomas pleaded. Newt nodded.
"You said something about changing? The walls change in there?" Thomas asked, his fear had transitioned into curiosity, which it often did.
"We only saw one, but we imagine they change frequently, changing the configuration of the maze with it"
"How do I get in?" Thomas said.
Newt leaned back with genuine upset expressed in the furrowing of his eyebrows. "No" was all he said.
Thomas tried to protest.
"No, Tommy. Minho and I are going back, as soon as we have a plan. It's enough to risk Minho's life, I'm not risking yours too" Newt exhaled sharply, in a way that seemed tired and defeated. Thomas felt immediately guilty for pressing him. It had been a long day.
"I'm sorry" Thomas said, although he was aching to ask again, and aching to go into the maze. He didn't want Newt to go to bed upset.
"It's okay" Newt said, his shoulders loosening and his fists unclenching. He leaned back into his sleeping bag, his eyes fixed on the sky, on what Thomas assumed was the star.
"Look, Tommy, I know how it feels, I know how the curiosity gnaws at you, I bloody know. You can come one day, just not day one. Never day one"
Thomas nodded, leaning back into his own sleeping bag, and reaching a hand out beside him to reach for Newt. Newt intertwined his fingers with his, without saying a word.
"Better get some sleep now greenie" Newt said, turning his body so they were lying on their sides, facing each other.
"Don't think I'll get any if you're sleeping beside me and you look like that" Thomas said.
"Like what?" Newt said, with a sly smile.
Thomas shook his head and laughed quietly.
"Goodnight Newt"
"'Night Tommy"

HI I'M SO SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG !!!!!
hope ur well & u enjoyed this chapter.
really gonna try update more bc i never regret writing, it clears my head a lot.
see u guys soon!!!! thank u for reading